Nestlé Appoints Yasser Abdul Malak as Chairman & CEO Middle East & North Africa

Nestlé has appointed Yasser Abdul Malak as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region, effective January 1st, 2022. Nestlé MENA provides employment to more than 15,000 people in 19 countries, operates 25 factories across the region, and achieved annual sales of close to USD 3 billion in 2020.

“This region is where my journey at Nestlé began, and it is really an honor for me to come back here to help grow our business and create shared value for society with our local teams of highly talented and dedicated people,” said Abdul Malak. “We at Nestlé remain committed to living up to our purpose of unlocking the power of food to enhance quality of life for everyone, today and for generations to come.”

Abdul Malak is moving to Dubai from Nestlé Turkey where he delivered strong results as CEO and embarked on expansion projects that are already accelerating the company’s growth in the country. He has held several leadership positions at Nestlé over the years. He previously served as CEO for Nestlé’s North East Africa Region based in Egypt until he was assigned the role of Dairy Category Head Zone Europe Middle East & North Africa in 2018 at the Nestlé headquarters in Vevey.

Abdul Malak joined Nestlé in Saudi Arabia in 1999. After his first assignment, he moved to the company’s regional head office to lead the MAGGI business as Senior Brand Manager until mid-2003. He was then appointed Global Marketing Advisor for the Food business in Switzerland. In 2005, he was promoted to head the Food Business in the South East Africa region. Three years later, he returned to the Middle East as Business Executive Officer Food, prior to his assignment as Country Manager.

Abdul Malak holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Marketing from the Lebanese American University, and an Executive Development diploma from the IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is a Lebanese national, married, and father of two children.

Abdul Malak succeeds Remy Ejel, who joined the global Nestlé Executive Board in Vevey, Switzerland, as Executive Vice President and CEO of Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA), which includes the Middle East and North Africa region.