Nestlé Professional, a division of Nestlé offering food and beverages solutions for the out-of-home channel, has appointed its 24-year veteran Joe Aouad as business executive officer for the Middle East and North Africa, effective October 1, 2020.
Aouad will oversee operations in 19 countries for Nestlé Professional, which serves the out-of-home industry using its global experience and know-how to help accelerate the businesses of its foodservice and hospitality partners. Via its brands and products, Nestlé Professional shares its solutions and innovations to help customers and operators make more possible.
“The opportunity to lead the diverse team of passionate colleagues we have across the region is an honor I look forward to holding up to,” says Aouad, who first joined Nestlé in Lebanon in 1996. “Our partners and customers are accustomed to quality products and services from us, and my aim is to ensure we delight them even more with innovative offerings as we grow our businesses together and overcome the sector’s challenges in these unprecedented times.”
Aouad has held numerous management positions across the company, having spent the last seven years at Nestlé headquarters in Switzerland, most recently as global category and business capabilities development leader within the global Strategic Business Unit. There, he played a central role in the development and evolution of the out of home section’s global coffee strategy working closely with the Nescafé, Nespresso B2B and Starbucks integration teams.
Before that, Aouad had been Nestlé Professional country business manager in Saudi Arabia since 2011, a leading market for Nestlé in MENA, where he built the business in the Kingdom when it was first established.
Nestlé Professional is part of Nestlé MENA, which provides employment to more than 15,000 people in 19 countries, and operates 25 factories across the region.