Global consumer packaging company Rexam announced on 19 September 2006 that Leslie Van de Walle has been chosen by the Board to succeed Lars Emilson as chief executive. Van de Walle will join the Boar…
Global consumer packaging company Rexam announced on 19 September 2006 that Leslie Van de Walle has been chosen by the Board to succeed Lars Emilson as chief executive. Van de Walle will join the Board before the end of 2006 and take over as chief executive on 1 February 2007 when Emilson retires. Van de Walle, who is 50 years old, was born and educated in France, and is currently executive vice president of Global Retail of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. He has been with Royal Dutch Shell since 2000, prior to which he was the chief executive of United Biscuits plc for whom he worked for six years. He is also a non-executive director of Aegis plc. He graduated from the Hautes Etudes Commerciales in 1979 and started his career with the Danone Group before joining Cadbury Schweppes in 1984, where he held a number of senior international management positions. Rolf Brjesson, Rexam“s Chairman said: “The Board is naturally delighted at having secured the services of a truly globally minded leader such as Leslie. His experience of beverage and food retail along with his international business to business background will be of great value to the company as we continue to pursue our strategy for growth and leadership in our industry. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Lars for the tremendous contribution he has made to Rexam and, indeed, consumer packaging as a whole, in his 36-year career in the business. He will hand over to Leslie a company of which we can all feel proud.”