Executive Vice President
Chief Technology Officer
As Chief Technology Officer, Stefan Palzer leads Nestlé's R&D activities to deliver nutritious, healthy, sustainable and affordable food and beverage innovation globally. He and his teams are focused on exploring cutting-edge science and technology across Nestlé's value chain, accelerating innovation and scientific breakthroughs, and bringing relevant product innovations to market rapidly.
Stefan joined Nestlé in 2000 at the R&D center for food in Kemptthal, Switzerland. From 2003 he held positions of increasing responsibility, and led Nestlé's confectionary R&D in York, UK between 2010 and 2013. He became R&D Director for Nestlé's beverage businesses that year, then head of Nestlé's research organization in 2016, before taking up his current position in January 2018.
After studying Food Technology at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, Stefan obtained a PhD in Process Engineering and a qualification as Professor from the same University. He holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Hagen, Germany. Today, Stefan is Associate Professor in Food Science and Technology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Honorary Professor in Food Technology at the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim in Germany, Professor in Process Engineering at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and Visiting Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, UK. He is also member of the university councils of Hohenheim and Hamburg.
Stefan is a member of the Executive Board of the European Academy of Food Engineering (2014-), and the Advisory Board for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Studies at EPFL, Switzerland (2015-). Since 2020, Stefan has been Vice President of the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley, a public-private initiative to develop, strengthen and promote food innovation in Switzerland and beyond.
Throughout his career, Stefan has won many awards and accolades. In 2015, he was made an Ambassador at the University of Hamburg. In 2018, he became a Fellow of the International Union of Food Science & Technology (IUFOST).
