Nestlé appoints Alex Gonnella as new UK marketing director

Nestlé has announced the appointment of Alex Gonnella as the group marketing director for its UK and Ireland business, effective from 1 September.

Gonnella joins the company’s leadership team after five years as marketing director for Nestlé Confectionery UK and Ireland.

He has played a pivotal role in the success of Nestlé Confectionery’s brand portfolio expansion and supported important sustainability commitments, including the move to make all Smarties packaging paper-based, the company said.

In his new role, Gonnella will be responsible for leading a high-performing and inclusive marketing team, servicing all Nestlé categories. He has worked for Nestlé for 17 years, having joined the pet care business Nestlé Purina in 2005. He has held global positions including European grocery marketing director for Purina in Switzerland, as well as a vice president generating demand Asia, Oceania & Africa, based in Australia.

In 2014 he returned to the UK as head of marketing for Northern Region Purina, covering the UK and Ireland, the Netherlands and the Nordics, helping Purina UK achieve grocery market share leadership for the first time.

Speaking about his new role, Gonnella said: “It is tremendously exciting to work in a business that has the breadth and scope of Nestlé, with such great opportunity to make a positive difference to the lives of consumers, shoppers, customers and environment at scale.

“We have amazing people in our business and a clear focus of mine is to create an environment which supports them to thrive and achieve their full potential, whilst focusing relentlessly on the real, external world.”

Gonnella has a degree in marketing and lives with his wife and family in West Sussex, after settling there when they returned from Australia.