Rexam names new Chief Executive

He will join the Board before the end of this year and take over as Chief Executive on 1 February 2007 when Lars retires from the Board.
Leslie is currently Executive Vice President of Global Retail of the Royal Dutch Shell Group and is based in London. 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.

Leslie, who is 50 years old, was born and educated in France. He graduated from the Hautes Etudes Commerciales in 1979 and started his career with the Danone Group before joining Cadbury Schweppes in 1984. There he held a number of senior international management positions in their soft drinks business before joining United Biscuits in 1994. He is married with two daughters and has been living in London since 1994.

Commenting on the appointment, Rolf Börjesson, 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.”