Josef M. Mueller completed his schooling and commercial and economic studies in his native Switzerland. He holds an MBA degree from IMD, where he is now an Executive in Residence.

He spent his entire professional career on important international assignments with the Nestlé Group. Out of 35 years, he spent 32 years abroad. This included 28 years in Asia, of which 19 were in the Greater China Region. In 1972, he joined the Nestlé Group in Switzerland as an international operational auditor with assignments in Europe, North America and South Africa. After four years of solid introduction to Nestlé’s operations in various countries, Josef Mueller’s subsequent career took him to the Far East (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines) where he continuously progressed into senior positions in sales and marketing management. In between these transfers, he spent some three years at Nestlé’s headquarters in Switzerland with business development responsibilities for Far Eastern countries. From 1992-1995, he was Head of Nestlé in Pakistan and from 1995-1998 Head of Nestlé in Korea. In mid-1998, he moved to Beijing and took over the responsibilities for Nestlé in China as Chairman and CEO of Nestlé (China) Ltd. and in mid-2000 his responsibilities were further expanded as Head of Nestlé in the Greater China Region, which in 2007 employed over 13,000 permanent staff and operated 21 factories and one R&D Centre (a second will open in 2008). He also was nominated as Consultant to the Yunnan and Shaanxi Provincial Governments and was Vice President of the Beijing Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment.

Since his retirement from Nestlé, Josef Mueller maintains an active interest in global business activities in the Asia/Greater China Region as well as Europe. Various organizations have invited him to serve as a Senior Advisor.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bühler Group in Switzerland and of three Nestlé’s joint ventures in China: Shanghai Totole Food Ltd., Shanghai Totole First Food Ltd. in Shanghai and Haoji Food Ltd. in Sichuan Province. He speaks German, English and French and has basic knowledge in some Asian languages.