A change of status joining Nestlé on a permanent basis.The role is an evolution of the previous advisory role to support the operations teams in the definition of solutions to improve the sustainability performance of the company and approaches to create shared value. A key aspect of this is to maintain and enhance working relations and partnerships with outside stakeholders. The role supports the operations teams (especially agriculture and procurement) as well as ensuring alignment and connections with other functions such as R&D, marketing, regulatory affairs, public relations and the various businesses and markets. I am also particularly focussing upon rural development, farmer family nutrition, deforestation, human rights, packaging, and impact valuation.

Independent Sustainability Advisor to José Lopez, the Executive Vice President of Operations at Nestlé. The remit was to act as a resource across Nestlé on sustainability issues covering commodity supply chains, manufacturing, and logistics. The content covered a wide range of topics on responsible sourcing, community impacts and rural development. The role involved both external engagement and internal capacity building.

I led and managed a team of over 90 staff across the world, comprising WWF’s global work on: commodities (timber, paper, palm oil, & fish), freshwater, energy, social development, biodiversity, and footprint. The unit managed several large programmes, and ensures programmatic coherence and policy consistency on a wide variety of policy issues across 80 countries. It also had responsibility for partnership development, global public policy advocacy, coordination with NGO/IGOs, and the production of flagship publications.I initiated and oversaw the development of WWF’s approach to social issues, led major strategic reviews of our global programmes on biodiversity, footprint, freshwater, forests, and public policy. These involved building organisational consensus around and commitment to new focussed objectives. I have led work on the development of WWF’s global policies on issues as diverse as oil & gas development, GMOs, human rights, population, HIV/AIDS and poverty.