John Bee

Executive Board Member, AOAC International Sub Saharan Africa Section

veteran senior manager in corporate communications and regulatory affairs, with 35 years’ experience both in Agency and In House within major multinational corporations, including 17 years at Nestlé. In that capacity, he was instrumental in developing the company’s Creating Shared Value approach to its role in society. He assembled, prepared, published and publicised 11 increasingly sophisticated Creating Shared Value reports to stakeholders; and socialised the CSV Concept internally (to Chairman and CEO level) and externally through six increasingly high-profile CSV Fora, attracting more than 300 worldwide delegates, including (for the last three editions) serving Heads of State or Prime Ministers; and generating significant owned, earned and paid echo across traditional and new media. Most recently, he headed the company’s Regulatory and Scientific Affairs teams in Sub Saharan Africa, based at its Research Centre in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Part of his role in this capacity was to establish relations with continental African institutions and other key stakeholders, up to and including Commissioner level at the African Union, VP level at the African Development Bank among others. In this context he initiated a significant partnership between the African Green Revolution Alliance (AGRA) and Nestlè’s Central and West African market for farmer development in Nigeria and Ghana. He also worked with the AGRA team to bring senior Nestlé experts to speak at the African Green Revolution Forum. Other successful partnership activity was carried out with the African Union, the African Development Bank and GIZ. Fluent in English, French and German and a graduate of University College London, John is married with one daughter. His wife, Nsa, is Nigerian and, in addition to their five years‘ spent in Abidjan and John’s role representing Nestlé throughout Africa, John and Nsa have spent significant time visiting extended family in Nigeria and beyond, learning first hand of the challenges and opportunities that face African rural communities on a daily basis.