Director of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications – Africa & Asia
Yara International
Total years of experience :27 years, 3 Months
Yara International is a Norwegian MNC and leading sustainable agricultural, digital farming & farmer livelihood-enhancement company.
• Responsible for building the company's government relations, public affairs, and external communications frameworks across 20 markets in APAC, Oceania, and sub-Saharan Africa.
• Helped position Yara and its regional leadership (Executive Vice President for Africa/Asia and SVP for Innovation & Impact) as key resources and thought leaders on food systems transformation in these regions.
• Achievements
o Successfully built and led a Government Relations & Public Affairs (GR/PA) team of six reports - three direct reports (Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand & Myanmar), and provided advice and guidance to three functional reports (Australia, China, India). Led Yara’s recruiting efforts to identify, shortlist, and recommend a GR/PA Director for Africa, based in Nairobi.
o Helped YAA build key bilateral and multilateral relations in ASEAN member state and Secretariat circles. Represented Yara on EU-ASEAN Business Council missions and authored numerous policy papers to further the food & ag industry’s goals in Southeast Asia.
o Mapped and assessed APAC climate-related directives (CRDs) under development, and sought to mitigate dual-reporting requirements (global HQ + local market). Successfully achieved Singapore acceptance of Yara’s global CRD reporting for local compliance.
o In 23 months at Yara, authored 110 thought leadership pieces (e.g., briefing books, speeches, talking points, PPTs, social media posts, media interviews).
o Successfully designed and managed EVP’s participation in three World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meetings, Milken Institute’s Asia Summit, Financial Times Global Summit, and the Africa Food Systems Forum (AGRF) - i.e., developed her schedule and secured (and wrote all materials for) her speaking roles, bilateral meetings, and media interviews.
MI is a non-profit, global trade association representing the methanol (energy/petrochemical) industry.
• De facto head of MI's USD 550, 000 Asia Pacific/Middle East headquarters from 2011-2015. Built and led MI’s public policy and stakeholder relations activities in 20 APMECA markets.
Achievements:
• Structured effective two-year Hong Kong campaign to secure government support for methanol as a clean maritime fuel option in this 258.5-million-ton cargo throughput market.
• Established USD 600, 000 medical and community education & training programs to benefit 2, 000+ stakeholders in Indonesia and Vietnam over three years (2014-2017).
• Helped achieve USD 265, 000 revenue growth by recruiting four new corporate members.
• Opened access to Central Asia for the methanol industry; appointed by one govt as informal advisor.
• Organized global, methanol investment-promotion conferences & trade missions in Oman and Qatar.
Short-term, contract role for the university; spearheaded John Carroll’s first-ever brand-building, student recruitment, and stakeholder engagement in Asia.
• Achieved USD 230, 000 in new student tuition by successful student recruitment.
• Built eight recruiting pipelines in China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The American Chambers of Commerce in Afghanistan, Malaysia, and Singapore (AmChams) and US-ASEAN Business Council (US-ABC) are non-profit trade associations which promote bilateral and multilateral American and local business connectivity, foreign direct investment (FDI), and economic relations in their respective markets.
Over an eight-year period, served in key public policy-focused and executive leadership roles with the AmChams and US-ABC in Singapore, Malaysia, and Afghanistan.
• Led and expanded the operations of these non-profits which ranged from 25 to 2, 500 members, up to 14 full-time staff and interns, and P&L responsibility for annual budgets up to USD 1 million.
• Mentored and developed staff to drive member recruitment and value-added services, designed and implemented public policy engagement in collaboration with 200+ members in 18 industry committees; created greater public & media awareness of American business, and produced 100+ annual events.
Achievements
• Revenue Generation
o AmCham Singapore: Achieved 17% membership expansion (85 new corporate members) in 18 months, resulting in USD 126, 000 in new revenues.
o AMCHAM Malaysia: Expanded the membership base by 22% -- secured 66 new corporate members in 24 months, resulting in a 16% revenue increase (USD 31, 500).
o AmCham Afghanistan: Attained US$50, 000 revenue in 90 days from recruiting AmCham’s first 25 corporate members.
o US-ABC: Produced the 450-guest Asia Leadership Gala Dinner in Singapore and raised USD 37, 500 in corporate sponsorships.
• Investment Missions and FDI Attraction & Promotion
o US-ABC: Organized 12 public policy roundtables for 240 C-suite executives, a 15-member Singapore business mission, and represented the Council and presented at ASEAN Secretariat ministerial and senior official meetings (SOMs).
o AmChams: Designed and organized all aspects of four US Ambassador-led AmCham business missions for 95 C-suite AmCham members to China, India, and Indonesia.
dnmStrategies Limited was an event management company that produced C-level conferences and briefings for 10-250 participants in 10 Asia Pacific markets for BusinessWeek and other multinational clients.
AHRI is a global trade association that represents heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC/R) manufacturers, develops performance standards, and international trade promotion activities.
• Achieved national stakeholder mapping and relationship building with Asian American Pacific Islanders.
• Authored policy statements for the Vice President on global political, economic, and security issues.
Graduated CumLaude Minors in Economics & German
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