John Russell

John has over 20 years’ experience in public affairs, research and analysis in China and Europe. For five years prior to North Head, John was EVP Asia Pacific at Weber Shandwick, responsible for public affairs and corporate communications practices in the region. Before China, he was in Brussels as CEO of Weber Shandwick’s operations for 6 years and head of public affairs in Europe. From 1989 for 10 years, he was executive director at the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. The European office of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) was collocated with the Chamber.

John built formidable teams in China and the region consecutively for Weber Shandwick, then North Head, working on campaigns covering public affairs, trade cases, regulatory affairs and public policy, business development, crisis and issue management. In 2008, he counselled the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their chairmanship of the G8.

He is on the advisory board of the Chinese International Business Leaders’ Forum at Renmin University, Beijing and strategic counsellor for the Global Times Business Leaders’ Roundtable, part of the People’s Daily Group.