Nestlé coordinating U.S. operations with expansion of D.C. office
June 30, 2014 | 05:18 PM
The Nestlé Corporation is expanding its Washington office to respond to the many questions that arise across all its brand name products.
Paul Grimwood
Nestlé, a Swiss company, has found that the Food and Drug Administration and outside groups “have been wanting to have a bigger dialogue,” Paul Grimwood, chairman and CEO of Nestle’s operations in the United States, said last week during an interview on the sidelines of an Institute of Medicine meeting he was attending.
The company’s U.S. brands include including Nestlé Pure Life, Gerber, Nescafé, Stouffer’s, Friskies, Lean Cuisine, Coffee-mate, Perrier and Nespresso, in addition to its famed chocolate.
Nestlé has had a “small unit” here, Grimwood said, but questions about pet food were referred to the Purina headquarters in St. Louis and if someone wanted to discuss sodium in Nestlé products, there was no clear official to whom the question should be referred.
The Washington office is a signal that there is “one Nestlé,” he said, and a company announcement recently noted that it has committed itself to reducing sodium, sugar and saturated fat “across its portfolio.”
Nestlé considers itself a “nutrition, health and wellness” company, Grimwood said, and wants to “be part of the debate” in Washington providing the “best” information, rather than be seen as a distant force.
The company’s businesses here have been “bolted together through acquisitions,” he said, until the company has become the largest food manufacturer in the United States.
In that position, Grimwood said, Nestlé wants to shift the debate about food from the negative headlines to the positive and raise the quality of the debate from “opposite ends on hilltops shouting to each other” to developing policies that achieve goals ranging from reducing childhood obesity to feeding 9 billion people by 2050.
The IOM meeting on childhood obesity, which brought together CEOs from many companies for a meeting at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, is an example of the kinds of exercises in which Nestlé wants to participate, he said.
Paul Bakus
Paul Bakus, a longtime Nestlé executive, has been named president of Nestlé Corporate Affairs and head of the Washington office.
In an interview, Bakus said that he prefers to call the office “an engagement shop” rather than a lobbying office.
Bakus started his 26-year Nestlé career in PetCare, marketing the Fancy Feast bran, then moved into various marketing roles with Stouffer’s and Lean Cuisine, based in Solon, Ohio.
In 2003, he was named vice president of Operations Zone Americas at Nestlé’s corporate headquarters in Switzerland. He was later promoted to general manager of the baking division and then served as president of the pizza division until moving to Washington in January.
He serves on the board of the American Frozen Food Institute and is a participant in the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Obesity Solutions.
A native Californian, Bakus earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Southern California.
Timothy Morck
Timothy Morck has been named vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs in the Washington office.
Morck joined Nestlé in 2010. Before coming to Washington he was director of regulatory affairs for Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition/Nestlé Health Science in Florham Park, N.J.
Previously, he was president and founder of Spectrum Nutrition, a consulting firm with expertise in nutrition, scientific and regulatory affairs, functional food product development, nutritional claims substantiation and nutrition communications
Before starting his own firm he was president of DSM Personalized Nutrition, an entrepreneurial startup venture of Royal DSM, and held senior leadership roles in research and development and regulatory affairs at Abbott Nutrition, MenuDirect Corporation, The Dannon Company, and Mead Johnson Research Center.
Morck’s early career included clinical and research positions at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Hampton, Va., as well as an assistant professorship of biochemistry and internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Morck has a bachelor of science degree in animal science from Pennsylvania State University and master of science and doctoral degrees in nutrition from Cornell University.
Lisa Gibby
Lisa Gibby has been named vice president for corporate communications in the Washington office, a position that will involve integrating Nestlé communications throughout its U.S. operating companies.
Before joining Nestlé, Gibby was director of global communications of The ONE Campaign, an anti-poverty advocacy organization. Previously, she founded LKG Communications, and also worked for AOL, Robinson, Lerer & Montgomery LLC, and Home Box Office.
She received a bachelor of arts degree from Colgate University in New York.
Molly Fogarty
Molly Fogarty, who has worked for Nestlé for 10 years, will continue as vice president of government relations and public affairs in the company’s Washington office
Nestlé, a Swiss company, has found that the Food and Drug Administration and outside groups “have been wanting to have a bigger dialogue,” Paul Grimwood, chairman and CEO of Nestle’s operations in the United States, said last week during an interview on the sidelines of an Institute of Medicine meeting he was attending.
The company’s U.S. brands include including Nestlé Pure Life, Gerber, Nescafé, Stouffer’s, Friskies, Lean Cuisine, Coffee-mate, Perrier and Nespresso, in addition to its famed chocolate.
Nestlé has had a “small unit” here, Grimwood said, but questions about pet food were referred to the Purina headquarters in St. Louis and if someone wanted to discuss sodium in Nestlé products, there was no clear official to whom the question should be referred.
The Washington office is a signal that there is “one Nestlé,” he said, and a company announcement recently noted that it has committed itself to reducing sodium, sugar and saturated fat “across its portfolio.”
Nestlé considers itself a “nutrition, health and wellness” company, Grimwood said, and wants to “be part of the debate” in Washington providing the “best” information, rather than be seen as a distant force.
The company’s businesses here have been “bolted together through acquisitions,” he said, until the company has become the largest food manufacturer in the United States.
In that position, Grimwood said, Nestlé wants to shift the debate about food from the negative headlines to the positive and raise the quality of the debate from “opposite ends on hilltops shouting to each other” to developing policies that achieve goals ranging from reducing childhood obesity to feeding 9 billion people by 2050.
The IOM meeting on childhood obesity, which brought together CEOs from many companies for a meeting at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, is an example of the kinds of exercises in which Nestlé wants to participate, he said.
New officers
Paul Bakus, a longtime Nestlé executive, has been named president of Nestlé Corporate Affairs and head of the Washington office.
In an interview, Bakus said that he prefers to call the office “an engagement shop” rather than a lobbying office.
Bakus started his 26-year Nestlé career in PetCare, marketing the Fancy Feast bran, then moved into various marketing roles with Stouffer’s and Lean Cuisine, based in Solon, Ohio.
In 2003, he was named vice president of Operations Zone Americas at Nestlé’s corporate headquarters in Switzerland. He was later promoted to general manager of the baking division and then served as president of the pizza division until moving to Washington in January.
He serves on the board of the American Frozen Food Institute and is a participant in the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Obesity Solutions.
A native Californian, Bakus earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Southern California.
Timothy Morck has been named vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs in the Washington office.
Morck joined Nestlé in 2010. Before coming to Washington he was director of regulatory affairs for Nestlé HealthCare Nutrition/Nestlé Health Science in Florham Park, N.J.
Previously, he was president and founder of Spectrum Nutrition, a consulting firm with expertise in nutrition, scientific and regulatory affairs, functional food product development, nutritional claims substantiation and nutrition communications
Before starting his own firm he was president of DSM Personalized Nutrition, an entrepreneurial startup venture of Royal DSM, and held senior leadership roles in research and development and regulatory affairs at Abbott Nutrition, MenuDirect Corporation, The Dannon Company, and Mead Johnson Research Center.
Morck’s early career included clinical and research positions at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Hampton, Va., as well as an assistant professorship of biochemistry and internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Morck has a bachelor of science degree in animal science from Pennsylvania State University and master of science and doctoral degrees in nutrition from Cornell University.
Lisa Gibby has been named vice president for corporate communications in the Washington office, a position that will involve integrating Nestlé communications throughout its U.S. operating companies.
Before joining Nestlé, Gibby was director of global communications of The ONE Campaign, an anti-poverty advocacy organization. Previously, she founded LKG Communications, and also worked for AOL, Robinson, Lerer & Montgomery LLC, and Home Box Office.
She received a bachelor of arts degree from Colgate University in New York.
Molly Fogarty, who has worked for Nestlé for 10 years, will continue as vice president of government relations and public affairs in the company’s Washington office
