Jonathan Wootliff Consulting - Director
Belgium
Portfolio
JONATHAN WOOTLIFF is an independent corporate responsibilityconsultant who specializes in helping multinational corporations tobuild productive relationships with NGOs, advocacy and activist groupsthrough effective engagement.He was formerly the Communications Director for GreenpeaceInternational, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands where he was a memberof the organizations Senior Management team. With overallresponsibility for a department of 40 professionals, Jonathan managedthe organization's public outreach and communications in over 35countries.During his tenure at Greenpeace, Jonathan was engaged in a wide rangeof difficult and controversial issues including genetically modifiedorganisms and climate change. This involved leading many high profilechallenges targeted at the fossil fuel industries and major chemicalcompanies. But he was also involved in many behind-the-scenes dialogueswith corporations. Among his many assignments, Jonathan managed theGreenpeace communications work at the Kyoto climate ministerial summitand the organization's liaison with the Sydney Organizing Committee ofthe Olympic Games.Jonathan's clients include Coca-Cola, British Petroleum,Colgate-Palmolive, Whirlpool Corporation and the Indonesian paper andpulp producer, APRIL. He has extensive knowledge in the forestry,agriculture, extractive industries and food sectors.His work involves enhancing improving his clients understanding of thedemands of the NGOs and other Civil Society groups by identifyingcritical issues of concern as they relate to particular companies andindustry sectors. He evaluates the risks of corporations beingexposed to public controversy and explores viable ways for his clientsto meet these stakeholders expectations and explores opportunities forestablishing mutually beneficial partnerships.He strongly encourages corporations to go out and meet with NGOs, andprovides training for senior corporate managers to minimize thepossibility of confrontation and maximize the prospects of findingcommon ground. He weighs up the values of his clients' againstthe particular demands of their Civil Society watchdogs and worksclosely each company to find ways of embedding genuine, robust andconsistent standards throughout their corporate cultures .A qualified journalist, Jonathan moved in to public relationsconsulting in 1972 and has worked for major international firms,including Hill and Knowlton - where he worked both in London and NewYork - and for Fleishman-Hillard for whom he opened their London officein 1989.Jonathan lives in Brussels, Belgium and works throughout the world,especially the US and Asia where he spends more than one-third of histime. He is married and has two children.