John Russell is Managing Director of North Head, a leading strategic communications and public affairs consultancy headquartered in Beijing.  He has more than 25 years’ international consultancy and government relations experience in working in Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia, and Australia.  He has been in China for over 15 years.

Prior to forming North Head in 2010, John was Executive Vice President Asia Pacific at Weber Shandwick, based in Beijing. He was responsible for building public affairs and corporate communications practices in 12 markets throughout the region.  In 2008, he was adviser and trainer at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in preparation for Japan’s chairmanship of the G8.

Before coming to China, John was in Brussels, where for almost ten years he was the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union.  For six years, he was managing director of Weber Shandwick’s Brussels office, also heading the public affairs practice across Europe.  He still maintains strong ties to contacts in Brussels and Washington in both the private and public sectors.

John is a member of the international business advisory committee of the APEC China Business Council and is a strategic counsellor to the Global Times Business Leaders’ Forum.

North Head’s clients include MNCs, Chinese companies, governments, and Chinese government agencies.  North Head has won PublicAffairsAsia Gold Standard Awards in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2020 for best Specialist Agency across Asia and in 2011 for Crisis Management.