Director, Government & Industry Affairs

Description

JOB TITLE: Director, Government & Industry Affairs

REPORTING TO: Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Head of Government Affairs and Communications

LOCATION: Chicago, IL

Lactalis USA is seeking a candidate to join our team in Chicago!

Lactalis USA is committed to enriching lives of U.S. families by producing nutritious and delicious dairy products that bring people together every day. The company offers a broad portfolio of well-known dairy brands including Galbani®, Président®, Kraft®, Cracker Barrel®, Black Diamond®, Parmalat®, siggi’s®, and Stonyfield Organic® in addition to several brands imported from our affiliates in Europe.

Across the United States the company has 4 business divisions with approximately 3,500 employees, 11 manufacturing sites and corporate offices located in New York City, Buffalo, Chicago, Londonderry, NH and San Fernando, CA. Lactalis USA is part of Lactalis Group, the world’s leading dairy company with more than 85,500 employees worldwide and is a French family business founded in 1933 in Laval, France.

At Lactalis, our core values of AMBITION, ENGAGEMENT, and SIMPLICITY are at the heart of everything we do. If you are looking for a unique experience with a company that offers strong brands, professional expertise, and a dynamic work environment that champions entrepreneurial spirit, hands-on responsibility, and real opportunity for career development, we want to hear from you!

Lactalis USA: inviting you to share with us your STORY, your PASSION, and your EXPERTISE.

From your PASSION to ours

The Director of Government & Industry Affairs is responsible for the development and implementation of a U.S. public affairs strategy in support of the organizational and business goals of Lactalis USA and its U.S. affiliates. The incumbent will be part of the team that represents the Company to government officials at the federal, state and local level, and will oversee public funding efforts tied to the Company’s investments at its U.S. sites.

From your EXPERTISE to ours

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Leads the Government Affairs strategy and activities for the Company.
• Externally, interacts regularly with trade associations, federal, state and local officials as necessary, representing and in some cases leads/advocates for the Company’s interests with these groups. Responsible for proactively building and managing strategic relationships with key government affairs stakeholders.
• Leads the effort to increase the Company’s access to federal, state and local government grants and tax incentives.
• Leads and identifies public affairs issues through internal, cross functional collaboration with key personnel and content experts across the Company.
• Responsible for assisting the CLO and other crisis management team members in various government affairs efforts necessary during crisis situations.
• Responsible for working collaboratively across a matrix organization as a strategic business partner.
• Takes a disciplined approach to government affairs, supplemented by good instincts as well as a proven track record for knowing what the Company needs and how to get it done.
• Has an ability to distill complicated issues into simple messages and key facts.
• Espouses good corporate and individual ethics.
• Effectively uses a variety of communications tools and approaches to share work product internally.
• Leads by example and models behaviors consistent with the Lactalis Values of Ambition, Engagement with Simplicity.

Public Policy:

• Identifies and monitors current and/or emerging policy issues at the local, state and federal levels that could impact the Company’s business. Undertakes internal and external analysis of such issues, and develops a strategy to drive positive outcomes in legislation and regulation based on the Company’s policy positions.
• Represents the Company on relevant policy matters and influences positions within dairy and commercial trade associations.
• Implements an external stakeholder relationships database, tracks relationships and is responsible for public affairs stakeholder mapping.
• Develops communications such as power point presentations for internal usage.
• Develops and produces regular internal updates on public affairs activities, including briefing documents, executive summaries/updates for key management team members.
• Develops position papers for external use.

Government Funding:

• Leads the development