ST LOUIS — Chris Samuel has departed Bayer after 12 years with Monsanto in senior global corporate affairs roles, culminating in his most recent position leading corporate, new technology and activism issues management.

Samuel's decision to leave comes one year after Monsanto was acquired by Bayer. He joined Monsanto in India in 2007, rising up the ranks to regional corporate affairs director in Singapore before relocating to the company's St Louis HQ in 2016.

During his tenure as global corporate preparedness and engagement lead, Samuel led strategy to protect company reputation and operations from the anti-Monsanto Tribunal, and March against Monsanto protests. 

"I found tremendous fulfilment advocating for farmers and transformative innovation, enabling public policy, catalyzing public-private partnerships, and embracing diverse cultures," Samuel told the Holmes Report.

"I am deeply grateful to colleagues, farmers, NGOs, government officials, journalists, academics, activists and agency partners (Edelman, Fleishman, JWT) for engaging on sustainability, human rights, transparency, data privacy or drones with openness, a healthy scepticism, candour and transparency," he added.

Samuel said that he is currently evaluating global corporate affairs opportunities, with a particular focus on "helping organizations shape and enhance their social impact and reputation."

Prior to Monsanto, Samuel was GM at Sam Balsara’s Madison PR in Mumbai, where his influencer marketing work for P&G first caught the eye.

Bayer representatives did not respond to request for comment as this story went live. The company's corporate affairs is now led by SVP Matthias Berninger.