Paola de Almeida currently leads Corporate R&D Strategy for Mars Incorporated. She has been with the company for 9 years and under her most current role, she has been responsible for framing Mars’ Food Security context and developing thinking in key technical strategic areas, including Quality & Food Safety, transparency, H&W, to name but a few. Prior to working with R&D strategy, Paola had tenures in Corporate Strategy, global Governance and M&A integration programs. Before Mars, Paola spent time working for Aon Hewitt, focused on client relationship management for operational management initiatives servicing CPG, Consulting and Pharmaceutical clients. She holds an undergraduate degree in Economics and Anthropology from Rutgers University and graduate degrees in Project Management from Lehigh University, as well as Negotiation and Strategic R&D Management accreditation, both from INSEAD.