John R. Nelson,President, Operations and Technology
Philip Morris USA
John R. Nelson was appointed President, Operations and Technology of Philip Morris USA in April 2002. Mr. Nelson previously served as President of Philip Morris USA in New York and President of Philip Morris International in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Mr. Nelson joined Philip Morris USA in 1982 as a Research Analyst in the Corporate Affairs department. From 1984 to 1989, he held positions of increasing responsibility in Corporate Affairs. In September 1989, he was named Vice President, Corporate Affairs, and in April 1992, he was appointed Senior Vice President.
In September 1992, Mr. Nelson was appointed Senior Vice President, Planning & Information Services. One year later he was appointed Senior Vice President, Business Development, the group responsible for the development of new non-conventional cigarettes with the potential for reducing the health risks of smoking. In November 1997, he was appointed Senior Vice President, Operations, for Philip Morris USA, responsible for Manufacturing, Leaf, Purchasing, Research, Development & Engineering, and Quality Systems.
Prior to joining Philip Morris USA, Mr. Nelson was Associate Study Director of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago from 1980 to 1982, and a Research Associate for the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council from 1978 to 1979. He is also the author of several monographs, including Liberty and Property: Political Economy and Policymaking in the New Nation, 1987.
Mr. Nelson, a resident of Richmond, Virginia, graduated from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1974 with a B.A. degree in political science and history. In 1979 he received his doctorate in economic history from Northern Illinois University in De Kalb, Illinois.