2025

Catherine joined ShareAction as Chief Executive in 2008. ShareAction coordinates civil society activism to promote responsible investment across Europe. She is a board member of the Scott Trust, owner of The Guardian, serving on the Scott Trust’s investment committee. She also serves on HM Treasury’s Asset Management Taskforce. She was a Member Nominated Trustee of The Pensions Trust for five years until Spring 2013. Catherine was recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2014. Whenever she gets the chance, Catherine heads off to Scotland for time in the mountains and by the sea. Her two boys keep her busy at home but she escapes for runs round the East End of London when she can.

Kevin Styles joined the Jamie Oliver Group as CEO in July 2022, bringing with him awealth of international experience and success in global markets.

With a remit to drive growth across the Group’s media, restaurant, product, partnership and social impact pillars, Kevin has already delivered a 5 year ambition business plan, rooted in delivering against the brand promise of making the world a healthier, happier place through the joy of food.

Prior to joining the Jamie Oliver Group, Kevin spent 8 years at Vue International as Group Managing Director, running eight markets across Europe. Earlier roles included CEO (Europe & UK) for American Golf, Managing Director at both Best Buy Europe and Kingfisher, as well as Group Marketing Director at Thomas Cook.

Kevin brings an impressive 30 year track record in delivering bottom line growth through strategic development, financial rigour and high performing teams within FTSE 100 and mid-size Private Equity businesses.

Keith joined British Sugar as Managing Director in June 2023 from 2 Sisters Group, where he was Managing Director of the Meal Solutions, UK Poultry and Frozen divisions since 2015. Here he headed a business that creates industry-leading prepared meals and pizzas for major UK supermarkets.

Prior to this, he was the Chief Executive of Typhoo Tea for 5 years, and he has also held key commercial roles within Britvic and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Allied Bakeries – another ABF business, where he was a National Account Manager in the late 1990s. He started his management career with Sainsburys.

Keith brings a keen focus on quality, operational and commercial excellence to British Sugar, and looks forward to continuing to embed our strategies and building relationships with customers and farmers, whilst reducing carbon intensity.

Karen joined FDF in December 2021. Prior to this, she was the Chief Executive of the Scotch Whisky Association for four years, representing the Scotch Whisky sector in the UK and export markets worldwide. 

Before joining the SWA, Karen was a diplomat in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for 16 years, where she held a variety of posts in London and overseas, including as British Ambassador to Morocco and Counsellor to the British Embassy in Washington.  She was also posted to the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels and to the British Embassy in Baghdad.

In London, Karen served in the Cabinet Office and for the Joint Intelligence Committee, as well as in several roles in the Foreign Office. Before joining Government, Karen was a lawyer at Clifford Chance, working in London and Hong Kong. Karen is an Adviser to the UK Government’s Board of Trade.

Pierre Paslier is a London-based Innovation Design Engineer who has spent his career exploring the intersection of design and technology. He started his career as a Packaging Engineer for L’Oréal, where he worked during the day and experimented with 3D-printing in his free time. This passion for innovation led him to study design at the Royal College of Art, where he co-designed one of the first consumer delta 3D-printers.

After completing his studies, Pierre co-founded two startups: Gravity Sketch, which creates 3D designs in virtual reality, and Notpla, which focuses on developing sustainable packaging. Currently, Pierre is the Co-CEO of Notpla, where he is dedicated to finding solutions to the global plastic crisis through his work on packaging made from seaweed. Notpla won Prince William’s £1,000,000 Earthshot Prize in 2022.

Pierre has a Masters degree from the RCA’s Innovation Design Engineering program and INSA de Lyon. He has written articles for Wired Magazine and given presentations at TEDx conferences in Athens and Warwick. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub and a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of Imperial College London Dyson School of Design Engineering.

Rupert Ashby succeeded Richard Harrow as chief executive in July 2022. He joins the BFFF from the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) where he had been the director of membership and regions since 2012. His early career was spent at the Co-operative Group running several of their farming businesses before moving to their Manchester headquarters as a marketing project manager. His farming experience included growing vining peas, broccoli, cauliflowers and chipping potatoes for the frozen food industry. He initially joined the CLA as a regional director in the South East region before taking on a role in London, where he lead the Regional and Membership teams. He was a member of the CLA Board and was responsible for the retention and recruitment strategy for the association.

Ashwin is responsible for the delivery of Tesco’s Product and Customer strategy across the Group. This involves building the Tesco brand globally to maximise the quality of their overall proposition to customers and for the planning, ranging, sourcing and supply of the products sold across the Group, as well as procurement for the Group.

Ashwin joined Tesco in 2010 from Mars Inc. He has worked across a number of product divisions as Category Director and Commercial Director.

Ashwin joined the Executive Committee in September 2020.

Daniel joined Dyson Farming in 2022 and brought with him valuable operational and commercial experience in fresh food and agriculture. He began his career in G’s Group and was quickly promoted into positions where he was able to direct the strategy of departments, categories, and operations, including, latterly, the business in the USA. Daniel believes that quality produce, backed by clear provenance, provides innumerable opportunities and throughout his career he has demonstable experience of enhancing business performance and profitability by developing recognisable branding, strong retail relationships and leveraging cutting-edge technology.

He is a dynamic leader and believes strongly in encouraging the professional development of his team and providing opportunities for all to showcase their talent. He is also a passionate advocate for plant forward diets and products.

Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro is a Reader at Imperial College London, where he leads a research group working on Engineering Biology and sustainability. His research focuses on the use of microorganisms to convert renewable feedstocks into valuable products (such as food ingredients). He has published over 150 articles, most on topics related to microbial bioproduction (precision, biomass and traditional fermentation). He is the director of the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein and the UKRI Micorbial Food Hub.

Rodrigo obtained his PhD at the University of Salamanca (Spain). Before joining Imperial, he carried out his postdoctoral research at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE, France). He has been a visiting researcher at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) and AIST (Japan).