Simon was appointed as Chief Executive on 1 June 2020, having joined Sainsbury’s and the Operating Board in July 2017 as Retail & Operations Director, with responsibility for Stores, Central Operations and Logistics. He is a member of the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Committee. Simon has worked in retail for over 35 years, having started at Marks and Spencer and joined Sainsbury’s from Boots where he was Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance and President of Boots UK and Ireland. Simon is President of IGD, a Member of the Government’s Retail Sector Council and an Advisory Board Member of Diversity in Retail.

Simon is leading Sainsbury’s plan to become First choice for food. Under Simon’s stewardship, Sainsbury’s has launched its Plan for Better, which is integrated into our strategy and includes a bold commitment to become net zero across our own operations by 2035. Simon has led significant investments into colleague pay, most recently leading the industry in paying the Living Wage across the whole country. Simon is the Operating Board Sponsor for Inclusion and is a dedicated, determined and enthusiastic champion for our customers and colleagues and for inclusion and diversity across our company.

Appointed in 2023 as Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo Europe, Archana oversees the development and acceleration of PepsiCo’s sustainability strategy (known as PepsiCo Positive) in Europe.

In her previous role as Vice President Climate, Water & Sustainable Ops at PepsiCo Europe and Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo, UK & Ireland, Archana led PepsiCo Europe’s drive to be a Net Zero and a Net Water Positive company, trialling and scaling several industry leading technologies within the value chain. Prior to that, she also led PepsiCo’s packaging sustainability agenda and drove the company’s effort towards reducing, recycling and reinventing beverage and snacks packaging.

Archana brings a strong commercial and strategic background as well as geographically diverse experience to this agenda. She has a strong track record of driving business growth, both at GlaxoSmithKline where she led multiple brands and categories across the globe (Europe, Africa and Asia) and at The Bountiful Company where she led marketing and business development for the international region (all ex-US).

Before she moved to the industry, Archana was an Associate Partner at global consulting firm, McKinsey & Co. across India, Brussels and London, serving clients in the consumer and healthcare verticals. She advised clients on topics ranging from corporate strategy to marketing plans to operational effectiveness.

Archana currently co-chairs the Towards Net Zero coalition at The Consumer Goods Forum, a coalition of 20+ companies aiming to make progress towards decarbonising our industry.

Lorna joined Hilton Foods in September 2017. She has extensive experience in the food industry, working in both retail and food manufacturing. Previously, she spent 15 years at Tesco in senior quality roles. Lorna has worked across many food product areas and has worked closely with the Food Standards Agency and the Global Food Safety Initiative. She was previously the Chair of the Campden BRI Scientific & Technical Committee, a co-opted member of the Campden BRI board and held roles on the International Advisory Board for BRC Global Standards and the British Retail Consortium Food Strategy Group

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.

Self-confessed veg nerd, Guy Singh-Watson has over the last 30 years taken Riverford from one man and a wheelbarrow delivering homegrown organic veg to friends, to a national veg box scheme delivering to around 50,000 customers a week.

Guy is an inspirational, passionate, opinionated and admired figure in the world of organic farming, who still spends more time in the fields than in the boardroom. Twice awarded BBC Radio 4 Farmer of the Year, Guy is passionate about sharing with others the organic farming and business knowledge he has accumulated over the last three decades. His video rants have provided a powerful platform to do this, with a video on pesticides going viral on Facebook to reach 5.6 million views and 91,000 shares. His weekly veg box newsletters connect customers to the farm with refreshingly honest accounts of the trials and tribulations of producing organic food, and the occasional rant about farming, ethical and business issues he feels strongly about.

Guy has always believed that organic food should not be elitist, but accessible for everyone. He has built Riverford to give a fair deal to all – growers, staff, customers and the planet. All of this was recognised in 2015 when Riverford veg boxes were awarded Ethical Product of the Decade at the Observer Ethical Awards.

Elaine joined the British Nutrition Foundation in 2022. Previously, Elaine was Chief Executive of The Drinkaware Trust, and prior to that, Director, External Affairs at The Children’s Society. Elaine is a former trustee of learning disability charity, Mencap, and is a trustee of the drug and alcohol treatment charity, Change Grow Live.

Previously, Elaine’s career included senior marketing and commercial roles with Nokia, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, The Coca–Cola Company, Beiersdorf AG and Boots plc. She has worked in markets across the globe and lived in Europe and the USA. 

James Bailey joined The John Lewis Partnership in April 2020. He is the Executive Director, Waitrose and a member of the Partnership’s Executive Committee, reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Nish Kankiwala.

Previously James spent 18 years working at Sainsbury’s in Strategic, Insight and Commercial roles culminating in the last 8 as Buying Director for the Grocery division. His key personal achievements include pioneering on colleague well being, switching Sainsbury’s milk supply to a cost of production model and establishing ‘Future Brands’ function to support start up food suppliers.

Since James’s arrival at Waitrose he has redrawn the Agriculture Strategy for the John Lewis Partnership. At its heart is transparency of the supply chain, a net zero UK farming supply base by 2035, reduction in waste on farms and in the wider supply chain, and maintaining the highest standards of animal welfare.

James has also held roles in the NHS and Barclays. He is also an active advisor to, investor in and even founder of start up business and social enterprises – focus on food but also education technology and last mile logistics tech.

 Minette Batters was the first woman to be elected President of the National Farmers’ Union in 113yrs. She’s represented the interests of over 46,000 farming businesses across England and Wales through unprecedented times, navigating the challenges of Brexit, Covid 19 and the war in Ukraine. During this time, she worked with four Prime Ministers – three of them in one year – and six Defra Secretaries of State. She stood down from the post in February 2024. 

Campaigning about the importance of British food and farming and its ability to achieve Net Zero has been a key driver for Minette. In 2020 she led the NFU on one of the most successful campaigns ever seen, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts – resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. Minette also co-founded ‘Ladies in Beef’ and the Great British Beef Week. She has regularly engaged with different media, including frequent appearances on the ‘Today’ programme, ‘Question Time’, ‘Any Questions’, ‘Desert Island Discs’, Woman’s Hour and other national print and broadcast media. She is currently writing a monthly piece for Country Life magazine. 

Minette is mother to twins and is a tenant farmer, on the Longford Estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire. She began farming in 1998 having sold her house and negotiated the farm business tenancy, starting with fifteen beef cows but fulfilling a lifetime ambition to farm. Today the farm has a Spring and Autumn calving Aberdeen Angus beef herd, arable crops and a few sheep. The business is widely diversified, with a wedding and events venue in a 17th century tithe barn, holiday cottages, and winter grazing for polo ponies, alongside a recently restored walled garden growing native British flowers. Minette trained as a Cordon Bleu chef, and was a former amateur jockey, riding 30 point to point winners, alongside working for champion National Hunt racehorse trainer David Elsworth. 

She’s an ambassador for Farm Africa and a passionate advocate and fundraiser for the Junior Diabetic Research Foundation. She’s run in four marathons, raising over £100,000 for charity. In 2021 Minette was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and in July 2024 she was made a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. 

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.

Andrew has spent 26 years with Bidcorp primarily developing  business in the UK, as well as businesses in Turkey, the Middle East, the Baltics and Spain. He became CEO of Bidfood in 2014, and sits on the global leadership Foodservice Group within Bidcorp, Bidfood’s parent company.

Andrew also has responsibility for Bidcorps other businesses in the UK, Bidfresh (fruit and veg, fresh meat and fresh fish wholesalers), Bidcorp Manufacturing business, Caterfood Buying Group, and Snowden and Bridge Imports business.

Bidcorp employs more than 7,000 people in the UK with a shared focus on service excellence, sustainability, food innovation and delivering great value.

Andrew was also appointed Chairman of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors in January 2017, handing over the role at the end of 2019.  Andrew is also a commissioner on the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, and is involved in other sustainable business initiatives such as Better Business Act coalition.

Prior to joining Bidfood Andrew’s career began at Coca-Cola Enterprises, where he worked his way up from Graduate Trainee to Trading Director of the wholesale division.

Bas has spent nearly a decade as a senior executive in Arla, as part of a 30-year career working with some of the world’s best known consumer brands. His most recent role is as Regional Head for South East Asia, where he manages a team of 300 direct employees and 1500 distributors and representatives, a factory in Bangladesh, and offices right across the region.

As a member of the International Leadership Team (ILT), Bas has been focused on developing an inclusive culture, delivering growth, managing talent and developing skills in his region, and also driving the sustainability agenda.

Bas has a strong track record in leading teams and developing the right culture to deliver growth and financial success, and throughout his career he has led successful programmes of change and business transformation.

Bas is Dutch and prior to joining Arla Bas gained extensive experience in senior leadership roles with global businesses. He also has an International MBA and later joined the international dairy company Friesland Campina as head of a business unit responsible for meat substitutes which led to him joining Arla Foods.

On joining Arla Bas held the position of Vice President and Managing Director of the Netherlands, before being promoted to Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the Netherlands, Belgium and France. He became Regional Head for South East Asia in 2021.

Bas is father of 4 children and married to Margriet. He enjoys family time, travelling, good food, skiing and running. He will move to the UK with his wife and two youngest children, while his two oldest children will continue studying in the Netherlands.

Tim Fitzgerald was appointed American Seafoods’ first Chief Sustainability Officer in 2021. In this role he oversees all aspects of the company’s sustainability strategy, including initiatives on carbon accounting and decarbonization, optimization of packaging and operational waste, technology innovation and ESG reporting. Prior to joining American Seafoods Tim spent nearly two decades with Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program, leading their global engagement with the seafood industry, investors and multilateral organizations. He is an insufferable ocean optimist and sucker for cool gadgets.

This is Rowan. He joined us in 2001 and has since held a number of senior roles at Tate & Lyle from strategy, corporate affairs and communications to HR and company secretariat. He became our EVP, Corporate Affairs, in November 2014.

With over 20 years of Tate & Lyle experience, Rowan has a deep knowledge and understanding of our company and industry. Rowan and his team are responsible for our global external and digital corporate communications, our global government and community relations and bringing our purpose of Transforming Lives Through the Science of Food to life. Rowan also leads the company’s sustainability programme. Prior to joining Tate & Lyle, he worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland, National Westminster Bank, Linklaters and Deloitte.

A History graduate from York University, Rowan is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute.

Rowan is partial to a prawn cocktail, should it feature on the menu!

Rebecca joined the FSA in April 2019 as Director of Policy.

Rebecca has extensive experience as a Senior Civil Servant in the Treasury and in the Department for Work and Pensions. Her previous civil service roles have focused on social policy – particularly benefits design and reform, labour market policy and programmes to support the most disadvantaged into work.

More recently, Rebecca has held Director of Strategy roles at Peabody, one of the UK’s largest housing associations, and at City, University of London. She has also been a Trustee of Shaw Trust  (a national charity helping people gain an education, enter work, develop their career, improve their wellbeing or rebuild their lives) and Chair of Ixion Holdings, a subsidiary of Shaw Trust delivering education and learning nationwide.

Beginning his career at Unilever in sales and marketing, Dan joined NESI in 2003. Since then, he has been instrumental in elevating NESI from a small family-run importer to a renowned large-scale processor and strategic partner for leading retailers and food service customers.

Now serving as Group Seafood Chief Executive Officer aligned with Sealaska’s global ocean health platform Woocheen, Dan is dedicated to developing a consumer-led, Trans-Atlantic seafood business. His focus is on enhancing consumption and value for sustainable wild capture and farmed fish.

Richard is an experienced board member and executive with a proven track record of business transformation and leadership through innovation, focussed on addressing the global challenges we face today.   For the past five years, Richard has held different roles in the European innovation arena, and is now Chief Executive of EIT Food, Europe’s largest food innovation community.  Creating a sustainable future is foundational to Richard’s work.  He has studied and worked on the complex systemic issues which need to be tackled if we are to achieve a sustainable future for people and the planet, and his work at EIT Food is focussed on bringing innovation to tackle the environmental and societal challenges at the heart of the food system

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.

Helen farms in a family partnership on a mostly tenanted organic farm in Wiltshire with dairy, beef, pigs, cereals, agroforestry and small scale horticulture. Her products are sold through the Helen Browning’s Organic brand in retailers as well as through her hotel and restaurant/pub on the farm.

Her book ‘PIG; tales from an organic farm’, written with her partner Tim Finney, tells more about the trials and tribulations of their farming and food life.

She has been Chief Executive of the Soil Association since 2011, after a long involvement with the charity in a variety of exec and non-exec roles. Prior to rejoining the Soil Association, Helen was Director of External Affairs for the National Trust.

She is currently a Commissioner and trustee of the Food Farming and Countryside Commission and has had a number of roles in agri-politics over the years, including the Government’s Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (‘the Curry Commission’), chaired the England Animal Health and Welfare Implementation Group and the Food Ethics Council. Helen was awarded an OBE in 1998 for her services to organic farming.

Anna joined The Food Foundation as its first Executive Director at the beginning of June 2015 after five years at the Department for International Development. At DFID Anna led the policy team on nutrition and supported the delivery of the UK’s global commitments to tackle undernutrition. Before joining DFID Anna worked for a number of international organisations including Save the Children and UNICEF and has been at the forefront of international leadership on nutrition for several years, supporting programmes in a wide range of contexts in Africa and South Asia. Anna has also worked for the UK Department of Health. In 2014 she was awarded an OBE for her work to address the global burden of undernutrition. She did a MSc in Human Nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1994. In May 2017 Anna became a member of the London Food Board to advise the Mayor of London and the GLA on the food matters that affect Londoners. She is a Board member for Veg Power and an advisor to the International Food Policy Research Institute. She served as Chief Independent Adviser to Henry Dimbleby for the development of the National Food Strategy published in 2021.

Sue is the Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Sue leads the organisation in its mission to bring people together to act on the climate, nature and health crises, through fairer and more sustainable food systems, and a just transition for rural communities and the countryside.

Sue’s background is in combined research and practice in leadership and organisation development for systems change, working with leaders across public, private and not for profit organisations, especially on complex partnership projects.

She is a Trustee of CoFarm Foundation and is an independent Governor at Royal Agricultural University. Living on an organic farm in Wales, Sue and her family raise livestock and farm for conservation.

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.

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.

Ivo Mulder leads UNEP’s Climate Finance Unit (CFU) which focuses specifically on the need to transition to sustainable land use from a climate, nature and livelihood perspective. The unit covers a growing portfolio of (blended) finance instruments, business incubators and other initiatives that have actively unlocked >USD 1 billion in public and especially private capital over the past 5 years towards sustainable agriculture, forestry, restoration and other sectors in developing countries with demonstrable positive impact on climate, nature and people. The team consists of 15 staff and consultants based in Geneva, Nairobi, Jakarta, Sao Paulo and Brasilia.

Ivo also co-founded the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA), which was launched at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in 2012 and signed by CEOs of more than 40 finance institutions. It paved the way for the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD), the nature equivalent to the TCFD. Ivo has published extensively in the field of nature, climate and sustainable finance, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and summits with over 20 years of professional experience working for UNEP, private consulting firms and with non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Tara McCarthy is global vice president of ESG at Alltech and supports the company’s advancement of its vision of Working Together for a Planet of Plenty™, which focuses on three key pillars of planetary well-being — economic, environmental and social.

She was previously the chief executive officer of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, since 2017 and has more than 25 years of experience in the wider food industry. Prior to Bord Bia, she was chief executive officer for Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s seafood development agency, and has lived and operated in overseas markets such as Germany, France and Belgium for more than 10 years.

McCarthy is passionate about the opportunities that can be found within sustainably produced food and has worked across the supply chain to develop insights and industry partnerships. She has led numerous capability initiatives and developmental support programs for students, early career executives and entrepreneurs within the food industry for more than a decade, forming successful partnerships both nationally and internationally. In 2019, she co-founded Agdif, an industry initiative championing diversity in the Irish food industry. She has represented Ireland’s food industry globally, speaking on Origin Green, Ireland’s unique national sustainability program. In 2021, she led the establishment of the Origin Green Global Council.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from National University of Ireland, Galway (UCG) and a Master of Business Studies in marketing from University College Dublin (UCD) Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. McCarthy is an affiliate of the IMD Business School in Switzerland. She has been recognized with a number of awards, including UCG Alumna of the Year for Business and Commerce in 2017; Fellowship of the Marketing Institute of Ireland as well as Top 25 Ireland’s Most Powerful Women – Public Sector Leaders Award in 2018; and UCD Smurfit School Alumna of the Year in 2019.

She lives in Dublin with her husband, Didier, and their three children.

Dr David Bryngelsson is a climate-tech entrepreneur, and founder and chief executive officer of CarbonCloud, the food industry’s climate-intelligence platform. Dr Bryngelsson spent eight years immersed in climate-change mitigation as a published researcher and lecturer at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, before mobilising a team of scientists, developers and climate-accountable business developers to build the digital infrastructure for climate transparency throughout the food supply chain. Today he steers CarbonCloud towards empowering the food system to mitigate climate change, and shares insights and solutions in forums around the world.

atrick Holden is the founder and CEO of the Sustainable Food Trust, whose mission is to work internationally to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable food and farming systems.

Between 1995 and 2010, he was Director of the Soil Association, the UK organic advocacy and certification organisation, where he played a leading role in developing the organic standards and market.

He currently leads a task force on measuring land use sustainability for the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), established by the then Prince of Wales in 2020.

Patrick trained in Biodynamic farming at Emerson College and has farmed for over 50 years on a 300-acre mixed organic dairy holding, now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales, producing a raw milk cheddar from the milk of 85 Ayrshire cows.

He received a CBE for services to organic farming in 2005 and is Patron of the UK Bio-dynamic Agriculture Association. He became an Ashoka Fellow in 2016 and was awarded an honorary doctorate for his international work in sustainable agriculture by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2022.

Lisa Spicka de Bevacqua is a sustainability leader in the natural products industry and the Global Director of NSF’s Sustainability Consulting group. She helps clients design and integrate sustainability strategies that address ESG reporting, climate action, and supply chain integrity. These solutions enable the scaling of services and products that measurably improve environmental and social impacts, reduce risk, increase brand equity, and contribute to a circular and regenerative community.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Nebraska and a Master of Business Administration in Global Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management with a sustainable supply chain development specialization. Her expertise revolves around supply chain sustainability integrity and corporate strategy and reporting, with a deep understanding of food manufacturing operations, organic and food safety regulations, and corporate sustainability. Her prior experience includes global leadership in operations and project management, non-profits, supplier management, and sustainable supply chain development.

David, who was Senior Technical Manager at Winterbotham Darby (now part of the newly formed Compleat Food Group) brings with him over 20 years of experience working in the food production industry. Previous roles include Senior Business Development Manager at Oritain; Head of Technical Supply Base at New England Seafood, and he also spent over eight years at Sainsbury’s in various technical roles.

David will be leading on the development and delivery of The Compleat Food Group’s new ESG strategy, as the newly formed group seeks to create great quality, tasty food in a sustainable way that delivers a positive impact on the world..

 Simon is the CEO and Co-founder of Agreena, the world’s leading soil carbon platform that focuses on helping farmers save and feed the planet by adopting regenerative practices. Agreena is now operating in 14 countries andis experiencing exponential growth. 

Haldrup is a digitally minded business leader with 15 yearsof transformation experience from within the bankingindustry – where he was the Executive Vice President ofBusiness Development with a primary focus on business model innovation, end-to-end digitalization and regulatory implementation. Commercially and strategically anchored, he has extensive experience in technology, finance, risk, business and product development. 

He received his M.S. from the Technical University ofDenmark in Engineering and Robotics before going toIMD for Strategic Finance, and then MIT Sloan Schoolof Management.

Samantha Deacon leads Ramboll’s ecological risk assessment practice in the UK and is a core member of Ramboll’s ecosystem services task force. She has over 15 years’ experience in environmental regulation, consultancy and research in the assessment of chemicals in the environment. Her recent work at Rambollincludes advising clients on ecosystem services analysis, environmental damage under the Environmental Liabilities Directive, chemical risk assessments for REACH, ecological risk assessment of contaminated soils, river and harbour sediments, and the risk assessment of composting bioaerosols (as expert witness in a national planning inquiry). Samantha has previously managed a regulatory programme of research to develop a decision-making framework for assessing risks to ecosystems from land contamination. In her eleven years in regulation, she contributed to over 65 publications, scientific papers and conference presentations including more than 50 Environment Agency technical reports. She holds an MSc in Ecotoxicology of Natural Populations from the University of Reading and a BSc (Hons) in Biology from Royal Holloway, University of London

Marija Rompani is a Director of Ethics and Sustainability at John Lewis Partnership where she is driving and delivering change critical to achieving its purpose ‘For a happier world’ for two much loved Waitrose and John Lewis brands. 

Marija joined the Partnership in 2021 with over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing strategies across retail, FMCG and finance sectors. 

Marija is passionate about nature, transforming the food system and driving responsible consumerism.  In 2022 Partnership renewed its focus on protecting and restoring nature and published a Plan for Nature outlining new commitments and recognising the urgency to stop biodiversity loss. 

Prior to joining John Lewis Partnership, Marija worked at Federated Hermes, Sainsbury’s, Reckitt, UBS and BSI. She is also a trustee of John Lewis Foundation and Waitrose Foundation. Marija holds M.Eng in Environmental engineering and B.Eng in Chemical engineering from Belgrade University, Serbia.

Emer leads a team of specialists developing and delivering the Hilton Foods Sustainable Protein Plan across their global operations. This plan covers people, the planet, and product. Hilton Foods is a leading specialist food packing business that supplies and partners with major international food retailers and food service companies across the UK, Europe, and Australasia.

Before this, she was an agriculture manager at Tesco responsible for the pig meat supply chain from conception to slaughter, animal welfare reporting and responsible antibiotic use across species.

Emer is currently a board member of the ERBS, on the governance board for the UK Soy Manifesto, and on the Stakeholder Advisory Board for the Animal Research Network. She was the nominated retail representative for four years for the Red Tractor Pigs Board and their Technical Advisory Committee. She has contributed to thought leadership in relevant areas through peer-reviewed publications and creating content promoting industry and academic discussion.

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.

Andy Wright has a background in environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility, with experience in roles such as Responsible Business Director at Samworth Brothers, Head Of Sustainability at Greencore, and Non-Executive Director at Treligan. Andy has also held positions at Sainsbury’s, Tulip Ltd, WSP Environment & Energy, and Grontmij | Carl Bro throughout their caree.

With a double academic background of agricultural engineer and human nutritionist, Simon Bonnet has always worked to transform the food value chain through the development of healthier and/or more environmentally friendly products, whether through experiences within the innovation, nutrition or marketing departments of different agri-food companies. After more than 10 years with the Bel Group, he has now returned to his first love and is in charge of the transformation towards a more sustainable dairy upstream as Global Milk Purchase Director for the Bel Group. Its mission is to implement the transformation and transition towards a more sustainable dairy upstream according to the Global Charter co-constructed and co-signed with WWF in 2018. On the 9 dairy basins where Bel operates, his main objective is today to ensure a fair and trustful collaboration with the dairy farmers to ensure the resilience of milk supply while reducing its contribution to climate change. 

Mark specialises in the rural business, agriculture, horticulture, food manufacture, education and healthcare industries as well as supporting organisations from a wide range of sectors to develop and deliver impactful sustainability and ESG strategies. 

As one of the authors of the firm’s Dynamic ESG service suite, Mark is well placed to guide business leaders through the process of integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into their operations with an emphasis on measurable outcomes and RoI.  

Mark has worked in both the public sector and private enterprise, bringing a dedication and enthusiasm to the unique challenges each provides. With an auditor’s eye for detail, he has become known for his sharp insights and capacity for business transformation. 

Mark has won numerous awards for his work including National Finance Director of the Year 2007, the ICAEW’s National Accounting for Sustainability award in 2012, Finance Director magazine’s National Business Finance Director 2014, the Institute for Fiscal Turnaround’s Public Sector Award 2016 and the Institute of Directors’ Blue Ribbon for Governance and Finance Excellence in 2018. 

He is also a trustee of a charity delivering education in Ethiopia, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, a Member of the Guild of Freemen and a Member of the CBI’s South East Council. 

Mark re-joined MHA again in 2019 having originally trained here in 1997.

Jonathan Lane is the Managing Director of ADM Agriculture and ADM UK Country Manager, bringing 25 years of experience in the agribusiness industry. He has played a pivotal role in shaping ADM’s climate-smart strategy in the UK and is deeply committed to driving innovation in the agri-food sector. Jonathan is also passionate about mentoring and developing employees, helping them achieve their professional goals.

Matteo Cunial comes from a family of farmers in the North-Eastern Italy. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and explored the business world as a Business Analyst at McKinsey, where he worked on various digital strategy projects across Europe. His professional journey took a significant turn in 2017 when he co-founded Farm Technologies, a cutting-edge AgTech startup focused on building agricultural decision support systems. In 2021, Farm Technologies merged with xFarm to create xFarm Technologies. In this new phase, Matteo Cunial assumed the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), overseeing the group’s sales and post-sales activities.

Martin Schichtel graduated with a doctorate degree in Chemistry from the University of Saarland with a focus on Nanoparticle Composites and Smart Coatings. He led the Department of Ceramics at the Institute for New Materials and has 20 years of experience in material development for multiple industries. Martin co-founded Kraftblock to enable the energy transition and the decarbonization of the industrial sector with a sustainable and cost-efficient high-temperature energy storage.

David joined LEAF as Chief Executive Officer in September 2023, before this David worked as Director of Sustainability and External Affairs for the UK Grocery Division of Associated British Foods (ABF). David joined ABF via W. Jordans (Cereals) Ltd. David worked closely with founders Bill and David Jordan to publicise the Jordans breakfast cereal brand and its longstanding commitment to wildlife friendly farming. Jordans was acquired by ABF in 2008 and David subsequently went on to lead sustainability for the Jordans & Ryvita Company, before being promoted to the position of Divisional Director for Grocery in 2017.

He has a deep interest in farming and wildlife stemming from this work, and in particular the formation of the highly respected Jordans Farm Partnership, through which he worked alongside longstanding farm suppliers to the Jordans business together with LEAF, the Wildlife Trusts and The Prince’s Countryside Fund.

Dan McGlynn is an Account Executive developing the UK & Irish markets and was the first hire outside of North America, part of a global expansion strategy to build on TraceGains rapidly growing international business. Dan has spent the last 8 years as a Senior sales professional working in the data and software industry selling directly into the food industry working on compliance & sustainability projects within the largest Grocery Retail, Manufacturing and Agricultural companies in the region..

Sam Elsom is a passionate environmentalist with over 16 years experience in sustainability. Having founded one of Australia’s first sustainable apparel businesses to measuring social and environmental impact across supply chains as well as implementing a satellite factory in India to support poor communities with income, training, clean water and education. Sam was drawn to explore seaweed cultivation for its impressive capacity to sequester CO2 as a potential solution to reverse Climate Change

David created 600 strategy to help purposeful businesses find their missions beyond profit, and organise themselves to deliver. Having worked with a range of landowners across the UK, he sees the potential for well-managed land to meet society’s needs for food, fibre, timber, biodiversity, climate and more. But it takes effort from land managers, who also need a fair reward for their work.

David has a PhD in ecology, an MSc in environmental management systems and is a Chartered Environmentalist. He’s a Trustee for the John Lewis Partnership Foundation and chairs their Nature Fund Committee, and is a Trustee for the National Park City Foundation.

Catherine is a senior leader in the sustainability sector, with experience in developing and nurturing partnerships for impact. Catherine joined WRAP in October 2021, bringing experience from roles at The Fairtrade Foundation and The Coop. 

Catherine is passionate about building a fairer and more sustainable planet for future generations. Her responsibilities at WRAP include leadership of our business collaboration work – including through our voluntary agreements on food, plastics and textiles – as well as oversight of WRAP’s citizen behaviour change activities.

Annie’s background in is the food sector. Over the last 25 years she has worked in both fresh and grocery, own-label and branded companies at board level.

Experienced in both grower-focused and food manufacturing businesses Annie understands both the commercial opportunities and financial challenges that can present themselves in this sector.

“I joined the MHA DESG team to support businesses wishing to embark on a commercially viable ESG journey. There has never been a more critical need to manage both climate and commerce effectively.”

Kim Schoppink is the Regional Lead for Europe of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). She leads the organizations engagement with European companies and sector initiatives on setting climate targets that are in line with a 1.5 degrees pathway. Before joining SBTi last year she worked at the Rainforest Alliance as Global Advocacy Lead supporting companies and governments in their efforts to stimulate implementation of regenerative agriculture..

Anna-Mari has worked for 7 years at Gasum in different positions for biogas production. Gasum has biogas plants in Finland, Sweden and now also in Denmark. Yearly Gasum is handling over 1 million tonnes of different residues and wastes. On top of the biogas production Gasum ownes filling stations in the Nordics and bunkering activities of LNG to the maritime sector. Anna-Mari’s team oversees sourcing of all the feedstocks to the Gasum biogas portfolio and they take care of the organic fertiliser deliveries to all Gasum farms. Using organic practices, Gasum’s fertiliser contains nutrients from biowastes that looks after soil health with low CO2 emissions. A fully circular model.

Dr. Robert Gerlach: Entrepreneur and scientist focussing on the interface between technology and sustainability. 15 years of experience in sustainable product development and cleantech research and development. Originator of the Sustainable Business Model Canvas and the Impact Canvas, founder of Threebility, lecturer at ESCP and TU-Berlin. PhD in Engineering (Oxford University). Enabling farmers and the food industry to master the regenerative transformation at speed and at scale with Klim.

Anya is the Director of Foodsteps. Over the past three years, Foodsteps has become a trusted data science provider for food businesses globally, helping them measure, report, and reduce food and drink-related emissions. Before founding Foodsteps, Anya conducted research at the University of Cambridge on the environmental impact of food supply chains. She is a co-author of the largest scientific study on carbon labeling for food and serves as a trustee and advisor to two non-profits in the food and environmental sectors. As a young leader of a green-tech enterprise, Anya is driving a fundamental shift in the approach to sustainability in both the food and tech industries.

Throughout his academic and professional career, Dominik has been devoted to creating more sustainable farming systems through developing and delivering innovations and concepts that are aligned to the concept of Regenerative Agriculture.

His expertise in strategy and programme development, structure and implementation allowed him to direct multinational programmes with diverse partners. A particular objective was to integrate farmers into regenerative value chains and to deliver innovation to increase their productivity and resource-use efficiency. This included the development of carbon credit schemes to monetize a shift to more sustainable farming, value-chain partnerships to diversify agricultural production into more resilient crops, and methodologies to better quantify the impact of farming across the main pillars of sustainability.

Dominik lectures on Sustainable Agriculture in various Swiss Universities and acts as an advisor to several multilateral organisations to direct their investment towards creating more regenerative and resilient farming systems.

Duncan Williams leads Forum for the Future’s work in Regenerative Agriculture across the UK and Europe. Duncan leads several multi-stakeholder collaborations focused on finding ways to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture, nature-based solutions and improving soil health. These collaborations also aim to better understand the needs of the industry, pilot and scale new business models, and build supply-chain readiness for the transition to regenerative agriculture.

Duncan has a background in sustainable agriculture, having worked for over a decade as a Veterinarian, technical advisor, and sustainability consultant. He holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the University of Exeter, a Bachelor’s in Veterinary Medicine from Royal Veterinary College London, and is a Nuffield Scholar.

Forum for the Future is a leading international non-profit organisation whose mission is to accelerate progress towards a just and regenerative future. Forum brings a unique blend of futures skills and insights together with systems change strategic advice to business partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaborations.

Simon De Nys joined Soil Capital two years ago as a Corporate Sales Specialist. He supports agri-food companies in their decarbonization efforts, advancing regenerative agriculture to strengthen food system resilience and drive climate action as part of their global net-zero strategies. Among his key accounts, Simon collaborates closely with Boortmalt, the worldwide leader in the malting industry, as Soil Capital is their partner in implementing regenerative agriculture practices within the malt industry. A Belgian native, Simon holds a business degree from the prestigious CEMS MiM program, with studies at LSM (Belgium), VSE (Prague), and KU (South Korea). Prior to joining Soil Capital, he gained valuable experience in impact investing.

Lorena is the Mission Lead for Healthier Lives Through Food at EIT Food, where she drives innovation and fosters partnerships to accelerate transitions to healthier, sustainable food systems. She co-leads the Healthy Ageing Think & Do Tank and Protein Diversification initiatives. With over 20 years of global leadership experience in FMCG and Foodservice, Lorena has led innovation, business development, and marketing at companies like Kraft Foods and Burger King. She has also developed clean label and sustainability strategies as a senior consultant, bridging business and science to deliver impactful food solutions.

ffinlo is the Editor-in-Chief of 8point9.com and has worked in farming, land and food business policy for over 20 years. As Chief Executive of Farmwel (2016-2022) he gave evidence to UK parliamentary committees and advised ministers and the Committee on Climate Change on the role of agricultural climate gases. ffinlo founded the Food & Global Security Network in 2020 and published Soil Health: A security threat profile, prior to COP26. ffinlo has presented at the European Parliament and advised ministers and senior leadership teams in many European countries. His TEDx Talk, ‘We can’t solve the climate crisis without cows’, has proved highly popular with regenerative farmers and innovators.

Juliane Caillouette Noble came to The Sustainable Restaurant Association (The SRA) as Development Director in 2016 after five years running Jamie Oliver’s programmes for improving school food and food education across the UK. The SRA is committed to accelerating change toward an environmentally restorative and socially progressive hospitality sector around the world. With a background in nutrition and a love of good food, her career has been deeply engaged in global food policy issues ranging from sustainable farming and urban growing to food education and school food systems. Juliane became the Managing Director of The SRA in January 2021 and is focused on growing the impact of The SRA around the world. 

Claire is an experienced public affairs, policy and communications professional, working as the Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research for The Vegan Society in the United Kingdom in order to accelerate the vegan movement and achieve its strategic goals. She has been in this role for two and a half year, prior to this role she worked in a political and comms consultancy for nearly five years where she provided strategic advice, stakeholder engagement, project management and analysis of politics and media to a number of corporate clients, specialising in the health, FMCG, charity and tech sectors.

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).

Simon was appointed as Chief Executive on 1 June 2020, having joined Sainsbury’s and the Operating Board in July 2017 as Retail & Operations Director, with responsibility for Stores, Central Operations and Logistics. He is a member of the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Committee. Simon has worked in retail for over 35 years, having started at Marks and Spencer and joined Sainsbury’s from Boots where he was Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance and President of Boots UK and Ireland. Simon is President of IGD, a Member of the Government’s Retail Sector Council and an Advisory Board Member of Diversity in Retail.

Simon is leading Sainsbury’s plan to become First choice for food. Under Simon’s stewardship, Sainsbury’s has launched its Plan for Better, which is integrated into our strategy and includes a bold commitment to become net zero across our own operations by 2035. Simon has led significant investments into colleague pay, most recently leading the industry in paying the Living Wage across the whole country. Simon is the Operating Board Sponsor for Inclusion and is a dedicated, determined and enthusiastic champion for our customers and colleagues and for inclusion and diversity across our company.

Appointed in 2023 as Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo Europe, Archana oversees the development and acceleration of PepsiCo’s sustainability strategy (known as PepsiCo Positive) in Europe.

In her previous role as Vice President Climate, Water & Sustainable Ops at PepsiCo Europe and Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo, UK & Ireland, Archana led PepsiCo Europe’s drive to be a Net Zero and a Net Water Positive company, trialling and scaling several industry leading technologies within the value chain. Prior to that, she also led PepsiCo’s packaging sustainability agenda and drove the company’s effort towards reducing, recycling and reinventing beverage and snacks packaging.

Archana brings a strong commercial and strategic background as well as geographically diverse experience to this agenda. She has a strong track record of driving business growth, both at GlaxoSmithKline where she led multiple brands and categories across the globe (Europe, Africa and Asia) and at The Bountiful Company where she led marketing and business development for the international region (all ex-US).

Before she moved to the industry, Archana was an Associate Partner at global consulting firm, McKinsey & Co. across India, Brussels and London, serving clients in the consumer and healthcare verticals. She advised clients on topics ranging from corporate strategy to marketing plans to operational effectiveness.

Archana currently co-chairs the Towards Net Zero coalition at The Consumer Goods Forum, a coalition of 20+ companies aiming to make progress towards decarbonising our industry.

Lorna joined Hilton Foods in September 2017. She has extensive experience in the food industry, working in both retail and food manufacturing. Previously, she spent 15 years at Tesco in senior quality roles. Lorna has worked across many food product areas and has worked closely with the Food Standards Agency and the Global Food Safety Initiative. She was previously the Chair of the Campden BRI Scientific & Technical Committee, a co-opted member of the Campden BRI board and held roles on the International Advisory Board for BRC Global Standards and the British Retail Consortium Food Strategy Group

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.

Self-confessed veg nerd, Guy Singh-Watson has over the last 30 years taken Riverford from one man and a wheelbarrow delivering homegrown organic veg to friends, to a national veg box scheme delivering to around 50,000 customers a week.

Guy is an inspirational, passionate, opinionated and admired figure in the world of organic farming, who still spends more time in the fields than in the boardroom. Twice awarded BBC Radio 4 Farmer of the Year, Guy is passionate about sharing with others the organic farming and business knowledge he has accumulated over the last three decades. His video rants have provided a powerful platform to do this, with a video on pesticides going viral on Facebook to reach 5.6 million views and 91,000 shares. His weekly veg box newsletters connect customers to the farm with refreshingly honest accounts of the trials and tribulations of producing organic food, and the occasional rant about farming, ethical and business issues he feels strongly about.

Guy has always believed that organic food should not be elitist, but accessible for everyone. He has built Riverford to give a fair deal to all – growers, staff, customers and the planet. All of this was recognised in 2015 when Riverford veg boxes were awarded Ethical Product of the Decade at the Observer Ethical Awards.

Elaine joined the British Nutrition Foundation in 2022. Previously, Elaine was Chief Executive of The Drinkaware Trust, and prior to that, Director, External Affairs at The Children’s Society. Elaine is a former trustee of learning disability charity, Mencap, and is a trustee of the drug and alcohol treatment charity, Change Grow Live.

Previously, Elaine’s career included senior marketing and commercial roles with Nokia, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, The Coca–Cola Company, Beiersdorf AG and Boots plc. She has worked in markets across the globe and lived in Europe and the USA. 

James Bailey joined The John Lewis Partnership in April 2020. He is the Executive Director, Waitrose and a member of the Partnership’s Executive Committee, reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Nish Kankiwala.

Previously James spent 18 years working at Sainsbury’s in Strategic, Insight and Commercial roles culminating in the last 8 as Buying Director for the Grocery division. His key personal achievements include pioneering on colleague well being, switching Sainsbury’s milk supply to a cost of production model and establishing ‘Future Brands’ function to support start up food suppliers.

Since James’s arrival at Waitrose he has redrawn the Agriculture Strategy for the John Lewis Partnership. At its heart is transparency of the supply chain, a net zero UK farming supply base by 2035, reduction in waste on farms and in the wider supply chain, and maintaining the highest standards of animal welfare.

James has also held roles in the NHS and Barclays. He is also an active advisor to, investor in and even founder of start up business and social enterprises – focus on food but also education technology and last mile logistics tech.

 Minette Batters was the first woman to be elected President of the National Farmers’ Union in 113yrs. She’s represented the interests of over 46,000 farming businesses across England and Wales through unprecedented times, navigating the challenges of Brexit, Covid 19 and the war in Ukraine. During this time, she worked with four Prime Ministers – three of them in one year – and six Defra Secretaries of State. She stood down from the post in February 2024. 

Campaigning about the importance of British food and farming and its ability to achieve Net Zero has been a key driver for Minette. In 2020 she led the NFU on one of the most successful campaigns ever seen, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts – resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. Minette also co-founded ‘Ladies in Beef’ and the Great British Beef Week. She has regularly engaged with different media, including frequent appearances on the ‘Today’ programme, ‘Question Time’, ‘Any Questions’, ‘Desert Island Discs’, Woman’s Hour and other national print and broadcast media. She is currently writing a monthly piece for Country Life magazine. 

Minette is mother to twins and is a tenant farmer, on the Longford Estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire. She began farming in 1998 having sold her house and negotiated the farm business tenancy, starting with fifteen beef cows but fulfilling a lifetime ambition to farm. Today the farm has a Spring and Autumn calving Aberdeen Angus beef herd, arable crops and a few sheep. The business is widely diversified, with a wedding and events venue in a 17th century tithe barn, holiday cottages, and winter grazing for polo ponies, alongside a recently restored walled garden growing native British flowers. Minette trained as a Cordon Bleu chef, and was a former amateur jockey, riding 30 point to point winners, alongside working for champion National Hunt racehorse trainer David Elsworth. 

She’s an ambassador for Farm Africa and a passionate advocate and fundraiser for the Junior Diabetic Research Foundation. She’s run in four marathons, raising over £100,000 for charity. In 2021 Minette was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and in July 2024 she was made a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. 

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.

Andrew has spent 26 years with Bidcorp primarily developing  business in the UK, as well as businesses in Turkey, the Middle East, the Baltics and Spain. He became CEO of Bidfood in 2014, and sits on the global leadership Foodservice Group within Bidcorp, Bidfood’s parent company.

Andrew also has responsibility for Bidcorps other businesses in the UK, Bidfresh (fruit and veg, fresh meat and fresh fish wholesalers), Bidcorp Manufacturing business, Caterfood Buying Group, and Snowden and Bridge Imports business.

Bidcorp employs more than 7,000 people in the UK with a shared focus on service excellence, sustainability, food innovation and delivering great value.

Andrew was also appointed Chairman of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors in January 2017, handing over the role at the end of 2019.  Andrew is also a commissioner on the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, and is involved in other sustainable business initiatives such as Better Business Act coalition.

Prior to joining Bidfood Andrew’s career began at Coca-Cola Enterprises, where he worked his way up from Graduate Trainee to Trading Director of the wholesale division.

Bas has spent nearly a decade as a senior executive in Arla, as part of a 30-year career working with some of the world’s best known consumer brands. His most recent role is as Regional Head for South East Asia, where he manages a team of 300 direct employees and 1500 distributors and representatives, a factory in Bangladesh, and offices right across the region.

As a member of the International Leadership Team (ILT), Bas has been focused on developing an inclusive culture, delivering growth, managing talent and developing skills in his region, and also driving the sustainability agenda.

Bas has a strong track record in leading teams and developing the right culture to deliver growth and financial success, and throughout his career he has led successful programmes of change and business transformation.

Bas is Dutch and prior to joining Arla Bas gained extensive experience in senior leadership roles with global businesses. He also has an International MBA and later joined the international dairy company Friesland Campina as head of a business unit responsible for meat substitutes which led to him joining Arla Foods.

On joining Arla Bas held the position of Vice President and Managing Director of the Netherlands, before being promoted to Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the Netherlands, Belgium and France. He became Regional Head for South East Asia in 2021.

Bas is father of 4 children and married to Margriet. He enjoys family time, travelling, good food, skiing and running. He will move to the UK with his wife and two youngest children, while his two oldest children will continue studying in the Netherlands.

Tim Fitzgerald was appointed American Seafoods’ first Chief Sustainability Officer in 2021. In this role he oversees all aspects of the company’s sustainability strategy, including initiatives on carbon accounting and decarbonization, optimization of packaging and operational waste, technology innovation and ESG reporting. Prior to joining American Seafoods Tim spent nearly two decades with Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program, leading their global engagement with the seafood industry, investors and multilateral organizations. He is an insufferable ocean optimist and sucker for cool gadgets.

This is Rowan. He joined us in 2001 and has since held a number of senior roles at Tate & Lyle from strategy, corporate affairs and communications to HR and company secretariat. He became our EVP, Corporate Affairs, in November 2014.

With over 20 years of Tate & Lyle experience, Rowan has a deep knowledge and understanding of our company and industry. Rowan and his team are responsible for our global external and digital corporate communications, our global government and community relations and bringing our purpose of Transforming Lives Through the Science of Food to life. Rowan also leads the company’s sustainability programme. Prior to joining Tate & Lyle, he worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland, National Westminster Bank, Linklaters and Deloitte.

A History graduate from York University, Rowan is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute.

Rowan is partial to a prawn cocktail, should it feature on the menu!

Rebecca joined the FSA in April 2019 as Director of Policy.

Rebecca has extensive experience as a Senior Civil Servant in the Treasury and in the Department for Work and Pensions. Her previous civil service roles have focused on social policy – particularly benefits design and reform, labour market policy and programmes to support the most disadvantaged into work.

More recently, Rebecca has held Director of Strategy roles at Peabody, one of the UK’s largest housing associations, and at City, University of London. She has also been a Trustee of Shaw Trust  (a national charity helping people gain an education, enter work, develop their career, improve their wellbeing or rebuild their lives) and Chair of Ixion Holdings, a subsidiary of Shaw Trust delivering education and learning nationwide.

Beginning his career at Unilever in sales and marketing, Dan joined NESI in 2003. Since then, he has been instrumental in elevating NESI from a small family-run importer to a renowned large-scale processor and strategic partner for leading retailers and food service customers.

Now serving as Group Seafood Chief Executive Officer aligned with Sealaska’s global ocean health platform Woocheen, Dan is dedicated to developing a consumer-led, Trans-Atlantic seafood business. His focus is on enhancing consumption and value for sustainable wild capture and farmed fish.

Richard is an experienced board member and executive with a proven track record of business transformation and leadership through innovation, focussed on addressing the global challenges we face today.   For the past five years, Richard has held different roles in the European innovation arena, and is now Chief Executive of EIT Food, Europe’s largest food innovation community.  Creating a sustainable future is foundational to Richard’s work.  He has studied and worked on the complex systemic issues which need to be tackled if we are to achieve a sustainable future for people and the planet, and his work at EIT Food is focussed on bringing innovation to tackle the environmental and societal challenges at the heart of the food system

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.

Helen farms in a family partnership on a mostly tenanted organic farm in Wiltshire with dairy, beef, pigs, cereals, agroforestry and small scale horticulture. Her products are sold through the Helen Browning’s Organic brand in retailers as well as through her hotel and restaurant/pub on the farm.

Her book ‘PIG; tales from an organic farm’, written with her partner Tim Finney, tells more about the trials and tribulations of their farming and food life.

She has been Chief Executive of the Soil Association since 2011, after a long involvement with the charity in a variety of exec and non-exec roles. Prior to rejoining the Soil Association, Helen was Director of External Affairs for the National Trust.

She is currently a Commissioner and trustee of the Food Farming and Countryside Commission and has had a number of roles in agri-politics over the years, including the Government’s Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (‘the Curry Commission’), chaired the England Animal Health and Welfare Implementation Group and the Food Ethics Council. Helen was awarded an OBE in 1998 for her services to organic farming.

Anna joined The Food Foundation as its first Executive Director at the beginning of June 2015 after five years at the Department for International Development. At DFID Anna led the policy team on nutrition and supported the delivery of the UK’s global commitments to tackle undernutrition. Before joining DFID Anna worked for a number of international organisations including Save the Children and UNICEF and has been at the forefront of international leadership on nutrition for several years, supporting programmes in a wide range of contexts in Africa and South Asia. Anna has also worked for the UK Department of Health. In 2014 she was awarded an OBE for her work to address the global burden of undernutrition. She did a MSc in Human Nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1994. In May 2017 Anna became a member of the London Food Board to advise the Mayor of London and the GLA on the food matters that affect Londoners. She is a Board member for Veg Power and an advisor to the International Food Policy Research Institute. She served as Chief Independent Adviser to Henry Dimbleby for the development of the National Food Strategy published in 2021.

Sue is the Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Sue leads the organisation in its mission to bring people together to act on the climate, nature and health crises, through fairer and more sustainable food systems, and a just transition for rural communities and the countryside.

Sue’s background is in combined research and practice in leadership and organisation development for systems change, working with leaders across public, private and not for profit organisations, especially on complex partnership projects.

She is a Trustee of CoFarm Foundation and is an independent Governor at Royal Agricultural University. Living on an organic farm in Wales, Sue and her family raise livestock and farm for conservation.

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.

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.

Ivo Mulder leads UNEP’s Climate Finance Unit (CFU) which focuses specifically on the need to transition to sustainable land use from a climate, nature and livelihood perspective. The unit covers a growing portfolio of (blended) finance instruments, business incubators and other initiatives that have actively unlocked >USD 1 billion in public and especially private capital over the past 5 years towards sustainable agriculture, forestry, restoration and other sectors in developing countries with demonstrable positive impact on climate, nature and people. The team consists of 15 staff and consultants based in Geneva, Nairobi, Jakarta, Sao Paulo and Brasilia.

Ivo also co-founded the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA), which was launched at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in 2012 and signed by CEOs of more than 40 finance institutions. It paved the way for the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD), the nature equivalent to the TCFD. Ivo has published extensively in the field of nature, climate and sustainable finance, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and summits with over 20 years of professional experience working for UNEP, private consulting firms and with non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Tara McCarthy is global vice president of ESG at Alltech and supports the company’s advancement of its vision of Working Together for a Planet of Plenty™, which focuses on three key pillars of planetary well-being — economic, environmental and social.

She was previously the chief executive officer of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, since 2017 and has more than 25 years of experience in the wider food industry. Prior to Bord Bia, she was chief executive officer for Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s seafood development agency, and has lived and operated in overseas markets such as Germany, France and Belgium for more than 10 years.

McCarthy is passionate about the opportunities that can be found within sustainably produced food and has worked across the supply chain to develop insights and industry partnerships. She has led numerous capability initiatives and developmental support programs for students, early career executives and entrepreneurs within the food industry for more than a decade, forming successful partnerships both nationally and internationally. In 2019, she co-founded Agdif, an industry initiative championing diversity in the Irish food industry. She has represented Ireland’s food industry globally, speaking on Origin Green, Ireland’s unique national sustainability program. In 2021, she led the establishment of the Origin Green Global Council.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from National University of Ireland, Galway (UCG) and a Master of Business Studies in marketing from University College Dublin (UCD) Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. McCarthy is an affiliate of the IMD Business School in Switzerland. She has been recognized with a number of awards, including UCG Alumna of the Year for Business and Commerce in 2017; Fellowship of the Marketing Institute of Ireland as well as Top 25 Ireland’s Most Powerful Women – Public Sector Leaders Award in 2018; and UCD Smurfit School Alumna of the Year in 2019.

She lives in Dublin with her husband, Didier, and their three children.

Dr David Bryngelsson is a climate-tech entrepreneur, and founder and chief executive officer of CarbonCloud, the food industry’s climate-intelligence platform. Dr Bryngelsson spent eight years immersed in climate-change mitigation as a published researcher and lecturer at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, before mobilising a team of scientists, developers and climate-accountable business developers to build the digital infrastructure for climate transparency throughout the food supply chain. Today he steers CarbonCloud towards empowering the food system to mitigate climate change, and shares insights and solutions in forums around the world.

atrick Holden is the founder and CEO of the Sustainable Food Trust, whose mission is to work internationally to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable food and farming systems.

Between 1995 and 2010, he was Director of the Soil Association, the UK organic advocacy and certification organisation, where he played a leading role in developing the organic standards and market.

He currently leads a task force on measuring land use sustainability for the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), established by the then Prince of Wales in 2020.

Patrick trained in Biodynamic farming at Emerson College and has farmed for over 50 years on a 300-acre mixed organic dairy holding, now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales, producing a raw milk cheddar from the milk of 85 Ayrshire cows.

He received a CBE for services to organic farming in 2005 and is Patron of the UK Bio-dynamic Agriculture Association. He became an Ashoka Fellow in 2016 and was awarded an honorary doctorate for his international work in sustainable agriculture by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2022.

Lisa Spicka de Bevacqua is a sustainability leader in the natural products industry and the Global Director of NSF’s Sustainability Consulting group. She helps clients design and integrate sustainability strategies that address ESG reporting, climate action, and supply chain integrity. These solutions enable the scaling of services and products that measurably improve environmental and social impacts, reduce risk, increase brand equity, and contribute to a circular and regenerative community.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Nebraska and a Master of Business Administration in Global Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management with a sustainable supply chain development specialization. Her expertise revolves around supply chain sustainability integrity and corporate strategy and reporting, with a deep understanding of food manufacturing operations, organic and food safety regulations, and corporate sustainability. Her prior experience includes global leadership in operations and project management, non-profits, supplier management, and sustainable supply chain development.

David, who was Senior Technical Manager at Winterbotham Darby (now part of the newly formed Compleat Food Group) brings with him over 20 years of experience working in the food production industry. Previous roles include Senior Business Development Manager at Oritain; Head of Technical Supply Base at New England Seafood, and he also spent over eight years at Sainsbury’s in various technical roles.

David will be leading on the development and delivery of The Compleat Food Group’s new ESG strategy, as the newly formed group seeks to create great quality, tasty food in a sustainable way that delivers a positive impact on the world..

 Simon is the CEO and Co-founder of Agreena, the world’s leading soil carbon platform that focuses on helping farmers save and feed the planet by adopting regenerative practices. Agreena is now operating in 14 countries andis experiencing exponential growth. 

Haldrup is a digitally minded business leader with 15 yearsof transformation experience from within the bankingindustry – where he was the Executive Vice President ofBusiness Development with a primary focus on business model innovation, end-to-end digitalization and regulatory implementation. Commercially and strategically anchored, he has extensive experience in technology, finance, risk, business and product development. 

He received his M.S. from the Technical University ofDenmark in Engineering and Robotics before going toIMD for Strategic Finance, and then MIT Sloan Schoolof Management.

Samantha Deacon leads Ramboll’s ecological risk assessment practice in the UK and is a core member of Ramboll’s ecosystem services task force. She has over 15 years’ experience in environmental regulation, consultancy and research in the assessment of chemicals in the environment. Her recent work at Rambollincludes advising clients on ecosystem services analysis, environmental damage under the Environmental Liabilities Directive, chemical risk assessments for REACH, ecological risk assessment of contaminated soils, river and harbour sediments, and the risk assessment of composting bioaerosols (as expert witness in a national planning inquiry). Samantha has previously managed a regulatory programme of research to develop a decision-making framework for assessing risks to ecosystems from land contamination. In her eleven years in regulation, she contributed to over 65 publications, scientific papers and conference presentations including more than 50 Environment Agency technical reports. She holds an MSc in Ecotoxicology of Natural Populations from the University of Reading and a BSc (Hons) in Biology from Royal Holloway, University of London

Marija Rompani is a Director of Ethics and Sustainability at John Lewis Partnership where she is driving and delivering change critical to achieving its purpose ‘For a happier world’ for two much loved Waitrose and John Lewis brands. 

Marija joined the Partnership in 2021 with over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing strategies across retail, FMCG and finance sectors. 

Marija is passionate about nature, transforming the food system and driving responsible consumerism.  In 2022 Partnership renewed its focus on protecting and restoring nature and published a Plan for Nature outlining new commitments and recognising the urgency to stop biodiversity loss. 

Prior to joining John Lewis Partnership, Marija worked at Federated Hermes, Sainsbury’s, Reckitt, UBS and BSI. She is also a trustee of John Lewis Foundation and Waitrose Foundation. Marija holds M.Eng in Environmental engineering and B.Eng in Chemical engineering from Belgrade University, Serbia.

Emer leads a team of specialists developing and delivering the Hilton Foods Sustainable Protein Plan across their global operations. This plan covers people, the planet, and product. Hilton Foods is a leading specialist food packing business that supplies and partners with major international food retailers and food service companies across the UK, Europe, and Australasia.

Before this, she was an agriculture manager at Tesco responsible for the pig meat supply chain from conception to slaughter, animal welfare reporting and responsible antibiotic use across species.

Emer is currently a board member of the ERBS, on the governance board for the UK Soy Manifesto, and on the Stakeholder Advisory Board for the Animal Research Network. She was the nominated retail representative for four years for the Red Tractor Pigs Board and their Technical Advisory Committee. She has contributed to thought leadership in relevant areas through peer-reviewed publications and creating content promoting industry and academic discussion.

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.

Andy Wright has a background in environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility, with experience in roles such as Responsible Business Director at Samworth Brothers, Head Of Sustainability at Greencore, and Non-Executive Director at Treligan. Andy has also held positions at Sainsbury’s, Tulip Ltd, WSP Environment & Energy, and Grontmij | Carl Bro throughout their caree.

With a double academic background of agricultural engineer and human nutritionist, Simon Bonnet has always worked to transform the food value chain through the development of healthier and/or more environmentally friendly products, whether through experiences within the innovation, nutrition or marketing departments of different agri-food companies. After more than 10 years with the Bel Group, he has now returned to his first love and is in charge of the transformation towards a more sustainable dairy upstream as Global Milk Purchase Director for the Bel Group. Its mission is to implement the transformation and transition towards a more sustainable dairy upstream according to the Global Charter co-constructed and co-signed with WWF in 2018. On the 9 dairy basins where Bel operates, his main objective is today to ensure a fair and trustful collaboration with the dairy farmers to ensure the resilience of milk supply while reducing its contribution to climate change. 

Mark specialises in the rural business, agriculture, horticulture, food manufacture, education and healthcare industries as well as supporting organisations from a wide range of sectors to develop and deliver impactful sustainability and ESG strategies. 

As one of the authors of the firm’s Dynamic ESG service suite, Mark is well placed to guide business leaders through the process of integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into their operations with an emphasis on measurable outcomes and RoI.  

Mark has worked in both the public sector and private enterprise, bringing a dedication and enthusiasm to the unique challenges each provides. With an auditor’s eye for detail, he has become known for his sharp insights and capacity for business transformation. 

Mark has won numerous awards for his work including National Finance Director of the Year 2007, the ICAEW’s National Accounting for Sustainability award in 2012, Finance Director magazine’s National Business Finance Director 2014, the Institute for Fiscal Turnaround’s Public Sector Award 2016 and the Institute of Directors’ Blue Ribbon for Governance and Finance Excellence in 2018. 

He is also a trustee of a charity delivering education in Ethiopia, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, a Member of the Guild of Freemen and a Member of the CBI’s South East Council. 

Mark re-joined MHA again in 2019 having originally trained here in 1997.

Jonathan Lane is the Managing Director of ADM Agriculture and ADM UK Country Manager, bringing 25 years of experience in the agribusiness industry. He has played a pivotal role in shaping ADM’s climate-smart strategy in the UK and is deeply committed to driving innovation in the agri-food sector. Jonathan is also passionate about mentoring and developing employees, helping them achieve their professional goals.

Matteo Cunial comes from a family of farmers in the North-Eastern Italy. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and explored the business world as a Business Analyst at McKinsey, where he worked on various digital strategy projects across Europe. His professional journey took a significant turn in 2017 when he co-founded Farm Technologies, a cutting-edge AgTech startup focused on building agricultural decision support systems. In 2021, Farm Technologies merged with xFarm to create xFarm Technologies. In this new phase, Matteo Cunial assumed the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), overseeing the group’s sales and post-sales activities.

Martin Schichtel graduated with a doctorate degree in Chemistry from the University of Saarland with a focus on Nanoparticle Composites and Smart Coatings. He led the Department of Ceramics at the Institute for New Materials and has 20 years of experience in material development for multiple industries. Martin co-founded Kraftblock to enable the energy transition and the decarbonization of the industrial sector with a sustainable and cost-efficient high-temperature energy storage.

David joined LEAF as Chief Executive Officer in September 2023, before this David worked as Director of Sustainability and External Affairs for the UK Grocery Division of Associated British Foods (ABF). David joined ABF via W. Jordans (Cereals) Ltd. David worked closely with founders Bill and David Jordan to publicise the Jordans breakfast cereal brand and its longstanding commitment to wildlife friendly farming. Jordans was acquired by ABF in 2008 and David subsequently went on to lead sustainability for the Jordans & Ryvita Company, before being promoted to the position of Divisional Director for Grocery in 2017.

He has a deep interest in farming and wildlife stemming from this work, and in particular the formation of the highly respected Jordans Farm Partnership, through which he worked alongside longstanding farm suppliers to the Jordans business together with LEAF, the Wildlife Trusts and The Prince’s Countryside Fund.

Dan McGlynn is an Account Executive developing the UK & Irish markets and was the first hire outside of North America, part of a global expansion strategy to build on TraceGains rapidly growing international business. Dan has spent the last 8 years as a Senior sales professional working in the data and software industry selling directly into the food industry working on compliance & sustainability projects within the largest Grocery Retail, Manufacturing and Agricultural companies in the region..

Sam Elsom is a passionate environmentalist with over 16 years experience in sustainability. Having founded one of Australia’s first sustainable apparel businesses to measuring social and environmental impact across supply chains as well as implementing a satellite factory in India to support poor communities with income, training, clean water and education. Sam was drawn to explore seaweed cultivation for its impressive capacity to sequester CO2 as a potential solution to reverse Climate Change

David created 600 strategy to help purposeful businesses find their missions beyond profit, and organise themselves to deliver. Having worked with a range of landowners across the UK, he sees the potential for well-managed land to meet society’s needs for food, fibre, timber, biodiversity, climate and more. But it takes effort from land managers, who also need a fair reward for their work.

David has a PhD in ecology, an MSc in environmental management systems and is a Chartered Environmentalist. He’s a Trustee for the John Lewis Partnership Foundation and chairs their Nature Fund Committee, and is a Trustee for the National Park City Foundation.

Catherine is a senior leader in the sustainability sector, with experience in developing and nurturing partnerships for impact. Catherine joined WRAP in October 2021, bringing experience from roles at The Fairtrade Foundation and The Coop. 

Catherine is passionate about building a fairer and more sustainable planet for future generations. Her responsibilities at WRAP include leadership of our business collaboration work – including through our voluntary agreements on food, plastics and textiles – as well as oversight of WRAP’s citizen behaviour change activities.

Annie’s background in is the food sector. Over the last 25 years she has worked in both fresh and grocery, own-label and branded companies at board level.

Experienced in both grower-focused and food manufacturing businesses Annie understands both the commercial opportunities and financial challenges that can present themselves in this sector.

“I joined the MHA DESG team to support businesses wishing to embark on a commercially viable ESG journey. There has never been a more critical need to manage both climate and commerce effectively.”

Kim Schoppink is the Regional Lead for Europe of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). She leads the organizations engagement with European companies and sector initiatives on setting climate targets that are in line with a 1.5 degrees pathway. Before joining SBTi last year she worked at the Rainforest Alliance as Global Advocacy Lead supporting companies and governments in their efforts to stimulate implementation of regenerative agriculture..

Anna-Mari has worked for 7 years at Gasum in different positions for biogas production. Gasum has biogas plants in Finland, Sweden and now also in Denmark. Yearly Gasum is handling over 1 million tonnes of different residues and wastes. On top of the biogas production Gasum ownes filling stations in the Nordics and bunkering activities of LNG to the maritime sector. Anna-Mari’s team oversees sourcing of all the feedstocks to the Gasum biogas portfolio and they take care of the organic fertiliser deliveries to all Gasum farms. Using organic practices, Gasum’s fertiliser contains nutrients from biowastes that looks after soil health with low CO2 emissions. A fully circular model.

Dr. Robert Gerlach: Entrepreneur and scientist focussing on the interface between technology and sustainability. 15 years of experience in sustainable product development and cleantech research and development. Originator of the Sustainable Business Model Canvas and the Impact Canvas, founder of Threebility, lecturer at ESCP and TU-Berlin. PhD in Engineering (Oxford University). Enabling farmers and the food industry to master the regenerative transformation at speed and at scale with Klim.

Anya is the Director of Foodsteps. Over the past three years, Foodsteps has become a trusted data science provider for food businesses globally, helping them measure, report, and reduce food and drink-related emissions. Before founding Foodsteps, Anya conducted research at the University of Cambridge on the environmental impact of food supply chains. She is a co-author of the largest scientific study on carbon labeling for food and serves as a trustee and advisor to two non-profits in the food and environmental sectors. As a young leader of a green-tech enterprise, Anya is driving a fundamental shift in the approach to sustainability in both the food and tech industries.

Throughout his academic and professional career, Dominik has been devoted to creating more sustainable farming systems through developing and delivering innovations and concepts that are aligned to the concept of Regenerative Agriculture.

His expertise in strategy and programme development, structure and implementation allowed him to direct multinational programmes with diverse partners. A particular objective was to integrate farmers into regenerative value chains and to deliver innovation to increase their productivity and resource-use efficiency. This included the development of carbon credit schemes to monetize a shift to more sustainable farming, value-chain partnerships to diversify agricultural production into more resilient crops, and methodologies to better quantify the impact of farming across the main pillars of sustainability.

Dominik lectures on Sustainable Agriculture in various Swiss Universities and acts as an advisor to several multilateral organisations to direct their investment towards creating more regenerative and resilient farming systems.

Duncan Williams leads Forum for the Future’s work in Regenerative Agriculture across the UK and Europe. Duncan leads several multi-stakeholder collaborations focused on finding ways to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture, nature-based solutions and improving soil health. These collaborations also aim to better understand the needs of the industry, pilot and scale new business models, and build supply-chain readiness for the transition to regenerative agriculture.

Duncan has a background in sustainable agriculture, having worked for over a decade as a Veterinarian, technical advisor, and sustainability consultant. He holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the University of Exeter, a Bachelor’s in Veterinary Medicine from Royal Veterinary College London, and is a Nuffield Scholar.

Forum for the Future is a leading international non-profit organisation whose mission is to accelerate progress towards a just and regenerative future. Forum brings a unique blend of futures skills and insights together with systems change strategic advice to business partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaborations.

Simon De Nys joined Soil Capital two years ago as a Corporate Sales Specialist. He supports agri-food companies in their decarbonization efforts, advancing regenerative agriculture to strengthen food system resilience and drive climate action as part of their global net-zero strategies. Among his key accounts, Simon collaborates closely with Boortmalt, the worldwide leader in the malting industry, as Soil Capital is their partner in implementing regenerative agriculture practices within the malt industry. A Belgian native, Simon holds a business degree from the prestigious CEMS MiM program, with studies at LSM (Belgium), VSE (Prague), and KU (South Korea). Prior to joining Soil Capital, he gained valuable experience in impact investing.

Lorena is the Mission Lead for Healthier Lives Through Food at EIT Food, where she drives innovation and fosters partnerships to accelerate transitions to healthier, sustainable food systems. She co-leads the Healthy Ageing Think & Do Tank and Protein Diversification initiatives. With over 20 years of global leadership experience in FMCG and Foodservice, Lorena has led innovation, business development, and marketing at companies like Kraft Foods and Burger King. She has also developed clean label and sustainability strategies as a senior consultant, bridging business and science to deliver impactful food solutions.

ffinlo is the Editor-in-Chief of 8point9.com and has worked in farming, land and food business policy for over 20 years. As Chief Executive of Farmwel (2016-2022) he gave evidence to UK parliamentary committees and advised ministers and the Committee on Climate Change on the role of agricultural climate gases. ffinlo founded the Food & Global Security Network in 2020 and published Soil Health: A security threat profile, prior to COP26. ffinlo has presented at the European Parliament and advised ministers and senior leadership teams in many European countries. His TEDx Talk, ‘We can’t solve the climate crisis without cows’, has proved highly popular with regenerative farmers and innovators.

Juliane Caillouette Noble came to The Sustainable Restaurant Association (The SRA) as Development Director in 2016 after five years running Jamie Oliver’s programmes for improving school food and food education across the UK. The SRA is committed to accelerating change toward an environmentally restorative and socially progressive hospitality sector around the world. With a background in nutrition and a love of good food, her career has been deeply engaged in global food policy issues ranging from sustainable farming and urban growing to food education and school food systems. Juliane became the Managing Director of The SRA in January 2021 and is focused on growing the impact of The SRA around the world. 

Claire is an experienced public affairs, policy and communications professional, working as the Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research for The Vegan Society in the United Kingdom in order to accelerate the vegan movement and achieve its strategic goals. She has been in this role for two and a half year, prior to this role she worked in a political and comms consultancy for nearly five years where she provided strategic advice, stakeholder engagement, project management and analysis of politics and media to a number of corporate clients, specialising in the health, FMCG, charity and tech sectors.

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).

Simon was appointed as Chief Executive on 1 June 2020, having joined Sainsbury’s and the Operating Board in July 2017 as Retail & Operations Director, with responsibility for Stores, Central Operations and Logistics. He is a member of the Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Committee. Simon has worked in retail for over 35 years, having started at Marks and Spencer and joined Sainsbury’s from Boots where he was Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance and President of Boots UK and Ireland. Simon is President of IGD, a Member of the Government’s Retail Sector Council and an Advisory Board Member of Diversity in Retail.

Simon is leading Sainsbury’s plan to become First choice for food. Under Simon’s stewardship, Sainsbury’s has launched its Plan for Better, which is integrated into our strategy and includes a bold commitment to become net zero across our own operations by 2035. Simon has led significant investments into colleague pay, most recently leading the industry in paying the Living Wage across the whole country. Simon is the Operating Board Sponsor for Inclusion and is a dedicated, determined and enthusiastic champion for our customers and colleagues and for inclusion and diversity across our company.

Appointed in 2023 as Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo Europe, Archana oversees the development and acceleration of PepsiCo’s sustainability strategy (known as PepsiCo Positive) in Europe.

In her previous role as Vice President Climate, Water & Sustainable Ops at PepsiCo Europe and Chief Sustainability Officer for PepsiCo, UK & Ireland, Archana led PepsiCo Europe’s drive to be a Net Zero and a Net Water Positive company, trialling and scaling several industry leading technologies within the value chain. Prior to that, she also led PepsiCo’s packaging sustainability agenda and drove the company’s effort towards reducing, recycling and reinventing beverage and snacks packaging.

Archana brings a strong commercial and strategic background as well as geographically diverse experience to this agenda. She has a strong track record of driving business growth, both at GlaxoSmithKline where she led multiple brands and categories across the globe (Europe, Africa and Asia) and at The Bountiful Company where she led marketing and business development for the international region (all ex-US).

Before she moved to the industry, Archana was an Associate Partner at global consulting firm, McKinsey & Co. across India, Brussels and London, serving clients in the consumer and healthcare verticals. She advised clients on topics ranging from corporate strategy to marketing plans to operational effectiveness.

Archana currently co-chairs the Towards Net Zero coalition at The Consumer Goods Forum, a coalition of 20+ companies aiming to make progress towards decarbonising our industry.

Lorna joined Hilton Foods in September 2017. She has extensive experience in the food industry, working in both retail and food manufacturing. Previously, she spent 15 years at Tesco in senior quality roles. Lorna has worked across many food product areas and has worked closely with the Food Standards Agency and the Global Food Safety Initiative. She was previously the Chair of the Campden BRI Scientific & Technical Committee, a co-opted member of the Campden BRI board and held roles on the International Advisory Board for BRC Global Standards and the British Retail Consortium Food Strategy Group

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.

Self-confessed veg nerd, Guy Singh-Watson has over the last 30 years taken Riverford from one man and a wheelbarrow delivering homegrown organic veg to friends, to a national veg box scheme delivering to around 50,000 customers a week.

Guy is an inspirational, passionate, opinionated and admired figure in the world of organic farming, who still spends more time in the fields than in the boardroom. Twice awarded BBC Radio 4 Farmer of the Year, Guy is passionate about sharing with others the organic farming and business knowledge he has accumulated over the last three decades. His video rants have provided a powerful platform to do this, with a video on pesticides going viral on Facebook to reach 5.6 million views and 91,000 shares. His weekly veg box newsletters connect customers to the farm with refreshingly honest accounts of the trials and tribulations of producing organic food, and the occasional rant about farming, ethical and business issues he feels strongly about.

Guy has always believed that organic food should not be elitist, but accessible for everyone. He has built Riverford to give a fair deal to all – growers, staff, customers and the planet. All of this was recognised in 2015 when Riverford veg boxes were awarded Ethical Product of the Decade at the Observer Ethical Awards.

Elaine joined the British Nutrition Foundation in 2022. Previously, Elaine was Chief Executive of The Drinkaware Trust, and prior to that, Director, External Affairs at The Children’s Society. Elaine is a former trustee of learning disability charity, Mencap, and is a trustee of the drug and alcohol treatment charity, Change Grow Live.

Previously, Elaine’s career included senior marketing and commercial roles with Nokia, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, The Coca–Cola Company, Beiersdorf AG and Boots plc. She has worked in markets across the globe and lived in Europe and the USA. 

James Bailey joined The John Lewis Partnership in April 2020. He is the Executive Director, Waitrose and a member of the Partnership’s Executive Committee, reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Nish Kankiwala.

Previously James spent 18 years working at Sainsbury’s in Strategic, Insight and Commercial roles culminating in the last 8 as Buying Director for the Grocery division. His key personal achievements include pioneering on colleague well being, switching Sainsbury’s milk supply to a cost of production model and establishing ‘Future Brands’ function to support start up food suppliers.

Since James’s arrival at Waitrose he has redrawn the Agriculture Strategy for the John Lewis Partnership. At its heart is transparency of the supply chain, a net zero UK farming supply base by 2035, reduction in waste on farms and in the wider supply chain, and maintaining the highest standards of animal welfare.

James has also held roles in the NHS and Barclays. He is also an active advisor to, investor in and even founder of start up business and social enterprises – focus on food but also education technology and last mile logistics tech.

 Minette Batters was the first woman to be elected President of the National Farmers’ Union in 113yrs. She’s represented the interests of over 46,000 farming businesses across England and Wales through unprecedented times, navigating the challenges of Brexit, Covid 19 and the war in Ukraine. During this time, she worked with four Prime Ministers – three of them in one year – and six Defra Secretaries of State. She stood down from the post in February 2024. 

Campaigning about the importance of British food and farming and its ability to achieve Net Zero has been a key driver for Minette. In 2020 she led the NFU on one of the most successful campaigns ever seen, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts – resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. Minette also co-founded ‘Ladies in Beef’ and the Great British Beef Week. She has regularly engaged with different media, including frequent appearances on the ‘Today’ programme, ‘Question Time’, ‘Any Questions’, ‘Desert Island Discs’, Woman’s Hour and other national print and broadcast media. She is currently writing a monthly piece for Country Life magazine. 

Minette is mother to twins and is a tenant farmer, on the Longford Estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire. She began farming in 1998 having sold her house and negotiated the farm business tenancy, starting with fifteen beef cows but fulfilling a lifetime ambition to farm. Today the farm has a Spring and Autumn calving Aberdeen Angus beef herd, arable crops and a few sheep. The business is widely diversified, with a wedding and events venue in a 17th century tithe barn, holiday cottages, and winter grazing for polo ponies, alongside a recently restored walled garden growing native British flowers. Minette trained as a Cordon Bleu chef, and was a former amateur jockey, riding 30 point to point winners, alongside working for champion National Hunt racehorse trainer David Elsworth. 

She’s an ambassador for Farm Africa and a passionate advocate and fundraiser for the Junior Diabetic Research Foundation. She’s run in four marathons, raising over £100,000 for charity. In 2021 Minette was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and in July 2024 she was made a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. 

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.

Andrew has spent 26 years with Bidcorp primarily developing  business in the UK, as well as businesses in Turkey, the Middle East, the Baltics and Spain. He became CEO of Bidfood in 2014, and sits on the global leadership Foodservice Group within Bidcorp, Bidfood’s parent company.

Andrew also has responsibility for Bidcorps other businesses in the UK, Bidfresh (fruit and veg, fresh meat and fresh fish wholesalers), Bidcorp Manufacturing business, Caterfood Buying Group, and Snowden and Bridge Imports business.

Bidcorp employs more than 7,000 people in the UK with a shared focus on service excellence, sustainability, food innovation and delivering great value.

Andrew was also appointed Chairman of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors in January 2017, handing over the role at the end of 2019.  Andrew is also a commissioner on the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, and is involved in other sustainable business initiatives such as Better Business Act coalition.

Prior to joining Bidfood Andrew’s career began at Coca-Cola Enterprises, where he worked his way up from Graduate Trainee to Trading Director of the wholesale division.

Bas has spent nearly a decade as a senior executive in Arla, as part of a 30-year career working with some of the world’s best known consumer brands. His most recent role is as Regional Head for South East Asia, where he manages a team of 300 direct employees and 1500 distributors and representatives, a factory in Bangladesh, and offices right across the region.

As a member of the International Leadership Team (ILT), Bas has been focused on developing an inclusive culture, delivering growth, managing talent and developing skills in his region, and also driving the sustainability agenda.

Bas has a strong track record in leading teams and developing the right culture to deliver growth and financial success, and throughout his career he has led successful programmes of change and business transformation.

Bas is Dutch and prior to joining Arla Bas gained extensive experience in senior leadership roles with global businesses. He also has an International MBA and later joined the international dairy company Friesland Campina as head of a business unit responsible for meat substitutes which led to him joining Arla Foods.

On joining Arla Bas held the position of Vice President and Managing Director of the Netherlands, before being promoted to Senior Vice President and Managing Director for the Netherlands, Belgium and France. He became Regional Head for South East Asia in 2021.

Bas is father of 4 children and married to Margriet. He enjoys family time, travelling, good food, skiing and running. He will move to the UK with his wife and two youngest children, while his two oldest children will continue studying in the Netherlands.

Tim Fitzgerald was appointed American Seafoods’ first Chief Sustainability Officer in 2021. In this role he oversees all aspects of the company’s sustainability strategy, including initiatives on carbon accounting and decarbonization, optimization of packaging and operational waste, technology innovation and ESG reporting. Prior to joining American Seafoods Tim spent nearly two decades with Environmental Defense Fund’s Oceans Program, leading their global engagement with the seafood industry, investors and multilateral organizations. He is an insufferable ocean optimist and sucker for cool gadgets.

This is Rowan. He joined us in 2001 and has since held a number of senior roles at Tate & Lyle from strategy, corporate affairs and communications to HR and company secretariat. He became our EVP, Corporate Affairs, in November 2014.

With over 20 years of Tate & Lyle experience, Rowan has a deep knowledge and understanding of our company and industry. Rowan and his team are responsible for our global external and digital corporate communications, our global government and community relations and bringing our purpose of Transforming Lives Through the Science of Food to life. Rowan also leads the company’s sustainability programme. Prior to joining Tate & Lyle, he worked for The Royal Bank of Scotland, National Westminster Bank, Linklaters and Deloitte.

A History graduate from York University, Rowan is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute.

Rowan is partial to a prawn cocktail, should it feature on the menu!

Rebecca joined the FSA in April 2019 as Director of Policy.

Rebecca has extensive experience as a Senior Civil Servant in the Treasury and in the Department for Work and Pensions. Her previous civil service roles have focused on social policy – particularly benefits design and reform, labour market policy and programmes to support the most disadvantaged into work.

More recently, Rebecca has held Director of Strategy roles at Peabody, one of the UK’s largest housing associations, and at City, University of London. She has also been a Trustee of Shaw Trust  (a national charity helping people gain an education, enter work, develop their career, improve their wellbeing or rebuild their lives) and Chair of Ixion Holdings, a subsidiary of Shaw Trust delivering education and learning nationwide.

Beginning his career at Unilever in sales and marketing, Dan joined NESI in 2003. Since then, he has been instrumental in elevating NESI from a small family-run importer to a renowned large-scale processor and strategic partner for leading retailers and food service customers.

Now serving as Group Seafood Chief Executive Officer aligned with Sealaska’s global ocean health platform Woocheen, Dan is dedicated to developing a consumer-led, Trans-Atlantic seafood business. His focus is on enhancing consumption and value for sustainable wild capture and farmed fish.

Richard is an experienced board member and executive with a proven track record of business transformation and leadership through innovation, focussed on addressing the global challenges we face today.   For the past five years, Richard has held different roles in the European innovation arena, and is now Chief Executive of EIT Food, Europe’s largest food innovation community.  Creating a sustainable future is foundational to Richard’s work.  He has studied and worked on the complex systemic issues which need to be tackled if we are to achieve a sustainable future for people and the planet, and his work at EIT Food is focussed on bringing innovation to tackle the environmental and societal challenges at the heart of the food system

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.

Helen farms in a family partnership on a mostly tenanted organic farm in Wiltshire with dairy, beef, pigs, cereals, agroforestry and small scale horticulture. Her products are sold through the Helen Browning’s Organic brand in retailers as well as through her hotel and restaurant/pub on the farm.

Her book ‘PIG; tales from an organic farm’, written with her partner Tim Finney, tells more about the trials and tribulations of their farming and food life.

She has been Chief Executive of the Soil Association since 2011, after a long involvement with the charity in a variety of exec and non-exec roles. Prior to rejoining the Soil Association, Helen was Director of External Affairs for the National Trust.

She is currently a Commissioner and trustee of the Food Farming and Countryside Commission and has had a number of roles in agri-politics over the years, including the Government’s Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food (‘the Curry Commission’), chaired the England Animal Health and Welfare Implementation Group and the Food Ethics Council. Helen was awarded an OBE in 1998 for her services to organic farming.

Anna joined The Food Foundation as its first Executive Director at the beginning of June 2015 after five years at the Department for International Development. At DFID Anna led the policy team on nutrition and supported the delivery of the UK’s global commitments to tackle undernutrition. Before joining DFID Anna worked for a number of international organisations including Save the Children and UNICEF and has been at the forefront of international leadership on nutrition for several years, supporting programmes in a wide range of contexts in Africa and South Asia. Anna has also worked for the UK Department of Health. In 2014 she was awarded an OBE for her work to address the global burden of undernutrition. She did a MSc in Human Nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1994. In May 2017 Anna became a member of the London Food Board to advise the Mayor of London and the GLA on the food matters that affect Londoners. She is a Board member for Veg Power and an advisor to the International Food Policy Research Institute. She served as Chief Independent Adviser to Henry Dimbleby for the development of the National Food Strategy published in 2021.

Sue is the Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Sue leads the organisation in its mission to bring people together to act on the climate, nature and health crises, through fairer and more sustainable food systems, and a just transition for rural communities and the countryside.

Sue’s background is in combined research and practice in leadership and organisation development for systems change, working with leaders across public, private and not for profit organisations, especially on complex partnership projects.

She is a Trustee of CoFarm Foundation and is an independent Governor at Royal Agricultural University. Living on an organic farm in Wales, Sue and her family raise livestock and farm for conservation.

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.

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.

Ivo Mulder leads UNEP’s Climate Finance Unit (CFU) which focuses specifically on the need to transition to sustainable land use from a climate, nature and livelihood perspective. The unit covers a growing portfolio of (blended) finance instruments, business incubators and other initiatives that have actively unlocked >USD 1 billion in public and especially private capital over the past 5 years towards sustainable agriculture, forestry, restoration and other sectors in developing countries with demonstrable positive impact on climate, nature and people. The team consists of 15 staff and consultants based in Geneva, Nairobi, Jakarta, Sao Paulo and Brasilia.

Ivo also co-founded the Natural Capital Finance Alliance (NCFA), which was launched at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in 2012 and signed by CEOs of more than 40 finance institutions. It paved the way for the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD), the nature equivalent to the TCFD. Ivo has published extensively in the field of nature, climate and sustainable finance, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and summits with over 20 years of professional experience working for UNEP, private consulting firms and with non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Tara McCarthy is global vice president of ESG at Alltech and supports the company’s advancement of its vision of Working Together for a Planet of Plenty™, which focuses on three key pillars of planetary well-being — economic, environmental and social.

She was previously the chief executive officer of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, since 2017 and has more than 25 years of experience in the wider food industry. Prior to Bord Bia, she was chief executive officer for Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Ireland’s seafood development agency, and has lived and operated in overseas markets such as Germany, France and Belgium for more than 10 years.

McCarthy is passionate about the opportunities that can be found within sustainably produced food and has worked across the supply chain to develop insights and industry partnerships. She has led numerous capability initiatives and developmental support programs for students, early career executives and entrepreneurs within the food industry for more than a decade, forming successful partnerships both nationally and internationally. In 2019, she co-founded Agdif, an industry initiative championing diversity in the Irish food industry. She has represented Ireland’s food industry globally, speaking on Origin Green, Ireland’s unique national sustainability program. In 2021, she led the establishment of the Origin Green Global Council.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from National University of Ireland, Galway (UCG) and a Master of Business Studies in marketing from University College Dublin (UCD) Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. McCarthy is an affiliate of the IMD Business School in Switzerland. She has been recognized with a number of awards, including UCG Alumna of the Year for Business and Commerce in 2017; Fellowship of the Marketing Institute of Ireland as well as Top 25 Ireland’s Most Powerful Women – Public Sector Leaders Award in 2018; and UCD Smurfit School Alumna of the Year in 2019.

She lives in Dublin with her husband, Didier, and their three children.

Dr David Bryngelsson is a climate-tech entrepreneur, and founder and chief executive officer of CarbonCloud, the food industry’s climate-intelligence platform. Dr Bryngelsson spent eight years immersed in climate-change mitigation as a published researcher and lecturer at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, before mobilising a team of scientists, developers and climate-accountable business developers to build the digital infrastructure for climate transparency throughout the food supply chain. Today he steers CarbonCloud towards empowering the food system to mitigate climate change, and shares insights and solutions in forums around the world.

atrick Holden is the founder and CEO of the Sustainable Food Trust, whose mission is to work internationally to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable food and farming systems.

Between 1995 and 2010, he was Director of the Soil Association, the UK organic advocacy and certification organisation, where he played a leading role in developing the organic standards and market.

He currently leads a task force on measuring land use sustainability for the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), established by the then Prince of Wales in 2020.

Patrick trained in Biodynamic farming at Emerson College and has farmed for over 50 years on a 300-acre mixed organic dairy holding, now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales, producing a raw milk cheddar from the milk of 85 Ayrshire cows.

He received a CBE for services to organic farming in 2005 and is Patron of the UK Bio-dynamic Agriculture Association. He became an Ashoka Fellow in 2016 and was awarded an honorary doctorate for his international work in sustainable agriculture by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2022.

Lisa Spicka de Bevacqua is a sustainability leader in the natural products industry and the Global Director of NSF’s Sustainability Consulting group. She helps clients design and integrate sustainability strategies that address ESG reporting, climate action, and supply chain integrity. These solutions enable the scaling of services and products that measurably improve environmental and social impacts, reduce risk, increase brand equity, and contribute to a circular and regenerative community.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Nebraska and a Master of Business Administration in Global Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management with a sustainable supply chain development specialization. Her expertise revolves around supply chain sustainability integrity and corporate strategy and reporting, with a deep understanding of food manufacturing operations, organic and food safety regulations, and corporate sustainability. Her prior experience includes global leadership in operations and project management, non-profits, supplier management, and sustainable supply chain development.

David, who was Senior Technical Manager at Winterbotham Darby (now part of the newly formed Compleat Food Group) brings with him over 20 years of experience working in the food production industry. Previous roles include Senior Business Development Manager at Oritain; Head of Technical Supply Base at New England Seafood, and he also spent over eight years at Sainsbury’s in various technical roles.

David will be leading on the development and delivery of The Compleat Food Group’s new ESG strategy, as the newly formed group seeks to create great quality, tasty food in a sustainable way that delivers a positive impact on the world..

 Simon is the CEO and Co-founder of Agreena, the world’s leading soil carbon platform that focuses on helping farmers save and feed the planet by adopting regenerative practices. Agreena is now operating in 14 countries andis experiencing exponential growth. 

Haldrup is a digitally minded business leader with 15 yearsof transformation experience from within the bankingindustry – where he was the Executive Vice President ofBusiness Development with a primary focus on business model innovation, end-to-end digitalization and regulatory implementation. Commercially and strategically anchored, he has extensive experience in technology, finance, risk, business and product development. 

He received his M.S. from the Technical University ofDenmark in Engineering and Robotics before going toIMD for Strategic Finance, and then MIT Sloan Schoolof Management.

Samantha Deacon leads Ramboll’s ecological risk assessment practice in the UK and is a core member of Ramboll’s ecosystem services task force. She has over 15 years’ experience in environmental regulation, consultancy and research in the assessment of chemicals in the environment. Her recent work at Rambollincludes advising clients on ecosystem services analysis, environmental damage under the Environmental Liabilities Directive, chemical risk assessments for REACH, ecological risk assessment of contaminated soils, river and harbour sediments, and the risk assessment of composting bioaerosols (as expert witness in a national planning inquiry). Samantha has previously managed a regulatory programme of research to develop a decision-making framework for assessing risks to ecosystems from land contamination. In her eleven years in regulation, she contributed to over 65 publications, scientific papers and conference presentations including more than 50 Environment Agency technical reports. She holds an MSc in Ecotoxicology of Natural Populations from the University of Reading and a BSc (Hons) in Biology from Royal Holloway, University of London

Marija Rompani is a Director of Ethics and Sustainability at John Lewis Partnership where she is driving and delivering change critical to achieving its purpose ‘For a happier world’ for two much loved Waitrose and John Lewis brands. 

Marija joined the Partnership in 2021 with over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing strategies across retail, FMCG and finance sectors. 

Marija is passionate about nature, transforming the food system and driving responsible consumerism.  In 2022 Partnership renewed its focus on protecting and restoring nature and published a Plan for Nature outlining new commitments and recognising the urgency to stop biodiversity loss. 

Prior to joining John Lewis Partnership, Marija worked at Federated Hermes, Sainsbury’s, Reckitt, UBS and BSI. She is also a trustee of John Lewis Foundation and Waitrose Foundation. Marija holds M.Eng in Environmental engineering and B.Eng in Chemical engineering from Belgrade University, Serbia.

Emer leads a team of specialists developing and delivering the Hilton Foods Sustainable Protein Plan across their global operations. This plan covers people, the planet, and product. Hilton Foods is a leading specialist food packing business that supplies and partners with major international food retailers and food service companies across the UK, Europe, and Australasia.

Before this, she was an agriculture manager at Tesco responsible for the pig meat supply chain from conception to slaughter, animal welfare reporting and responsible antibiotic use across species.

Emer is currently a board member of the ERBS, on the governance board for the UK Soy Manifesto, and on the Stakeholder Advisory Board for the Animal Research Network. She was the nominated retail representative for four years for the Red Tractor Pigs Board and their Technical Advisory Committee. She has contributed to thought leadership in relevant areas through peer-reviewed publications and creating content promoting industry and academic discussion.

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.

Andy Wright has a background in environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility, with experience in roles such as Responsible Business Director at Samworth Brothers, Head Of Sustainability at Greencore, and Non-Executive Director at Treligan. Andy has also held positions at Sainsbury’s, Tulip Ltd, WSP Environment & Energy, and Grontmij | Carl Bro throughout their caree.

With a double academic background of agricultural engineer and human nutritionist, Simon Bonnet has always worked to transform the food value chain through the development of healthier and/or more environmentally friendly products, whether through experiences within the innovation, nutrition or marketing departments of different agri-food companies. After more than 10 years with the Bel Group, he has now returned to his first love and is in charge of the transformation towards a more sustainable dairy upstream as Global Milk Purchase Director for the Bel Group. Its mission is to implement the transformation and transition towards a more sustainable dairy upstream according to the Global Charter co-constructed and co-signed with WWF in 2018. On the 9 dairy basins where Bel operates, his main objective is today to ensure a fair and trustful collaboration with the dairy farmers to ensure the resilience of milk supply while reducing its contribution to climate change. 

Mark specialises in the rural business, agriculture, horticulture, food manufacture, education and healthcare industries as well as supporting organisations from a wide range of sectors to develop and deliver impactful sustainability and ESG strategies. 

As one of the authors of the firm’s Dynamic ESG service suite, Mark is well placed to guide business leaders through the process of integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into their operations with an emphasis on measurable outcomes and RoI.  

Mark has worked in both the public sector and private enterprise, bringing a dedication and enthusiasm to the unique challenges each provides. With an auditor’s eye for detail, he has become known for his sharp insights and capacity for business transformation. 

Mark has won numerous awards for his work including National Finance Director of the Year 2007, the ICAEW’s National Accounting for Sustainability award in 2012, Finance Director magazine’s National Business Finance Director 2014, the Institute for Fiscal Turnaround’s Public Sector Award 2016 and the Institute of Directors’ Blue Ribbon for Governance and Finance Excellence in 2018. 

He is also a trustee of a charity delivering education in Ethiopia, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, a Member of the Guild of Freemen and a Member of the CBI’s South East Council. 

Mark re-joined MHA again in 2019 having originally trained here in 1997.

Jonathan Lane is the Managing Director of ADM Agriculture and ADM UK Country Manager, bringing 25 years of experience in the agribusiness industry. He has played a pivotal role in shaping ADM’s climate-smart strategy in the UK and is deeply committed to driving innovation in the agri-food sector. Jonathan is also passionate about mentoring and developing employees, helping them achieve their professional goals.

Matteo Cunial comes from a family of farmers in the North-Eastern Italy. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering and explored the business world as a Business Analyst at McKinsey, where he worked on various digital strategy projects across Europe. His professional journey took a significant turn in 2017 when he co-founded Farm Technologies, a cutting-edge AgTech startup focused on building agricultural decision support systems. In 2021, Farm Technologies merged with xFarm to create xFarm Technologies. In this new phase, Matteo Cunial assumed the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), overseeing the group’s sales and post-sales activities.

Martin Schichtel graduated with a doctorate degree in Chemistry from the University of Saarland with a focus on Nanoparticle Composites and Smart Coatings. He led the Department of Ceramics at the Institute for New Materials and has 20 years of experience in material development for multiple industries. Martin co-founded Kraftblock to enable the energy transition and the decarbonization of the industrial sector with a sustainable and cost-efficient high-temperature energy storage.

David joined LEAF as Chief Executive Officer in September 2023, before this David worked as Director of Sustainability and External Affairs for the UK Grocery Division of Associated British Foods (ABF). David joined ABF via W. Jordans (Cereals) Ltd. David worked closely with founders Bill and David Jordan to publicise the Jordans breakfast cereal brand and its longstanding commitment to wildlife friendly farming. Jordans was acquired by ABF in 2008 and David subsequently went on to lead sustainability for the Jordans & Ryvita Company, before being promoted to the position of Divisional Director for Grocery in 2017.

He has a deep interest in farming and wildlife stemming from this work, and in particular the formation of the highly respected Jordans Farm Partnership, through which he worked alongside longstanding farm suppliers to the Jordans business together with LEAF, the Wildlife Trusts and The Prince’s Countryside Fund.

Dan McGlynn is an Account Executive developing the UK & Irish markets and was the first hire outside of North America, part of a global expansion strategy to build on TraceGains rapidly growing international business. Dan has spent the last 8 years as a Senior sales professional working in the data and software industry selling directly into the food industry working on compliance & sustainability projects within the largest Grocery Retail, Manufacturing and Agricultural companies in the region..

Sam Elsom is a passionate environmentalist with over 16 years experience in sustainability. Having founded one of Australia’s first sustainable apparel businesses to measuring social and environmental impact across supply chains as well as implementing a satellite factory in India to support poor communities with income, training, clean water and education. Sam was drawn to explore seaweed cultivation for its impressive capacity to sequester CO2 as a potential solution to reverse Climate Change

David created 600 strategy to help purposeful businesses find their missions beyond profit, and organise themselves to deliver. Having worked with a range of landowners across the UK, he sees the potential for well-managed land to meet society’s needs for food, fibre, timber, biodiversity, climate and more. But it takes effort from land managers, who also need a fair reward for their work.

David has a PhD in ecology, an MSc in environmental management systems and is a Chartered Environmentalist. He’s a Trustee for the John Lewis Partnership Foundation and chairs their Nature Fund Committee, and is a Trustee for the National Park City Foundation.

Catherine is a senior leader in the sustainability sector, with experience in developing and nurturing partnerships for impact. Catherine joined WRAP in October 2021, bringing experience from roles at The Fairtrade Foundation and The Coop. 

Catherine is passionate about building a fairer and more sustainable planet for future generations. Her responsibilities at WRAP include leadership of our business collaboration work – including through our voluntary agreements on food, plastics and textiles – as well as oversight of WRAP’s citizen behaviour change activities.

Annie’s background in is the food sector. Over the last 25 years she has worked in both fresh and grocery, own-label and branded companies at board level.

Experienced in both grower-focused and food manufacturing businesses Annie understands both the commercial opportunities and financial challenges that can present themselves in this sector.

“I joined the MHA DESG team to support businesses wishing to embark on a commercially viable ESG journey. There has never been a more critical need to manage both climate and commerce effectively.”

Kim Schoppink is the Regional Lead for Europe of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). She leads the organizations engagement with European companies and sector initiatives on setting climate targets that are in line with a 1.5 degrees pathway. Before joining SBTi last year she worked at the Rainforest Alliance as Global Advocacy Lead supporting companies and governments in their efforts to stimulate implementation of regenerative agriculture..

Anna-Mari has worked for 7 years at Gasum in different positions for biogas production. Gasum has biogas plants in Finland, Sweden and now also in Denmark. Yearly Gasum is handling over 1 million tonnes of different residues and wastes. On top of the biogas production Gasum ownes filling stations in the Nordics and bunkering activities of LNG to the maritime sector. Anna-Mari’s team oversees sourcing of all the feedstocks to the Gasum biogas portfolio and they take care of the organic fertiliser deliveries to all Gasum farms. Using organic practices, Gasum’s fertiliser contains nutrients from biowastes that looks after soil health with low CO2 emissions. A fully circular model.

Dr. Robert Gerlach: Entrepreneur and scientist focussing on the interface between technology and sustainability. 15 years of experience in sustainable product development and cleantech research and development. Originator of the Sustainable Business Model Canvas and the Impact Canvas, founder of Threebility, lecturer at ESCP and TU-Berlin. PhD in Engineering (Oxford University). Enabling farmers and the food industry to master the regenerative transformation at speed and at scale with Klim.

Anya is the Director of Foodsteps. Over the past three years, Foodsteps has become a trusted data science provider for food businesses globally, helping them measure, report, and reduce food and drink-related emissions. Before founding Foodsteps, Anya conducted research at the University of Cambridge on the environmental impact of food supply chains. She is a co-author of the largest scientific study on carbon labeling for food and serves as a trustee and advisor to two non-profits in the food and environmental sectors. As a young leader of a green-tech enterprise, Anya is driving a fundamental shift in the approach to sustainability in both the food and tech industries.

Throughout his academic and professional career, Dominik has been devoted to creating more sustainable farming systems through developing and delivering innovations and concepts that are aligned to the concept of Regenerative Agriculture.

His expertise in strategy and programme development, structure and implementation allowed him to direct multinational programmes with diverse partners. A particular objective was to integrate farmers into regenerative value chains and to deliver innovation to increase their productivity and resource-use efficiency. This included the development of carbon credit schemes to monetize a shift to more sustainable farming, value-chain partnerships to diversify agricultural production into more resilient crops, and methodologies to better quantify the impact of farming across the main pillars of sustainability.

Dominik lectures on Sustainable Agriculture in various Swiss Universities and acts as an advisor to several multilateral organisations to direct their investment towards creating more regenerative and resilient farming systems.

Duncan Williams leads Forum for the Future’s work in Regenerative Agriculture across the UK and Europe. Duncan leads several multi-stakeholder collaborations focused on finding ways to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture, nature-based solutions and improving soil health. These collaborations also aim to better understand the needs of the industry, pilot and scale new business models, and build supply-chain readiness for the transition to regenerative agriculture.

Duncan has a background in sustainable agriculture, having worked for over a decade as a Veterinarian, technical advisor, and sustainability consultant. He holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the University of Exeter, a Bachelor’s in Veterinary Medicine from Royal Veterinary College London, and is a Nuffield Scholar.

Forum for the Future is a leading international non-profit organisation whose mission is to accelerate progress towards a just and regenerative future. Forum brings a unique blend of futures skills and insights together with systems change strategic advice to business partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaborations.

Simon De Nys joined Soil Capital two years ago as a Corporate Sales Specialist. He supports agri-food companies in their decarbonization efforts, advancing regenerative agriculture to strengthen food system resilience and drive climate action as part of their global net-zero strategies. Among his key accounts, Simon collaborates closely with Boortmalt, the worldwide leader in the malting industry, as Soil Capital is their partner in implementing regenerative agriculture practices within the malt industry. A Belgian native, Simon holds a business degree from the prestigious CEMS MiM program, with studies at LSM (Belgium), VSE (Prague), and KU (South Korea). Prior to joining Soil Capital, he gained valuable experience in impact investing.

Lorena is the Mission Lead for Healthier Lives Through Food at EIT Food, where she drives innovation and fosters partnerships to accelerate transitions to healthier, sustainable food systems. She co-leads the Healthy Ageing Think & Do Tank and Protein Diversification initiatives. With over 20 years of global leadership experience in FMCG and Foodservice, Lorena has led innovation, business development, and marketing at companies like Kraft Foods and Burger King. She has also developed clean label and sustainability strategies as a senior consultant, bridging business and science to deliver impactful food solutions.

ffinlo is the Editor-in-Chief of 8point9.com and has worked in farming, land and food business policy for over 20 years. As Chief Executive of Farmwel (2016-2022) he gave evidence to UK parliamentary committees and advised ministers and the Committee on Climate Change on the role of agricultural climate gases. ffinlo founded the Food & Global Security Network in 2020 and published Soil Health: A security threat profile, prior to COP26. ffinlo has presented at the European Parliament and advised ministers and senior leadership teams in many European countries. His TEDx Talk, ‘We can’t solve the climate crisis without cows’, has proved highly popular with regenerative farmers and innovators.

Juliane Caillouette Noble came to The Sustainable Restaurant Association (The SRA) as Development Director in 2016 after five years running Jamie Oliver’s programmes for improving school food and food education across the UK. The SRA is committed to accelerating change toward an environmentally restorative and socially progressive hospitality sector around the world. With a background in nutrition and a love of good food, her career has been deeply engaged in global food policy issues ranging from sustainable farming and urban growing to food education and school food systems. Juliane became the Managing Director of The SRA in January 2021 and is focused on growing the impact of The SRA around the world. 

Claire is an experienced public affairs, policy and communications professional, working as the Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research for The Vegan Society in the United Kingdom in order to accelerate the vegan movement and achieve its strategic goals. She has been in this role for two and a half year, prior to this role she worked in a political and comms consultancy for nearly five years where she provided strategic advice, stakeholder engagement, project management and analysis of politics and media to a number of corporate clients, specialising in the health, FMCG, charity and tech sectors.

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).