SPEAKERS | Festival of Fresh

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Jack Ward

British Growers

Jack Ward is chief executive of the British Growers Association, working extensively on behalf of the sector on the issues of the day. Prior to joining British Growers, Jack was CEO of City & Guilds NPTC. He is a Nuffield Scholar, former director of the Oxford Farming Conference and a fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.

Mark Taylor

GB Potatoes

Mark is a director in Agrimark Consulting, based in south Lincolnshire. Prior to that he was a director at Fenmarc Produce, supplying fresh potatoes and root veg for 28 years into retail.
Mark’s other current roles are chair of Nene Potatoes, chair of the Fresh Potato Suppliers Association, non-executive director at Caledonia Potatoes, and a board member with British Growers.

Nick Marston

British Berry Growers

Since standing down from the full time role of CEO of Berry Gardens in 2017 after 23 years, Nicholas has retained his involvement in the produce and food industry, serving as chairman of the UK berry industry trade body British Berry Growers,, as well as a non-executive director on the boards of large-scale berry growers Hugh Lowe Farms, combinable crops co-operative Openfield, start-up vegetable crisp manufacturer Growers Garden, and field vegetable co-operative East of Scotland Growers.

Tom Mackintosh

Tesco

Tom Mackintosh has been Tesco’s fresh produce and horticulture director since December 2021. He joined the company as a graduate in 2007 and worked in multiple roles in technology and e-commerce across the UK and Central Europe before joining the product team as trade strategy director in 2019.

Joe Shaw Roberts

Kantar

Joe has eight years’ experience in grocery market research, and currently manages Kantar’s produce team, helping more than 70 produce businesses to improve their sales with data-driven insight and recommendations. You’ll often see Joe sharing his thoughts in the pages of the FPJ or at big stage events.

Susan Barratt

IGD

Susan Barratt is CEO of IGD, an organisation of two interconnected communities, Commercial Insight (our Trading Company) and Social Impact (our Charity). Together, these work to drive change that makes a tangible difference for Society, Business and the Individual, through the food and consumer goods industry.Susan has built her career in the food and consumer goods industry, predominantly in the UK and with spells in Costa Rica and the US. Susan has worked for food manufacturing companies Bakkavor, Natures Way Foods and Higgidy, and for multi-site restaurant and pub businesses Whitbread and Eldridge Pope. In addition to being CEO of IGD, Susan is currently a Non-Executive Director of A.G. Barr PLC.

Andy Pembroke

Fresh Direct

Andy Pembroke was appointed the new Managing Director of Fresh Direct, the country’s leading foodservice fresh produce wholesaler, in January 2023.
Prior to this appointment, Pembroke had been with Fresh Direct for more than 10 years, having previously held senior roles in supply chain and manufacturing and most recently as Fresh Direct’s Sales Director.
Since becoming Sales Director, Pembroke has been credited with creating a more focused, customer-first proposition, helping customers to navigate the challenges of the pandemic, Brexit and cost-of-living crisis. At the same time, he has helped bring together Sysco’s fresh businesses, Wild Harvest, M&J Seafood and Fresh Direct, allowing customers to consolidate their deliveries and save time and money.

David Camp

Association of Labour Providers

David Camp is chair of the Association of Labour Providers, the trade association promoting responsible recruitment and good practice for organisations that supply the workforce to the food supply chain. David also runs the human rights consultancy allianceHR and is founder and chair of Stronger Together, a global not-for-profit that provides businesses with practical training, resources, business services and collaborative programmes to embed responsible recruitment and employment practices and to mitigate labour exploitation in their operations and supply chains.

Mark Game

The Bread and Butter Thing

Mark Game has been a leading light in the surplus food redistribution sector for over 20 years with a tireless focus on rescuing and transforming edible surplus food for social and environmental purposes, while creating innovative and effective solutions for the food industry. In 2016, Mark established The Bread and Butter Thing, a charity harnessing surplus food to support low-income communities where families face food insecurity, diet inequality, and isolation.

Ali Gourley

FareShare

Ali Gourley is a public affairs, policy and campaigns consultant for FareShare, the UK’s largest food redistribution charity. Ali leads on government relations, ensuring the environmental impact and social value of food are on the political agenda. With a background in political communications and campaigns, Ali has worked in the West Country, Westminster, and Brussels, where he served as head of communications for a European Parliament delegation. Always passionate about food, Ali worked as a chef before becoming an experienced campaigner.

Alex Cullen

Soil Association

The Soil Association charity exists to transform the way we eat, farm and care for our natural world. Fifty years ago they were the founders of the organic standard, now written into legislation by governments around the world. Alex leads the commercial and marketing functions, supporting organic farmers, growers and brands, making the case for organic, and engaging the public with the benefits the sector has to offer.

Tristan Fischer

Fischer Farms

Tristan Fischer is the founder and CEO of Fischer Farms, the British firm behind the world’s largest vertical farm, set to open in Norfolk this summer. With over 20 years of experience in the renewable energy sector, Tristan has been involved in several large-scale clean energy infrastructure projects and has worked with some of the world’s leading companies, such as Citigroup and Shell Renewables.

Michele Dall’Olio

Fresh4Cast

Michele has based his career on the synergy between innovation and fresh produce. Starting with a degree in Agribusiness and a Master’s in Management and Marketing, he explored the complexity of fresh produce data working as head of research for a leading Italian consultancy. Now, as COO of Fresh4cast in London, Michele and the team harness machine learning and advanced technologies to increase profits and reduce waste for businesses through customised forecasting and planning solutions.

Jake Norman

Olympus Automation Limited

Jake Norman is a director at Oympus Automation Limited, an engineering business based in Peterborough that specialises in automating and digitalising fresh produce processes. Having earned a degree in Economics from the University of Bristol, Jake has honed a career at the intersection of economics, automation, and sustainability. His role involves assisting food manufacturers in digitising their operations by linking them with OAL’s 35-person engineering team, which specialises in system integration, artificial intelligence, machine vision, and label verification.