Senior Quality & Technical Manager
ASDA

“A laser-like customer focus which permeates through her team” and “an amazing management style” are just some of the words that Asda use to describe Tricia.  Tricia goes the extra mile in coaching and empowering her team of quality and technical colleagues, which is no easy feat in an own brand category worth in excess of £1.5billion – with all the challenges you would expect in this exciting but demanding industry. Tricia has created a friendly yet challenging environment for her team, and is never too busy to share her knowledge. Tricia is instrumental in Asda’s mission to be Britain’s most trusted retailer.

Manager
Morgan’s Country Butchers

Lauren is described by the business as well and truly “putting Morgan Country Butchers on the map”. Raising the shop’s profile on social media, Lauren is active in competitions, participates in both radio and editorial interviews and has even found time to write her own column titled ‘The Butchers Daughter’s Cookbook‘ for local magazine ‘Wrekin News‘. Lauren believes in traditional whole carcass butchery with innovation combined, with MCB buying from auction. Lauren is passionate about supporting MCB’s local farmers, enjoying being front of house explaining to customers about the provenance of their evening meal. Lauren’s pride for the meat industry has her next challenge as visiting schools to talk and educate children in the importance of meat to maintain a balanced diet.

Commercial Executive
Tulip Ltd

Rebecca graduated from the College of Food – University College Birmingham in 2007 with a Food & Consumer Management degree. After working for an artisan charcuterie business as a Sales & Marketing Manager, followed by a Production Manager role at a pie manufacturing business, Rebecca joined Tulip Bodmin in 2014. Initially joining as a Food Developer for cooked bacon, within 6 months Rebecca progressed to Customer NPD Manager for a multi-national, which was Tulip’s largest account at the site. Rebecca’s present role as a Commercial Executive, mean she works with one of Tulip’s largest customers. Rebecca’s drive and determination to succeed will no doubt lead to further progression within Tulip.

Director
Frank Parker Butchers

Hannah is the fifth generation Parker to be working in the family business, and her primary responsibilities involve the catering contracts for their restaurants, care homes, schools and the local hospital, as well as the online orders for the FP shop. Made a director at only 21, Hannah’s passion, drive and enthusiasm has meant that she is always looking for new and different ways to add value to the business, whether it be store visits or liaising with trade bodies such as the Q Guild. Hannah has won many awards for pies, burgers and sausages, including the coveted Supreme Sausage Champion which she won with her brother George at UK Sausage Week 2018. Frank Parker Butchers has also won 2012 Meat Management Awards’ Britain’s Best Butcher Shop, a result with which Hannah was directly involved.

Technical Manager
Foyle Food Group

Nyree has been part of the Foyle family for over 11 years. Her entry level position provided her with the platform in which to showcase her abilities and talents. With experience came promotion where she quickly moved through the management ranks. At Foyle Nyree looks after all the technical & quality functions; it includes liaising with multiple people, customers, industry experts, auditing bodies and export certification bodies. Since taking up her current role 4 years ago, Nyree has transformed the technical/quality functions allowing her to support the businesses growth and development. Nyree is tremendous at building meaningful and trustworthy relationships and has become a true beef expert for Foyle.

Supply Chain Development Manager
Tulip Ltd

Rebecca was reading Agriculture at Harper Adams University when she first began working for Tulip. Having grown up on a farm, Rebecca was keen to choose a placement which allowed her to work within an integrated supply chain working directly with the customer. This successful industrial placement led to the offer of a scholarship and a graduate position. Since returning to the company in 2012, Rebecca has developed the role in supply chain, managing a team of 6, which works closely with Tulip’s customers on their agi policy, managing on-farm compliance and overseeing nearly half of the high welfare pigs Tulip procures.

Charcutier
Cwmfarm Charcuterie Products

Cwmfarm was established in 2010 to rear rare breed pigs and cattle. Enthusiastic to discover new ways to add value to products, Ruth Davies embarked on a fact-finding trip to Denmark followed by 18 months of technical advice, butchery training and product development at the Food Centre Wales in Horeb and low and behold Cwmfarm Charcuterie Products was born. Now an award-winning supplier of salamis and cured meats, Ruth is often seen at schools talking to children about the products and giving lessons on selling and marketing. Recent standout moments include receiving their first order of beer sticks for Hong Kong and recently returning from the Embassy in the Hague for the Queen’s birthday celebrations, providing tasters for the guests.

Butchery Specialist
Verstegen Spices & Sauces UK Ltd

From the age of 13, Erin learnt knife skills at her grandmother’s fishmongers and soon progressed to butchery upon leaving school.  After completing her apprenticeship Erin has competed at a consistently high level at both national and international butchery competitions, winning such awards as Premier Young Butcher, Scottish Meat Training ‘Extra Mile’, she is a previous World Skills finalist and in 2018 Erin was invited to compete at Butcher Wars in Australia.  Currently Erin works as a Butchery Specialist for Verstegen Spices & Sauces, supporting retail butchers with product demonstrations and innovative recipe ideas, and is also in her final year at university studying for a degree in Environmental Health and Food Safety.

Director of Marketing and Communications
Quality Meat Scotland

Carol started her career as Scottish Correspondent of Farmers Weekly and has worked for QMS for ten years. Carol is a passionate and driven advocate for farming and the red meat industry and her particular strengths are encouraging collaboration in the industry and issues management. During the past year Carol has led the development of three new campaigns for Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork and the current Meat With Integrity campaign. Carol is very proud of her team which won the PRCA DARE award in June 2019 for its commitment to communications highlighting the positive nutrition, animal welfare and environmental credentials of the red meat industry.

Consumer Executive
Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC)

Elwen Roberts’ career in red meat began with MLC Wales in 1999 and subsequently as Consumer Executive for HCC. The mum-of-two from north Wales has shown commitment and dedication to educating the public, teachers, children and health professionals on the value of including locally-sourced red meat in a balanced diet. Her sessions receive exemplary feedback and she fires the enthusiasm of audiences of all ages. She strives to meet requests from the smallest rural primary to the largest industry show, including the Royal Welsh Show which this year is her 36th working visit. Meat-cooking expert Elwen has become a familiar face in Welsh households due to thousands of informative demonstrations in the media and at events across the country.

Office Manager
Towers Thompson

Despite coming from a non-meat background working in HR Nicola was persuaded to join Towers Thompson in 2007 and is the 3rd generation of her family working in the business.  Originally joining as a Project Manager Nicola was then promoted to Office Manager which more closely matched the wide remit of her role. Nicola is responsible for HR, Marketing and Branding, Fleet Management, telecommunications and purchasing amongst a myriad of other responsibilities. Tenacious with a positive attitude and an organised approach, Nicola has a reputation for rising to every challenge whether it is organising the office move or helping Towers Thompson to attain BRC Agents and Brokers Grade AA. Nicola always goes the extra mile and is focused on driving the business forward to address the challenges of the future.

Marketing & Operations Assistant
Weddel Swift Distribution Ltd

Sally-Anne joined Weddel Swift in 2016 as a Customer Relationship Executive which involved talking and meeting with High Street butchers throughout the UK to build stronger relationships. Joining the company with very little knowledge of the meat industry, Sally-Anne immersed herself into the sector, researching, working with colleagues and spending invaluable time with butchers to gain a better understanding of the industry. Sally-Anne is known for her excellent ‘can-do’ attitude which enables her to take on delivery of any project asked of her and along with her consistent passion for the job, these attributes led to promotion in January 2018 to a marketing and operations role for the company, based at head office.

Operational Managing Director
Rick Bestwick

Amanda started her career by getting work experience in her teenage years at Christian Salvesen. While most people get some experience and move on to another job in another industry Amanda has never been known to back down from any challenge and the food industry is no exception. Fast forward a few years and Operational Managing Director Amanda Cogan has spearheaded the complete revitalisation of the once abandoned Scunthorpe Cold Store that now forms a crucial part of the Rick Bestwick network and runs the operation of both it and the Warrington Cold Store. Motivating and empowering a full-time team of more than 160 people Amanda provides vital services to meat producers such 2 Sisters Food Group, Karro, ABP, Danish Crown and New Century.

UK Marketing Manager
Multivac UK

Laura began her marketing career with MULTIVAC UK, a major packaging and processing equipment supplier to the meat industry, in 2014. Since joining the business, Laura has worked hard to understand the demands of the meat industry, and how to market effectively to it. She can often be seen in her wellies walking the floor in customers’ production facilities to further understand the challenges faced by the industry as it’s ‘all part of the day job’. Her latest project includes organising live meat and butchery skills demonstrations at MULTIVAC UK’s Oktoberfest event in October this year.

Sales & Marketing Director
Aubrey Allen

Passionate about education, Lucianne has created a culture of constant improvement and sharing of knowledge not only within her team at Aubrey Allen but also to the wider industry. Lucianne loves finding untapped talent and helping people to reach their full potential. Lucianne had a vision to bring the industry together through a training academy available for butchers, chefs and colleges.  Since Aubrey’s Academy opened in 2017, it has welcomed over 500 people through the door, from craft butchery training, running inspiring Teach First events for schools to facilitating 50 apprentices from across the sector of farming, chefs and butchers for National Apprenticeship Week. Lucianne leads by example and is always looking for ways to learn and improve.

Business Development & Apprenticeships Manager
Harper Adams University

Clare has worked in training and education for many years, the last two at Harper Adams University as Business Development Manager for Degree Apprenticeships. A large proportion of time is spent working with the Meat Industry Advisory Board and Trailblazer groups, developing support and curriculum for the meat industry to launch new Higher and Degree Apprenticeships to attract the talent required to meet the growing demand for Science and Engineering in the sector. Clare has partnered with the meat industry to take Food Science and Food Engineering to the World Skills event, presenting the industry to 70,000 school age students.

Category Development Manager – Co-op
Tulip Ltd

Grace works closely with the Co-op, to ensure their Protein product range continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of the modern-day meat consumer. Grace has a background in marketing, food innovation and consumer behaviour which she combines with her passion for food to promote the protein agenda at supplier, retailer and consumer level. Using various methods of approach from booklets to in-store advertising to full day interactive sessions, Grace’s goal is to continue to keep meat on the menu, embracing industry challenges such as health, education, animal welfare and sustainability.

Agriculture Manager
ABP

Having joined ABP on their graduate programme, Rebekah has demonstrated exceptional confidence and knowledge within her field, and is now the Agriculture Manager of ABP’s largest retail accounts. Rebekah is responsible for maintaining business relationships, developing business initiatives and completing specialised projects. Rebekah has led ABP’s highly commended anti-microbial resistance work making ABP the first in the industry to measure antibiotic use within the beef supply chain.