120th Anniversary Event - Panel Discussions - About the speakers
Panel 1 - Agri Food Zero Waste and Sustainability
Andrew Ward, MBE – Director - Roy Ward Farms
Roy Ward Farms covers nearly 700 hectares in Lincoln and is owned and run by Andrew Ward. The farm supplies High Oleic Low Lenolenic (HOLL) rapeseed, which is processed into the oil blend used in McDonald’s restaurants. The farm has always emphasized innovation in farm management and practices and is committed to developing new machinery and techniques as a way of reducing inputs and tackling new and existing challenges. The farm’s biodiversity and soil health are also priorities for Andrew, as is the active involvement of his staff in running and developing the farm.
Laura Moffatt – Service Delivery Manager - ReFood
Laura has a broad range of experience in commercial and sales roles in B2B markets and joined ReFood as Sales & Logistics Manager in 2011 before progressing to her current role. Together with setting up and managing the Service Delivery Department to ensure the best customer service for ReFood clients, Laura works alongside depot managers to monitor individual teams to maintain the highest standards. She takes full responsibility for the flow of data between commercial/supply chain and account teams and is closely involved in the development of the ReFood brand.
Duncan Catchpole - Founder & Owner - Cambridge Organic Food Co
Duncan’s lifetime of experience with sustainable food began with his upbringing on an organic apple orchard in Suffolk. In 1998 he founded the Cambridge Organic Food Company (COFCO), which was set up on a shoestring budget. Today, COFCO delivers organic veg boxes to more than a thousand local households every week, achieved while upholding strong ethical principles throughout. It has grown into a seven-figure-turnover enterprise.
Pat Doody, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership
Pat has worked in a number of roles at NatWest for over 40 years and has been based in Lincolnshire since 1990. He joined the LEP as Chair of the European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) Committee and has also served on the Investment Board and the Employment and Skills Board. He is an advisory board member at the University of Lincoln’s International Business School, a former Vice Chair of the Lincoln College Group (where he was a governor for nine years) and a former Chair of the Steering Group for Lincoln’s biannual digital arts festival Frequency.
Mary Powell – Place & Investment Manager, Lincolnshire County Council
Mary has been the Place and Investment Manager at Lincolnshire County Council for nearly 30 years, focussing on the Visitor Economy. Her particular interest is investment in the Tourism product. She has historically set up and gained funding for Lincolnshire Waterways Partnership which delivered £20m of improvements; set up Tastes of Lincolnshire and led on the £22m Lincoln Castle Revealed 2005-15. Recently she has taken the leading role in delivering strategic recommendations from the Tourism Commission, including the redevelopment of the premier consumer website www.visitlincolnshire.com and its new businesses focussed www.business.visitlinconshire.com sister site; creation of the Green Tourism Toolkit; increased social media across various platforms and continual expansion of VLS offers such as walking, birdwatching and business tourism to include a wide range of image, video and user friendly content.
Panel 2 - Going for Growth in Hospitality
Pat Doody, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership
Pat has worked in a number of roles at NatWest for over 40 years and has been based in Lincolnshire since 1990. He joined the LEP as Chair of the European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) Committee and has also served on the Investment Board and the Employment and Skills Board. He is an advisory board member at the University of Lincoln’s International Business School, a former Vice Chair of the Lincoln College Group (where he was a governor for nine years) and a former Chair of the Steering Group for Lincoln’s biannual digital arts festival Frequency.
Nic Till - Owner, Riverhead Coffee
Nic Till is the owner of Riverhead Coffee a multi award winning independent specialty coffee chain in North East Lincolnshire. Nic opened 7 years ago in the heart of Grimsby aiming to bring a bit of city style coffee culture to the town with a strong focus on serving great quality coffee and fresh healthy food with a warm friendly welcome. Riverhead quickly became a popular destination for all ages and a second shop in Cleethorpes opened soon after. Following a successful pivoting of the business during lockdown Nic opened a third site (number 2 in Grimsby town centre) in late 2021, right in the heart of the long-awaited re-development zone of the town centre. She was also one of the winners at the last Stokes Barista Champion Competition in 2021
British Garden Centres- Amy Stubbs, Project & Development Manager
British Garden Centres is the largest family-led garden centre group in the UK. The company has grown significantly with new stores being added the portfolio right up to 2022. Amy is the Project and Development Manager for the company, she also works closely with the marketing team, overseeing their campaigns and projects. Amy has been a vital part of the BGC team during their recent expansion and development.
British Garden Centres - Ricky Towers, Group Restaurant Director
Ricky has over 20 years of experience in the catering industry and has managed British Garden Centre Restaurants for several years. He has overseen significant growth and expansion within the group and now manages operations for around 60 sites across the UK.
Alexis Powell-Howard - M.A., BACP (Accred) - Managing Director at Fortis Therapy & Training
Recently awarded Mental Health Consultancy of the Year, Fortis is a multi-award-winning therapeutic and emotional wellbeing service working to deliver the gold standard across all sectors for all ages. Alexis is an experienced leader and manager, a BACP accredited and experienced psychotherapist, systemic practitioner, supervisor, trainer, mediator, and coach, passionate about therapeutic approaches and how effective they can be to help individuals, organisations and schools to move through difficult times. Alexis is also a TEDx and professional speaker, award-winner, regular on BBC Radio, and a contributing expert and host of live webinars, seminars, conferences, and hosts the Keeping the Peace podcast for Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service in the UK.
HSBC - Ian Green
Ian is a commercial manager for HSBC UK based in Lincoln and has been in banking for 33 years spending the majority of that time in Lincolnshire servicing the SME market. He says he is “a pure yellow belly”, having been born in Lincoln and went to School in North Hykeham (In fact - in the same form group as Nick Peel,the MD at Stokes, for 7 years!)
Chattertons – Adam Gilbert, Partner & Head of Corporate & Commercial - Newark
Adam’s areas of expertise include mergers and acquisitions, disposals, management buy-outs/buy- ins, corporate finance, private equity, venture capital, corporate governance, joint ventures, shareholder agreements, franchising, reorganisations, outsourcing and procurement, share schemes, data protection, intellectual property, information technology, telecoms, commercial contracts, event management and terms and conditions. Adam provides commercial, business focused, legal advice to all sizes of business clients and their owners.