Every year Public Sector Catering magazine highlights individuals who they believe deserve to be recognised as the most influential in the public sector catering industry.
There are eight new names in the latest list of ‘most influential’ people in foodservice - all chosen to reflect the sector from schools and universities to hospitals, the care sector, prisons and the military.
Among them are also those working in public health, allergens, farming and the food system, as well as procurement and the supply chain. All have been invited to the House of Commons on January 29th, when they will get the chance to air their views in a roundtable discussion on key industry issues and challenges.
Out of it will come the key action points for the Public Sector Catering Alliance, which will be chaired by Anita Brown following this event.
The judges said this year’s names comprise a strong and truly ‘influential’ group of people whose skills, achievements and day-to-day roles give them real importance within public sector catering. The full list includes:
Mo Baines
Mo Baines is head the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), a benchmarking organisation for local authority service providers whose research is used by LACA, among others, in getting data on meal costs and staffing rates.
Denise Bean
Denise Bean took over as head of catering at HMPPS, responsible for prisons and youth detention centres throughout England and Wales, when David Oliver stepped down.
Professor Don Bundy
Don Bundy is professor of epidemiology and development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and director of the Global Research Consortium for School Health & Nutrition.
Kath Dalmeny
Kath Dalmeny has instigated and helped to develop the Good Food for London and Beyond the Food Bank reports, now established for over a decade and being replicated in other areas, driving uptake of good food schemes by local authorities.
Nadim & Tanya Ednan-Laperouse
Nadim & Tanya Ednan-Laperouse having successfully campaigned for improved labelling legislation – known as Natasha’s Law – they then set up the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation to help people with allergies safely manage the condition.
Charlotte Fairall
Charlotte Fairall has worked with Nick Vadis and NHS Supply Chain: Food to publish the first NHS cookbook focused entirely on children’s food – ‘More Please’. Its success led to a follow-up called ‘Even More Please’, which was published earlier this year.
Mike Haslin
Mike Haslin is the chief executive of The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) who are catering procurement and professional development experts. TUCO has a buying power in excess of £150 million annually, and have regularly achieved savings of over £10 million per year.
Mick Hickman
Mick Hickman is public sector policy lead at Compass Group UK & Ireland. He joined Compass Group in 2005 following a long and successful career in the Royal Navy.
Sharon Hodgson MP
Sharon Hodgson is the MP for Washington and Gateshead South and has taken on many roles in Parliament since her election in 2005 including on key parliamentary select committees such as the Children, Schools and Families and public health.
John Holden
John Holden took over from longstanding PACE leader Molly Shaher. In his day job he lectures Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 front of house hospitality qualifications at Cheshire College South and West.
Nicky Joiner
Nicky Joiner took over as chair of ASSIST FM from Christopher Ross in November 2024. She has been vice chair since 2022 of ASSIST FM, the organisation that represents public sector FM services providers in Scotland.
Jayne Jones
Jayne Jones is shortly moving on to take up a newly created role as chief executive of the Scottish Food Commission, which aims to ensure that the Good Food Nation plans align with national priorities and public interest.
Professor Kevin Morgan
Professor Kevin Morgan is a professor of governance and development in the School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University. His research has involved, among other things, the issues of food, sustainability and public procurement.
Brad Pearce
Brad Pearce, LACA, the school food people chair. Recently rebranded as The School Food People, LACA - the organisation represents 550 catering managers who are responsible for 110,000 staff across 27,000 schools in England, Scotland, and Wales. Together they deliver 3m lunches to the nation's schoolchildren every term-time day.
Amanda Pettingill
Amanda Pettingill joined The University Caterers Organisation board in 2015, became vice-chair in 2022 and has now taken over as chair from Phil Rees-Jones.
Neel Radia
Neel Radia is now into the third year of his fourth term as chair of the National Association of Care Catering. He previously led the organisation from 2013-2019.
Iain Robertson
Iain Robertson is a former NHS chef and is now the national chair of the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA). His main focus areas involve making the association more inclusive and attracting younger catering leaders.
Alexia Robinson
Alexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food, arranges farm visits for NHS caterers to show them the environmental and nutritional reasons for buying from British farmers and has now spoken to every HCA regional branch.
Phil Shelley
Phil Shelley is the senior operational manager for soft FM at NHS England and also its national lead for Net Zero Food. He chaired the Independent Review of NHS Hospital Food in 2020 that laid out eight National Standards of Hospital Food for patients, staff and visitors.
Anna Taylor
Anna Taylor is executive director Food Foundation. It continues to produce surveys and reports to apply pressure to Governments for more action on child poverty, including free school meals (FSM) for all primary-age children.
More details about the ‘most influential’ are included in the December issue of Public Sector Catering.