All of those on the list have been invited to the House of Commons on January 29th when they will get the chance to air their views on key industry issues at a roundtable discussion.
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.
There are several new faces around the table who will offer fresh ideas and thinking to inform the discussion on a range of topics including health, allergens, the food system, funding and procurement which are relevant across the entire industry.
The full list includes:
Mo Baines
Mo heads the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), a benchmarking organisation for local authority service providers whose research is used by LACA, among others. She joined APSE in 2004 as principal adviser for the North of England, later becoming head of communication and coordination.
Denise Bean
Since taking on responsibility for feeding across prisons and youth detention centres throughout England and Wales, Denise has looked to engage more with the wider public sector, working with Public Sector Catering magazine to launch a new, dedicated prison catering award in 2025.
Professor Don Bundy
Don 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 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
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 has worked with NHS Supply Chain: Food to publish the first NHS cookbook focused entirely on children’s food, she is a judge for the NHS Chef competition, and is now working with apetito to enhance its children’s food offering.
Mike Haslin
Mike 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 joined Compass Group in 2005 following a successful career in the Royal Navy as foodservice director for the Defence, Government, Offshore and Remote sectors.
Sharon Hodgson MP
Sharon 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 recently took over leadership of the Professional Association of Catering Education. In his day job he lectures Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 front of house hospitality qualifications at Cheshire College South and West, where he is also trainer and mentor to the food studies competition team
Nicky Joiner
With over 29 years of service at East Renfrewshire Council, Nicky has spent the past 21 years as catering services manager responsible for the delivery of more than 10,000 meals a day to schoolchildren.
Jayne Jones
Jayne 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
Kevin 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 is the managing director of CATERed, a cooperative school meals provider in Plymouth, owned by over 60 schools and Plymouth council. He previously played a crucial role in the national School Food Plan, leading the small schools project across rural Devon and Cornwall.
Amanda Pettingill
Amanda was selected for her leadership of TUCO, becoming chair in October 2024 after serving on the TUCO Board since 2015 and playing a sustained role in shaping its strategic direction. A longstanding advocate for in house catering in higher education and the wider public sector, she brings deep sector insight and national influence to policy, procurement, succession planning and professional standards across public sector catering.'
Neel Radia
Neel 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 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, 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 is the senior operational manager for soft FM at NHS England, and also its national lead for Net Zero Food. A former chair of the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA), Phil 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 joined the Food Foundation as its first executive director in 2015 after five years at the Department for International Development. The foundation’s surveys and reports 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’ list will be published in the December issue of Public Sector Catering.
View previous Public Sector Catering Most Influential lists:
PSCMI 2024
PSCMI 2023
PSCMI 2022
PSCMI 2021
PSCMI 2020
PSCMI 2019
PSCMI 2018