Staff and trustee profiles
Core staff, project and campaign coordinators and officers
Sophie Davies
Executive assistant
Orla Delargy
Head of Public Affairs
Orla is Head of Public Affairs for Sustain and also leads the communications for Sustain’s work on Good Food Trade. She is working hard to promote the opportunities and threats for food, farming and fishing as we exit the EU so we all have decent food to eat at the end of the process.
She has over 15 years’ experience of communications strategy and planning, media handling, corporate communications, public affairs and reputation management in two Whitehall Departments, the private and third sectors. Orla joined Sustain from LEON restaurants, where she led a campaign to save universal infant free school meals, an issue which helped shift voter intentions in the 2017 national elections.
She also led on the communications for the launch of LEON on mainland Europe. Before joining LEON, she was head of campaign strategy and chief press officer at the Department for Education, advising ministers on communications around high priority areas such as changes to testing, the national curriculum, teacher recruitment and the school food plan.
Gavin Dupee
Head of Digital & Design
Gavin manages Sustain's online and print presence, and develops technologies to help engage with Sustain’s audiences. Gavin has 20 years of experience developing web solutions predominantly for the charity sector. A comprehensive knowledge of PHP, Javascript and MySQL forms the backbone to numerous bespoke solutions he has developed for Sustain and partners ranging from Jamie Oliver to the Mayor of London.
His Sugar Smart platform empowers leaders across the UK to engage with local partners creating real change in an auditable way. The core Sustain site sits top of the search engines serving over a million visits a year, and integrations with the API services of Google, Twitter, Mailchimp and others give the ability to make more of Sustain’s data, and further engage with existing and potential supporters. So whether it be a national map of bakeries, an application to record and audit fruit and veg harvests in small growing sites, or a platform to manage a national grants programme, Gavin has coded it.
Additionally, Gavin develops web applications and print media for a number of charities, research groups, companies and private individuals, and has designed courses and lectured in web and graphical design.
Alan Karlik
Digital Officer
Alan is a graphic and web designer, with passion for music, multisensory design and sustainability.
Stephanie Kennedy
Communications & Learning Coordinator
Stephanie is leading on Sustain’s communications strategy as the organisation enters an exciting new phase of growth.
The rest of her time is spent on FoodSHIFT2030, an EU project supporting innovative food systems across Europe as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and information between sector bodies and project participants.
Abi Taylor
Finance & Administration Officer
Abi joined Sustain in July 2019 as the Finance & Administration Officer. She studied Nutrition & Health at university and has previously worked in the fitness industry. She is passionate about health, wellbeing, sustainability and conservation.
Quoc-anh Tran
Head of Finance
Following graduation with a degree in Accounting and Business Information Technology, Quoc-anh joined Sustain in February 2002. Quoc-anh is continuing his professional development by working towards becoming a full member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
As Sustain's Finance Manager, Quoc-anh works closely with the project officers in managing budgets, prepares management accounts for finance and board meetings, and produces Sustain's annual accounts ready for the audit.
Among other duties Quoc-anh is responsible for are developing project budgets for grant applications as well as reporting to funders.
Fran Bernhardt
Campaign Coordinator
Fran Bernhardt is a Children's Food Campaign Coordinator at Sustain where she specialises in restricting the sales and marketing of unhealthy food to children. Since 2018 she has been advising the Mayor of London's team to write and implement their groundbreaking Healthier Food Advertising Policy across the Transport for London network (AKA "the junk food ad ban"). In addition, she now supports local authorities across the UK to change their advertising policies.
Prior to this, Fran coordinated Sugar Smart where she supported local areas up and down the country to run campaigns to reduce sugar overconsumption. From 2018-19, she coordinated the Tower Hamlets Food Partnership where she developed the role and led a team of researchers to complete local food research. Before campaigning full-time, she taught fortnightly plant-based community cookery classes at Made in Hackney where she demonstrated how to cook seasonal, cheap, healthy and tasty meals.
Barbara Crowther
Campaign Coordinator
Barbara joined Sustain in 2018 and manages the Children’s Food Campaign, which champions children’s rights, parent power and government action to improve the food environment children grow up in. This includes campaigning for tighter regulations of junk food marketing to children, better school food and reducing children’s consumption of sugary or unhealthy food.
Barbara worked for over 13 years for the Fairtrade Foundation as Director of Policy & Public Affairs, leading the organisation’s communications, public campaigning, policy and research to make trade work better for farmers and workers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to that she was Head of Campaigns at Save the Children, working on child poverty and child rights. As well as her work for Sustain, Barbara is a freelance campaigns and public affairs consultant specialising in sustainability, ethical trade and human rights, a personal and professional performance coach and an avid foodie, birdwatcher, singer and creative writer.
Hannah Crump
Project Coordinator
Hannah joined Sustain in August 2021 to take forward the London Food Link network, with a focus on Good Food Enterprise. Her role involves developing campaigns and projects to promote and support good food in London, engage network supporters and manage relevant comms, including the Jellied Eel print and online magazine. She is also co-author of the Good Food for All Londoners report, which benchmarks councils and aims to inspire leadership on food policy and practice.
Hannah has a background in sustainability and a love for food and throughout her career, has worked for charities, businesses, and social enterprises managing operations and delivering green projects and programmes. Having worked for Unpackaged and the Sustainable Restaurant Association she has experience in working on zero waste with businesses, sustainability within restaurants and hospitality sectors, and community led growing projects working in partnerships with organisations including Eden Project Communities.
Bella Driessen
Local Action Officer
Bella joined Sustain as Local Action Officer (on maternity cover), working on Good to Grow, Veg Cities, Sugar Smart, and Food for the Planet. She has a background in organic market gardening and research.
Aryo Feldman
Peri urban farming
Aryo is the Peri-Urban Farming Officer at Sustain. His aim is to grow the movement for agroecological food production at city fringes across the UK, both nationally and at a local level: currently, in Bristol, London, Cardiff, Sheffield and Glasgow.
He has a background in sustainable agricultural research in the Global South (Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia), as both a practitioner and a coordinator. More recently, he worked on rural development projects in the Netherlands. Outside of working for Sustain, he freelances as a scientific writer across the technical and social sciences (has a PhD in Crop Physiology and Breeding from the University of Nottingham, and an MSc in rural sociology and anthropology from Wageningen University) for technical and non-technical audiences. He enjoys writing in general, whether in prose or poetry, as well as for performance.
Sam Hayward
Campaign Officer
Vicki Hird
Head of Sustainable Farming
Vicki Hird MSc FRES is an award winning expert, author, strategist and senior manager who has been working on environment, food and farming issues for over 30 years. As part- time Head of Sustainable Farming at Sustain, Vicki manages the farm team, policy, research and related campaigning and provides comment and guidance on these issues.
Vicki’s new book: Rebugging the Planet, published on 16 September 2021, is a homage to insects and other invertebrates, why they are so essential to our ecosystem and what we can do to help them.
Prior to this role, she was director of Campaigns and Policy at War on Want. Previously she was the Senior Campaigner heading up the Land use, Food and Water Programme for Friends of the Earth. She was Policy Director of Sustain, 1999 – 2004 which she founded in 2000 after merging SAFE alliance which she ran with the National Food Alliance. Vicki also runs an independent consultancy on campaign strategy and research (including for RSPB, WSPA, The Sustainable Development Commission, Greenpeace, The Plunkett Foundation and HEAL).
She has launched many major food and environment campaigns, from local to global in scope, has blogged frequently and published numerous reports and articles on the sustainability of food systems and a book, ‘Perfectly Safe to Eat?’ (Women’s Press 2000).
She has an academic background in pest management and is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. Vicki is on the board of the Eating Better Alliance and has sat on numerous charity boards and government advisory groups over the years.
Mayya Husseini
Project Officer
After a decade of working with diverse food communities in Spain and Portugal, Mayya returned to London to join Sustain in May 2021. Whether it's challenging local chefs to showcase what sustainable food can taste like or connecting peri-urban organic farmers with inner-city consumers, she's putting community gardens at the centre of all good food conversations to inspire positive behaviour change throughout the food chain.
Fiona McAllister
Project Coordinator
Fi returned to Sustain in May 2020 to coordinate Capital Growth (having worked on the Food and Mental Health Campaign all the way back in 2008!). She used to coordinate Growing Communities’ veg scheme and learning programme.
Fi’s background includes setting up community gardens with schools and residents’ associations as well as running a small ethical catering company. When she’s not with Capital Growth, she teaches with Made in Hackney’s community cookery programme and runs an intergenerational community café at a centre in East London.
Gillian Morgan
Planning Lead
Gillian is supporting Sustainable Food Cities engage in the plan-making process to ensure that community food growing has been taken into account in their local plans.
As well as being a planner who has specialised in the strategic planning and management of greenspace (from local level in London Boroughs through to national park level as planning director in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads), Gillian is a passionate gardener.
She started volunteering for Capital Growth, meeting inspirational community food growers and has gone on to publish Sustain's guidance for planners on writing planning policies to support community food growing.
Chris Murphy
Community Grower
Chris joined Capital Growth in August 2021 as a Community Grower based at the Regents Park and Kensington Gardens allotment sites and hopes to inspire people to grow-their-own through public engagement and the Royal Parks volunteer programme.
Trained in commercial food growing with Organiclea, Chris has been involved with other growing sites across North London and worked as a maintenance gardener for elderly residents in his local community.
In March 2021 he took over the world's most neglected allotment plot and can often be found there making vain attempts to rid it of brambles and bindweed!
Morven Oliver
Campaign Coordinator
Morven (currently on maternity leave) coordinates Sustain’s London Food Poverty Campaign which highlights and encourages sustainable responses to food poverty, particularly where they address the root causes of food poverty.
Prior to working at Sustain Morven’s background was in the New Economy Movement, housing activism and environmental campaigning. She has organised grassroots campaigns with renters rights group the Tenants Union, worked on strategy development with the international student led movement Rethinking Economics, and has done community organising with Extinction Rebellion.
Morven coordinates Sustain’s London Food Poverty Campaign which highlights and encourages sustainable responses to food poverty, particularly where they address the root causes of food poverty.
Prior to working at Sustain Morven’s background was in the New Economy Movement, housing activism and environmental campaigning. She has organised grassroots campaigns with renters rights group the Tenants Union, worked on strategy development with the international student led movement Rethinking Economics, and has done community organising with Extinction Rebellion.
Sofia Parente
Campaigns and Policy Coordinator
Sofia is the Sustainable Food Places Policy and Campaigns Coordinator and leads on driving local and national action on key food issues for the network. This includes coordinating the Veg Cities campaign, developing new campaigns, amplifying the voice of SFP members at a national level and advocating on specific issues where local priorities need national action.
Sofia has been working at Sustain since 2015 and during that time she led the roll out of the Sugar Smart campaign, from an idea piloted by a hand full of pioneer cities, to a national campaign with over 50 cities and other local areas involved. She coordinated the Good Food for London report which shines a light on action on good food by London boroughs and was a trustee of the Eating Better alliance.
Her background is as an animal welfare, food and environmental campaigner. She grew up on a farm in the north of Portugal and has a degree in Agronomy from the Technical University of Lisbon.
Ren Piercey
Campaign Coordinator
Ren is the Sustainable Food Places Local Action Coordinator (on maternity cover) and leads the Programme’s Good Food Movement work, Good Food Economy and coordinates the Sugar Smart campaign. She previously coordinated Feedback’s Gleaning Network and is a Registered Associate Public Health Nutritionist.
Oliver Ratcliffe
Public Affairs Officer
Oliver joined Sustain in September 2020 and has a background in policy. He will be focusing on Sustain’s Parliamentary work by engaging with key stakeholders and monitoring policy developments.
He has a passion for politics, sustainable food and music.
Cecily Spelling
Communications and Events Coordinator
Cecily joined Sustain in September 2020 as the Communications and Network Coordinator for the Food Power project and the Food Learning Forum (on maternity cover).
For Food Power, Cecily provides communications, resources, webinars and more for food poverty alliances around the UK. This package of support helps the alliances to design and deliver sustainable, innovative responses to food poverty and food access and learn from fellow alliances to help tackle the root causes of poverty.
The Food Learning forum brings together a group of organisations that have been funded by the National Lottery Community Fund to deliver food focused projects, either on food access or food sustainability, to learn and share ideas and issues. Cecily coordinates this forum by organising events that allow forum members to discuss strategic issues and decipher how these can be incorporated into future work.
Before joining Sustain, Cecily managed policy and campaigns for the environmental coalition Wildlife and Countryside Link and was a climate campaigner at the climate action charity, Possible.
Ruth Westcott
Campaign Coordinator
Ruth co-ordinates Sustain's work on the Climate and Nature Emergency and on Sustainable Fishing, working to make food a central part of policies to tackle the climate and nature emergency at a local and national level; also to encourage businesses to adopt a fully sustainable fish policy, and thereby help transform the way the world's oceans are fished.
Ruth has led campaigns at Sustain for over seven years, joining from the Marine Stewardship Council. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and Imperial College, London, where she was awarded the Fishmongers' Company Scholarship.
James Woodward
Campaign Officer
James joined Sustain in September 2020 and works on farming policy and campaigns. Previously, he has worked in farm advice for Natural England, supporting farmers into sustainable whole farm systems.
He has also worked in farming policy for Defra and the National Farmers' Union. Alongside this, he also likes to spend time on his step-family's Cumbrian farm.
Chris Young
Campaign Coordinator
Chris Young has coordinated the Real Bread Campaign since March 2009. His work involves running the Campaign’s international supporter network, creating and running initiatives including Sourdough September, Real Bread Week, Together We Rise (therapeutic/social baking), calling for an Honest Crust Act of better loaf labelling and marketing laws, and No Loaf Lost (surplus and waste reduction), as well as the Lessons in Loaf and Bake Your Lawn programmes for schools.
He’s the author of the books Slow Dough: Real Bread and Knead to Know, plus numerous bready reports, and editor of True Loaf magazine. From 2014-18 he also coordinated the London Food Link network, which included editing The Jellied Eel magazine and helping to launch and run the Urban Food Awards.
Chris has pulled on his judge’s wig for BOOM Awards, The Cateys, The Great Taste Awards, The Scottish Bread Championships and The World Bread Awards. In 2017, The School of Artisan Food honoured Chris with its first Fellowship.
Vera Zakharov
Campaign Coordinator
Vera (currently on maternity leave) is the Sustainable Food Places Local Action Coordinator, having joined the Sustain team in 2017. She leads on the programme’s Good Food Movement work, and coordinates the Sugar Smart campaign, as well as supporting the Food for the Planet Campaign.
She has previously coordinated the Love Food Hate Waste campaign at the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership and Feedback’s Sussex Gleaning Network.
Senior leadership team
Kath Dalmeny
Chief Executive
Kath is Chief Executive of Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, since 2016 leading the alliance's response to Brexit and its profound implications for healthy and sustainable food, farming and fishing and developing the Campaign for a Better Food Britain. During the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Kath has been the alliance lead on Food and Vulnerability, serving on numerous liaison and coordination groups to support the emergency food response at local and national level. She was instrumental with the Good Law Project and Doughty Street Chambers in launching a judicial review of the government's approach to children's holiday hunger during Covid-19.
Among many initiatives, Kath has helped to design and instigate: the Sustainable Fish Cities alliance campaign, which has now won pledges to serve 100% verifiably sustainable fish from caterers that together serve 1 billion meals a year; the Good Food for Our Money campaign and the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, which have won healthy and sustainable food standards for Whitehall, prisons and parts of the armed forces, and in NHS Standard Contracts for hospitals. Also the Good Food for London and Beyond the Food Bank reports, mapping uptake of good food schemes by London boroughs, for the benefit of citizens, food producers, farm animals and the environment, and encouraging healthy competition between local authorities.
2017 saw the launch of the Right to Food initiative, aiming to provide the legal foundations that would ensure that everyone, no matter what their circumstances, is able to eat well and not experience hunger.
From 2013 to 2017, Kath has been a senior project manager for the Sustainable Food Cities network, working with Food Matters and the Soil Association. She now sits on the steering group for the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics.
In 2018 she became a Commissioner for the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, after having served on the steering group that led to its establishment.
From 2009 to 2012, she was a member of the Food Advisory Group to the Organising Committee of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which wrote and published the first ever Olympic Food Vision standards, championing local and seasonal food, higher animal welfare, sustainable fish, Fairtrade products, reduced waste, and tap water on demand. For several years she has also served as a member of, or advisor to, the London Food Board, under three consectuive mayoral administrations.
Kath's background is as a food campaigner and consultant to organisations such as the Food Commission, National Consumer Council, National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Food Climate Research Network, Greater London Authority and the London Development Agency. She has a special interest in food, sustainability and climate change; is passionate about sustainable fish and fair trade; increasingly fascinated by the role cities can play in improving the food system; and also interested in how the benefits of healthier food and fairer trading conditions can be enjoyed more equitably by consumers and producers alike.
On a voluntary basis, Kath is a trustee of a community-run box scheme and farmers' market that runs an exciting new start-up mentoring programme (Growing Communities); and a not-for-profit food consultancy that helps individuals and organisations working towards more sustainable, equitable food systems (Food Matters). Formerly, she was a voluntary board member of Feedback, the global food waste campaign (Feedback); and a campaign to persuade government, Ofgem and the National Grid to consider the potential for small-scale electrical appliances such as fridges to balance energy demand (Dynamic Demand).
She is a proud not-for-profit shareholder in numerous community food initiatives, including Scotland the Bread, Fordhall Farm, the The Community Farm, Luminary Bakery and the Ourfield initiative.
Kath has a first-class Masters in Food Policy from the Centre for Food Policy at City University London.
Her awards include being identified as one of 10 most influential campaigners in 2018 by The Right Ethos; one of the Top 20 most influential people in public sector catering in 2018 and 2020 in Public Sector Catering magazine; the 2006 Caroline Walker Trust Lifetime Award and, in 2016, an International Giraffe Appreciation Society award for "sticking her neck out in the public interest", helping catalyse third-sector legal challenges to the "anti-advocacy clause". Her work contributed to both the Food Commission and Sustain winning BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards for food campaigning. After Sustain won the 2005 Judge's Special Award, Kath was also honoured to serve for a decade on the judging panel for the BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards, meeting many inspiring food entrepreneurs and campaigners.
Kath Dalmeny owns one share in Barclays Bank, for the purposes of share activism on climate and nature emergency, in support of the work of ShareAction. If this generates any profit, she will donate it to Friends of the Earth.
Ben Reynolds
Deputy Chief Executive
Since joining Sustain in 2004, Ben has helped launch the Food Power network and was a founding member of the Sustainable Food Cities network. Most recently he came up with the 50 Fountains Challenge (run in partnership with Refill), born out of the Sugar Smart campaign which he developed with the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation. He worked with Jamie Oliver’s team to get the government to adopt a sugary drinks tax, and set up the award winning Children’s Health Fund which piloted the levy with restaurants.
Between 2004 – 2013, Ben led on Sustain’s London work: editting the free ethical London food magazine The Jellied Eel, shortlisted for a Guild of Food Writers award; running the consultation on the Mayor of London's Food Strategy; and developing Sustain’s urban agriculture work - coming up with Capital Growth, supported by the Mayor of London, to create 2,012 food growing spaces in London by 2012, and following that the Big Dig, which encourages volunteering on community food gardens around the UK.
Ben is a trustee of the charity School Food Matters, has been a member of the London Food Board, chair of Growing Greenwich, part of the selection panel for the Big Lottery Fund’s local food grants programme and used to run a Farmers’ Market.
Sarah Williams
Programmes Director
Sarah is Programme Director for Sustain having joined in in 2009, as part of the Capital Growth team who successfully supported 2,012 new community food growing spaces in London. Sarah has developed new areas of work at Sustain including the national Big Dig programme and work on our Growing Health project. She currently oversees most of the London programme of work, run under the London Food Link umbrella and represents Sustain on the London Food Board.
Prior to Sustain her roles have included running community regeneration projects, including at Groundwork East London where she lead on a series of environment based projects.
Sarah was also the Strategic Manager of the Newham Food Access Partnership, where years she coordinated the implementation a Food and Nutrition Strategic Plan. Sarah has a Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development, achieved through the Forum for the Future programme.
Council of trustees
The members of Sustain's Council of Trustees are highly experienced and much valued advisors on Sustain's governance and strategic direction. They are elected by the Sustain alliance membership to form a governing body and declare any relevant interests (see individual profiles). Sustain’s Council of Trustees meets quarterly to guide the work of the alliance and many also serve as Working Party chairs or as Lead Trustees on specific areas of expertise.
Cobi-Jane Akinrele
Open Food Network
Cobi-Jane Akinrele is a member of the Support Team for the Open Food Network. She is a founder of the AKÉ Collective, a small community-focused start-up based in Nigeria committed to ensuring smallholder farmers in the global South are paid equitably for their produce. She also works in the support team at the Open Food Network (OFN), where she works closely with small- to medium-scale producers, ensuring they and their customers are able to use the OFN platform easily. Cobi is particularly interested in food justice for all, and believes neither race, gender, nor income should prevent access to healthy food or the ability to farm if one wishes to do so. She is a regular contributor to the OFN blog on these topics and hopes to learn more about what equitable food and farming truly means as she continues to navigate these spaces.
Role-share with Nick Weir of the Open Food Network
Declaration of interest: None
Lucy Bjorck
RSPB
Lucy Bjorck is a Senior Policy Officer with RSPB. As part the Food and Farming team, she works to ensure that the importance of nature is recognised in the development of more sustainable land-use policies, recognising that nature-based solutions are a crucial part of the response needed to tackle the problems which currently plague the food and farming system. Her background in environmental biology, meaning she brings an understanding of the impact of our food and farming system on the natural world. She is passionate about securing support for sustainable and healthy eating patterns, to help ensure wildlife can thrive and everyone can eat well now and into the future. Lucy has worked closely with the Sustain alliance for several years.
Declaration of interest: None
Josie Cohen
Pesticide Action Network UK
Josie Cohen joined Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) in June 2017 to head up the organisation's UK campaigning, policy and communications work. She studied politics at university and has spent the last fifteen years working as a campaigner for a range of organisations including the League Against Cruel Sports and Save the Children UK. For the past decade she has focused on social, environmental and human rights issues associated with large-scale agriculture, leading ActionAid UK's biofuels campaign and working on land rights for Global Witness.
Declaration of interest: In 2020/21, PAN-UK is working on a joint project with Sustain funded by Farming the Future
Deirdre Dee Woods
Independent Food Aid Network
Deirdre ‘Dee’ Woods is an award-winning cook, community food educator, urban agroecologist, organiser and researcher, with over 25 years’ experience of working in diverse communities. In 2016 she was awarded BBC Food and Farming Awards, Cook of the Year. Dee is co-founder of Granville Community Kitchen and co-chair of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN). She is a director of the Landworkers Alliance, and member of the London Food Board that advises the Mayor of London on food policy, as well as the Food Ethics Council. Dee is co-editor of A People’s Food Policy and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University. Dee is the also co-founder of the African and Caribbean Heritage Food Network, and a founding member of the Global Solidarity Alliance for Food, Health and Social Justice.
Dee’s work sits at the nexus of food and farming, particularly in intersectionality, diversity, equity and anti-oppression, decolonisation, reparations, the right to food and nutrition, participatory policy making, community food systems, food system change, food commons, agroecology, and food sovereignty.
Dee is co-founder of Granville Community Kitchen and co-chair of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN). Dee is a member of the Community Food Growers Network and the co-ordinating committee of the Landworkers Alliance, the GLA London Food Board, and the Food Ethics Council. Dee is co-editor of A People’s Food Policy and sits on the steering group of People-Food-Power and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Agro-ecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University. Dee’s work sits at the nexus of food and farming, particularly in intersectionality, diversity and inclusion, the right to food and nutrition, participatory policy making, community food systems, food system change, food commons, agroecology, food justice and food sovereignty.
Declaration of interest: None
David Edwards
WWF-UK
David Edwards is Director of WWF-UK's new strategic focus on Food Systems transformation. He believes the coming years present the UK with a unique opportunity to accelerate transformation in global food systems through the development of exemplar policy, corporate action and food citizenship. His professional focus is to develop the research, advocacy and communications required to underpin this vision, and the partnerships required to influence decision makers and mobilise change at scale. He says that he believes Sustain can play a pivotal role through its support of innovative projects, through its campaigning and dissemination of critical insight. David has a wide experience in food ranging from an early career as a marketing research exec for UK major food and drinks brands, and 10 years working as Assistant Director of HRH Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit, specialising in food and agriculture. A particular interest in that role was the opportunity to leverage city-level leadership to accelerate action and wider policy change – something he still believes offers huge potential. David hopes to bring value to Sustain by helping to build new connections, particularly with corporate leadership here in the UK and to others internationally through his role on the Leadership Team of WWF’s Global Food Practice. He says, "I am, at heart, a passionate foody and a passionate admirer of Sustain’s aims, ethos and ambitions.”
Role-share with Mollie Gupta of WWF-UK
Declaration of interest: David is a Trustee of the Food Foundation, a Sustain member organisation
Jyoti Fernandes
Landworkers Alliance
The Landworkers Alliance is a union of farmers, growers, foresters and land-based workers whose mission is to improve the livelihoods of LWA members and create a better food and land-use system for everyone. Jyoti Fernandes is part of the LWA’s Coordinating Group and an agroecological smallholder farmer. Jyoti says, “I have worked closely with Sustain on many campaigns to build a fairer food and farming system. I would like to bring diverse voices together- uplifted by Sustain, to work for food justice where everyone, regardless of income, background or where they live has access to healthy, affordable, sustainably produced food. We also need to bring more people into farming and food projects from diverse backgrounds, start more community farms, and community food projects. I believe in being proactive in creating opportunities for people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds to create social and political change, and serve on the board of Sustain as a link point for getting people involved.”
Declaration of interest: Land Workers Alliance is working on a joint project with Sustain funded by Farming the Future
Mollie Gupta
WWF-UK
Mollie Gupta is Forest Commodities Manager for WWF-UK. WWF is currently working to bend the curve on biodiversity loss so that both people and nature can thrive. To achieve this, WWF is working to address the triple challenge of tackling climate change, restoring nature, and ensuring that a healthy, sustainable diet is accessible to all. Mollie Gupta joined the Food Commodities team at WWF-UK early in 2019, supporting work to remove deforestation, habitat conversion and exploitation from palm oil and soy supply chains to the UK. She is also working closely on WWF-UK’s animal feed strategy, understanding ways in which the protein sources used in feed could be diversified to increase the use of innovative, sustainable alternatives that utilise waste streams and reduce environmental impact. Prior to joining WWF, Mollie participated in academic research identifying how the implementation of conservation projects could be decolonised in Australia, and research understanding how projects including payment for ecosystem services could be set up equitably in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil. Mollie hopes to bring to Sustain's Council of Trustees her specialism in ecology, food commodity production and commodity supply chains, and personal experiences as a young woman of colour with Indian heritage.
Role-share with David Edwards, WWF-UK
Declaration of interest: None
Kawther Hashem
Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH)
Dr Kawther Hashem BSc MSc PhD RNutr (Public Health) is a Registered Nutritionist. She currently holds the position of researcher at Queen Mary University of London and the Campaign Lead at the Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH), a charity organisation concerned with the effects of salt and sugar on health. Kawther studied for a BSc in Nutrition at King’s College London. Since graduating, she has worked for the food industry, non-governmental organisations including the Children’s Food Campaign at Sustain in 2011-2012 and more recently in academia. In 2014, Kawther completed a Masters in Food Policy at City University London and in early 2019, she completed her PhD on sugar reduction. Alongside her current roles, Kawther is also a visiting lecturer on nutrition and food policy at several UK Universities and is regularly invited to comment on nutrition topics in the media.
Role-share with Katharine Jenner, CASSH
Declaration of interest: None
Bridget Henderson
Unite, the union
Bridget Henderson is the research officer for the food, drink and agriculture sector represented by Unite, the union. Unite has more than 100,000 members in its food, drink and agriculture sector, and thousands more across all industrial sectors linked to the food chain, such as those in logistics and transport, printing and packaging, and the public sector. Formerly the editor of Landworker, the journal for rural workers, and now as the sector researcher, Bridget brings experience and insights of Unite members to contribute to Sustain's work in building a better, safer and fairer food system.
Declaration of interest: None
Katharine Jenner
Action on Salt; Action on Sugar
Katharine Jenner is a Registered Public Health Nutritionist and the Campaign Director of the award-winning salt reduction charity Action on Salt (CASH), its international arm World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) and Action on Sugar, which aims to reduce unnecessary sugars in the population's diet. She also runs the only charity dedicated to lowering the nation's blood pressure, Blood Pressure UK and is a Visiting Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at several UK universities. Katharine worked as a media strategist for several years and as such is very interested in developing innovative approaches to communicating public health. Formerly, Katharine was Chair of Sustain's Campaign for Better Hospital Food.
Katharine is Chair of Sustain's SUGAR SMART campaign
Role-share with Dr Kawther Hashem, CASSH
Declaration of interest: None
Andre Kpodonu
Feedback Global
As Head of Activism for Feedback Global, Andre Kpodonu leads on broadening and deepening participation within Feedback’s work to regenerate nature by transforming the food system. His portfolio of project includes EcoTalent, an Our Bright Future funded project which works to diversify entrance into the sector. The INTERREG funded FLAVOUR project also works to broaden economic participation in the food sector, whist diverting nutritious food from going to waste. Andre has over a decade of experience working with and in communities grappling with marginalisation and structural disadvantage. Over the last eight years he has also worked to strengthen the governance of charities and NGOs to better serve and represent their beneficiaries. He led YMCA Europe’s Youth Empowerment Network from 2012-2015, facilitating the election of young people onto their board of trustees. As a trustee of the Young Camden Foundation (a mezzanine organisation for the London Borough of Camden’s children and young people’s sector) he worked to ensure their board effectively balanced the priorities of the organisation, its members and the communities they in turn serve. Uniting Andre’s experience and approach is a belief that equitable participation is a prerequisite of a just and ecologically sustainable planet.
Declaration of interest: Sustain currently hosts a Feedback EcoTalent paid intern
Joanna Lewis
Soil Association
Jo Lewis is Policy and Strategy Director at the Soil Association, leading their policy unit and organisational strategy development. Jo led the development of the Soil Association’s Food for Life Served Here scheme for healthy and sustainable menus, which now certifies 2 million meals every day in schools, hospitals, universities and visitor attractions.
Jo has worked closely with Sustain over the last decade to influence government policy on public sector food procurement, including as a member of the Department of Health’s Hospital Food Standards Panel.
Jo is Chair of the Food Ethics Council, resuming a Trustee role when her term as Chair ends in January 2020. Before joining the Soil Association in 2006, Jo was Convenor of Defra’s Sustainable Consumption Roundtable and Head of Policy at the Green Alliance.
Role-share with Raksha Mistry of the Soil Association
Declaration of interest: Trustee of the Food Ethics Council, a Sustain alliance member organisation
Shefalee Loth
Which?
Shefalee Loth is Principal Researcher and Writer at Which?, the UK’s largest independent, not-for-profit consumer organisation which aims to tackle consumer harm and make consumers as powerful as the organisations they deal with in their daily lives. Shefalee produces consumer focused food and nutrition content for Which? covering nutrition and health, food safety and authenticity, and sustainability. She is a Public Health Nutritionist who has previously worked in research and for the NHS. In her role at Which? Shefalee has campaigned for better nutrition labelling, consumer-focused food law enforcement, and most recently saving our food standards in future trade deals. Shefalee was an advisory group member for Food Integrity, an EU funded project to combat food fraud and was Chair and trustee of the Caroline Walker Trust.
Declaration of interest: None
Raksha Mistry
Food for Life, Soil Association
Raksha Mistry is the Soil Association Food for Life Programme Manager in Leicestershire. She is currently leading over 180 schools to develop a generation of conscious food citizens within a growing culture of good food. That extends across communities, caterers, food producers, and farmers. Raksha developed and established the national Grandparent Gardening Week, a campaign that enables generations to connect through food. Raksha is experienced working across community settings and generations to create meaningful and purposeful connection among groups. In 2019 the intergenerational practice and impact in Leicestershire was recognised and awarded by the NACC and reported across national media channels. Raksha has over 15 years’ experience in partnership building, marketing and communications. She has a Masters in Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Whilst at Learning and Work Institute (formerly NIACE) Raksha led a regional team across England to engage with diverse and disadvantaged communities to find life enrichment opportunities through adult learning.
Role-share with Jo Lewis of the Soil Association
Declaration of interest: None
Mike Rayner
Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention
Mike Rayner is Chair of Sustain. He is a Professor of Population Health and Director of the Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention at the Nuffield Department of Population Health of the University of Oxford. The Centre, which Mike founded in 1993, is a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention. It carries out research into the promotion of healthier and more sustainable diets. Mike is also Chair of the Nutrition Expert Group for the European Heart Network based in Brussels. He is an ordained priest in the Church of England.
Mike Rayner is Chair of Sustain, Chair of Sustain's Children's Food Campaign working party, and formerly Chair of the independent Children's Health Fund Board (now disbanded).
Declaration of interest: Member of the Sugary Drinks Industry Levy evaluation panel
Stephanie Slater
School Food Matters
Stephanie Slater is Vice-Chair of Sustain. Stephanie is Founder/Chief Executive of the charity School Food Matters, set up in 2007 to campaign for fresh, sustainable school food and to promote food education. In 2012 she joined the School Food Plan's Expert Panel, tasked by the Department for Education to create an action plan to support head teachers to improve food in their schools. She is now co-Chair of the School Food Plan Alliance. In her spare time she is a school governor.
Stephanie Slater is Vice-Chair of Sustain; also Chair of Sustain's London Food Link network and Capital Growth; and was formerly Vice-Chair of the independent Children's Health Fund Board (now disbanded).
Declaration of interest: In 2020, School Food Matters received a grant issued by Unicef, coordinated by Sustain, for work on the Covid-19 emergency food response
Additional note: Sustain's Deputy Chief Executive Ben Reynolds is Chair of the Board of Trustees of School Food Matters (an unpaid position)
Alison Swan Parente
School of Artisan Food
Alison Swan Parente studied social anthropology at LSE a very long time ago. She trained and worked as a child and adolescent psychotherapist in various settings in the USA and then the NHS for 35 years. She was Chair of the Trustees of the Women's Therapy Centre for many years and has sat on several Charity boards, both grant-giving and receiving.She founded the Welbeck Bakehouse in 2008 and the School of Artisan Food in 2009. She knows a bit about cooking from a lifetime of doing it, and a bit about education from her years of working with young people. She is particularly interested in food, health and obesity and the barriers to access to healthy food. She still has a lot to learn.
Alison is Chair of Sustain's Real Bread Campaign
Declaration of interest: Owner of Welbeck Bakehouse, a member of Sustain's Real Bread Campaign
Nick Weir
Open Food Network
Nick Weir is Community Facilitator for the Open Food Network. He is a founder of Stroud Community Agriculture and Stroudco Food Hub. He helped to bring the Open Food Network (OFN) to the UK and now works as Community Facilitator with OFN UK and a Global Gardener supporting new countries to deploy OFN. As a Plunkett specialist advisor, a Co-ops UK consultant and a DTA Wales mentor, Nick has supported the set-up and development of many CSA and food hub enterprises. He says, “I am passionate about supporting communities to build short food supply chains and facilitating the development of food systems that address the needs of all beings. This includes building enterprises that address social inequalities and working towards removing the need for food banks.”
Role-share with Cobi-Jane Akinrele of the Open Food Network
Declaration of interest: None
Victoria Williams
Food Matters
Victoria is co-founder and Director at Food Matters, a charity working to make healthy, sustainable, fair food become a reality for everybody, every day. Victoria’s expertise centres on food poverty and access issues particularly the effect of national policies on local food initiatives. Victoria has been working on sustainability and food poverty for over 20 years and her current focus is on prison food reform. Victoria is Chair of the board at Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, board member of the Brighton & Hove Allotment Federation and she sits on the Programme Management Board of the Sustainable Food Places Programme.
Victoria is Chair of Sustain's Food Poverty working party and serves as Sustain's Treasurer
Declaration of interest: Food Matters is working in partnership with Sustain on the Sustainable Food Places programme (funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the National Lottery); and on the Buckinghamshire Food Partnership scoping project (funded by the Rothschild Foundation)
Additional note: Sustain's chief executive Kath Dalmeny is a Trustee of Food Matters (an unpaid position)
