With a career spanning over four decades, beginning with studies in food technology at the National College of Food Technology in 1977, Chris has consistently recognised the critical responsibility that food technologists bear in ensuring food safety, legality, and availability. Plus, as importantly, food must be nutritious and great to eat too! These beliefs underpin Chris' lifelong commitment to our profession. It fuels his advocacy for a dedicated institute to support food scientists, food technologists, and all who contribute to our food system.Chris’ unique journey through IFST as a member, volunteer, trustee, and, most recently, team member has given him an invaluable insight into its strengths and challenges. Chris has held non-executive and executive director roles, equipping him with high-level organisational leadership experience. As President, Chris is driven to ensure that IFST continues to meet our members’ needs and remains an essential force for good in the food system. To thrive in an evolving world, our Institute must grow and transform in ways that empower and support everyone in the food system in their vital work.
Sterling has 35 years of experience working in the field of food safety and global supply chain governance. He started his career in government before a successful track history in retail. Sterling’s experience as a regulator, retailer, brand owner and food manufacturer has given him a unique perspective of the challenges of the global food supply network.
He has previously served as Vice President of the Institute and, until recently, chaired its Food Safety Special Interest Group. He was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Institute in 2020 for his contribution to the food sector. He is also a member of the CIEH food expert panel and sits on the IFST, CIEH and FSA COVID advisory groups.
Alec Kyriakides is an Independent Food Safety Consultant. Prior to this, he was Head of Product Quality, Safety & Supplier Performance at Sainsbury’s where he worked for 28 years. Prior to Sainsbury’s, he worked in the manufacturing industry including the dairy and brewing sectors. His responsibilities include the management of specialist teams collectively responsible for the safety and quality management framework for Sainsbury’s.
He was a member of a number of industry and government committees and sat on the government Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) for 10 years. Alec is the author of books on the microbiological safety of foods including Campylobacter, Salmonella, E. coli and Clostridium botulinum.
Ben has over 18 years experience in the food industry working across both manufacturing and retail, he is a fellow of the IFST and is an active member of the Food Safety SIG. He started his career at Bakkavor where he was selected for their technical graduate scheme and throughout his 8 years there he worked in a variety of technical roles covering Quality Assurance, Process Development and Site Technical Management in the chilled convenience food sector. His last role was site Technical Manager at the Bakkavor Desserts site in Newark. He joined Tesco in 2012 as a Technical Manager in the Convenience department and during his time at Tesco he covered Technical Manager positions responsible for the majority of chilled prepared foods areas. Tesco gave him the opportunity to progress his career and lead technical teams as Head of Technical across a number of diverse and interesting categories including Frozen Food, Bakery, Dairy, Impulse, Beers, Wines and Spirits and Chilled Prepared Foods. His current position is Head of Technical for Tesco Central Europe which covers the Tesco businesses in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. In this role he leads the technical teams responsible for food and non-food technical, store standards, technical operations, packaging, sustainable diets and general merchandise.
Wayne is Associate Professor in Food Insights and Sustainability, at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing, University of Lincoln. Wayne has delivered sustainability research since 1998, starting out as an agronomist for Levington Agriculture he has worked at CSIRO Australia, the EC Joint Research Centre and the OECD Paris. He leads the Food Insights and Sustainability Research agenda at NCFM, working with food and beverage manufacturers so that we can align practice and business with climate-neutral actions and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. He frequently publishes thought-leading articles, supports Early Career Researchers and delivers transformative food system research.
Martin’s career has embraced several international and global food and nutrition companies, where he has held a range of senior management positions encompassing all aspects of business. He has been based in UK, Denmark, Switzerland and US and brings broad international experience and perspectives.
His management philosophy is to focus on customer satisfaction and to achieve success by empowering teams, clearly communicating targets, developing relevant skills and creating a sense of ownership, purpose, transparency and a can-do mentality.
Martin graduated in Food Technology at Reading and believes that his understanding of Food Science and Technology has under-pinned his long career in the industry.
Valia has enjoyed a full and varied career in the food sector and is currently Senior Lecturer at the National Bakery School at South Bank University.
Marcin is a Senior Food Safety Consultant with more than 20 years of experience in the food manufacturing industry. He operates predominantly in the FMCG sector working with both own label and brand businesses at group and site levels. Before opening his own consultancy business Marcin worked in Central Technical roles for G's Fresh and Yeo Valley as well as held various quality and technical roles with companies Like Bakkavor, 2 Sisters and Branston. He was awarded the Master of Science degree with distinction from the University of Greenwich. Marcin's professional interests are associated with allergen detection and cleaning validations as well as pathogen challenge testing.
On a volunteer basis, he is a keen promoter of Food Science by participating in a mentoring programme for students at the Natural Resources Institute and working with the Technical Education Advisory Board as SME .
Michael has had a portfolio career as a scientist in the official food control system coupled with company director and non-exec board positions and freelance consultancy. He has been an active member of his local (Northern Ireland) branch, the IFST Scientific Committee and the External Affairs Committee. In April 2020 he was appointed Honorary Professor in the Institute for Global Food Security in Queen’s University Belfast and continues as an expert witness and member of several national and international expert scientific committees. For further information including publications see https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4350-5549
In his role as the Independent Assessor, Michael acts as an observer on behalf of the members to ensure that the Board of Trustees and the Executive operate according to the Institute’s charitable principles.
David is a versatile food scientist with extensive experience in managing food safety and assessing risk within the imported food sector, particularly products from continental Europe. He specializes in auditing manufacturing sites to ensure compliance with UK retailers' food safety standards, especially Waitrose and M&S. With expertise in continental meats, bakery products, antipasti, desserts and ready meals, David has a proven track record of ensuring both 3rd-party certification and adherence to UK and international food legislation.