Committee Details as at 8th September 2009

HUW BOWLES (OMSCO) - Chair of the OTB

Huw Bowles is the Chief Operating Officer of OMSCo, which is the UK’s largest organic milk co-operative and collects and markets milk from more than 400 organic dairy farms. This represents around 70% of the UK supply and as a result most supermarket own-label and branded organic dairy products use OMSCo milk.

Huw joined OMSCo in 2004 as Finance and Operations director and is now responsible for all day-to-day operational issues. Prior to OMSCo, Huw studied Agriculture at Reading University before qualifying as a chartered accountant and then working as a management consultant with KPMG. One of Huw’s projects was to help set up an international internet company which he later joined and helped to steer it through to profitability.

Huw joined the OTB as he saw the need for an independent body to voice the interests of commercial organisations operating in the organic sector. Huw hopes that the OTB will also help to develop greater trading relationships between organic organisations and also enable them to share experiences and learnings.

Huw also sees the need for a co-ordinated approach to ensure that the benefits of organic produce are clearly communicated to consumers and feels that the OTB should play a major part in this communication.

Huw is married with two sons aged five and eight and he likes to relax by refereeing rugby in Bristol!

BOB KENNARD (GRAIG PRODUCERS)

After an agricultural degree, Bob spent 10 years in agricultural management in the UK and Africa, followed by tropical agricultural consultancy for international organisations. With his wife Carolyn, he established Graig Farm Organics on their small farm on the Welsh borders in 1988. The wide range of organic food was sold by mail order, through independent retailers, and a farm shop. The company won many awards, including 25 Organic Food Awards, and was sold in March 2009.

Bob was co-leader of a campaign which saved the UK’s smaller abattoirs for which he was awarded BBC Radio 4 Food Programme’s Campaigner Award in 2001. He has served on a number of Welsh Assembly committees which have helped to establish a strong organic sector in Wales.

He is Managing Director of Graig Producers (GP), a collaborative organic livestock marketing organisation, which started in 1995. Now with some 700 farming members across Wales, the Borders, SW England, and Scotland (where it manages Caledonian Organics Co-op), GP markets its members’ livestock to processors for the major retailers.

WILLIAM LANA (GREENFIBRES)

William Lana founded the organic textile company Greenfibres in 1996. He is the Chairman of the Soil Association’s Organic Textile Standards Committee and sits on the SA Standards Board. He is a Trustee of a number of organisations including the Transition Network, the Environmental Justice Foundation, and the Sharpham Trust, and Chair of the Ethical and Environmental Marketing Group. After working for Morgan Stanley and Chase Manhattan Bank William worked for 5 years in Brussels for the European Commission on financial service projects in the Former Soviet Union. Greenfibres has pioneered the use of organic cotton, and played a role in educating consumers and retailers about organic textiles. William joined the OTB committee because he believes by standing together the organic businesses which make up the industry are much stronger and more able to address the greenwash of conventional corporations and the problems of climate change and peak oil.

CHANTELLE LUDSKI (fresh! NATURALLY ORGANIC)

Chantelle Ludski founded and still runs fresh! Naturally Organic. fresh! Naturally Organic started out in life as an organic café some 8 years ago and grew up to be a gigantic kitchen making damn fine organic sandwiches, salads, pies & quiches. Chantelle says she used to be a lawyer but she’s OK now……

The move into organic started as a conscious consumer choice as Chantelle became increasingly concerned about what was going into our foods – weird E numbers, additives and colours that don’t even belong in a science lab, much less our food – and the way it way being produced – pesticides, hormone boosts in livestock and so on. Organic food was and still is a safe haven from all of that and is increasingly the best option for a sustainable food future.

Chantelle joined the OTB committee because there seemed to be a vacuum in terms of what the industry needs by way of support and what was on offer. In much the same way that the meat & dairy industries, to name but two, have trade boards, she believes that the organic industry is no less deserving. A single, concerted voice is needed to lobby government, address the needs of industry members and protect and promote the organic industry.

PATRICK O’FLAHERTY (RDA ORGANIC)

Patrick co-founded RDA Organic after recognising the consumer demand for an organic option in the fresh juice and smoothie sector. Following an upbringing within the organic farming world and the principles embedded therein, launching an organic brand was a natural entry point for Patrick into the Food & Drink sector. By developing a sustainable working practice with taste, health and organic at the core of the business, Patrick’s commitment and passion for growth in the organic sector was fuelled further.

This desire to drive the industry forward motivated Patrick to work from 2002 as a committee member of the Soil Association Processor Liaison Group which was where the idea of the OTB was conceived and now believes the OTB is perfectly placed to work with all the certification bodies and to represent all areas of the organic industry. Patrick really believes that the OTB will be the catalyst for all organic businesses to cooperate under one association to stimulate and benefit the industry.

ALEX PEARCE (LANGRIDGE ORGANIC PRODUCTS)

Alex started working at Langridge in 1995 when asked by his uncle Bernard Govier (company founder) if he could help him out by driving a van for a couple of days. This spurred Alex into starting his own home delivery box scheme, Just Organics, in and around his home town of Wokingham in Berkshire. Combining the home delivery company with a wholesale business soon proved to be just too big a time commitment and a decision had to be made as to which way to take the business. Wholesale won out and the Langridge Organic Products that we know today started its journey. After a few changes of premises Langridge moved into its existing site in May 1997 and has continued to grow to its present day position turning over around £8m p.a and employing 25 staff.

Alex is completely committed to the entire concept of organic farming and takes great pride in seeing the farmers he works with prosper and grow in what is a difficult sector to work in.

For a long time Alex has felt the industry lacked a voice that spoke without other interests. The formation of the OTB was an obvious answer to this problem and Alex is delighted to have been invited to sit on the committee representing the fresh produce sector.

IAN PRICE (TRIODOS)

Ian has over thirty years banking expertise, including three years spent providing financial services to marginalised communities in the West Midlands. He still retains his involvement with the Prince’s Trust, some 15 years after his first voluntary role. Prior to joining Triodos, Ian worked for rural finance specialists FAF for four years.

Contact: 0117 980 9739 or at business@triodos.co.uk

ANNA ROSIER (ORGANIX)

Anna Rosier runs the award winning Organix, an organic baby and children’s food company. After studying Economics and a dark start to her career in non-organic industry, the last 5 years at Organix has seen her driving the importance of organic to millions of mums every year, encouraging them to give their children the best start in life.

Joining the OTB Committee will allow her to take an active role in the bright future that organics has. Her belief is that the OTB is the best way for us to work together as an industry on the combined vision of making organic a compelling choice for every consumer.

Anna lives in Dorset, with husband and dog, enjoying outdoor activities and village life.

RUSSELL SMART (RASANCO, MERIDIAN FOODS, ROCKS ORGANIC)

Russell founded the 3V Natural Foods Group in 1997 which now comprises; the Organic Ingredients supplier RASANCO supplying around 10,000 mt of Organic Ingredients to UK food and drink manufacturers; ROCKS ORGANIC that makes a range of Organic Squashes and Cordials; MERIDIAN ORGANIC that produces a range of Organic Peanut Butters, Nut Butters and Seed Butter in addition to a range of over 50 other Organic Grocery lines.

He has worked for 5 years as a representative and then chair of the Soil Association Processor Liaison Group (PLG). He was motivated to join the Organic Trade Board (OTB) to use his knowledge of working with the Soil Association to give some continuity between the work of the PLG and the newly formed OTB.

He is passionate about finding and working with Organic Ingredient supply chains and has travelled worldwide in search of new Organic Ingredients for his companies and his customers.

ALEX SMITH (ALARA)

Alex Smith founded his muesli manufacturing company Alara Wholefoods over 30 years ago in humble surroundings whilst living without money in a Tolmers Square squat. The business now produces over 70 tonnes of muesli a week. From the very beginning Alara was a business based on the principals and beliefs he lived his life by and being as organic and environmentally friendly as possible was, and still is, a big part of that. In 1983 Alara started to make organic muesli. In 1988 they joined the Soil Association, and became the first certified organic cereal manufacturer in the world.

Alex also likes to get his hands dirty, although not when making muesli, and recently created a number of community garden projects around the Alara site, including a food growing garden for local community groups to grow produce in, and the largest inner London Vineyard.

Alex is passionate about organic food and uses the many and varied positions of responsibility and committees he is involved with to promote the industry. He funded the launch meeting of the OTB in May 2007.

Alex is married with one daughter and spends his spare time tending his plants in his Permaculture Forest Garden.

ABI WEEDS (ESSENTIAL CARE)

Abi Weeds has worked in the organic industry since founding Essential Care with her parents in 2003. She has taken the company from kitchen table-size to being a leading national and European organic skincare brand, promoting the values of organic skincare across international boundaries in the process. Abi was voted no 1 and no 2 in the Who’s Who of Natural Beauty for 2008 and 2009 respectively, in recognition of her efforts to further the understanding of organic skincare, as well as harmonisation and rigour in organic standards and their incorporation into EU law. It is this passion that led to Abi’s involvement in the OTB through which she aims to ensure “real” organic health and beauty is understood by mainstream retailers and enjoyed by many more consumers.

Abi is a member of the Soil Association health products standards committee, freelance writer and speaks on TV and at events to promote organic skincare. She holds a masters degree from the Institute of Politics in Paris and has a professional background as a Management Consultant and Economist. Abi lives in Surrey with her husband and baby daughter and likes to spend her spare time running around forests; she is a former British orienteering champion.

LIZZIE VANN THRASHER

Lizzie is a radical thinker with outspoken views on children’s health and nutrition. She set up the Organix Company in 1992 to raise standards in the quality of children’s foods, giving them the best start in life. Organix was sold to the Hero Group in March 2008, although Lizzie remains the President of the company. Both Organix and Lizzie continue to fund the Organix Foundation, an independent charity established to fund research and health promotion in the area of child health and food quality.

Lizzie is an ex school governor, responsible, alongside others, for the creation of the Food For Life School Dinners project. She was instrumental in establishing the Organic Trade Board, which she now chairs, and is keen that the Association meets the needs of the organic industry, from food through to the more rapidly developing textiles and health & beauty sectors.