They also provide strategic guidance to the operating board. The elected industry experts keeping GS1 UK on track for the future are voted in at the GS1 UK Annual General Meeting.
The GS1 UK strategy, annual operating plan and budget are determined by the supervisory board. The board is responsible for the governance of the Association including:
- Establishing the strategic direction
- Advising the chief executive and staff
- Making sure that all members are properly represented
- Promoting the organisation to influencers and stakeholders
The board offers significant value to the organisation and its goals, helping GS1 UK to offer members best-of-breed solutions to the problems they face.
Executive directors of the GS1 UK supervisory board include Anne Godfrey, Dave Crapnell and Sarah Atkins.
Chris Tyas OBE
Chair
Chris has a globally recognised pedigree in the consumer goods industry, as a result of his careers at Mars and Nestlé. During his time at Nestlé, he held a wide range of executive supply chain roles concluding his time there as Senior VP and Global Supply Chain Head.
He had an extensive track record of participation with GS1, before joining GS1 UK as chair in December 2018. He is committed to ensuring the team demonstrates the consumer and patient benefits of solving industry challenges through collaboration.
In March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chris was asked to by the UK Government to chair the Food Resilience Industry Forum (FRIF) bringing together all parts of the Agrifood supply chain including retailers, manufacturers, logistics providers and growers to ensure that food security and consumer needs were proactively addressed.
This work is a perfect example of how collaboration can resolve industry challenges at pace in order to protect consumers. The forum continues to provide industry intelligence both nationally and globally to the DEFRA leadership and has now increased its scope to include the challenges of Brexit. In his role of GS1 UK chair he is focused on ensuring that their purpose of harnessing the power of standards to transform the way people work and live, is realised.
Patrick Pondaven
Vice chair
Amazon
Patrick is part of Amazon EU leadership team. He leads the Pan-European vendor programs with a mission to reinvent how small and medium size partners launch their selection on Amazon, drive their business and scale up across UK/EU. Before that, Patrick was leading one of the fastest growing divisions at Amazon UK, his role as senior director of consumables oversees and drives areas such as health & personal care, beauty, baby, pets, grocery, beer, wine, and spirits product categories. He joined Amazon in 2009 in Germany where he led the audio video department before serving there as director, consumer electronics.
Before Amazon, Patrick held senior management roles at Philips in Belgium, USA, Canada and finally in Czech Republic, where he led the Central & Eastern Europe business for Philips Consumer Lifestyle.
He holds an engineering diploma from INPG and an MBA from INSEAD.
Patrick brings a wealth of industry knowledge and an international experience to GS1 UK.
Theadora Alexander
Young Foodies
Thea’s background as the operations and strategy director at Propercorn, paved the way for her vision of empowering young brands serious about growth. In 2017 she co-founded Young Foodies, fostering the UK's fastest growing community of consumer brands by providing expert knowledge, experience, and growth services to enable them to thrive.
Thea, now a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, has a keen on eye on strategic direction, business success and affecting positive change within the FMCG industry, particularly towards SMEs. She is an industry influencer with a leading voice on driving a more level playing field. She is a regular media commentator, panellist, awards judge, and podcaster on these areas.
Graham Biggart
Sainsbury’s
Graham is Chief Transformation Officer at Sainsbury's, responsible for end-to-end change across Sainsbury’s, Argos, Habitat and Tu, as well as Supply Chain, Logistics & Transport Operations, and Central Business Services.
He has been at Sainsbury’s since 2015, and has led a number of different areas of the business in that time, across commercial, operations and channels, including Fresh Food & Foodservices, Sainsbury’s Local, and Argos Republic of Ireland.
Prior to Sainsbury’s, Graham was a leader in the EMEA Consumer practice of McKinsey & Company, focused on strategy and transformation for Retail, CPG and Leisure companies. Before that, he worked at Brunswick Group, covering media, investor and government communications.
Gavin Boyle
South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
Gavin joined the NHS just over 30 years ago and has 10 years’ experience as a Foundation Trust chief executive.
He has held board level posts as director of operations at the Oxford Radcliffe Trust, the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. Prior to joining Derby Teaching Hospitals in March 2016 as chief executive, Gavin has held the position of chief executive at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Gavin successfully led Derby Teaching Hospitals through a merger with Burton Hospitals to create University Hospitals of Derby and Burton in 2019 to create one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country.
In 2021 Gavin was appointed as the new chief executive designate of the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (SYICB).
Andrew Cairns
Mammy Jamia’s
Originally from the Wirral Andrew now lives in Huntington Chester. His career has been in pharmaceutical and medical device sales working for a variety of large companies over the last 20 years. After leaving his role as a sales business manager with US company Stryker, Andrew has now set up his own medical device sales venture and is currently contracted as a commercial agent to a company called Lawmed.
Andrew and his wife Sajmira also own A&S Cairns Ltd and the brand of premium preserves and salad dressings called Mammy Jamia’s. The brand has been trading for the last seven years with a variety of multiple retailers in the UK, US, Spain and the UAE. Andrew has learned so much as an SME in this market during this time. A real rollercoaster ride but Andrew has enjoyed the many challenges he has faced as the owner of an SME and he continues to put everything he has learned into further developing the now two small businesses he has in both the grocery and health sectors. Representing SME’s on the GS1 UK supervisory board is a real honour for Andrew.
Andrew Hughes
Tesco
Andrew is the technology product director for Tesco Group- responsible for leading the technology and process development across commercial teams - food, general merchandise, and clothing together with developing world class technology for our colleagues in our stores covering merchandising, replenishment, administration, and safety and security.
Andrew has worked in retail and Tesco for over 34 years. His real-world experience of stores, supply chain, distribution, commercial along with technology, combined with his passion for lean (a lean 6 sigma black belt) means Andrew has rich legacy of major business change delivery across Tesco.
Melinda Johnson
Ofgem
Melinda Johnson has been the Chief Operating Officer at Ofgem since August 2023, and her main priorities are to improve the Corporate Services that enable Ofgem’s day-to-day regulatory and scheme delivery activities and to transform Ofgem into a dynamic, inclusive and high-performing organisation with a strong reputation as an employer of choice.
Before joining Ofgem, Melinda Johnson was the Commercial Director at the Department of Health and Social Care. She led the Health Family Commercial function comprising 20 organisations; she was responsible for six companies owned by the DHSC and sponsored the NHS Business Services Authority.
Melinda was previously Group Commercial Services Director at the Department for Transport (DfT), which included Property, Digital, Security and Information; before that, she was Deputy Finance and Commercial Director at the Department for Education. Before joining the civil service, Melinda had a 17-year career in commercial roles in the broader public and private sectors.
Melinda is passionate about the Places for Growth agenda, particularly its link to Social Mobility. She championed the DfT Hastings office for five years, created the Government Commercial Northern Hub and was a Head of Place (in the Midlands) for 14 months before moving to Glasgow, where she was part of the leadership team creating and promoting the Cabinet Office 2nd headquarters in Glasgow.
Melinda is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and a Chartered Procurement Professional; she holds an MBA and a BSc Hons in Psychology and has a postgraduate qualification in Marketing and Communications. She is a Non-Executive Director of the British Quality Foundation and GS1 UK.
Ian Keilty
Wincanton
Ian joined Wincanton in November 2018 as managing director – retail & consumer.
Ian was previously vice president, European supply chain, at Sysco and was chief operating officer of Brakes group when Sysco acquired them. Ian has also held various roles on the operating boards and executive committees at Booker Group and Iceland Stores.
Prior to this Ian had a background in engineering and supply chain working for Mars, British Gas and Nissan, and has an MBA from London Business School.
Murray Lambell
eBay
Murray is the general manager of eBay UK, which is one of eBay’s strongest markets worldwide.
Prior to becoming general manager, Murray was vice president of trading, and oversaw all of eBay.co.uk’s key verticals, from fashion to electronics and home & garden, ensuring that the site’s 300,000 small business sellers have the tools they need to reach all 27 million active buyers, and to thrive in today’s digital landscape.
Previously at British Airways, Murray started working at eBay Europe in 2008 managing customer loyalty and retention before moving into business selling strategy.
Ursula Lavery MBE
Moy Park
Ursula joined Moy Park in 1987 as a marketing executive having graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Food Science from Queen's University, Belfast. Ursula moved into technical and quality management the following year and since then has steadily help build Moy Park's reputation as a leading food company with absolute commitment to food safety and quality.
Appointed to the executive board as technical director Europe in 2013, now technical and R&D director Europe, Ursula is responsible for establishing an Integrated Europe-wide technical organisation. Recognised as a leading authority on food safety and poultry research, Ursula sits on several advisory bodies including IGD Technical Leadership Forum, Chilled Food Association (CFA), Food Industry Initiative on Antimicrobials (FIIA) and has previously sat on the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Acting on Campylobacter Together (ACT).
She is a board member and vice chair of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association (NIFDA) and the industrial advisory board of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University Belfast and is a non-executive director of the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL).
Avi Moor
Distinctive Retail
Avi is the Founder and CEO of Distinctive, a B2B UK grocery distribution business and a Founder and Director of Curatyx, a retail solutions company connecting global food brands with international markets. Previously, Avi worked for Sainsbury’s for over 10 years in various senior commercial roles, including leading the UK bakery business, Petrol & Kiosk, Mobile Telecoms and heading Sainsbury’s New Business Development team.
Before Sainsbury’s, Avi worked for IBM Management Consulting Services and Tefen Management Consulting, specialising in supply chain and operations strategy. Avi holds an MBA from London Business School and an MSc in Industrial Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.