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 and Jack Griffin.
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 2018. He is committed to ensuring the team demonstrates the consumer and patient benefits of solving industry challenges through collaboration.
In 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.
Robert Barbour
Travis Perkins Plc
Robert is the group data and insights director for Travis Perkins Plc, the UK's largest distributor of building materials to the building, construction and home improvement markets. He is responsible for managing the group's data capability, covering data engineering, analytics engineering, data science and data governance within the group's data function.
Robert has been with Travis Perkins PLC since 2017, where they have successfully established a group-wide data capability enabled by technology, skills and education.
Before joining Travis Perkins PLC, Robert was in senior management at Accenture, where he developed his data-focused career through a number of pivotal roles in large-scale, global transformation projects across the UK, Europe, Asia and Africa, spanning a wide range of sectors, including Government, comms, high tech and banking. He is a BCS Fellow passionate about using data for good in the construction industry. Rob strives to bridge the gap between data and business by empowering colleagues with data literacy through data apprenticeships and training. Rob is also a Women in Data Ally and sponsors this network across our group of businesses.
Rob holds a BSc Hons in Computer Science from the University of Ulster and an MSc in Computational Methods and Imaging in Medicine from the University of Manchester. He also completed a high impact leadership course at the Institute of Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge (CISL).
Graham Biggart
Managing Director Argos, and Chief Strategy & Supply Officer Sainsbury’s
Graham is the Chair of the Risk & Audit Committee at GS1 UK.
In his executive role, Graham is the Manager Director of Argos, the second-largest General Merchandise retailer in the UK, and a digital leader with iconic consumer brands such as Habitat, Chad Valley and Bush. Graham also leads Strategy across Sainsbury’s, as well as its global Supply Chain, Logistics & Fulfilment teams.
Previously at Sainsbury’s, Graham has led a number of different areas of the business, across commercial, change, operations and channels, including as Chief Transformation Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, GM & Clothing, Commercial Director for Fresh Food & Foodservice, and Commercial Operations Director, which included the Sainsbury’s Local and Argos Republic of Ireland businesses.
Prior to Sainsbury’s, Graham worked at McKinsey & Company, and before that at Brunswick Group.
Steve Bush
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Stephen Bush is medical director for operations at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT), one of the largest acute NHS trusts in the UK. LTHT is the regional major trauma centre and the regional hub for a number of services including cardiac intervention, vascular surgery and stroke management.
Steve works clinically as a consultant in emergency medicine and, prior to the medical director post, was clinical director for emergency and specialty medicine for 10 years. He chairs the LTHT Scan4Safety Board, the Leeds Same Day Response Care Delivery Board and the Leeds Clinical and Professional Forum.
Steve leads the Unplanned Care Programme at LTHT. This comprehensive programme comprises workstreams that offer innovative alternatives to attendances such as the Primary Care Access Line and alternatives to admission for non-elective patients such as the Same Day Emergency Care Units. Other workstreams deliver improvements in inpatient placement including the live bed state and improve care delivery for those patients who do need admission and enhance the timeliness of discharge.
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 (DHSC). 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
Gousto
Murray joined Gousto after leading eBay’s UK business during 2020 - 2023 and most recently running a multi-billion-dollar category as VP, Global Business Selling team at eBay. In this post, Murray was responsible for creating a unified selling experience to help sellers grow their business on the platform. Prior to this, Murray held multiple positions at eBay since joining the business in 2008, including loyalty & retention and commercial and strategy roles.
The appointment follows Gousto’s return to profitability in 2023, reporting record underlying EBITDA of £26 million. Murray will support the business in its next phase of development as it aims to reach even deeper into the mainstream market.
Joining Gousto’s leadership team as CCO, Murray will oversee insights, brand, sustainability, acquisition & retention, food, buying and customer care teams, ensuring the customer remains at the heart of everything Gousto does.
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.
Julianne Ponan MBE
Creative Nature
Julianne is a pioneer in the free-from world. She was diagnosed with severe anaphylaxis at two years old, she has multiple allergies to all peanuts, treenuts, sesame, chickpeas and more. She is the founder and CEO of Creative Nature a Top 14 allergen free brand, through her own experiences and challenges living with allergies she focused on Creative Nature to be at the forefront of ‘free from’ innovation, pushing the boundaries and launching a range of free from foods with good nutrition from baking to snacks! In recognition of her outstanding contributions to business, exports, and aiding individuals with allergies, Julianne was honoured with an MBE in the New Year's Kings Honours in 2023.
Creative Nature has grown from strength to strength driving change for free-from food in the aviation industry, launching products on board Virgin Atlantic and more. The brand is also into Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Co-op, Asda, Tesco exports to 16 countries including the UAE.
Julianne also holds the position of Export Policy Champion for the FSB. Beyond her corporate roles, Julianne is a passionate advocate for those with allergies, striving to improve their lives and reduce stress associated with their conditions. She has spoken at the Houses of Parliament, been a guest judge on Britain’s Next Top Model, is a judge for the Free From Food Awards and an ambassador for the Anaphylaxis Campaign and more recently Julianne has just been appointed as the first Medic Alert ambassador in 65 years. Medic Alert is a charity that saves lives through their medical ID’s.