Our leadership team

The operating board is the chief executive’s management team, responsible for our day-to-day running on behalf of the supervisory board.

The primary activities of the board include the delivery of our annual operating plan, monitoring progress and regularly reporting against key milestones to the supervisory board.

The team is also focused on communicating and implementing our vision and objectives to both internal and external stakeholders, and ensuring that the right resources are in place to achieve our goals.

Anne Godfrey

Anne Godfrey

Chief executive

Anne was appointed chief executive of GS1 UK in January 2021. GS1 has 118 Member Organisations, throughout the world, keeping consumers informed and protected through the power of standards.

Specialising in change management within the not-for-profit space, she has a proven track record of delivering challenging targets while harnessing the skills, knowledge and passion of members, staff and external stakeholders.

Previously, Anne held leadership roles across a diverse range of membership organisations, including time as CEO at both the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). Anne was director of commercial and membership services at the Law Society, and commercial and marketing director at the Confederation of British Industry.

Anne’s earlier career in academic and professional publishing included senior sales, marketing and product development roles for publishers such as Prentice Hall and Thomson Reuters. She has a first-class honours degree from Glasgow University and a postgraduate diploma in law from Nottingham Law School.

jack griffin cfo

Jack Griffin

Chief financial officer

Jack is responsible for GS1 UK's finance, information services, data and analytics and business planning teams, as well as being GS1 UK's company secretary.

After starting his career at KPMG, Jack has worked in finance, commercial and leadership positions across technology, data and healthcare focused organisations. Over the course of his career Jack has developed expertise in strategy development and delivery, business and product development, business intelligence and analytics, corporate governance, capital investments, as well as programme delivery. 

Sarah Atkins

Sarah Atkins

CMO and membership director

Sarah’s role is to provide leadership in marketing, membership experience and SME strategy to enhance the GS1 UK brand, attract, retain and grow new members, and deliver service excellence throughout the customer journey.

Sarah has gained a wealth of experience delivering marketing led business change programmes at several diverse organisations, ranging from property consultancies in the UK to world leaders in luxury outlet retailing. She has expertise in driving customer loyalty though brand and customer engagement and has led many businesses through customer focused transformation.

Mark Gillott

Mark Gillott

Standards and solutions director

Mark ensures that GS1 standards meet the needs of businesses and consumers alike by delivering solutions that help our members exploit and benefit from those standards.

Mark has been with GS1 UK for nearly 15 years and during this time has worked across all our key sectors. With extensive experience in the practical application of standards across a broad range of applications and business processes, he brings in-depth knowledge and insight to the needs of our members.

Prior to joining GS1 UK, Mark was global business development manager at Philips Semiconductors. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in the development of supply chain and logistics projects for a wide range of blue-chip companies, including DHL, GSK, Boeing, Airbus, Walmart, Tesco and Sainsburys.

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Iain Walker

Industry engagement director

Iain was appointed as a director of GS1 UK in 2022, joining from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. As former UK High Commissioner to Ghana and, before that, finance director and Foreign Office board member, Iain has worked across UK government and within the private sector.

Initially qualifying as a lawyer and then chartered accountant with EY, Iain most recently was a director in the Supply Chains Unit of the Cabinet Office enabling HM Government’s response, supporting the PM’s supply chain advisor Sir Dave Lewis.

At GS1 UK, Iain leads on industry engagement with a particular focus on retail, healthcare, construction and eCommerce.