Chris Tyas wins chair of the year at the Memcom Excellence Awards

GS1 UK chair, Chris Tyas OBE, has won the “Chair of the Year” award at the 2024 Memcom Excellence Awards. 

This prestigious award acknowledges the leadership, dedication, and contributions of a chairperson within a membership organisation. Given to a chair who has demonstrated exceptional governance, strategic vision, and positive impact, it recognises how Chris’ strong leadership and commitment to GS1 UK’s purpose and values has played a pivotal role in driving the success of our organisation. 

Chris joined GS1 UK as chair in 2018 having previously served as vice chairman. He has a globally recognised pedigree in the consumer goods industry, with extensive supply chain expertise resulting from his 40 year career working for Mars and Nestlé in a variety of roles across procurement, manufacturing, HR, IT and logistics.

With his globally recognised pedigree, Chris was brought on board as part of GS1 UK’s commitment to helping industry solve the challenges they can’t solve alone, and has since worked tirelessly to champion the use of GS1 standards to support legislative change, deliver supply chain transparency and keep people informed and protected.

This has helped bring our organisation and the power of our standards to the attention of more people. From shifting industry and consumer dynamics to new regulatory demands, businesses across the four nations are facing unprecedented challenges and there is increasing awareness of how our standards can help. Our increased profile will become even more important in these times of great change.

Chris cares deeply about the needs of all our members from the smallest entrepreneurial start-up to the largest marketplace and has ensured they all have a voice on the supervisory board.

Never has this collaborative approach been more apparent than in the way he addressed the huge challenges brought about by Covid-19. As co-chair of the Food Resilience Industry forum, he navigated the industry through three lockdowns, BREXIT and was subsequently awarded an OBE for his services to the food industry. 

Earlier this year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) appointed Chris to a strategic role to ensure the integrity of the nation’s food supply chain. In this role, he is further raising the profile of GS1 UK and how our members and standards hold the key for delivering the legislative changes needed for a safe and more sustainable future.

Under Chris’ leadership, GS1 UK has transformed from being sector led to being member focused, sector neutral and inclusive. We have also seen an unprecedented 40 per cent increase in membership. 

His expertise, innovative thinking and unwavering dedication have ensured a more ambitious, more agile organisation that takes a bold, proactive and insight-led approach to tackling the challenges of today and preparing for those of tomorrow. 

As chair, Chris has been much more than a figurehead. He has ensured that as an organisation we prioritise the needs of our members and all else, helping us implement the strong governance, cohesive culture and data-led decision making that will ensure that both GS1 UK and our members are set for success.