Biographies
Here is information on the ten AHDB Board members who work together to ensure that the levy board meets its statutory duties, that levies are spent effectively and that levy payers get value for money.
John Godfrey CBE, (Chairman)
Tim Bennett, DairyCo
Neil Bragg, HDC
Lorraine Clinton, Independent (Deputy Chair)
John Cross, EBLEX
Stewart Houston CBE, BPEX
Tim Kelly, Independent
Will Lifford, Independent
David Piccaver, Potato Council
Jonathan Tipples, HGCA
John Godfrey CBE (Chairman)
John Godfrey is a farmer and a qualified chartered accountant. He and his brother, Jim, and two nephews manage an arable and pig enterprise in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, across an area that stretches from the Wash to North of the Humber.
He was instrumental in the creation of the National Pig Association from the merging of the British Pig Association's commercial pig industry representation with the NFU's pig industry representation in 2000. He became its first chairman.
John was also the instigator and first Chair of FABpigs (now Assured British Pigs),
England’s first fully integrated farm assurance scheme, covering not only pig production on-farm but also feed, transport and processing.
John is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies, President of Scunthorpe United Football Club. He is a freeman of the City of London, a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farmers
and a Trustee of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society
. He received the pig industry’s David Black award in 1997 and was awarded the CBE in 1998 for services to agriculture.
Tim Bennett, DairyCo
Tim Bennett farms near Carmarthen in South West Wales. A first generation farmer, he had a Pedigree Holstein dairy herd for 27 years and then had a Aberdeen Angus breeding and store cattle unit. The farm also for many years ran an egg laying unit selling all product direct to consumers. The farm converted to organic production in 2008.
Tim was appointed Chairman of DairyCo in April 2008 and as a consequence of that appointment also sits on the board of the Agricultural and Horticultural Development board.
Tim is a deputy chair of the board at the Food Standards Agency and also is a member of the Risk and Audit committees at the FSA.
He is also Chairman of the DEFRA Environmental Roadmap Group for the dairy supply chain and a member of the Agricultural Land Tribunal in Wales..
Tim was President and Deputy President of the NFU between 1998 and 2006 and is a past Governor at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental research. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Grocery Distribution and a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies
Neil Bragg, HDC
Neil started work for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) In the then Land Drainage division and then after a Masters degree transferred to the Field Drainage Experimental Unit. After five years sub-contracted work to the then Opencast Coal executive he transferred to ADAS Soil Science where he became part of the national Horticultural specialist group.
In 1991 he joined Bulrush Peat Co Ltd as the Product development manager, becoming a Director of Bulrush Horticulture Ltd in 1998. He has Chaired the Bedding and Pot Plant Association Technical Committee and also the overall Association and its Management Committee, a branch unit of the NFU. Currently he is aBoard Director of the Ornamental Plant Producers (Certification) Ltd.
Lorraine Clinton, Independent
Lorraine held a number of senior global positions within the Pilkington Group before deciding on a portfolio career. She is now a non-executive board member of ENTRUST (the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund), independent board member and Chair of Audit at the Dept of Social Development in the NI CS, independent board member at the University Hospital of South Manchester ,an executive committee member for Women of the Year, Chair of the MLC Pension Scheme, and Chair of the AHDB Remuneration Committee.
John Cross, EBLEX
John runs a mixed arable and livestock family farm business in North-West Norfolk producing cereals, oilseeds, sugar beet, proteins and potatoes, cattle and sheep. He has also worked in the red meat industry for more than 20 years. He is Chair of EBLEX, a Board Director at Assured Food Standards (AFS) and Chair of the TB Eradication Advisory Group for England (TBEAG).
Stewart Houston CBE, BPEX
Stewart is a director in a family business focused on pig production. He is Chair of BPEX and was the most recent past Chair of the National Pig Association. He is a David Black Award winner and a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies. Stewart was awarded a CBE in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to agriculture
Tim Kelly, Independent
Tim Kelly has more than thirty years business leadership experience. He served as Chief Operating Officer and as a member of the Operating Board for Premier Foods until 2011. He was formerly Chief Operating Officer at RHM Plc, and Chief Operating Officer of Constellation Brands Inc. Prior to joining Constellation Brands, Mr. Kelly was employed by Diageo plc. He served as President of Guinness-Bass Import Company, a U.S. Subsidiary of Diageo from 1998 to 2001 and as its Vice President of Marketing for Guinness Ireland from 1995 to 1998. Prior to that he had various marketing and sales positions at Coca Cola & Schweppes Beverages.
A former Unilever Graduate Trainee and product of Warwick University, Tim not only has extensive knowledge of the UK food supply chain and FMCG marketing but also experience of working overseas, in the United States and in the Republic of Ireland.
Will Lifford, Independent
Will is a chartered accountant with 25 years' experience as a partner with Grant Thornton. Since 2007 he has held a number of non-executive positions including: Rural Payments Agency – audit and risk committee; Entrust (the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund) – director and chair of the audit committee; Yorkshire Agricultural Society – audit and investment committee; Leeds Trinity University – governor and audit committee chair. Will is also a trustee of two Yorkshire based charities.
David Piccaver, Potato Council
David is a South Lincolnshire farmer and was a board member of the former British Potato Council for six years, Chair of NFU potato committee for three years, director of QV foods (a potato prepacker), chair of Lingarden (company marketing bulbs, flowers & onions) for 27 years growing it into a £75m business.
He is currently chairman of J.E.Piccaver &Co specialist producers of lettuce, salad onions and herbs and also a director of Concordia which supplies East European labour to the horticulture industry as well as being involved in overseas and UK voluntary work schemes.
Jonathan Tipples, HGCA
Jonathan farms 600 acres of cereals and oilseeds, with about 150 acres of permanent pasture in environmental stewardship. He is Chair of HGCA, former Kent Council delegate of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) and former Chairman of the NFU Audit Committee.