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
Chris Bones, Independent
Neil Bragg, HDC
Lorraine Clinton, Independent (Deputy Chair)
John Cross, EBLEX
Clare Dodgson, Independent
Stewart Houston CBE, BPEX
Allan Stevenson, Potato Council
Jonathan Tipples, HGCA
John Godfrey CBE (Chairman)
John Godfrey is a farmer and a qualified chartered accountant. He and his brother, Jim, 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 board member 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
Professor Chris Bones, Independent
Chris is Professor of Creativity & Leadership at Manchester Business School and is also running a unique strategic consultancy, Good Growth, that works with established organisations to build a focus on customers and growth. Chris had a distinguished career in the food and drinks industry, holding senior Director posts with United Distillers, Diageo and Cadbury Schweppes. He is Chairman of the AHDB Audit Committee.
Neil Bragg, HDC
Neil started work for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) In the then Land Drainage division and thenafter a Masters degree transfered to theField Drainage Experimental Unit.After five years sub-contracted work to the then Opencast Coal executive hetransferred 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 and a Board Director at Assured Food Standards (AFS).
Clare Dodgson, Independent
Clare is currently an External Complaints Reviewer for the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman. She is also a Public Appointments Ambassador for the Government Equalities Office, and the public Interest member on the Regulatory and Disciplinary Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for Scotland.
Clare was formerly Chief Operating Officer of Job Centre Plus and Chief Executive of the Legal Services Commission. She spent seven years as a Chief Executive in the NHS and also works as an independent executive coach/mentor. Clare also Chairs the AHDB Nominations Committee.
Stewart Houston CBE, BPEX
Stewart is a director in a family business focused on pig production. He is Chair of the National Pig Association and Chair of BPEX. 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
Allan Stevenson , Potato Council
Allan Stevenson was born into a farming family. He has a Business and Law degree from Edinburgh University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant with a varied commercial background in international business.
Allan is also owner of Luffness Mains, an arable farming company in East Lothian, Scotland, which farms about 700 hectares. Luffness Mains is a well known and successful business specialising in the supply of high quality pre-pack potatoes, especially salads, for leading supermarkets in the UK. The company is known for innovation and partnering and is a leading promoter of integrated farming through LEAF; balancing commercial farming and environmental stewardship.
Allan has a number of other directorships, including the James Hutton Institute, which incorporates the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), Scotland's leading institute for research and development on potatoes.
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.