SCHOOL FOOD MATTERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Strategic Communications Expert
An experienced strategic communications expert, Alayna Francis, MBA, has held senior roles at privately held and publicly traded companies including Marsh McLennan, PwC, and Swiss Re. She also provides ongoing counsel for JerseyForAll, an organisation that connects philanthropists with female and mixed ability sports teams in need of financial support. A native New Yorker, Alayna now lives in Surrey with her husband and two children.
Antonia has a passion for both food and nutrition, with a BSc in Food Science, an MSc in Nutrition and a Diploma in Plant-Based Culinary Skills. She has over 10 years experience working for a variety of charities with a focus on improving children's health and wellbeing all over the world. Antonia is our Project Coordinator for Healthy Zones in Tower Hamlets.
Awil joined School Food Matters in July 2021 and is our Senior Press and Communications Officer. Previously he worked as a health reporter for a trade publication, mainly covering the Covid pandemic. He has experience working with young people in a secondary school, and within the charity sector as a content writer. He loves writing and sharing impactful stories with the world.
Ayanna has a strong background in nutrition with a masters in Global Public Health Nutrition. She has over 15 years' experience working in the NHS in a variety of roles. Her early childhood was spent in Guyana (South America) where she benefited from a national school feeding programme. With a passion for better childhood nutrition she joins as a Project Officer on the Healthy Zones programme.
Job Titles:
- Journalist
- Trustee of Feeding Britain
Rosie is a journalist and was Chair of the London Food Board from 2008-2017. She was a co-founder of Spare Rib magazine and Virago Press, and edited Esquire Magazine, The Independent on Sunday, The Independent, and The Daily Express. She is the author of four books, including Spotted Pigs and Green Tomatoes, which chronicled a year in the life of her Somerset small holding.
Rosie is a Trustee of Feeding Britain, the Food Foundation and The Hay Festival. In June 2018, Rosie was nominated for a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission and became Baroness Boycott on 9 July 2018.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chief Executive at Sustain
Ben is Deputy Chief Executive at Sustain; the alliance for better food and farming. In 2015, he worked with Jamie Oliver's team to set up of the Children's Health Fund and get the government to adopt a sugary drinks tax. Ben came up with the idea for the Capital Growth project to create 2,012 food growing spaces in London by 2012.
Dela started her career as a strategy consultant, but her passion for food led her into the restaurant world. She opened and ran Bermondsey Kitchen in London Bridge for many years. Her long-standing desire to make good, sustainable healthy food available to all brought her to School Food Matters in June 2014. She is now our Development Manager.
Emily joined School Food Matters in October 2023 as our Project and Evaluation Assistant. With a BSc in Food Science & Nutrition, as well as an MSc in Nutrition for Global Health, Emily brings a wealth of expertise to our team. Through her background in food and nutrition education, she has effectively engaged students with various learning styles in both the UK and Vietnam. Emily is deeply committed to the belief that food and nutrition can empower individuals from all backgrounds.
Having spent over a decade supporting charities to better plan and evidence their work through training, strategic support, consultancy, and research, Eve is perfectly placed to join the team as the Impact and Strategy Manager. Her role includes applying learning from evaluation to the way we work, fostering opportunities for new research, and supporting strategic planning across School Food Matters.
Jane joined us in 2019 and is our Finance/Administration Officer & Volunteer Coordinator. She has a background in marketing and finance, previously working as Finance and Administration Assistant at King's Maths School, Chair of the Parents and Staff Association at Christ's Secondary School, and a volunteer with Age UK.
Jared has been Headteacher in inner city Battersea for many years. Currently he is Executive Headteacher in two schools; Sacred Heart RC Primary School and St Mary's Catholic Primary School. All his schools have been in areas of deprivation with large percentages of children who have English as a second language. Jared has two children and in his spare time he enjoys sport and reading.
Kathy joined School Food Matters in June 2022 and is our Project & Evaluation Officer. Prior to this, she completed a social innovation fellowship with Year Here, where she worked in a school and a social enterprise that focuses on bridging the climate literacy gap. She is driven by a motivation to tackle food inequality and maximise youth engagement with social issues.
Mariana has a degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. Her passion for public health started after taking a social internship in Kenya developing a health and nutrition project for schools in the Kibera Slums. Since then, Mariana has worked around South America in different charities and government organisations to promote health, nutrition, and wellbeing for disadvantages communities. Mariana joins School Food Matters as a Healthy Zones Project Officer.
Max is a corporate partner with law firm gunner cooke, helping SMEs and start-ups (as well as larger companies) scale their businesses, and also provides strategic consulting advice to businesses and business owners. Max is married with three daughters and lives in London.
After eight years as Head of Marketing and Social Media at Great British Chefs, Mex Ibrahim co-founded Women in the Food Industry, a CIC providing resources and community support for women in all sectors of the food industry. Mex is a freelance consultant in social media, marketing and digital content creation. She sits on the Advisory Board of New Food Magazine, is a member of the Guild of Food Writers and an Associate of the RSPH.
After working for several years in a variety of roles within the NHS and local authorities, Nitu pursued her passion for children's nutrition by completing a MSc Global Public Health Nutrition. She is committed to empowering both children and parents to achieve optimal health and wellbeing. Nitu joins School Food Matters as a Project Officer on our Healthy Zones programme.
Ossie is a co-director of Aquify, suppliers of water filtration systems to restaurants, corporates and homes. He was previously General Manager and Wine Buyer at The River Cafe where, with his mother Rose Gray, he set up Cooks in Schools, a charity advocating the raising of standards for school meals. Ossie has three children and lives in west London.
Paul is an accountant who runs the London office of Nash Harvey LLP, a firm of Chartered Accountants who work in London and the south east. Paul has been assisting clients running and growing their businesses for almost 30 years. He is married with two children and has a keen interest in most food related matters.
Dora Loewenstein Associates (DLA) was launched in London in 1992 as a specialist event management company for private, fundraising and corporate events. In addition to her working life, Dora is a member of the National Development Board of the NSPCC and a Trustee of the Mustique Charitable Trust.
Rachel spent more than ten years as an editor for BBC Books where she worked primarily on cookery and gardening titles. After a career break to spend time with her two children, she worked in an Early Years setting, where she particularly enjoyed being involved with their first forays into preparing and sharing good quality food. Rachel is our Partnerships and Programmes Officer.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Professor of Food
Rebecca is Professor of Food, Families and Society at the Centre for Research in Public Health and Community Care (CRIPACC), University of Hertfordshire. A social anthropologist by training, she has a particular interest in food inequalities and in informing policies and practices that improve the diets and lives of children, families and communities who are marginalised. Rebecca lives in NE London and has four children, including one in primary school, and she is a parent governor.
Sabine started her career as a public health nutritionist after studying for masters in International Public Health Nutrition at University of Westminster. Her passion for nutrition education led her to a variety of roles, delivering nutrition sessions in schools with the aim of tackling childhood obesity. She joins School Food Matters as a Project Officer working on the Healthy Zones programme.
Sarah joined School Food Matters in April 2015 as Finance and HR Manager. Sarah was Co-Chair of the PTA at East Sheen Primary School and an active parent helper in the classroom, with a particular interest supporting lessons in the school's teaching kitchen. Before taking a career break to spend time with her children, Sarah was a Financial Analyst for Vodafone Head Office.
Savannah worked as a comms/design consultant for UN organisations and served as comms lead and board member for a UK non-profit. Most recently, she pursued her passion for nutrition through a master's in Nutrition for Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research focused on equitable food systems transformation for healthy, sustainable diets. In 2024, she joined SFM as a Policy and Comms Assistant.
Sean joined School Food Matters in February 2021 and is our Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer. He has a Masters in Mathematical Physics and went on to study Social Science in China. He was twice elected as President of Liverpool Guild of Students and brings skills in policy and campaigning. Sean enjoys bouldering and music, and is passionate about tackling inequalities.
After several years living in Italy, Sharon returned to the UK with a huge love of food and cooking. Her interest in healthy eating led to a degree in nutrition and whilst learning about the increase in diet-related illness, particularly in children, she decided to enter the world of food education. Sharon brings a wealth of experience in both teaching and cooking to her role as Food Teacher at School Food Matters.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive
- Founder
- Founder and Chief Executive of School Food Matters, Discusses the Importance of Food Education in This Blog
Stephanie is Founder and Chief Executive. After 20 years working in film production, she set up the charity in response to the poor food served at her children's school. In 2012 she was invited to join the School Food Plan's expert panel, tasked by DFE to create an action plan to help head teachers improve school food. Stephanie is now Co-Chair of the School Food Plan Alliance and a founder of the School Food Review.
Stephanie Slater, Founder and Chief Executive of School Food Matters, discusses the importance of food education in this blog.