Richard Hazeldine, Chairman, British Society of Baking
Richard is the National Sales Manager for Zeelandia Ltd and is responsible for commercial activities in the UK and Ireland.
He started his career in the baking industry with Associated British Foods over 30 years ago. Since then he has held a number of senior manufacturing and commercial roles in various areas of the bakery industry, including bread, biscuits, snacks and latterly ingredients.
Richard holds an MBA and is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management. He is married with two children and lives in the North West on the Fylde Coast.
Paul Turner, Immediate Past Chairman, British Society of Baking
Paul Turner is a Group Sales Manager for Dupont’s Nutrition & Health business having direct responsibility for sales into the Food industry UK, Ireland, Benelux and Nordic areas with particular focus on Bakery.
Prior to joining Dupont’s Nutrition & Health business ten years ago, Paul worked in senior positions for several companies including Danisco, CSM, British Arkady and ASDA.
Notable is the time Paul spent with CSM/British Arkady where he was able to build upon his technical application experience and develop his commercial skills working within the Baking industry serving the industrial, retail and artisanal sectors. When not working, Paul enjoys marathon running and participating in Track day events both in the UK and Europe.
Mark Young, Joint Vice Chairman, British Society of Baking
Mark is Sales Director of his family business, Ingram Brothers, and has worked in the Baking Industry for 40 years.
He has recently retired from the Scottish Bakers (SAMB) Conference Technical Sessions Committee after over 30 years.
Mark is involved with the Incorporation of Bakers of Glasgow, following his father as Deacon in 1991/92.
Mark says, being a member of the BSB has been a real pleasure, meeting so many great people, with a tremendous passion for our industry.
Jim Brown, Honorary Member, British Society of Baking
Prior to his r
etirement in 2008, Jim spent over 50 years working in the baking industry. This included: a bakery apprenticeship followed by production management; working on research with the Flour Milling & Baking Research Association, Chorleywood; Product Manager with BFP Wholesale; Bakery Division Manager with Scobie McIntosh Bakery Equipment; and NPD Manager and ultimately Purchasing Manager, with James Fleming & Co Ltd. He also wrote technical articles for trade magazines for some years. He was also Technical Editor and an author for the Master Bakers Book of Breadmaking in 1982 and for the updated Craft Bakers Association Book of Breadmaking in 2015. Jim has been a member of the BSB since 1974 and was Chairman in 1988/89. He is currently the BSB Treasurer and Conference Coordinator. He enjoys being involved in all aspects of the BSB and updates the BSB website when required. Jim has also been involved with Scottish Bakers (formerly SAMB) for many years, helping to organise their annual conference and serving on some of their committees. He was made an Honorary Life Member of Scottish Bakers in 2003. He is currently on their Conference and Scottish Baker of the year Committee and acts as a judge at their bakery competitions. He was made a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Bakers in 2016 for services to the Baking Industry.
Brian Clarke
Brian Clarke is a consulting Director of European Food Consultants Ltd, with over 40 years retail and food manufacturing experience. He is a former operations, technical and environmental director of a global blue chip food manufacturer.
Brian has worked closely as a consultant with some of the major food manufacturing companies in the UK, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia and Australia on business turn around projects.
He is currently retained as a consultant on R&D Research, identifying innovation and novel Food products and processes. He is a consultant member of GLG, where he regularly consults on food issues and projects globally. In addition, he is a co-Founder and Director of TAKESTOCK Ltd.
Keith Houliston
Keith’s interest in the baking industry started at the age of 13 years when he worked part-time as a schoolboy in a local craft bakery in his native Edinburgh. After he left school, he joined Scottish Bakels in Broxburn, which covered the requirements of Scottish bakers for Bakels’ products. He then moved to British Bakels in 1988, relocating with his family to Yorkshire, and working his way up through the ranks over the years to his present position of Sales Director, Craft Sector/ Food Service. Overall Keith has been with Bakels for over 34 years.
Keith is a Past Chairman of the British Society of Baking and is the Immediate Past Chairman of the CBA’s Craft Bakers Week Committee. He has run the BSB Golf day for the last 18 years, taking it to the high standard it is today.
Mike Bagshaw
Mike is a highly experienced and passionate food ingredients specialist who has held a number of senior positions in the food industry in a career spanning almost 20 years. He is the founder of ITS (International Taste Solutions Ltd) which is recognised as one of the fastest growing taste and texture companies in the world. He is a co-founder of TAKESTOCK Ltd an e-commerce platform for the food industry along with other food-based investments.
Mike is the Immediate Past Chairman of the British Society of Baking, which focuses on bringing the bakery industry together and helping students to realise careers in the industry. Mike has numerous food & business qualifications along with being an advocate of the University of Life. He believes that you never ever stop learning in the fast-paced, ever-changing world we live in, so enjoy the ride! Mike has 3 children and his hobbies include rugby, boxing and brewing beer as a craft brewer. Cheers!!
Sylvia MacDonald
Sylvia trained as a journalist and after gaining experience in marketing and journalism, joined British Baker magazine in 1991 because she loved food and the world of business. During her years as editor, she interviewed many talented craft bakers, entrepreneurial ingredient suppliers and forward-thinking equipment providers. Other interviewees included ABF’s George Weston, Justin King of Sainsbury’s, Sir Mike Darrington of Greggs, and David Cameron. Sylvia was highly respected for the quality of her BB editorials and her enthusiasm for the industry. While editor of the BB she won the prize for Scoop of the Year, beating many other magazines, including The Grocer.
Having moved on from the position of Editor of the British Baker in 2011, Sylvia still takes a keen interest in the baking industry and has served on the BSB Executive committee for 7 years. She continues to work for British Baker, focusing on writing and judging for the Baking Industry Awards. She also serves on the Court of the Worshipful Company of Bakers and undertakes freelance work.
Paul Weston
Having left school wanting to be a baker and confectioner, 40 years later the industry has served Paul well, moving from old-fashioned day release to bakery school, to building a career in the industry, through to the supply base of ingredients and premixes for bakeries and food manufacturers. Paul believes there are great opportunities in the food and baking industries for individuals to fulfil their dreams and become successful, as many members of the BSB have done. He feels that there is something for everyone in the food industry and is happy that his current role with Romix Foods allows him to meet like-minded people who have a passion for our industry and want to pass on their experience. This also gives him an opportunity to give something back to the next generation of bakers, technical staff and commercial people.
David Hall, Vice Chairman Elect, British Society of Baking
David Hall is passionate about all things BAKING. He commenced his career as an industrial chemist for Pura Foods Ltd and during his 10 years there was General Manager and Manager of hydrogenation, bottling and canning, and planning. He was subsequently Managing Director of the bakery division of Northern Foods Plc, comprising Panificio Italiano, La Baguette Doree, and Continental Bakery.
David was then Managing Director of The London Bread & Cake Co Ltd for over 25 years, which was London’s largest independent wholesale bakery, manufacturing a range of 400 products on 365 days a year, and supplying them to nearly 1,000 customers within the South East of England. He sold this business in 2019 and set up The London Baking Company Limited, which carries out consultancy work and offers investment, for bakers.
Amongst David’s passions is collecting bakery books – over 300 of them – mainly concerning the technical aspects of baking. He is also keen to assist fellow bakers, students, and new bakery businesses and works with numerous other Associations with bakery tours, meetings, presentations, recruiting, new product development, and mentoring. David’s aspirations include introducing youngsters and students with a similar passion & enthusiasm for baking to the BSB!
DEVON PETRIE
Devon went from Graduate to Lecturer at the National Bakery School, South Bank University. He gained a 1st Class BSc Honours Degree in Bakery Technology and Management at the National Bakery School, winning the top student award. He is also a Ph.D. Graduate and is now a Lecturer at the NBS.
Devon was born in Zimbabwe and lived there for 18 years. Sadly he saw starvation, poverty, violence and riots there due to the food shortages. This fuelled his ambition to find alternative protein sources in food and ways to ensure sustainable protein is available in western and developing countries. He gave a presentation at the 2017 BSB spring conference on the use of cricket flour as a protein supplement in the food chain. Over the previous two years he researched various applications for cricket flour, considering it to be a sustainable source of protein which could have a direct impact on the baking and food industries.
STEPHEN VILLE
Stephen has worked in the milling and baking industries for most of his career. This has included working at Rank Hovis, Allied Bakeries and most recently, The Bread Roll Company, where he was Managing Director. He sold The Bread Roll Company to the Bread Holdings group in 2015, the group also owning Gail’s, The Bread Factory, Maison du Pain and Bertinet bakery.
Stephen has experience of all aspects of running a bakery business. including finance, sales, NPD, operations, technical and business development. He has a BA from The University of Sussex, an MBA from The London Business School and a City and Guilds qualification in flour milling and baking.
Stephen says that he has attended BSB conferences over many years and has always been impressed by the breadth and quality of topics presented and the commitment of the officers and committee members who run the BSB. He feels it is now time for him to offer his support to the committee.
Outside of work Stephen is a keen sports fan following rugby, football and cricket. He also enjoys Hill and mountain walking and has just started a history club. He is married with 2 sons and lives in London.
MEGAN ROBERTS
Megan Roberts is a research and development technologist at AB Mauri, with a passion for all things innovative – and sourdoughs! Before this she attended University College Birmingham for six years. completing bakery courses and gaining a BSc (Hons) in Bakery and Patisserie Technology.
Determined to gain as many placements as possible while at UCB, Megan was a finalist for a pastry scholarship at Le Cordon Bleu, won places on The Worshipful Company of Bakers courses held at Bakels and in Weinheim, took an internship at Zealandia, spoke at the 2018 autumn BSB conference and became a Dawn Foods ambassador. This year (2019/20) Megan was the winner of Rondo’s prestigious Rising Star Award at the Baking Industry Awards.
NATALIE DRAKE
Natalie Drake is a Category Manager at Synergy Flavours – a leading international flavour supplier and trusted supply partner to the UK bakery industry. Natalie is responsible for business development within the bakery, desserts and confectionery markets with the aim of delivering innovative flavour solutions that help bakery manufacturers to enhance the consumer appeal of their products and manage ingredient costs and nutrition targets. After completing a BSc in Food Marketing and Business Economics, an initial career in marketing eventually led Natalie to the exciting and fast-paced world of flavours and food trends.
Natalie has a passion for bakery and regularly makes and decorates cakes for friends and family in her spare, time including 3 wedding cakes to date! This passion continues through to inspiring the next generation of bakers as Natalie heads up the link between Synergy Flavours and bakery colleges and universities, to educate aspiring students on the power of using flavours within their products.