Blog: Roles and responsibilities of those working within the Pork team

Charlotte Evans, Head of Engagement (Pork), gives an overview of the different roles and responsibilities of various members of the Pork team. She highlights some of the activities you might not be aware we’re involved with and explains how the work we do benefits levy payers.

At AHDB, we work on your behalf, investing the levy you pay to benefit the industry. Some of our work is obvious. Some not so. Rest assured, we have a dedicated team looking after the needs of the whole of the Pork sector and I thought it worth highlighting who they are and what they do.

If you were at this year’s British Pig & Poultry Fair and came to the AHDB stand, there’s a good chance you’ll have already seen a few of us, including a couple of key new faces. In March, our new CEO, Graham Wilkinson, took up office; a month later, Glen Nimmo was appointed Pork Sector Council Chair.

More on the changes Graham has made in a moment, but Glen has already written to all levy payers following his first sector council meeting and intends doing the same in future to keep everyone in the loop.

At this point, it’s probably worth acknowledging all those on the sector council too. In no particular order, they are Charlotte Duggleby, Mark Westgarth, Hugh Crabtree, Robin Thompson, Chris Aldersley, Mike Wijnberg, William de Klein, Tim Bradshaw, Jodie Bolland and Rupinder Ashworth. They’re all keen to hear from you, whatever the issue.

With regard to the AHDB team, Graham’s implemented a new structure that increases focus on the sectors. As part of this, he’s appointed Angela Christison as Sector Director for Pork.

Angela has always maintained a strong interest in the sector, but there’s now even greater focus, with levy payers having told us that the areas of most importance to them were marketing, exports and reputation (which includes education, animal welfare and environmental work).

Next up is where I come in – the Engagement team; the people you probably have most dealings with. We’re a tight-knit group that continues to evolve to ensure all activities align with industry needs.

Together with Zanita Markham and Tony Bayles, we put as much emphasis on training stockpeople and embracing smaller-scale producers as we do for wider projects such as the Environmental Baselining Pilot. I’d like to thank former colleagues who have helped put us in such a strong position, in particular Pat Loten and Andrew Palmer.

Other areas of engagement include schools, retailers, policymakers and wider stakeholder groups, which often require us to lean on AHDB colleagues who have the expertise.

This means that some of the faces you see might be working on pig projects full-time, whereas others work across different sectors. Together, we communicate the great progress and investment that’s being made in the sector, particularly with regard to welfare and the environment, be it through our own independent work or as members of key industry forums.

I could fill an entire issue of Pig World with the details of what the AHDB team does for the Pork sector, but hopefully with the examples I’ve given, you now have a better understanding of roles and responsibilities.

If you’re still in doubt, please don’t hesitate to reach out: charlotte.evans@ahdb.org.uk.

Charlotte Evans, Head of Engagement (Pork)