Our Team
We share knowledge, inspire change, learn from others and empower people to make better food choices that will, in turn, have a positive impact on the wider food system and, ultimately, the food on our plate.
OUR ADVISORY BOARD
President
Raymond Blanc OBE has been President of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) since 2012. Chef patron of Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and founder of Brasserie Blanc restaurants, he has always been a passionate champion and campaigner for sustainability and food ethics. While his restaurant has retained two exalted Michelin stars for over 30 years, 30 of his protégés have gone to achieve Michelin stars themselves. During his term as President, Raymond has helped oversee a significant expansion in the SRA’s membership, and wider increase in interest in sustainability both in the UK and globally, including the whole Belmond hotel group.
Vice President
Prue Leith began her career in catering with Leith’s Good Food. Her Michelin Starred Leith’s Restaurant shortly followed, as well as Leith’s School of Food and Wine. She has been deeply involved in food education, founding and chairing the charity Focus on Food, which promotes cooking in the curriculum, and the Hoxton Apprentice, a not-for-profit restaurant training disadvantaged long-term unemployed young people. She was the Chair of the School Food Trust, which was largely responsible for the improvement in school food. She is Patron of the Prue Leith Chef’s Academy in her native South Africa.
Director
Inspired by his mother (Restauranteur, teacher, chef), food has played a fundamental part of Giles’ life. This culminated in opening The Good Cook, in 1998, the first ‘social’ restaurant in the uk. This continued alongside his consulting business, Good Business, that worked for some of the world’s largest food businesses in helping them on their sustainability journey. These experiences inspired the thought that we could help all restaurants on their sustainability journey and so the idea of the SRA was born.
Vice President
Iqbal Wahhab OBE has built a reputation for delivering world-class excellence through his highly successful restaurant businesses, Roast and The Cinnamon Club. He has exited both restaurants and is planning new ventures. Iqbal has won a number of major awards and accolades during his career. He was voted one of the Top 10 Restaurateurs in Britain in an Independent on Sunday survey and listed in the Caterer Power 100, GQ 100 Most Connected and The Sunday Times Maserati Top 100 business start-up mentors. He works a lot with ex-offenders and has just been appointed to chair a review on the treatment of black and/or Muslim people in the criminal justice system.
Director
After an early career managing restaurants in London, Simon became involved in offshore and remote location facilities management, deploying accommodation vessels to East Timor for the UN in 1999 and to West Africa for Total and Agip. Simon took responsibility for the increasingly demanding sustainability requirements under these contracts before joining Good Business, Europe’s leading corporate responsibility consultancy, in 2006 to pursue this aspect full time and co-founding the Sustainable Restaurant Association in 2010. Simon is a resident judge for the Mercury awards and lives in Stroud with an unruly menagerie of children and animals.
Director
Hospitality industry veteran, Mark Sainsbury has worked in restaurants and hotels in London for 25 years. He opened the multi award winning Moro restaurant, alongside Sam and Sam Clark in 1997. In 2004 Mark opened his first hotel, the 59-room Zetter Hotel with his partner Michael Benyan. The Group then went on to open Bistrot Bruno Loubet, The Zetter Townhouse Clerkenwell, Grain Store restaurant and in 2015 The Zetter Townhouse Marylebone. Mark co-founded the Sustainable Restaurant Association and serves as a trustee on his own charitable trust the Mark Leonard Trust, the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy and the Linbury Trusts.
PARTNER FOR GOOD
Want to work with us? Or be a partner? Get in touch and tell us where your sustainability passions lie.
CEO
Tel: 0203 903 2762
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “Into the Sawah– It’s just so easy to cook at home ? ”
Development Director
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “This One Planet Plate is exactly the kind of food I want to eat all day every day. Seasonal, veggie forward, and bloody delicious”
Head of Membership
Ylva Johannesson | FURLOUGH
Tel: 020 3903 2772
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “I feel I have to pick this one… but I’ll abandon my Scandi roots for this one…The Good Eggs’s Hummus awarma with fried cauliflower leaves & pickled beetroot stem relish is a great example of how using up good quality meat and vegetable trimmings, which would have been wasted otherwise, creates exciting new flavours to an already familiar dish such as hummus.”
PR Manager
Tel: 020 3903 2773
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “What other dish can you think of that smells and tastes of where it comes from, acts as its own cutlery and have a minimal impact on the environment? Nothing rivals mussels and Cafe St Honore’s classic recipe with garlic, shallots, cream and tarragon is hard to beat. Yum!”
Head of Growth and Marketing
Tel: 020 3903 2769
Senior Project Manager
Aisling Hayes | FURLOUGH
Tel: 020 3903 2766
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “This recipe for Smoked hen’s egg opened my eyes to the wonder that is mushroom ketchup for which I’m grateful. Also a sucker for soda bread.”
Head of Data and Digital
Nell Armitage | FURLOUGH
Tel: 020 3903 2763
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “I love making The Balcon’s Crispy skinned cornish mackerel, falafel, confit tomato & sumac yoghurt because I’m obsessed with mackerel and this version also incorporates middle-eastern flavours, which I can’t get enough of”
Membership Manager
Hannah Dean-Wood | FURLOUGH
Tel: 020 3903 2775
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “Having only discovered Shashshuka recently, I have become obsessed! I ordered nearly every time I see it on a menu and am excited to try to make it at home someday soon.”
Events Manager
Emily Shankar | FURLOUGH
0203 903 2780
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “Raw energy bites: Deliciously Ella uses raw, super-foods from the earth to beat the 3 o’clock slump and satisfy my sweet tooth. They’re the perfect on-the-go treat!”
Business Development Manager
Katy Ellwood | FURLOUGH
Tel: 020 3903 2771
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “I’m a sucker for an oyster…delicious, salty, fun to eat and they filter water whilst removing CO2 from the atmosphere. If fresh shucked oysters aren’t for you try blitzing them into a creamy sauce!”
Creative and Design Manager
Eleanor McNeill | FURLOUGH
Tel: 020 3903 2769
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “My Australian roots mean avocado is close to my heart but Salon’s Broccoli-based creation provides a sustainable alternative for those delicious weekend brunches!”
Community Manager
Cameron McDonald | FURLOUGH
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate: “I am a big fan of curry!”
Membership Projects Manager
Rosie Rayner-Law
0203 903 2774
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “Kimchi instantly adds a little kick to any meal, and the usage of other-wise wasted stalks in this makes it a double whammy of goodness.”
Project Manager
Tel: 020 3903 2777
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate: “I love the Barley risotto – sustainable when meat free and made with so many healthy vegetables, while also involving all the food groups!”
Finance Manager
Agatha Georgiou | MATERNITY LEAVE
Tel: 020 3903 2761
Favourite #OnePlanetPlate “How can you enjoy a meal that damages the marine environment and captures non-target species?! Let’s all respect the sea and source fish (and seafood) sustainably: Hand dived Isle of Mull scallops”