Rupert Ashby joined the BFFF as chief executive in July 2022.

His early career was spent at the Co-operative Group (CWS Agriculture) running several of their farming businesses before moving to their Manchester headquarters as a marketing project manager. His farming experience included growing vining peas, broccoli, cauliflowers and chipping potatoes for the frozen food industry.

He then joined the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) as a regional director in the South East region before taking on a role in London where he led the Regional and Membership teams. He was a member of the CLA Board and was responsible for the retention and recruitment strategy for the association and their 27,000 members.

Rupert has managed large teams at estates and in the membership area, and has extensive experience of running events, including as a board member of the CLA Game Fair.

Additional experience includes being a school governor, serving on the Industry Board at Hadlow College, a member of the Executive Council of Reading Athletics club and he is also a level 3 UK Athletics Official.

Simon has been supporting BFFF members for over 8 years, this involves providing solutions to member queries, writing industry guidance, producing the ‘Keep it Safe’ bi-monthly newsletter, facilitating the Health & Safety Expert Group and organising Health & Safety initiatives such as the annual H&S Conference and training days.

His journey in Health & Safety started out in 1999 where as a senior manager he took on additional responsibilities for Health & Safety, Training and Transport, this was the catalyst for a standalone H&S career.
Previous roles include Senior HSEQ Manager for a FSTE 250 company and Health & Safety Director for a national powered access company. Within these roles he gained a vast amount of experience in the engineering, manufacturing, warehousing and logistics sectors.

Simon had previously supported other trade associations such as the Hire Association of Europe (HAE) and International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) in writing industry guidance. In 2005, he successfully advocated the fitting side handrails on vehicle load-beds to prevent falls for his company operating the largest fleet of LGV’s in the UK. This was to become a standard feature on every commercial vehicle across the UK and remains so today.

Simon became a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH) and in 2009 and gained practitioner status with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) in 2017. In addition, Simon is a member of the Institute of Fire Safety Manager (IFSM). His specialisms include human behaviour, work at height, powered access, workplace transport, accident investigation, work equipment, lifting operations and fire.

He currently sits on the Food and Drink Manufacturers Forum (FDMF) and the IOSH Food & Drink Community and helps organise its annual Health & Safety conference.

Simon enjoys cars, travel, music and is a member of a local badminton team, his favourite frozen food is Ice cream especially the ‘Magnum’.

After 5 years working for a local hospital in their Finance and Support Services Department, Emma joined BFFF in 1998.

Emma is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Federation’s finances., working closely with Rupert on budgeting, forecasting, and cashflow to ensure the Federation’s financial stability and growth. In addition, Emma serves as administrator for the Board and Audit Committee, supporting governance and attending key meetings. With a HNC in Business and Finance and a background as a qualified book-keeper, she brings both technical expertise and practical experience to the role.

Kathryn joined the BFFF team in October 2024 as Rupert Ashby’s PA and the office manager.
Her first graduate position was with IBM UK Ltd in Portsmouth where she co-ordinated graduate and experienced IT recruitment, resource management and education projects.

Her move from Portsmouth to Lincolnshire prompted a career change into local SME support, working for a sister company of Business Link.

In 2009, Kathryn joined the University of Lincoln in its Professional Development Centre, working with local healthcare trusts and GP practices to develop their healthcare professionals via programmes of education.
Latterly Kathryn was Personal Assistant to the Head of the School of Humanities and Heritage and Senior School administrator.

In addition to the PA role for Rupert Ashby, Kathryn leads on events and groups such as Meet the Buyer and the Young Leaders Forum and manages the BFFF office.

Commencing her career in the world of Private Staffing for high profile and HNWIs in London, Siobhan developed her administrative skills and ability to manage several projects simultaneously. This role often took her abroad, dealing with a variety of new tasks and demanded a high level of focus and dedication.

Following her transition to the optical industry, Siobhan spent 10 years as Executive Assistant to the owner of multiple businesses spanning wholesale markets, distribution and finally, the opening of a bespoke eyewear boutique. This role allowed her to hone her organisational skills, utilising her hands-on approach to problem solve and saw her involved in all areas of business management far beyond her position.

Joining the BFFF team in 2018, Siobhan is responsible for supporting the Events Manager in the delivery of all industry events.

Siobhan’s favourite frozen food item is Yutaka’s Edamame Beans in pods.

After starting working life as a fully trained legal secretary, Charley moved to employment with a national charity. Her role was to support the area management team covering the London and South East areas. This work saw Charley involved with fundraising for a significant and broad range of events and her success in this area led to many successful campaigns and ‘wins’ for the organisation.

Charley’s progress in this area provided a great platform for her development and in 2007 Charley was successful in securing a position of Event Manager with London based Charity Maggie’s. The role had sole responsibility for a significant portfolio of events including marathons and triathlons, dinners and art exhibitions.

In recent years Charley moved back to her ‘roots’ to be closer to her family securing a position with the local hospice as Fundraising and Events Manager, with responsibility for all fundraising activities and events.

When an opportunity to work with the BFFF as Events Manager became available in 2013, Charley successfully applied and joined the team .This progression presented the opportunity for Charley to return to managing and developing larger and more diverse events.

Since her arrival Charley’s significant experience in this area has contributed to the significant progress and development of the BFFF “portfolio of Industry leading events”.

Neesha joined the British Frozen Food Federation in November 2005, initially providing administrative support to the Director-General and wider team. Over the years, her role has evolved significantly, leading to her current position as Member Relationship Manager. This progression has given her a strong understanding of the Federation’s purpose, values, and the diverse needs of its membership.

In her role, Neesha is passionate about building strong relationships and enhancing the overall member experience within the dynamic frozen food industry. She works closely with members to ensure they maximise the value of their BFFF membership, supporting collaboration, growth, and long-term success across the sector.

Denise joined the BFFF in August 2016. She has an honours degree in Food Science and over 30 years’ experience in the food industry working for numerous organisations including Birds Eye, Youngs Seafood, Heinz and Nisa Retail. During that time, she has held many senior roles across various disciplines from product development to specifications, purchasing and regulatory.

She has also worked in many different sectors such as seafood, ready meals, prepared vegetables, pizza and bakery goods and sports nutrition.

Over the years, Denise has built up many strong relationships across industry and with key contacts from both non-government and government organisations. As a result, she regularly attends many influential meetings and sits on several industry working groups.

Denise provides members with technical and legislative advice as well as keeping members updated with the latest developments shaping our industry. She is also responsible for the production of our bi-monthly technical newsletter- the T&L, and runs the BFFF Technical Expert Group

Sarah has an extensive background in brand, marketing and design having spent much of her career working in full-service brand, design and marketing agencies across the midlands working in FMCG, Manufacturing, Retail, Tourism, Healthcare, Construction and Service industries.

She has worked with notable brands such as Belvoir Farm, Next, Lyle & Scott, Aldi, Care Fertility, National Trust, Boots and Dulux and has gained expertise in all aspects of marketing from market research, customer profiling and user experience through to brand development, marketing strategy, campaign planning and directing design and the creation of meaningful and engaging content.

Sarah has previous experience working with membership organisations such as Dulux Select Decorators and the British Game Assurance working to deliver both B2B and B2C brands, campaigns working to provide engaging membership tools and communications.

Sarah’s role will be to develop and deliver the BFFF marketing strategy, evolve the BFFF brand and drive a member’s communications plan that is engaging, informative and insightful.

After many years on the Commercial side of professional sport, including Premier League Football and County Cricket, Dave entered the world of representative trade associations by joining the International Visual Communication Association in 2007. Helping to instigate the merger with Eventia to form EVCOM, on leaving the new association in 2017 as COO, Dave went on to the Confederation of British Industry, helping members at all levels to maximise their engagement. Recently, Dave had been involved with the Great British Entrepreneur Awards – supporting and recognising start up businesses and entrepreneurs before joining BFFF as Head of Sales in May 2023. Dave’s role with BFFF is to engage with potential new members and to help those joining the BFFF to maximise their membership.

Farai joined the BFFF as Design and Marketing Assistant, bringing over 10 years of experience in brand identity, digital design and creative direction across sectors including automotive, entertainment, corporate and non-profit. Before joining the Federation, he worked as Lead Designer at Aspire4U, overseeing creative projects from concept to delivery and mentoring junior designers to maintain a high standard of work. He also spent several years as a Graphic Designer at Pendragon PLC, producing national marketing campaigns and adhering to strict brand guidelines for major automotive manufacturers.

Alongside his industry experience, Farai has built a successful freelance career, designing brand identities and websites for small businesses and helping them improve their visual presence. At BFFF, he supports the Federation’s marketing and communications activity, producing digital and print assets, managing website content, and contributing to major events including the Annual Lunch, Awards and Business Conference.

Farai holds a BA in Graphic Communication and Illustration from Loughborough University. Outside of work he is an avid sports enthusiast, with a keen interest in football, golf and tennis.