ROBERT SPENCER APPOINTED SENIOR DIRECTOR,BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, FOOD BANKS

 CHEP, the global supply chain logistics company, has appointed Robert Spencer, formerly Head of Strategy & Marketing for CHEP Europe, as Senior Director, Business Development, Food Banks. This is a dual position with Robert working for both CHEP and FareShare, a UK-wide charity that tackles food waste and food poverty.

FareShare redistributes in-date, good food from the food & drink industry that would otherwise go to waste, to frontline charities including homeless shelters, children’s breakfast clubs and older people’s lunch clubs.

In 2015/16 FareShare redistributed 9,070 tonnes of food to 2,489 charities and community groups, enough to provide 18.3 million meals for people in need with an estimated value to the charity sector of £19.6 million. Without food from FareShare, one in five charities say they would probably or definitely have to close, while 58% say they would have to reduce the amount of food they provide.

Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive Officer, FareShare, said: “Last year, FareShare diverted more food from waste than ever before, helping to feed over 200,000 vulnerable people every week. Yet hundreds of thousands of tonnes of perfectly edible food is wasted every year – enough to provide 800 million meals for people in need – so we know there’s huge potential to do more. We’re incredibly grateful to CHEP for giving FareShare this opportunity to benefit from Robert’s experience and expertise in supply chain logistics, which will help us to increase the amount of good food we’re able to redistribute to hungry and vulnerable people.”

In his new position, Robert will help reduce FareShare’s logistics costs and make its supply chains more efficient. He will also provide support with organisational strategy and leverage CHEP’s existing business relationships in the fast-moving consumer goods market, especially with food manufacturers, to increase the amount of food being donated to the charity.

This is the first role of its kind for CHEP and highlights the company’s commitment, to tackling food waste. CHEP’s pallet pooling business model is inherently sustainable and its expertise in creating more efficient and effective supply chains, as well as its partnerships with manufacturers and retailers, makes it uniquely placed to offer assistance in this area.

Michael Pooley, President, CHEP Europe, said: “We are incredibly proud that one of our most senior and experienced executives will be using his expertise to help those in need. I’m sure Robert’s guidance will be of great value to FareShare and will further enhance the fantastic work that it does. I look forward to continuing to work with him and wish him all the best in his new role.”