Delivering technically compliant goods to contractual food safety and quality standards.

The University of Reading (UK): Masters Degree with Distinction in Agriculture and Development (2011).

The University of Nottingham (UK): Bachelor’s Degree (Class 2:1) European Studies in Agriculture and Food Sciences (1997).

Neath Tertiary College: BTEC National Diploma in Science (1993).

Cefn Saeson Comprehensive: GCSE’s (Grade A to C in 7 subjects including Maths, English Language, Geography, History, Art and Design, Biology, Physics).

Career History

 ES-KO S.A.M, Fontvielle, Monaco                                  2016 – March 2022

Product Development Officer

Responsibilities

• Sourcing suppliers of key products which are compliant to the contractual technical standards of the UN military and offer cost savings to the business.
• Undertaking the initial benchmarking desk study of a supplier’s technical documentation, in order to address gaps, prior to final evaluation by the ES-KO Technical Department.
• Develop more than one supplier, where possible in a different geographical area, for each UN military line item, so a reserve option is available to the ES-KO purchasing team.
• Support internal stakeholders, such as the Purchasing and Technical Dept, with developmental option which can be implemented in the supply base.

Key achievements

• Approval by ES-KO’s UN missions of new suppliers and producers offering UN compliant products with improved commercials over existing suppliers; variations in product primary pack size so client has a small pack size option; products from different regions of the world to give ES-KO Buyers purchasing options, as well as technically challenging and low volume items which ES-KO has not previously been able to offer to the client when food orders were received.

4 Corners General Trading LLC, Dubai, UAE                                2015 – 2016

Senior QA Manager

Responsibilities

• Creation & Implementation of ISO 22000 FSMS with new certification body.
• Legal and contractual compliancy of product lines to customers and governments expectations.
• Management and training of QA staff and food handlers.

Key achievements

• Toolbox training of staff, registration of staff and drivers as food handlers with the municipality.
• Completion of health and safety signage and training exercise of the warehouse and office staff.
• Awarded ISO 22000 Lead Auditor qualification by TUV Nord (Jan 2016).

Supreme Group, various international sites and offices.       2009 – 2014

Senior Category Manager, Procurement.                                                     2013 – 2014

Responsibilities

• Managed total annual spend of $6,574,000 USD (€5,864,000 EUR) for the FF&V, frozen F&V and fresh and frozen bread category across all UN accounts
• Sourcing compliant FF&V and frozen vegetables from international sources for UN accounts
• Provided2-4 weekly commercial tendering and timely competitive bid input for tenders

Key achievements

• Cost savings of €1,516,000 USD ($1,352,000 EUR) per annum across 4 UN accounts
• Timely mobilization of compliant goods into supply chain for bid tender awards to ensure contractual performance levels agreed are met

QA Manager- Fresh Produce Procurement.                                                      2010 – 2013

Responsibilities

• Designing, implementing and reviewing QMS, product specs, traceability and risk assessment systems
• Assisting Afghan agri-businesses to market their products commercially to both domestic and international clients
• Reviewing and updating fresh produce specifications held in the Supreme Central QA database in Dubai
• 2^nd party fresh produce supplier audits in UAE, Europe and Africa to GLOBALGAP, BRC, military and internal standards

Key achievements

• Reviewing 49 fresh, 22 canned and 18 frozen fruit and vegetable (F&V)US DOD SPV product specifications
• Completion of 68 F&V product line technical specifications in The UN Africa (Sudan) category
• Monthly benchmarking of the US DOD SPV FF&V against current technical specifications
• Feasibility study to transport 14 US DOD SPV FF&V product lines overland fromLatvia to Afghanistan
• Monitoring/evaluation exercise on NAMSA Water Bottling Plant at Kandahar Air Field
• Supporting and assisting Bakthar Flour Mill, Kabul towards CENTCOM accreditation
• Implementing the Group QMS into the SFS – Fareham site, UK and passing UK MOD customer audit

QA Manager – US DOD SPV                                                                             2009 -2010

Responsibilities

• QA Departmental head of the Dept of Defense (DOD) Supreme Prime Vendor (SPV) product range
• Manager of 2 Asst QA Managers, 3 QA Supervisors and 16 QA Inspectors and Claims sub-Dept consisting of a Claims Officer, Claims Assistant and 2 QA Administrators
• Providing QMS for 4 x Supreme DOD warehouses in Kabul which receive, store and dispatch dry/ambient, chilled, frozen, water and short shelf life fruit and veg products
• Ensuring that receipt, storage and dispatch ofSPV products conform to clients standards
• Daily customer interaction with contracts officers representatives (COR) in matters of quality assurance and claims

Key achievements

• Achieving annual US military approval for all warehouses

• Reclaiming $4M USD of costs from the carriers (Maersk and APL) and suppliers arising from non-conforming product arriving at Supreme warehouses in Afghanistan

J. Pao & Co. Ltd, London                                                               2000 – 2008

Technical Manager

Responsibilities

• Dept Head, organizing job roles of sub-ordinates through appraisal and dept budgets – Manager of The QA Manager and Night Shift Hygiene Team.
• Reviewing and updating the Quality Management System, ISO 22000& HACCP.
• Programming and conducting the audit schedule, crop trials and due diligence.
• Liaising with customers on product quality and leading customer audits on day of visit.
• Procurement and supplier auditing of companies annual £500,000 green mungbean (GMB) material from Myanmar and China.

Key achievements

• Reducing non-conforming material down to zero incidences in 2007.
• Using processing and product knowledge to ‘convert’ customers to a new processing method which increased product shelf life by 3 days and reduced factory costs.
• Identifying a GMB variety to better fit the companies sprouting specification than the present land race varieties.
• Reducing the companies training budget for staff by 25 to 50%, by sourcing out training grants, government funded training and competitively priced training organization.
• Implementing a computerized quality management system (Q-Pulse) into the factory and training key staff (at reduced part funded cost) in its use.
• Implementing new quality standards, such as EFSIS Higher Level and ISO 22000.

Bourne Stir-Fry: Section Manager                                                          1998 – 2000

Key responsibilities

• Creating, monitoring and reviewing beansprout crop protocols on a daily basis.
• Schedule and conduct testing on chemical and microbial parameters within the dept.
• Ensure that systems are in place and tested to ensure product is traceable back to supplier and forward to packhouse.

• Demand planning more than a week in advance of harvest in order to programme the amount of raw material required for the daily sowing operations.

• Organizing the day to day management of supervisors and staff in the dept. Prepare the dept for audits and visits from customers, visitors and government agencies.

Key Achievements

• Senior company managers having the confidence in my ability to manage the dept on a day to day basis after one year of employment.
• Being nominated by the company for ‘Young Grower of the Year’ in 2001.
• Tailor making the crop protocols from those originally derived from J. Pao to achieve the objectives required for Bourne Stir Fry’s product specifications.

• Navision (5 years)
• Auditing (19 years)
• Developing local and internal supplier and producers to supply US DOD SPV, UK MOD and UN contracts with compliant food items (10 years)
• Food Safety and Quality (20 years)

Advanced Food Hygiene, BRC, Codex Alimentarius, Compliancy, cost savings, First Programs, Fresh Produce, GLOBALG.A.P, HACCP, ISO 22000, Lead Auditor, Local and International Procurement, Management, Training

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