UK & Ireland

Meat Business Women was founded in the UK in 2015 and quickly gathered momentum as a movement of people who were passionate about driving positive and sustainable change in the meat industry. In 2019 we launched in Ireland and have since developed a well-connected Irish community.

With the support of our UK & Ireland committee, Meat Business Women delivers events and provides networking and mentoring opportunities to support women at every stage of their career, to ensure that our sector not only attracts, but retains the best talent.

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UK & Ireland
Australia

Our UK & Ireland committee

Harriet Wilson

Chair & Partnerships Director, Meat Business Women

Harriet Wilson

Chair & Partnerships Director, Meat Business Women

Harriet joined Meat Business Women as Partnerships Director in August 2023. Here, she is focused on adding value to partners and increasing engagement across our wider community, to truly make meaningful change to the meat sector by attracting and retaining female talent. She won the first Meat Business Women ‘One to Watch Award’ in 2018 and was part of the UK&I Committee for three years.

Her career so far has involved Head of Agriculture & senior CSR roles for quick service restaurant chain McDonald’s and retailers ALDI and Co-op Food, with industry placements at Sainsbury’s and McDonald’s whilst at university. She graduated from Harper Adams University in 2014 and during her studies was a columnist for the Farmers Weekly.

With her background and passion for Agriculture, Harriet is a previous member of the NFU’s Next Generation Policy Forum, advisor to the Prince’s Countryside Fund Farming Group and sat on the Red Tractor Board for Beef and Lamb standards.

Harriet is based on her partners’ arable farm in Shropshire and also helps on her family’s beef & sheep farm in Staffordshire. Previously an active Young Farmers’ member, she enjoys coaching younger members in public speaking and stock judging, as well as organising various charity events.

Email:: [email protected]
Phone:: +44 7969 659 032

Emma Hallam

Commercial Director, Moy Park

Emma Hallam

Commercial Director, Moy Park

Emma joined Moy Park in 2014, having held senior Sales & Marketing roles across the food industry for 18 years, moving in 2018 to a newly created role as Head of Sales – Strategic Affiliates, working closely with key customers and their manufacturing supply chain to develop and nurture these relationships.

A self-confessed ‘foodie’, Emma has a rich culinary family heritage with her parents’ restaurant ‘Harry’s Place’ holding a Michelin star for 17 years and her uncle being Managing Director of Dickinson & Morris, a position held since 1992.

Before following her family into the food industry, Emma was a graduate of The Royal Ballet School, she had the privilege of sharing a stage with Rudolf Nureyev at Covent Garden age 11 and subsequently enjoyed a successful professional ballet career.

Andrea Jex

Procurement Director, Hilton Foods

Andrea Jex

Procurement Director, Hilton Foods

Andrea joined Hilton Foods in 2016 and has held various positions within Procurement before being appointed Procurement Director in 2022. She heads up a global team that is responsible for the procurement of packaging, non-protein food and indirect services.

She has over 30 years’ experience in the food procurement sector having worked for a number of major food manufacturers.

Packaging innovation and sustainability are areas that Andrea is passionate about and she is a very active member of some of the bodies that promotes these areas globally and is determined to make a difference in this area.

Andrea has a First-Class Honours Degree in Food Manufacturing and reached the finals of the 2021 Women in Meat industry awards for the Meat Businesswomen Manufacturing and Processing award.

When Andrea is not at work she enjoys clay pigeon shooting and riding motorbikes but obviously not at the same time!

Sam Tinsley

VP EMEA & APAC, Lumachain

Sam Tinsley

VP EMEA & APAC, Lumachain

Sam serves as VP of EMEA & APAC. In her role, Sam is responsible for customer engagement and rollouts for customers across Europe and Asia Pacific. She is also responsible for implementing processes and structures to enable the smooth rollout and support of our platform at customer sites.

Sam specializes in strategic business planning, sales, marketing strategy planning and execution, business process re-engineering and continuous improvement. Prior to joining Lumachain, she served as Project Advisor at Malone Group, Managing Director at Cutting Edge Services Ltd.

Emma Nelson

Senior Commercial Manager - Meat , Myton Food Group, Morrisons Manufacturing

Emma Nelson

Senior Commercial Manager - Meat , Myton Food Group, Morrisons Manufacturing

With a decade of experience in the dynamic world of meat, Emma has held diverse roles across commercial, agriculture, and operational functions. In her current role, she leads the Morrisons retail division within Myton Food Group, focusing on driving business growth and strengthening market presence across beef, pork, lamb, bacon, sausage, and gammon categories.

Emma is deeply committed to sustainability and responsible sourcing in the meat industry, striving to balance commercial success with a vision for a more sustainable future.

From County Down, Northern Ireland, Emma maintains strong ties to her roots and her family's organic beef farm.