Shortlist announced for Meat Business Women One to Watch award 2022

Seven brilliant young women from leading UK & Ireland meat organisations have been shortlisted for this year’s ‘One to Watch’ award, Meat Business Women’s annual prize for emerging female talent in the meat industry.

The finalists was decided upon through a rigorous judging process. The process assessed their professional impact, creativity, innovation, industry knowledge and future vision for the meat industry.

In keeping with Meat Business Women’s mission to inspire the next generation of female talent, candidates were also evaluated on their interpersonal skills, commitment to mentoring and ability to inspire others.

The shortlisted finalists are:

Josie Topham, NPD manager, Cranswick plc
Ieva Gece, HR advisor, Cranswick plc
Aoife Ryan, lamb supply chain manager, Kepak
Samantha Carmichael, national veterinary key account manager – swine, MSD Animal Health
Sophie Tattersall, technical services, food safety specialist, Morrisons
Olivia Nicholson, agricultural manager for pork, eggs & game, Marks and Spencer
Rebecca Gilligan, head of project management, ABP Ireland

All seven finalists will now be interviewed by a panel of experts, with the winner to be announced at the Meat Business Women award dinner on 6 October 2022.

The independent judges for this year’s awards are: Margaret Boanas, chair of the International Meat Trade Association; Ranjit Singh Boparan, founder of 2 Sisters Food Group; Lucianne Allen, director at Aubrey Allen and Lisa Hand, Food for Thought account director.

Judge Margaret Boanas said “After four years of judging the One to Watch award, I am delighted and inspired to continue to meet candidates of such a high calibre, who have a passion and commitment to our Industry and want to make a difference.”

Membership marketing manager Rebecca Fearon says: “The judges were so impressed by the candidates and we got great representation from across the supply chain. The seven finalists are a total credit to their organisations and should be extremely proud to be chosen from a list of very high quality applicants.”

The winner will receive a personal development prize of their choice worth £4,000. Meat Business Women is grateful to Interfood for sponsoring this year’s prize.

Launched in 2018, ‘One to Watch’ is an annual prize organised by Meat Business Women and awarded to a female aged 35 or under working in the meat industry in the UK and Ireland. 2022 will mark the fourth time the prize has been awarded.