James Lambert – Non-executive Chairman
James was appointed Chairman in October 2005 having been a non-executive director since 2003. He started at Richmond Foods in
1998 leading a series of acquisitions to make Richmond the largest ice cream manufacturer by volume in the UK. He has a strong record of
making money for shareholders; Richmond exited the stock market in April 2006 when it was bought by Oaktree Capital for £176 million and
merged with Roncadin. James is now running the enlarged group which is one of the largest in Europe.
Iain Menneer – Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Animalcare Limited
Iain has a PhD in chemistry and worked in the brewing industry for 6 years in research at an independent brewing consultancy and then in new product and technical development roles at Bass Brewers. He spent 2 years at the University of York working with academics to commercialise their research via licensing or spin-out companies.
He joined Animalcare Ltd in December 2003, and has worked in marketing and business development roles, notably working on the new product development pipeline. Iain was appointed Head of Marketing in July 2009 then Director of Marketing from June 2011, being promoted to the Board in July 2011. Iain was appointed Managing Director of Animalcare Limited in March 2012 and subsequently Chief Executive Officer in January 2013.
Nick Downshire – Non-executive Director
Nick Downshire has been a non-executive director of Animalcare Group since 1998. He trained as a Chartered Accountant with Touche
Ross before transferring to the corporate finance department where he worked for three years on acquisitions, flotations and new ventures.
Following this he worked for 13 years at Scheduling Technology Group Limited, a venture capital backed international software company,
becoming Finance Director up until the sale of the business in 2001. He currently manages an estate in Yorkshire and also holds non-executive directorships of a hotel business, an RFID company, a Lloyd’s underwriting company and Farmway, an agriculture products supplier.
Stephen Wildridge – Director of Strategy and Business Development
Stephen spent 16 years with Rhone-Poulenc (now Sanofi-Aventis) in a variety of Sales, Marketing, Strategic Planning and General Management roles encompassing agro-chemicals, animal health and animal nutrition. Subsequently, he spent five years with Monsanto as General Manager of Operations for Northern Europe.
He was appointed Managing Director of Animalcare in April 2003, and has developed the strategic plan and the new product development programme for the business. Stephen was then appointed Group Chief Executive Officer on 1st April 2010. He sat on the board of the National Office for Animal Health (NOAH) between 2007 and 2010. He stepped down as CEO of Animalcare Group in January 2013 when he took up his role as director of Strategy and Business Development.
Chris Brewster – Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary
Chris was appointed Chief Financial Officer on 1 June 2012. Chris joined Animalcare from Findus Group where he has worked
since 2010 as Group Accounting Manager. In this role, Chris' responsibilities included the consolidation and preparation of the
management accounts across the business units within the UK and Europe. Prior to joining Findus, Chris was a Senior Manager at KPMG
within the Leeds audit practice. Chris qualified as an Associate Chartered Accountant in 2003 and holds a chemistry degree from the
University of Sheffield.
Ray Harding – Non-executive Director
Ray Harding, aged 61, was until 2010 owner Managing Director of Cyton Bioscience Ltd., a multi-service consultancy for both animal
health and pharmaceutical industries. Ray remains a Consultant for Cyton advising and providing training on new product development
and registration in Europe.
Ray has been both Chairman of the Association of Veterinarians in Industry and President of the Federation of European Veterinarians
in Industry and Research. In addition, Ray is a member of the Institute of Directors and is a Fellow of The Organisation for Professionals
in Regulatory Affairs.
Earlier in his career, Ray has held positions at Glaxo Animal Health in the United Kingdom and Rhône Mérieux in France. He is a
qualified veterinarian having completed his Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and been admitted into the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.