Meet the Food Strategy Associates Team

Robert Lawson

Joined
Robert Lawson co-founded Food Strategy Associates in 2012

Expertise
He is an expert in M&A, having led many transactions across the world. He also specialises in business strategy and plant-based foods.

Prior experience
Before founding Food Strategy Associates, Robert was Strategy Director of United Biscuits, Kraft Foods International and Premier Foods. In addition, he was Managing Director of Quorn and led the integration of RHM and Premier Foods – the largest industrial restructuring in the food industry in the UK. He began his career in management consulting working for Arthur D Little.

Education
Robert has an MBA from INSEAD and graduated from Oxford University.

Will Carter

Joined
Will Carter co-founded Food Strategy Associates in 2012

Expertise
Will is highly experienced in commercial and general management across the food and snacking industry

Prior experience
Will has run some of the UK’s leading grocery and snacking businesses as Managing Director of United Biscuits UK, KP Snacks, Premier Foods Grocery and as CEO of Whitworths. He was previously Marketing Director of KP Snacks, McVitie’s and Terry’s Confectionery.

Education
Will is a graduate of Oxford University.

Ian Coulter

Joined
Ian Coulter joined Food Strategy Associates in 2014

Expertise
Ian is a beverage industry, packaging and eCommerce expert. He has developed store audit methods for market modelling of detailed packaging features.

Prior experience
Ian spent over 12 years working in the soft drinks sector at the Coca-Cola Company and Coca Cola Enterprises. He spent 5 years as a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group where he focused on Consumer Goods

Education
Ian has an MBA from INSEAD and an MA from Cambridge

Annabella Scannone

Joined
Annabella joined FSA in 2021.

Expertise
Annabella is experienced in confectionery, seafood, as well as logistics, retail, and business services and has completed numerous VDD, growth strategy, product portfolio restructuring, and supply chain optimisation projects.

Prior experience
Prior to joining Food Strategy Associates, Annabella worked for LEK Consulting, VIP Capital (Investment Banking), and Adv+ Management Consulting.

Education
Annabella holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Simon Bolivar University.

Jay Mehta

Joined
Jay Mehta joined Food Strategy Associates in 2021

Expertise
Jay has strong experience in industry research as well as developing go-to-market (GTM) strategies.

Prior experience
Prior to joining Food Strategy Associates, Jay has worked in the plant-based food industry as the lead commercial planning analyst at VBites Foods, with a focus on pricing, portfolio optimization and international growth strategy. He was previously a strategy consultant with EY-Parthenon & Discovery Education.

Education
Jay holds a dual-MSc in Corporate Finance & Financial Economics from EDHEC Business School in France and graduated with honours from St. Xavier’s College in India.

Stuart Wilson

Joined
Stuart Wilson joined Food Strategy Associates as an Associate Partner in 2016 and became a Partner in 2018.

Expertise
Stuart is a specialist in consumer marketing and customer strategy, with first-hand experience in private equity transactions and matrix organisations in global corporates.

Prior experience
Prior to joining Food Strategy Associates Stuart worked for almost 30 years for some of the world’s favourite food brands in senior marketing roles including Chief Marketing Officer at Burton’s Biscuits and senior roles at Cadbury, Kraft Foods International (Mondelez) and Premier Foods.

Education
Stuart has an MBA with Distinction from the University of Warwick and a BA from the University of Manchester.

Sophie Young

Joined
Sophie Young joined Food Strategy Associates in 2019

Expertise
Sophie has extensive experience in food due diligence and strategy projects in UK and European markets, with strengths in Plant-based Foods and supply chain analysis.

Prior experience
Prior to joining Food Strategy Associates, Sophie worked at The Sports Consultancy as an Analyst with a focus on feasibility studies and business planning for major events and venues.

Education
Sophie graduated from the University of Exeter with a BSc in Economics with Geography

Ian Weston

Joined
Ian Weston joined Food Strategy Associates in 2016

Expertise
Ian is expert in competitive strategy, commercial due diligence and plant-based foods.

Prior experience
Ian spent 5 years as Senior Vice President Special Projects with Dow Jones in New York, and led Corporate Development, Sales, and Operations departments at News International in London. Ian spent 7 years at Boston Consulting Group.

Education
Ian has an MBA from INSEAD and an MA from Oxford University

Nigel Devine

Joined
Nigel Devine joined Food Strategy Associates as an Associate in 2014 and became a Partner in 2019.

Expertise
He is an expert in Operational due diligence and manufacturing strategy.

Prior experience
Nigel has a background in factory and supply chain operations management with Northern Foods, Geest & Premier Foods (Grocery, Quorn & Hovis). He is an experienced leader of supply chain operations and business transformation change programmes with Unilever, Greene King, Hain Daniels, and 2 Sisters and Premier Foods

Education
Nigel has a diploma in Management Studies

Steve Gladwell

Joined
Steve Gladwell joined Food Strategy Associates in 2017

Expertise
Steve is our expert in consumer insights and snacking markets.

Prior experience
Steve’s prior experience includes more than 27 years at United Biscuits and pladis in a range of roles focused on Global strategy development, consumer & market insight and intelligence, including main board directorships.

Education
Steve has a BSc Hons in Business Economics & Economics from Southampton University.

Harry Turner

Joined
Harry Turner joined Food Strategy Associates in 2020.

Expertise
Harry has strong experience in commercial and operational due diligence, both sell and buy-side, across numerous categories. In addition, he has worked on business strategy and acquisition strategy projects. He has expertise in market analysis, company research & profiling, and capacity modeling.

Prior experience
Prior to joining Food Strategy Associates, Harry gained experience in the insurance industry as a Market Insight & Strategy Analyst, focused on increasing profitability across multiple business lines.

Education
Harry holds a First Class BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Bath.

Peter Gutierrez

Joined
Peter Gutierrez joined Food Strategy Associates in 2021.

Expertise
Peter is an expert in Marketing and International Expansion, across the beverage and snacking industry.

Prior experience
Peter is vastly experienced in leadership positions at blue-chip food and drink businesses across Europe, Asia and South America. He was Marketing Director for Pepsico’s snacking and cereals business and Diageo Venezuela, and Managing Director for Jose Cuervo.

Education
Peter hold an MA from Oxford University in Modern Languages, and an MBA from Harvard.

Allan Slimming

Joined
Allan Slimming joined Food Strategy Associates in 2014, advising on North American market entry strategy and due diligence of North American subsidiaries.

Expertise
He is a specialist in launching new brands in North America with expertise in sales and marketing and early stage distribution

Prior experience

Allan began his career in Sales and Marketing for United Biscuits and subsequently worked for a number of confectionery businesses leading the development of their North American operations from early stage, including Chupa Chups, Divine Chocolate and Burtons Biscuits

Education
Allan holds a BA in Economics from the University of Reading