Management Team
Tessa Kelly - Commercial Director
Tessa is Commercial Director of BRC Trading – the commercial arm of the British Retail Consortium the trade body that represents the vast majority of UK retailers. She joined the BRC in 2006 as Director of Business Administration and was appointed Commercial Director in 2008.
Prior to joining the BRC Tessa managed the high profile and well regarded consumer protection services, the Telephone and Mailing Preference Services for the Direct Marketing Association.
Her broad based experience of working with trade associations and commercial companies means Tessa brings a set of unique skills to her current role. Her early career was spent gaining comprehensive marketing and operational experience in domestic and international business to business markets . She has an MBA from the Open University and a degree from Sussex University.
Dr Geoff Spriegel - Director of Global Standards and Technical Services
After gaining a PhD in Biochemistry from Barts Medical School, Geoff entered the food industry with Unigate/St Ivel where he worked in a variety of technical roles initially in laboratory based microbiology , factory site based technical management, and ultimately as Group Technical Manager for St Ivel Creameries. He then joined Grand Metropolitan (now Diageo), as Director of Quality Assurance responsible for 9 regional breweries, and after the acquisition by Grand Metropolitan of Pilsbury was transferred to the food division to oversee food safety across the 30 food sites in Europe. In 1990 Geoff joined J Sainsbury's as Technical Director with responsibility for the safety and quality of their entire own label range. In 2004 he started his own consultancy offering support to the industry on all aspects of food safety and quality. In this capacity he has undertaken work for producers, certification bodies, The Food Standards Agency, and organisations such as Royal Socirty for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Ethical Trading Initiative. Geoff is a former member of the UK Government Advisory Committee on Safety of Food and former Chair of the UK Institute of Food Research Governing Body.
Geoff is the head of the Technical Team and ensures that through the co-ordination of the team and their resources, the Standards are developed to meet the needs of the market, their integrity is maintained and their global development is facilitated.
