Executive team

Our executive team set the strategic direction for the Institute:

Professor Steve Banwart, Director, Global Food and Environment Institute

Dr Stefan Kepinski, Associate Director for Agriculture and Environment

Professor Caroline Orfila, Associate Director for Urban Food Consumption and Health

Professor Fiona Smith, Associate Director for AgriFood Supply Chains

Dr Stephen Whitfield, Associate Director for Food in the Global South

Professor Lisa Collins, Academic Director of Smart Agri-Systems

Support team

The GFEI support team manage the Institute’s operations:

Dr Sarah Dennis, Institute Manager

Victoria Samir, Institute Support and Communications Officer

Penny Andrews, Administrator and PA to Professor Steve Banwart

External Advisory Board 

Sue Davies, Head of Consumer Protection and Food Policy, Which?

Richard Heathcote, Independent Food Industry Consultant, R&J Sustainability Consulting Ltd

Emma Hennessey, Deputy Head of US, Canada and Caribbean Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

James Hopwood, UK Agriculture Manager, Nomad Foods / Birds Eye UK 

Jonathan Horrell, Director, Global Sustainability, Mondelēz International 

Jemma Hynes, CEO & Technical Director, FoodSync 

Sithembile (Thembi) Mwamakamba, Programmes Manager: FANRPAN’s climate smart agriculture policy research and advocacy projects

To contact the GFEI please email globalfood@leeds.ac.uk or phone +44 (0)113 343 7996.