We’re a business that's growing fast

Member Council

The Member Council oversees the Board to ensure the business acts in the best interest of its members, the planet and our people, whilst maintaining its co-operative principles. The Council also support communication between our farmers, the Board and Executive, ensuring members’ views are represented. The Member Council consists of seven farmer members and an independent chair.

Sean Rickard

Chairman of Members' Council

Sean Rickard

Chairman of Members' Council

Louise Davies

Farmer Member - Cardigan

Louise Davies

Farmer Member - Cardigan

James Macpherson

Farmer Member - Staffordshire

James Macpherson

Farmer Member - Staffordshire

Peter Rees

Farmer Member - South Wales

Peter Rees

Farmer Member - South Wales

Andrew Smith

Farmer Member - Cumbria

Andrew Smith

Farmer Member - Cumbria

Alan Trainer

Farmer Member -Lanarkshire

Alan Trainer

Farmer Member -Lanarkshire

Mark Lee

Farmer Member - Cumbria

Mark Lee

Farmer Member - Cumbria

Robert Young

Farmer Member - Ayrshire

Robert Young

Farmer Member - Ayrshire

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors is made up of farmer members and industry experts who together are well placed to oversee the governance of the business. The strategy is set by our experienced executive leadership team, who run the business day-to-day. All our members have the opportunity to become a Council Member and to stand for election to the Board.

Chris Thomas

Chairman

Chris Thomas

Chairman

Chris Thomas became First Milk chairman on August 1, 2018.

Chris has a strong track record of successful leadership in the food and dairy sectors, having held senior executive and non-executive positions across a range of businesses including Tulip UK, Adelie Foods, Bakkavor, St. Ivel, PepsiCo and Mars. He is currently non-executive Chairman of G’s Convenience Foods and Street Eats Food Ltd and a non-executive director of Espersen.

Shelagh Hancock

Chief Executive

Shelagh Hancock

Chief Executive

Shelagh has more than 30 years' experience in the food and agricultural supply sectors.

Prior to joining First Milk as CEO in 2017 she held several senior executive positions in UK dairy food companies including at the farmer-owned co-operative Milk Link and Glanbia Foods and in a family-owned business, Medina Dairy. She originally trained as an animal nutritionist and worked for more than 10 years in the agricultural supply sector.

Greg Jardine

Chief Financial Officer

Greg Jardine

Chief Financial Officer

Greg joined First Milk in 2010 and held several senior management and executive roles in finance and commercial before being appointed as chief financial officer and joining the board in September 2017.

Greg has many years dairy experience. Prior to First Milk he was with Lactalis McLelland as Industrial Finance Director.

Mike Smith

Vice Chairman and Farmer Director

Mike Smith

Vice Chairman and Farmer Director

Mike farms in partnership with his brother Peter at Pelcomb Farm near Haverfordwest. The 650-acre farm runs a 450-cow autumn block calving herd.

Mike has previously Chaired the Welsh Assembly Dairy Strategy Group and been a member of its Dairy Task Force.

Scott Calderwood

Farmer Director

Scott Calderwood

Farmer Director

Scott farms in partnership with his brother Matthew at Home Farm on the Rosneath Peninsula. The 800-acre farm runs a 360-cow Holstein herd.

Scott served the maximum three terms of office on the First Milk Member Council, covering areas in Scotland and Wales. He is also an assessor for NFU Mutual.

Frank Colhoun

Non-Executive Director

Frank Colhoun

Non-Executive Director

Frank is an experienced finance professional having held Chief Financial Officer roles in multinational manufacturing and industrial businesses including Lafarge, Honeywell and Novar Plc. He is now the Chief Financial Officer of family-run property development and investment business, Surplus Property Solutions.

Michael Fletcher

Non-Executive Director

Michael Fletcher

Non-Executive Director

In addition to his Non-Exec role at First Milk, Michael is Chief Executive at NISA. Before this he was Chief Commercial Officer at Co-op Food.

Prior to joining the Co-op, he worked at Tesco in a number of senior director-level commercial roles, both in the UK, Europe and Asia.

More sections

Who we are

We’re a co-operative owned by the farmers who supply us

What we do

Making dairy a force for good

How we do business

Our vision is to enrich life every day to secure the future

Our farms

We are proud to be a farmer-owned co-operative

Our creameries

We have three well-invested, efficient dairy processing sites

Our products

Award-winning cheese, specialist chilled dairy products, whey and dairy ingredients

Our partners

Working with leaders in the dairy and food sector

B Corp

We are proud to be a Certified B Corp