Meet the Team

• Chair Animal Health & Welfare Board for England (AHWBE)
• Fellow of Askham Bryan College, Veterinary Products Committee (VPC) of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD),
• Chair Animal Health & Welfare Pathway Chairs Group
• Member of the GB Ruminant Health & Welfare Steering Group
• Sits on the UK Animal Science Advisory Board (ASAB) Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN),
• Member Industry Cattle Mobility Steering Group
• Member Johnes Disease technical Group
• Member of International Embryo Transfer Society,

Past key industry roles;

• Past-President of the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA),
• GB ‘Cattle Health & Welfare Group (CHAWG),
• GB ‘Sheep Health & Welfare Group’ (SHAWG),
• Veterinary Policy Group (VPG) of the British Veterinary Association (BVA),
• Past Director of the Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS),
• Past-President of the Yorkshire Veterinary Society,
• Past-external examiner Liverpool Veterinary School
• Member of the Nottingham Dairy Innovation Forum,
• Served on the Veterinary Residues committees (VRC) of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD),
• FarmSkills Steering Group

I joined RAFT in 2014 and previously worked for a pharmaceutical contract research organisation where I gained experience of co-ordinating studies and working in a GCP/GLP regulated environment. I have over ten years’ experience in managing projects and portfolios of all shapes and sizes including projects for Innovate UK, levy bodies and pharmaceutical companies. In addition, I have managed industry wide livestock sustainability and disease control programmes; The National Johne’s Management Plan and AHDB’s Pig Health Scheme. I am a Recognised PRINCE2 Practitioner and now manage the RAFT’s experienced Operations Team.

I also sit on the FarmSkills Steering Group, the Askham Bryan College’s Research Committee, and I am an external key opinion leader in the InSHAW project and Director of VetDX, a data facilitation business.

I'm Alister a PRINCE2 Project Manager with a BSc(hons) in Biological Sciences from The University of Leeds. I joined RAFT in Spring 2021, and my portfolio consists of innovation projects in animal welfare, point-of-care diagnostics, PLF technologies and sustainable farming.

I have a passion for my work, as I view climate change as the most crucial issue of our time, and sustainable farming holds a key role in feeding the world’s growing population.

I am an animal, football and music lover, and spend my weekends with my family visiting family farms and going on walks around North Yorkshire.

I joined the RAFT team in 2016 and have a varied and flexible role within the team depending on the changing requirements of the business. One a day-to-day bases my key focus areas are;

• Provision of operational and logistical assistance to the RAFT Chief Executive, this mostly includes support with scheduling, administration, organisation of priorities, collation of information and travel requirements and bookings.
• Provision of administration support to the wider team, moving with the demands of project requirements and ongoing events or training.
• Planning, scheduling, operations and reporting for the SemenRate service. This includes ensuring samples move through the lab in accordance with reporting timescales and collating results into reports.

I enjoy the problem solving and multi-tasking aspects of my role. Outside of work I enjoy running and spending time with my two little ones and husband on days out.

I started with RAFT Solutions in July 2022 as an Office Administrator – general day to day admin, accounts and invoicing. My background is in the Retail sector but wanted a change in direction and the opportunity came from RAFT. I grew up surrounded with agriculture and felt this is a great opportunity for me.

I have a keen interest in baking which I have managed to make into a business – I work on it from home and attend some Artisan markets on a weekend, which takes up a lot of my spare time. I also enjoy a nice dog walk around Ripon and enjoy a good holiday.