Meet The Team

Rob Ward

CEO

Rob has a proven track record in creating, scaling and exiting Agriculture, Food and Technology businesses. Rob is interim CEO for It’s Fresh Ltd, appointed by the Praesidium VC who recently invested in this business. He is building on the past successes of It’s Fresh and leading the business forward to its next stage of rapid growth.

Full bio

Rob was originally a farmer that specialised in growing soft fruit for the national UK Supermarkets, he went on to have multiple businesses ranging from Food CPG, FoodTech and AgTech. Internationally recognised as a leader in the development of next-generation of innovations in the food sector, sustainably and profitably transforming the future of farming and the food industry, from farm to plate.
Previously, Rob co-founded the world’s first CPG Seed investment Accelerator for the food industry.

Exiting this business in 2019 he created ForwardFood.Tech, this business uses his experience in working with early-stage agriculture and food technology applications, where he ensures that businesses that are part of ForwardFood.Tech, fully developed their commercial and technical proposition and are optimised for their next investment round.

Additionally, with this role as CEO, he also supports the UK Government Department of International Trade (DiT) with their Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) where he develops early-stage, international AgriFoodTech businesses. This adds to Rob’s significant network of key international influencers, he is often asked as a keynote speaker on issues for the AgTech and FoodTech industry.

Alasdair MacKay

COO

Alasdair has spent ten years delivering innovative technologies to extend the quality of fresh produce. Before joining It’s Fresh! he worked at AXA UK, latterly as Finance Director of Bluefin Wealth Management, and prior to this was Vice President of Finance at a 600-employee, 10-country, software consulting firm.

Full bio

He holds an MA in Mathematics from Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Justin Creasy

Technical Sales Director

Justin is an accomplished industry professional, has over 25 years of experience in the fresh produce industry supplying all UK retailers, 20 years of which as a Technical Director.

Full bio

Before joining Its Fresh in 2018 Justin worked at Wealmoor and Barfoots of Botley as Technical Director. His professional experience includes everything from direct growing to establishment of supply chains, food quality and packaging, food safety, sales growth, innovation and driving the business forward in a sustainable and fair way.

Justin received an Honours Degree in Agriculture at Wye College, completed a 2 year Post Graduate training in MDS. He is BASIS and FACTS qualified.

Jon Barfoot

Global Head of Sales

Jon joined the team in 2022 and brings 20 years of international food and fresh produce industry commercial leadership. Classically trained in retail category management, he also has experience of start-up food brands, both as a consultant for Unilever and with his own plant-based ventures.

Full bio

Jon recently joined the team as Global Head of Sales in May and brings 20 years of international food and fresh produce industry commercial leadership. Classically trained in retail category management and with experience of start-up food brands, as both a consultant for Unilever and with his own plant-based ventures; Jon is excited to join the team at It’s Fresh this at this exciting stage of rapid growth.

Adam Edkins

Operations Director

Adam has been with It’s Fresh! for over 11 years, starting as Technical Manager and progressing to his current position. He holds a wealth of knowledge on packaging materials, coating and printing processes, as well as an in depth understanding of FCM legislation. His background and experience have been invaluable in the development of our old and new technologies and their deployment in marketable delivery systems.

Full bio

Prior to Joining It’s Fresh Adam was Group Quality Manager for an FMCG Packaging company. His responsibilities included managing teams both in the UK and Asia, Auditing facilities around the world, overseeing all UK laboratory activities and managing relationships with key suppliers and customers. During his employment he gained a vast knowledge of plastics, packaging, paper and board, fabrics, recycled PET applications, manufacturing processes as well as ensuring compliance to numerous standards (BS, EN, ISO, CEN, ASTM), directives and regulations (batteries, packaging waste, WEEE, RoHS).

Adam is the treasurer for a community group “Tamworth and District Round Table”, soon to be a registered charity where he will hold the title of Chair of Trustees. He gives up a large proportion of his free time to support charitable work as well as organising local fundraising events, each year raising thousands of pounds for his local community.

Investor Directors

Graham Ellis

Praesidium VC Partner and Member of the Agri-FoodTech Investment Committee

Graham is an internationally experienced manager who spent the majority of his career driving the commercialisation of new technologies and products specifically in the areas of human nutrition, animal feed ingredients,

Full bio

aquaculture, renewable fuels and chemicals CEO and Board Member of Ocean Harvest Technology Limited, the leader in the provision of macro-algae blends for the animal and human nutrition industries.
He is an Advisor of GF Biochemicals, an Ag-Tech company commercializing new process bio-based chemicals, and Advisor and Board Member of Arborea, a novel food ingredient production platform company.
Graham held various positions at TerraVia (Formerly Solazyme Inc.), a developer of novel algal fermentation technologies addressing several areas, including human and animal nutrition. He led the commercialization of these technologies and entered into important strategic partnerships with multinationals, predominantly in the agro, food and chemical sectors.
He was also previously Global Business Director, Senior Accountant and Product Manager of UOP/Honeywell Renewables, a global leader of Process Technology

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA with High Honors from Chicago Booth

Adam Anders

Managing Partner of Anterra Capital

Adam is the Managing Partner of Anterra Capital, an independent growth capital fund that invests in fast-growing companies, that transforms the way we produce, move and consume food.

Full bio

Anterra was founded in 2013 from a spin-out of Rabobank’s proprietary venture capital fund, Rabo Ventures. The fund is backed by Rabobank, a global leader in food & agriculture financing; and Eight Roads, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity International.

Adam has over 15 years in private equity and venture capital experience. Earlier in his career, Adam worked as a management consultant with     Bain & Co. Adam grew up in rural South Australia where his interest in food and agriculture innovation was initiated. Adam holds an MBA degree from Cambridge University, England and a Bachelors Degree in Law and a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from the University of Adelaide, Australia.