Neil Thomas, Richard Gilbert & Robert Gormley Are Appointed To The AVA Board
During an election that saw bumper votes and some of the closest fought votes in AVA history, the AVA is gratified that the efforts to revitalise the AVA are paying dividends already.
PV’s Yvonne Reynolds-Young had a quick word with David Llewellyn as the results came in during the AGM and regional meeting held at Scobie McIntosh’s new showroom just after the official launch .
He seemed delighted that there had been so much interest in the election as many in the past have slipped under the radar. (Hopefully we can take a little bit of the credit!). The appointment of Richard Gilbert in particular was the result of the tightest of all the votes with Dave Ward just missing out. We understand though that everyone who stepped up is being encouraged to get more involved in the association, so the overall winners will inevitably be the members.
PV now introduces you to the newbies… although none of them are new to the industry; they’re all well respected characters who will help carry the changes through.
Neil Thomas, Sales Director at Care Vending, has been appointed as the AVA Operator Representative. He has played a very active role on the board over the last 5 years and will continue to do so, as he gets involved in the key issues that vending faces in the future such as recycling plastics, sugar tax & healthy products.
Neil Thomas said:
‘I am delighted to have won the nomination to be one of the operator members, representing Care Vending. I would especially like to thank all those who voted for me. I intend to represent the best interests of all operator members but also continue taking an active role to ensure the issues that affect our industry are given the maximum exposure at the correct forums’
Richard Gilbert, Managing Director at Excalibur Refreshed Ltd, has been appointed as AVA Machine & Components Representative. He believes that the AVA is key to the success of the industry and wants to support the growth and wants to use his 27 years of expertise in the vending industry to do just that.
Richard said:
‘With members input I’ll be sowing seeds to help the AVA cultivate a new garden’
Robert Gormley, Head of Vending at Nestlé Professional, has been appointed as the AVA Commodities Representative. With over 30 years of experience in the food industry, he understands the importance of having a strong trade association behind an industry, and wants to bring his knowledge and insight of the industry to add even more value to the AVA.
Rob said:
‘I am delighted and honoured to have been elected to the AVA Board, and looking forward to representing the industry over the next two years. Sincere thanks to all those members who awarded me their vote’
David Llewellyn, Chief Executive of the AVA, said:
‘After a record turnout and the greatest level of election involvement in the history of the AVA, I hope this is just one more step in bringing much needed change to the AVA. I would like to thank those who took part and put themselves forward for the election. I hope that all of them will continue to be involved with the AVA in some way, helping us to develop and change as we move forward’.
PV congratulates all the successful candidates and commiserate with those who didn’t quite make it, this time.