Anita Brown has taken up the position of national vice chair and will be working closely with Brad over the next 12 months with Judith Gregory announced as the new national vice chair elect of LACA.
Commenting on his appointment Brad said: “I have the honour of taking over as chair of LACA for the coming year and I want firstly to pay tribute to, and thank, Jacquie Blake for her year as chair and all that she achieved during her tenure as we continued to move on from the pandemic and begin the return to more normal times.
“It’s been a tricky 12 months to navigate and support the membership and schools back to full service, with the added pressures of the unprecedented rise in prices and utilities and the cost of living crisis continuing to unfold. I welcome Jacquie to the role of immediate past chair for LACA and welcome her support and advice over the coming months.”
In his day-to-day job Brad is the managing director of CATERed in Plymouth which is a school food cooperative owned by 60-plus schools and the council. CATERed are ‘passionate’ about providing the high quality, great tasting and appetising school food to young people across Plymouth.
Brad has been a member of LACA since the early 1990s and he said he was ‘honored and delighted’ to be the new chair of LACA.
Brad said: “The coming year will continue to bring us challenges and at the forefront of these will be the ongoing cost of living crisis, inflation and utilities costs which, in very real terms, puts the continued delivery of the high quality, freshly prepared school food services under very real pressure. There will be providers who will be vulnerable across the public sector.
“My commitment as chair is that LACA will be to continue championing the great work you do and the matchless service that is provided in schools across the country each and every day of the school year. We will seek your views as members to support calls for increased funding and challenge government and the DfE to support the industry and meet the needs of children and young people in our schools and academies.”