The Grocer Gold Awards 2021: The Grocer Cup

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Winner: Chris Tyas

Chris Tyas – like all those on the supply chain side – has never courted publicity, let alone hogged the limelight. He’s a behind the scenes man.

But as head of the Food Resilience Industry Forum since the outbreak of the pandemic, he’s performed an extraordinary role, in extraordinary circumstances.

His calm, firm, well-prepared and focused organisation of those daily meetings in the early stages of the pandemic were absolutely critical to the industry’s coordinated and hugely effective response.

And he’s continued to play a vital role through the second and third lockdown, through the Brexit transition, and of course, the more recent emergency FRIF meetings.

Selected by ex-Coop boss and crisis expert Richard Pennycook as the ideal man to lead the industry’s response, Tyas was able to call on years of experience of crisis management across the globe, employing “the classic McKinsey playbook”.

That included the commitment of “the most senior resources” including the captains of the industry, as well as trade industry associations and senior government figures across all the devolved nations.

But as a diehard supply chain expert he reserves particular praise for the actions of fellow supply chain experts, including Andrew Woolfended, Martin Ford, John Pinder, Ursula Lavery, Louise Lee, Andy Perry and David Hicks. Enough said.