Executive Team

Backgroud

Nicola joined WineGB in October 2023, from the Portman Group, the alcohol social responsibility and marketing regulator of the UK. Nicola has extensive senior leadership experience, including as a Board member – from across politics, commercial consultancy, charity, and membership bodies – and during her career has also worked in recruitment and communications positions.

Nicola is an advisor to Only a Pavement Away, a charity that connects the hospitality sector with employees who have been homeless, former service personnel, or prisoners. She has also founded a number of support networks, most recently being the Chair of the Women in Trade Associations Powerlist with the Federation of Small Businesses, Confederation of British Industry and the Trade Association Forum.

Nicola’s work

• Manages the Executive Team
• Works with the membership to understand their requirements, and has developed the three-year strategy to ensure that services are provided that deliver for the needs of all.
• Represents the collective sector needs to the industry, media and political audiences.

Background

Career started in corporate travel in Australia before moving into Commercial Aviation managing a multi-million-pound portfolio of airline seats. Sought a creative outlet whilst maximising on complex negotiation and problem-solving skills, she then moved to an event agency delivering events for corporate clients, e.g. Vodafone, Volkswagen UK, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and others. During COVID, Angelina worked for an agency providing real-time speech-to-text subtitles for clients such as Unilever, Barclays, the British Library and the FSA. This role was pivotal in developing both technical skills for hybrid and online events, and a deeper understanding of the importance of accessible event delivery. Joined WineGB in March 2022. 

Angelina’s work

Commercially and creatively driven to deliver inclusive and impactful events and activations which showcase our category at home and abroad. 

Background

Emma is a passionate advocate for sustainability and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), bringing extensive experience from her degree in Anthropology and work across diverse industries including coworking spaces, research organisations, security, and technology.  

Her ability to engage effectively with individuals at all levels of interest and expertise in sustainability sets her apart as a leader in her field. 

With a strong background in certification and auditing, Emma has worked with respected frameworks such as B Corp, WELL, and ISO standards. Her creativity and deep commitment to the well-being of both people and the planet drive her professional endeavours.  

Emma’s work

• Emma leads on sustainability initiatives, managing the Sustainable Wine of Great Britain (SWGB) certification scheme. 

• Oversees and supports the sustainability council and working groups: including sustainable viticulture, sustainable winemaking, and sustainable people.  

• Responsible for SWGB member benefits and content, such as sustainability related webinars and newsletters. 

• Ensures that WineGB members have access to essential resources and guidance on sustainability for both people and the planet via toolkits.  

• Branding and social media

background

Gillian has an extensive background in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceuticals, microbiology, regulatory compliance, production operations, quality assurance, clinical development and global pharmacovigilance, for large blue chip companies and small early stage clinical development startups. Educated in Biochemistry, Microbiology, Industrial Pharmaceutical Studies and was a ‘Qualified Person’ and chaired the Qualified Person assessor panel to authorise candidates to assess and release medicines to the market. 

Gillian decided to study Viticulture and Oenology at Plumpton College and subsequently have been working with some small/boutique vineyards. Her scientific background, diverse roles, resourcefulness and affinity for wine positioned her ideally for the role of Knowledge Manager at WineGB. ‘No query is too big or too small!’ 

Gillian’s work

• Provide information and assistance to individuals or groups  

• Knowledge hub custodian, organise and provide up to date information and guidance 

• Organise and deliver the webinar programme 

• Working Group member and provide secretariat services for Education & Training, Production Operations, Tourism, Technical Winemaking, Viticulture. 

Kez works alongside Events & Export Manager, Angelina Howe, to develop WineGB’s events and activations programme across the UK and overseas. 

Kez recently graduated from university with a Music Performance and Business Degree. During this time, she ran various music-related charity events and projects.

Kirsty joined WineGB in March 2026, from the Co-op, where she held senior roles across the marketing, PR and communication teams within its portfolio of businesses, for the last 11 years. This included overseeing the national press office, shaping compelling brand stories, leading high‑impact media relations, and delivering integrated campaigns that resonated across trade and consumer audiences. During her time at Co-op, she was also responsible for leading the PR and profile strategy for the wine category, elevating its visibility and driving sales through strategic media relations.

With a career rooted in purposeful communication, Kirsty is experienced in shaping narratives, reputation management, and supporting senior leaders through thoughtful profiling and strategic communications and is committed in ensuring the momentum behind English and Welsh wines translates into real commercial benefit for our members.

Her proudest achievement is winning a Grocer Gold award for the co-ideation, development and execution of the Co-op’s COP-26 campaign, which engaged customers on the issue of sustainability and encouraged everyone to reduce their carbon emissions at a grassroots level.

background

Sophie has been an administrator for 27 years working in different industries. She started by working for a telecoms company in Manchester for 10 years, working her way up to being part of the complaints department, which, as you can image was very busy.  She returned to her home land of Leicestershire where she progressed her finance skills working for a Bespoke Furniture company, again for another 10 years. Sophie moved on from that role after having her children and the day came when a job agent called Sophie to ask, ‘Do you like Wine?’ a position had opened at WineGB and the rest is history. 

sophie’s work

• First contact for members enquiries 

• Maintaining the Membership Records and dealing with all aspects of membership administration 

• Follow up with new members to ensure accessing all member services 

Background

Worked for alcohol beverages trade associations between 2019 and 2024.  First for Drinks Ireland (the Irish and UK association representing Irish spirits and Irish whiskey) at the national (Ireland and the UK), European and International (USA) levels.  Subsequently worked for SpiritsEurope which represents the European (including the UK) spirits sector in the EU.  

Vincent’s work

Focuses on public policy, regulation, political and wider stakeholder engagement for WineGB 

Background

Anne is an experienced and influential wine sustainability professional. She has an extensive network of contributing associates in both the wine and sustainability sectors, bringing commitment and credibility as well as strong communication skills.

Her two main roles are as a Director of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation and Sustainability Ambassador and Advisor for WineGB (advising all UK producers and making improvement recommendations for the SWGB certification scheme). She is also a sustainability expert to the OIV on behalf of DEFRA, and is on the BRC and MONDRA Carbon Removals Task Force. With clients she manages carbon impact reduction strategies (both emissions and removals) and Net Zero transition plans.

She works with UK producers and also retailers and distributors on sustainability strategy, materiality assessments and carbon reporting, including regenerative viticulture practices, emissions reduction pilots and natural capital assessments. She also consults to the Sustainability in Drinks conference (with focus areas on Land Health, Carbon Management, Sustainable Society and Packaging).

Clients include Waitrose, The Wine Society, Chapel Down, Gusbourne, Rathfinny, Weyborne Estate and more broadly as a writer, speaker and judge (Decanter, IWSC, IWC, London Wine Fair etc). After two decades at the forefront of UK wine retail
with Waitrose, she has recently set up a retail sustainability collective under the auspices of the Sustainable Wine Roundtable (of which she was a founding Trustee). She is a strong believer in collaborative action and communication, demonstrating an ability to distil complex and emotive topics into pragmatic and practical strategic plans.

Anne’s work

Background

Nicola has worked in the wine industry for 28 years, launching her own PR consultancy in 2012. She has extensive experience of working with retailers, producers, importers and generic bodies and her current portfolio includes international clients and English producers.  She has worked with brands from inception, to launch and success beyond, understanding the challenges experienced along the way.

Nicola is particularly passionate about the growth of the UK wine sector and the journey it is currently undertaking, its potential for further growth and increased presence in the national and international psyche.

Nicola is a confident communicator, a collaborative team player and a clear critical thinker with strong organisation skills and attention to detail.  She is highly regarded by media contacts for her knowledge and professionalism and has a strong track record of delivering tangible results for her clients.  

Nicola’s work

Background

Rebecca Pitcairn has 20 years’ experience as a journalist and editor and is the host of The English Wine Diaries podcast, an interview series that delves into the lives of people in the world of UK wine. A specialist in English and Welsh wine, Rebecca’s written work has appeared in regional and national publications including the Great British Life magazine series, Sainsbury’s magazine, Delicious. British Travel Journal, Academie du Vin Library, Harpers, Drinks Retailing and Club Oenologique. In 2025, she was named in Drinks Retailing’s Top 100 Most Influential in Drinks and was the winner of the specialist category at the Freelance Journalism Awards for her work championing UK wine. 

Rebecca’s work

Background

Richard spent about 25 years in the IT and Telecoms industries as a developer, project manager, programme manager and consultant prior to escaping the corporate treadmill to move to Devon with his wife where they started their own vineyard and winery. 

Over 14 years they established the vineyard and made both still and sparkling wines carrying out all stages of production ourselves on site, and eventually also providing contract winemaking services to a number of other local vineyards. 

Richard first got involved with WineGB’s technology in around 2016, helping to manage the development of the first iteration of the then newly merged organisation’s website. 

Richard’s work

• Technical support and development of  the membership management system and the PDO/PGI application system. 

• Technical support for the members forum. 

• Administration of the PDO and PGI wine schemes.