Meet The Founder

I've worked in hospitality since 1999, mostly running hotels and conference centres in the East Midlands. The last few years, I've been working on something different. I'm founding AO Hospitality, a charity supporting 16–25 year old future hospitality professionals and food and drink entrepreneurs. The idea is simple:  we need to build healthier operators from the start and let them reshape it as they grow into leadership. Alongside the charity, I'm publishing the thinking that sits behind it — fair pay structures based on actual responsibility, sustainable business models for 2026 economics, and what hospitality looks like when it's designed for the people doing the work. My day-to-day combines one day a week as HR Manager and non-executive advisor at Cocoa Amore in Leicester, sessional lecturing at Loughborough College, Springboard ambassadorship, and mentoring.