You are warmly invited to the Pocklington School Foundation (PSF) Careers & Business Network event, due to be held at Pocklington School at 5.00pm on Tuesday 24 October.  The focus for the event is working in the food industry, with our speakers who will talk about account management, marketing, relationship building, supply and sales. This is a great opportunity to network with other members of the Pocklington School community as well as to hear from our two guest speakers.  

Charlotte Atkinson (OP 97-08) completed her AgriBusiness Management degree at Newcastle University before entering the Management Development Services graduate scheme. During the scheme she completed six-month placements across a variety of fresh produce companies, within different departments, including an operations role at QV Foods (Spalding), a technical role at North Bank Growers (Middlesborough), a project management role at Protolan (Derby) and a commercial role at RS Cockerill’s (York). Having completed the graduate scheme, gaining a post graduate certificate in Food and Fresh Produce Management, Charlotte accepted a permanent role at RS Cockerill’s as a Business Account Manager, with responsibility for all the wholesale accounts and a minor retail account. In 2017, Charlotte moved to Greencore, and within her six years at the company, was Business Account Manager across multiple retailers, including Waitrose, Asda, Co-op, Morrisons and Tesco, within several product categories, both ambient and fresh.  In July 2023, Charlotte moved to Cranswick to take on the role of Iceland National Account Manager, for the sliced cooked meats category, with a sales turnover of over £30 million.

Emily Boddy (OP 06-17) studied English Literature Combined with Media Studies, thinking that she would travel before working in publishing.  However, graduating during the Covid pandemic ensured a change of plans! After being headhunted via LinkedIn, Emily joined Just Eat as a Sales Executive, before studying for a Nutritional Diploma. Following this, she joined Nestlé in a planning role, ensuring that stock was accounted for across multiple accounts, working closely with the internal team with Morrisons, Waitrose, John Lewis and SPAR. This led to a field sales role, before her current job as a Customer Category Manager.  Emily is focused on building relationships with customers giving insight and data to support changes across the confectionery sector and working closely with Sainsbury’s. Category is all about creating stories, which inform, recommend, and implement change based on the data shared.  

At the event, our Headmaster, Toby Seth, will host a Q&A session with Charlotte and Emily to explore the varied opportunities and challenges of working within the food industry, and to discover what it takes to succeed in a competitive sector. The Q&A session will then be followed by networking, light bites and refreshments. 

If you would like to join us for this event, please register your attendance with Jenny Preston (prestonj@pocklingtonschool.com) as soon as possible, or by Thursday 19 October at the latest. Places are limited and will be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Joining instructions will be issued a few days before the event.

The Network is open to everyone in the wider Pocklington School community, including current and former parents, Old Pocklingtonians, current and former staff and supporters. Its aims are to help each other thrive in a highly competitive world and, by working together, to help instil the Pocklington School values in each other. If you haven’t already joined the Network, at this event you will be able to find out how to do so, as well as enjoying a great evening of networking.