Meet our team

Paul Freeston is Chair & CEO of apetito UK & North America and a main Board member of apetito AG the International holding company.  Over the last 25 years Paul has led the apetito team developing a highly successful business with a team of c. 2000  and driven by a social purpose to “make a real difference”  to the people the people they are so proud to serve.

Paul is also the immediate past Chair & President of the Food & Drink Federation and a past Chair & President of the British Frozen Food Federation.  Prior to this he was Treasurer of FDF and Chaired the FDF Pension Trustees.  He was also a co-founder of the Malnutrition Taskforce which campaigns to raise awareness of under nutrition amongst older people.

“I am thrilled to have been invited to serve as the new Chair of City Harvest and to support the next phase of development of this wonderful charity.  There is so much food poverty in our society today and City Harvest plays provides vital support as well as tackling the huge climate impact of food waste. I have been inspired by the team at City Harvest and look forward to supporting them and working with the rest of the Board.”

Shaun is Co-Head of European Corporate Finance at Houlihan Lokey, working with all industry teams as well as the Financial Sponsors and Capital Markets groups. In addition, he is Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey’s Consumer, Food & Retail Group in Europe. His original area of expertise is in the food & beverage sector, where he has advised on more than 180 completed transactions.

He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London in 1988 and joined HSBC in 1992.

He chairs Front Row – the OE society for theatre, television and drama. He is a committee member of the Corporate Development Association. He is a member of the Food Council of City Harvest London.

Co Founder and past chair of City Harvest. Stephen Winningham is an international banker and Board member who has built and led growing, profitable Corporate Finance and M&A businesses across Europe, the US and Asia. He’s a Trusted Advisor to Corporate CEOs, Boards of Directors and Investors. Stephen is also a Corporate Board member and a Co-Founder, Chairman and Trustee of Charities in the UK and the US.

Trustee since June 2016 – Patrick is a partner at Goldman Sachs and is currently Co-Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Sales for Europe having held a variety of other roles since joining the firm in 1996. He has chaired a number of inclusivity initiatives at Goldman and was listed as a “Top 50 Advocate Executive Role Model” in the 2020 HERoes Women Role Model Executives List. Outside of Goldman, Patrick is actively engaged with social mobility organisations to support their mission of helping students from less-advantaged backgrounds to secure jobs. Patrick started his career as a solicitor working at the law firm of Cameron McKenna. Patrick graduated with a JD in Law from Oxford University and is also a member of the New York bar. Patrick sits on City Harvest’s Fundraising Steering Group.

Trustee since January 2019 – Todd Benjamin is well known to television audiences across the globe. For 26 years he worked as an anchor, correspondent, and financial editor for CNN and he now moderates conferences around the world. While at CNN, he was based in Washington DC, New York, Tokyo, and London. An award winning journalist, Todd has interviewed several of the world’s leading political figures and CEOs. For several years, Todd was a visiting lecturer in leadership at the London Business School Executive Education program. Todd sits on the City Harvest Fundraising Steering Group.

Emma is a Partner at A&O Shearman in their global funds and asset management practice focusing in the alternative investments space. Recognised by Legal 500 as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ she advises on fund establishments (including co-investments, joint ventures and other ‘fund like’ products), institutional investor matters and all asset management regulatory issues. Emma is a long term supporter of City Harvest having been part of the team at A&O Shearman LLP providing on-going pro bono advice to City Harvest since 2016. Emma is also trustee and chair of ColaLife Limited and one of A&O Shearman LLP’s Partner Pro Bono Champions. Emma graduated with a BA in Jurisprudence from Oxford University and completed her legal training at College of Law, London.

Trustee since December 2023 – Duncan has more than 25 years’ experience in the food industry and is currently CEO of Noble Foods, a leading supplier of fresh food and animal feed. He is committed to growing the business but doing so in a manner which is aligned to the Noble Purpose ‘To better nourish people, animals and planet’. He was previously CEO at Kerry Foods, having joined its graduate programme in 1995 after studying economics. Duncan is also a founding member of the City Harvest Food Council.

Chris Ralph has had long experience in a variety of roles in financial services: investment banking, fund management and wealth management.  He has fulfilled many executive functions that have required leadership, strategic planning, collaborative engagement, and recruitment in senior roles. As an investment leader in the UK’s largest wealth management company, he became particularly interested in the company’s charitable endeavours as well of seeking to participate in more local charities. This led him to find out more about the work of City Harvest and engage with members of the leadership team as well as enjoying delivering food to cooking projects and food banks.

A big 4 practice trained Chartered Accountant with 25 years plus post qualification experience, predominately within the not-for-profit and SME sectors.  A wealth of experience in implementation of new systems both finance and ERP.