Female faces remain a rarity round the tables of Britain's oak-lined and male-dominated boardrooms. But their numbers are creeping upwards and nowhere is this more evident than in the food and drink industry. Liz Hamson and The Grocer team report
It may be tough at the top, but for women the really tough part seems to be getting there in the first place. So we decided to celebrate the people who have made it in our first-ever Top 10 of the most powerful women in grocery.
Initially it looked as though it would be a struggle to come up with a list of 10. In the end, we had the opposite problem, so we enlisted the help of a panel of industry analysts to whittle the list down. There was just one criterion: the women had to have reached the top of their games.
Over the next four pages and in no particular order are the women that made the final cut. Their stories are testimony to the talent, ambition, tenacity and absolute self-belief required to reach the top. They are also proof that women are no longer making it just in the traditional disciplines of HR, PR, sales and marketing.
But don't be fooled into seeing these success stories as evidence that the glass ceiling has been shattered.
Last month Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for trade and industry, unveiled the fifth annual Female FTSE report on the number of women in British boardrooms, a study carried out by the Cranfield School of Management.
In 2004, a paltry 17% of new FTSE 100 appointments were of women, though at least it was up from 13% the previous year. While the number of companies with more than one woman on the board rose from 22 to 29, almost a third of the country's top companies had no female representation at the top level.
Despite more than 30 years of legislation to stamp out sexual discrimination in the workplace and many employers now boasting female-friendly policies - including extra maternity leave, flexible working and equal pay - the number of women at the top in corporate Britain remains pitifully small.
Depressingly, tales such as that of Dame
Stephanie Shirley, who resorted to signing off letters as Steve to launch her software company Xansa, abound. While overt boys' club rules no longer apply, recruiters admit there is still palpable reluctance in some boardrooms to hand the top job to a woman.
Hilarie Owen, executive director, Renew UK.com, the organisation launched last year to promote the appointment of women to board-level positions, says that one of the most common reasons women seek Renew's help is that they are finding it difficult to take the step up to board level. Most believe the only reason is their gender, she says.
"A lot of men argue that, given time, women will come through, but if you look at the pace at which it is currently happening, it's going to take forever and a day. There's also a misconception that women don't have the right expertise. But delve deeper and the real problem is that men are concerned about existing outside their comfort zone."
Angela Barber, Costcutter trading and marketing director, is one of the few in our top 10 who admit to having encountered sexism, but she insists it hasn't bothered her.
Peter McLaren-Kennedy, head of communications at Skillsmart, the retail skills council, agrees that sexual discrimination is still an issue: "Anyone who says that it no longer exists is living in cloud cuckoo land."
But many of the Top 10 believe that a bigger issue is inflexible working environments and fitting work schedules round family commitments. Angela Spindler, Asda trading and marketing director, says: "There's no question that where people want a family, it creates disruption."
Carole Savage, MD of recruitment consultancy Flexecutive, adds: "It's the environment that is often the deciding factor in whether to go for a more senior post. There are a few employers who are starting to talk about working intelligently, but not many.
"The inflexibility of the working environment is more of an issue than insidious prejudice, unless you say that by creating that environment they are perpetuating that prejudice."
Many women may also be held back by lack of self-belief, argues Owen. "Men will put themselves forward. Women focus on doing their job. Fewer than 20% of women regard themselves as being leaders because they see the role as having negative connotations."
There is a tendency to balk at taking the final step up the career ladder, adds Spindler. "I don't think the glass ceiling is there. If you want the job badly enough you'll get it. It's as much about women's motivation. If you're prepared to do what it takes, you'll make it. Maybe the issue is that some women have a slightly defeatist attitude. There's a lack of extreme ambition. People who are successful tend to be confident and quite assertive. It's a personality thing rather than to do with gender. But I guess on balance that fewer women are like that than men."
Whatever the reasons, with so many women jumping off before they reach that top rung, there is a woefully small talent pool for the top jobs, says McLaren-Kennedy. "Most industries are battling to find good women."
So should there be positive discrimination? Some argue it is the only way to redress the balance. But most agree it would set a dangerous precedent and ultimately undermine the idea of a meritocratic system.
Owen would prefer to see employers develop more flexible working environments so that staff retention is improved. She would also like to see the perception that leadership skills are by definition a male attribute more widely challenged.
More employers should wake up to the fact that women can inject fresh thinking into the business, she adds. "The way women lead is more positive and motivating.
"They are more comfortable sharing information and power."
The encouraging news is that at a wider management level, the glass ceiling is beginning to give way to what has been dubbed the greenhouse effect as the number of women grows and their talents are nurtured from within. The latest national management survey from the Institute of Chartered Management shows that 31.1% of the management population are now female, compared with 22.1% in 2000 and fewer than 2% when the survey began in 1974. Around 13% of board level directors are female compared with around 10% five years ago.
Attitudes towards women are slowly changing, says Savage. "Most major companies are actively trying to push for diversity." Owen adds that senior female directors at Sainsbury have told her that their input has been more highly valued since the retailer hit difficulties - evidence that when the going gets tough, women are seen as the people who can get the business going.
Meanwhile, as Spindler point outs, sometimes the biggest obstacle to progress is women themselves. Her advice is to think laterally about challenges such as family, and never sell yourself short. "You need to exude confidence and be very hard working," she says. She says the time is past when women needed to put up with a bad employer. "If you are in a company where you are not getting the right support, get out. There are enough fantastic companies out there."
Fortunately, more companies are realising that women can be just as effective leaders as men. Lynne Watts, chief operating officer at Blueheath, says: "Even if people do view you sceptically at first, at long as you can deliver, then it won't be an issue for long. It's about earning respect."
Marie Melnyk
Joint managing director, Morrisons
She famously started as a Saturday girl, and is now in pole position for the top job at Morrisons.
One of the industry's highest-ranking women, Morrisons' joint MD Marie Melnyk is also one of the lowest-profile senior executives in grocery, rarely giving interviews and when she does - giving little away.
But don't be fooled by her quietly spoken demeanour. Melnyk - 46 years old - is a tough operator, according to suppliers.
"She's straight-talking, focused and she delivers on her promises," says one.
Like fellow joint MD Bob Stott, Melnyk is a Morrisons veteran, joining in 1975, two years after Stott.
She progressed rapidly to become a fresh produce buyer and was appointed produce director in 1987. By 1988, she was trading director.
Closely involved with the setting up of the central grocery facility at Wakefield, she was appointed to the main board in 1993 and made responsible for buying and marketing.
Four years later, she became deputy MD, before taking up her current position as joint MD in March 2002.
As far as Marie is concerned, says a Morrisons insider, gender is really "a non-issue".
Despite working in a very male-dominated environment, "Marie has always felt that she has been judged purely on her ability to do the job in hand".
Lucy Neville-Rolfe
Company secretary, Tesco
Used to treading the political corridors of power, with stints at Defra, the Cabinet Office and John Major's Downing Street Policy Unit, Lucy Neville-Rolfe started moving and shaking in the supermarket trade in 1997.
Counting fellow Oxford graduates Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher among her role models, Neville-Rolfe is a consummate political animal, self-confident and well-connected.
With her fingers in a host of commercial and political pies as deputy chair of the BRC and a non-executive director at the Foreign Office, she is adept at time management. "A woman's ability to juggle different demands has helped me to progress," she claims. Sexism, says Neville-Rolfe, who is married to former MAFF permanent secretary Richard Packer, has never held her back. "I chose the civil service because it does not discriminate, and part of the attraction of Tesco was that it is an entrepreneurial and meritocratic company.
"It rewards you for what you do, not who you are, regardless of gender."
As company secretary and corporate and legal affairs director, Neville-Rolfe is the lynchpin between Tesco's shareholders and its board. She is also in charge of the multiple's public image.
Having children - she has four aged 10 to 23 - has helped her keep her feet on the ground, however. "Actually my children are my secret weapon, giving honest feedback on what we do and sell and giving me early insights into trends eg the iPod or voting behaviour."
Angela Barber
Trading and marketing director, Costcutter
Costcutter's trading and marketing director, Angela Barber has a reputation as a tough operator who "leads inspirationally and is followed perspirationally", according to one company insider.
She was immersed in the food industry at a young age through her family's cheese business, Sandhams, in Lancashire. After gaining a BSC in food manufacture and marketing from Manchester Polytechnic, she joined the Safeway graduate training scheme, which gave her four years' grounding in grocery buying. She then spent six years at Nisa-Today's where she rose from the role of trading controller to Central Buying Company trading director.
Barber says one of her greatest learning experiences was adjusting to the tougher negotiating environment at Nisa. "The Safeway graduate training scheme was a good grounding in buying but what I
wanted to do was gain more experience more quickly. The move to Nisa gave me responsibility for more areas and was a much steeper learning curve."
But it is at Costcutter that she has really made her mark. Still in her thirties, she is regarded, alongside sales and development director David Thompson, as the organisation's number two and is tipped for the top by company insiders. Barber says the transition to a more strategic role has been very rewarding because it has enabled her to work more closely with retailers.
Respected by suppliers for her integrity, she has a reputation for taking no prisoners. She also commands respect from colleagues who admit to finding her photographic memory "scary".
However, she does admit to having encountered sexism during her career. "I have experienced negative sides to being a woman and my career has been impeded but I haven't let that bother me. I just get on with it."
Angela Spindler
Trading and marketing director, Asda
Spindler began her career in 1983 on the graduate programme for Cadbury Schweppes, rising to national account manager for the fast food sector.
A protégée of Mars, which she joined in 1988, she spent her last three years there as trading director for the grocery multiples before jumping to the other side of the fence and joining Asda as business unit director for chilled foods. She then rose through the ranks of deputy trading director and food trading director, before being appointed retail development director in 2001, subsequently joining the executive board.
But it is since taking on the role of trading and marketing director in May 2004 that she has really come into her own. Responsible for marketing, Asda brand development, merchandising, central operations and food trading, she is currently spearheading Asda's new healthy eating intiative.
A compelling public speaker, Spindler cuts a glamorous figure at industry events. The mother of two concedes that balancing work life and family commitments is a challenge. But she is adamant that the move by businesses to a 24/7 culture has helped rather than hindered women. And, she claims, she has never encountered any sexism in the workplace.
Unashamedly ambitious, she describes herself as feisty and determined and is typically straight-talking about the attributes required to get to the top: "People who are successful tend to be confident and quite assertive... it's a personality profile that's favoured me."
Perween Warsi
Founder and CEO, S&A Foods
One of the UK's two so-called curry queens - the other being Meena Pathak - the founder and CEO of S&A Foods began her career making ethnic finger foods from her kitchen after moving to the UK from India and being unimpressed with the Indian food on offer in UK supermarkets.
The entrepreneur soon spotted an opportunity and after blind tastings, her company, which she named after her two sons Sadiq and Abid, won contracts to supply chilled and frozen food to Asda and Safeway. She has since diversified into Thai, Malaysian, Chinese and American food.
There have been hiccups along the way. She sold the business to Hughes Food Group in 1987 and had to battle to buy it back after the company went into receivership four years later. But today, S&A is the fastest-growing independent food manufacturer in the UK, turning over around £100m in 2003. Her husband, a doctor, even quit his job to join her, taking on the sales and marketing side of affairs.
Now one of the richest Asian women in the UK, Warsi has won a string of awards, picking up her MBE in 1997 and a CBE in 2002.
Known jokingly as Chief Spice by staff, she says that the most important ingredients of success are "clear vision and determination. You must be disciplined, but make sure you enjoy what you do."
Lizette Craig
Managing director, Botterills
The daughter of Botterills Convenience Stores chairman Jim Botterill, Lizette Craig stepped up from retail director to managing director of the business last September.
Just 32, she admits that her father is a hard act to follow. But she is just as commited to keeping Botterills, ranked 21 in The Grocer Top 50, an independent retailer.
She certainly has a useful financial track record. With a degree in accountancy from Glasgow University under her belt, she is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland.
She spent five years with accountancy firm Scott Moncreiff before leaving at the end of 1997 to join Botterills.
This year, she says, she will focus on store refits and new store openings. She would like to see the 40-store estate grow to 50 by next year, which marks the retailer's 50th anniversary.
Self-effacing and down-to-earth, she is married to the company's financial director, Allan Craig.
"The best thing about my job is that no two days are ever the same," she says, adding that being a woman has never been a problem.
"I can relate to the 85% of my staff who are female. I face the same problems as they do day in day out - shopping, ironing, cooking, cleaning as well as holding down a job that involves long hours."
Katie Bickerstaffe
Group retail director, Somerfield
Starting off on the Unilever management training scheme kickstarted a high-flying career in grocery for Katie Bickerstaffe. On graduating from Nottingham University, Bickerstaffe joined Unilever, where she was seconded to Safeway as part of the training scheme.
She then spent three years with Walkers Snack Foods as HR manager. The US-owned company had a different approach that she found more challenging and aggressive.
"It was very driven and focused on operational skills," she recalls.
After Walkers, she joined Dyson Appliances as group HR director in 1998, three years later moving to Somerfield.
Her rise has been meteoric. In October 2002 she became group HR director and was appointed to the group executive committee.
After a stint as director of Somerfield stores and retail services, she was promoted again to group retail director, also responsible for Kwik Save retail operations. She was appointed at the same time to the Somerfield board.
Known for her energetic and informal management style, the 37-year-old is described as "decisive and direct", someone "who is not afraid to get stuck in".
Tipped for the top by company insiders, Steve Back, group chief executive, says of her current role: "Katie has brilliant
credentials through her career and training to make this a success."
She is just as driven in her personal life. A keen marathon runner, she enjoys skiing and travel and has also been bitten by the property bug - in her spare time, she is renovating a Georgian house.
Lynne Watts
Chief operating officer, Blueheath
Watts, who took over as chief operating officer of wholesaler Blueheath last September, could "sell snow to Eskimos," quips Jeff Stanton, chief executive of logistics company CERT Group, her former employer.
"Lynne is unique in her style of management and once met not easily forgotten. I used to say that a mobile phone was an unnecessary piece of equipment for Lynne as you could often hear her at great distances without the aid of any technology."
Even in the early days she wasn't afraid of making her views known.
Starting out at Ernest & Julio Gallo in 1986, when the company's UK presence amounted to no more than a handful of people, she says she learned the hard way, by "getting my sleeves rolled up and doing things quickly".
Before long, she had taken on the role of customer services manager with a remit expanded to business development across Europe. In 1995, CERT Group offered her the job of launching and running a new promotions division.
She says one of her greatest coups was helping in the 2000 relaunch of the Rimmel cosmetic brand, owned by Coty. But she didn't rest on her laurels and before her departure had developed a number of other strands to the group.
Four months into her new job, she's not fazed by her lack of front-line grocery experience or by the lack of female peers in her line of work.
"Always do what you say you're going to do - that's the greatest leveller of all," she says.
Pat O'Driscoll
Chief executive, Northern Foods
O'Driscoll received a mixed reception initially at Northern Foods, which is no surprise given the task in hand. She joined from Shell last March and is now mid-way through restructuring the business and ridding it of what she has described as its "complacent culture" under predecessor Jo Stewart. So far, she has established an executive operating board and replaced the 15 former operating companies with four units. She has also announced 1,000 job cuts and two plant closures.
Her current role is the culmination of a far-from-predictable career path. Born in Zimbabwe in 1959, O'Driscoll began her career as a trainee chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse after graduating in sociology from Exeter University. She then joined the Marks & Spencer graduate programme working as a buyer and store manager.
Stints with Tesco and food brokerage followed after which she joined Safeway as business unit director of alcoholic drinks and tobacco.
She is said to have been bullish about Northern Foods' prospects in meetings with institutions before Christmas. But the profit warning last week was described by one analyst as "a damaging blow to her credibility".
Even so, she is still viewed by many company insiders as the right person for the job.
As one puts it: "She is charming and likeable, confident but not overbearing and a good listener."
Angela Megson
Buying director, Waitrose
There are not many categories that Angela Megson, Waitrose's buying supremo has not had a taste of in her career.
After taking a degree in physiology and psychology at St Catherine's College in Oxford, she joined M&S in 1983. During stints in fresh food buying and merchandising, she developed a real passion for the business, she says. "I was drawn to the very fast-moving environment of retailing - it is a place where leadership counts. My early experiences at M&S gave me the buzz."
After seven years, she joined Sainsbury as a senior manager. There she was seen as one of the retailer's rising stars, handling a range of categories from dairy, cheese, chilled convenience foods and delicatessen to frozen foods and bakery.
In 2000, she was promoted to the board as director of e-commerce and business development for Sainsbury. She was instrumental in the roll out of the home shopping service, the Taste for Life web site, and oversaw the joint venture with Carlton Food Network.
Her talents did not go unnoticed and in 2002 Waitrose appointed her as director of buying, overseeing buying strategy, food technology, store layout, merchandising, direct business and export.
Seen as "a dynamic, charismatic leader with intelligence, drive and a passion", Megson says her game plan is to "push quality and innovation and build a team that can rise to the challenge of a more competitive and growing business".
It may be tough at the top, but for women the really tough part seems to be getting there in the first place. So we decided to celebrate the people who have made it in our first-ever Top 10 of the most powerful women in grocery.
Initially it looked as though it would be a struggle to come up with a list of 10. In the end, we had the opposite problem, so we enlisted the help of a panel of industry analysts to whittle the list down. There was just one criterion: the women had to have reached the top of their games.
Over the next four pages and in no particular order are the women that made the final cut. Their stories are testimony to the talent, ambition, tenacity and absolute self-belief required to reach the top. They are also proof that women are no longer making it just in the traditional disciplines of HR, PR, sales and marketing.
But don't be fooled into seeing these success stories as evidence that the glass ceiling has been shattered.
Last month Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for trade and industry, unveiled the fifth annual Female FTSE report on the number of women in British boardrooms, a study carried out by the Cranfield School of Management.
In 2004, a paltry 17% of new FTSE 100 appointments were of women, though at least it was up from 13% the previous year. While the number of companies with more than one woman on the board rose from 22 to 29, almost a third of the country's top companies had no female representation at the top level.
Despite more than 30 years of legislation to stamp out sexual discrimination in the workplace and many employers now boasting female-friendly policies - including extra maternity leave, flexible working and equal pay - the number of women at the top in corporate Britain remains pitifully small.
Depressingly, tales such as that of Dame
Stephanie Shirley, who resorted to signing off letters as Steve to launch her software company Xansa, abound. While overt boys' club rules no longer apply, recruiters admit there is still palpable reluctance in some boardrooms to hand the top job to a woman.
Hilarie Owen, executive director, Renew UK.com, the organisation launched last year to promote the appointment of women to board-level positions, says that one of the most common reasons women seek Renew's help is that they are finding it difficult to take the step up to board level. Most believe the only reason is their gender, she says.
"A lot of men argue that, given time, women will come through, but if you look at the pace at which it is currently happening, it's going to take forever and a day. There's also a misconception that women don't have the right expertise. But delve deeper and the real problem is that men are concerned about existing outside their comfort zone."
Angela Barber, Costcutter trading and marketing director, is one of the few in our top 10 who admit to having encountered sexism, but she insists it hasn't bothered her.
Peter McLaren-Kennedy, head of communications at Skillsmart, the retail skills council, agrees that sexual discrimination is still an issue: "Anyone who says that it no longer exists is living in cloud cuckoo land."
But many of the Top 10 believe that a bigger issue is inflexible working environments and fitting work schedules round family commitments. Angela Spindler, Asda trading and marketing director, says: "There's no question that where people want a family, it creates disruption."
Carole Savage, MD of recruitment consultancy Flexecutive, adds: "It's the environment that is often the deciding factor in whether to go for a more senior post. There are a few employers who are starting to talk about working intelligently, but not many.
"The inflexibility of the working environment is more of an issue than insidious prejudice, unless you say that by creating that environment they are perpetuating that prejudice."
Many women may also be held back by lack of self-belief, argues Owen. "Men will put themselves forward. Women focus on doing their job. Fewer than 20% of women regard themselves as being leaders because they see the role as having negative connotations."
There is a tendency to balk at taking the final step up the career ladder, adds Spindler. "I don't think the glass ceiling is there. If you want the job badly enough you'll get it. It's as much about women's motivation. If you're prepared to do what it takes, you'll make it. Maybe the issue is that some women have a slightly defeatist attitude. There's a lack of extreme ambition. People who are successful tend to be confident and quite assertive. It's a personality thing rather than to do with gender. But I guess on balance that fewer women are like that than men."
Whatever the reasons, with so many women jumping off before they reach that top rung, there is a woefully small talent pool for the top jobs, says McLaren-Kennedy. "Most industries are battling to find good women."
So should there be positive discrimination? Some argue it is the only way to redress the balance. But most agree it would set a dangerous precedent and ultimately undermine the idea of a meritocratic system.
Owen would prefer to see employers develop more flexible working environments so that staff retention is improved. She would also like to see the perception that leadership skills are by definition a male attribute more widely challenged.
More employers should wake up to the fact that women can inject fresh thinking into the business, she adds. "The way women lead is more positive and motivating.
"They are more comfortable sharing information and power."
The encouraging news is that at a wider management level, the glass ceiling is beginning to give way to what has been dubbed the greenhouse effect as the number of women grows and their talents are nurtured from within. The latest national management survey from the Institute of Chartered Management shows that 31.1% of the management population are now female, compared with 22.1% in 2000 and fewer than 2% when the survey began in 1974. Around 13% of board level directors are female compared with around 10% five years ago.
Attitudes towards women are slowly changing, says Savage. "Most major companies are actively trying to push for diversity." Owen adds that senior female directors at Sainsbury have told her that their input has been more highly valued since the retailer hit difficulties - evidence that when the going gets tough, women are seen as the people who can get the business going.
Meanwhile, as Spindler point outs, sometimes the biggest obstacle to progress is women themselves. Her advice is to think laterally about challenges such as family, and never sell yourself short. "You need to exude confidence and be very hard working," she says. She says the time is past when women needed to put up with a bad employer. "If you are in a company where you are not getting the right support, get out. There are enough fantastic companies out there."
Fortunately, more companies are realising that women can be just as effective leaders as men. Lynne Watts, chief operating officer at Blueheath, says: "Even if people do view you sceptically at first, at long as you can deliver, then it won't be an issue for long. It's about earning respect."
Marie Melnyk
Joint managing director, Morrisons
She famously started as a Saturday girl, and is now in pole position for the top job at Morrisons.
One of the industry's highest-ranking women, Morrisons' joint MD Marie Melnyk is also one of the lowest-profile senior executives in grocery, rarely giving interviews and when she does - giving little away.
But don't be fooled by her quietly spoken demeanour. Melnyk - 46 years old - is a tough operator, according to suppliers.
"She's straight-talking, focused and she delivers on her promises," says one.
Like fellow joint MD Bob Stott, Melnyk is a Morrisons veteran, joining in 1975, two years after Stott.
She progressed rapidly to become a fresh produce buyer and was appointed produce director in 1987. By 1988, she was trading director.
Closely involved with the setting up of the central grocery facility at Wakefield, she was appointed to the main board in 1993 and made responsible for buying and marketing.
Four years later, she became deputy MD, before taking up her current position as joint MD in March 2002.
As far as Marie is concerned, says a Morrisons insider, gender is really "a non-issue".
Despite working in a very male-dominated environment, "Marie has always felt that she has been judged purely on her ability to do the job in hand".
Lucy Neville-Rolfe
Company secretary, Tesco
Used to treading the political corridors of power, with stints at Defra, the Cabinet Office and John Major's Downing Street Policy Unit, Lucy Neville-Rolfe started moving and shaking in the supermarket trade in 1997.
Counting fellow Oxford graduates Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher among her role models, Neville-Rolfe is a consummate political animal, self-confident and well-connected.
With her fingers in a host of commercial and political pies as deputy chair of the BRC and a non-executive director at the Foreign Office, she is adept at time management. "A woman's ability to juggle different demands has helped me to progress," she claims. Sexism, says Neville-Rolfe, who is married to former MAFF permanent secretary Richard Packer, has never held her back. "I chose the civil service because it does not discriminate, and part of the attraction of Tesco was that it is an entrepreneurial and meritocratic company.
"It rewards you for what you do, not who you are, regardless of gender."
As company secretary and corporate and legal affairs director, Neville-Rolfe is the lynchpin between Tesco's shareholders and its board. She is also in charge of the multiple's public image.
Having children - she has four aged 10 to 23 - has helped her keep her feet on the ground, however. "Actually my children are my secret weapon, giving honest feedback on what we do and sell and giving me early insights into trends eg the iPod or voting behaviour."
Angela Barber
Trading and marketing director, Costcutter
Costcutter's trading and marketing director, Angela Barber has a reputation as a tough operator who "leads inspirationally and is followed perspirationally", according to one company insider.
She was immersed in the food industry at a young age through her family's cheese business, Sandhams, in Lancashire. After gaining a BSC in food manufacture and marketing from Manchester Polytechnic, she joined the Safeway graduate training scheme, which gave her four years' grounding in grocery buying. She then spent six years at Nisa-Today's where she rose from the role of trading controller to Central Buying Company trading director.
Barber says one of her greatest learning experiences was adjusting to the tougher negotiating environment at Nisa. "The Safeway graduate training scheme was a good grounding in buying but what I
wanted to do was gain more experience more quickly. The move to Nisa gave me responsibility for more areas and was a much steeper learning curve."
But it is at Costcutter that she has really made her mark. Still in her thirties, she is regarded, alongside sales and development director David Thompson, as the organisation's number two and is tipped for the top by company insiders. Barber says the transition to a more strategic role has been very rewarding because it has enabled her to work more closely with retailers.
Respected by suppliers for her integrity, she has a reputation for taking no prisoners. She also commands respect from colleagues who admit to finding her photographic memory "scary".
However, she does admit to having encountered sexism during her career. "I have experienced negative sides to being a woman and my career has been impeded but I haven't let that bother me. I just get on with it."
Angela Spindler
Trading and marketing director, Asda
Spindler began her career in 1983 on the graduate programme for Cadbury Schweppes, rising to national account manager for the fast food sector.
A protégée of Mars, which she joined in 1988, she spent her last three years there as trading director for the grocery multiples before jumping to the other side of the fence and joining Asda as business unit director for chilled foods. She then rose through the ranks of deputy trading director and food trading director, before being appointed retail development director in 2001, subsequently joining the executive board.
But it is since taking on the role of trading and marketing director in May 2004 that she has really come into her own. Responsible for marketing, Asda brand development, merchandising, central operations and food trading, she is currently spearheading Asda's new healthy eating intiative.
A compelling public speaker, Spindler cuts a glamorous figure at industry events. The mother of two concedes that balancing work life and family commitments is a challenge. But she is adamant that the move by businesses to a 24/7 culture has helped rather than hindered women. And, she claims, she has never encountered any sexism in the workplace.
Unashamedly ambitious, she describes herself as feisty and determined and is typically straight-talking about the attributes required to get to the top: "People who are successful tend to be confident and quite assertive... it's a personality profile that's favoured me."
Perween Warsi
Founder and CEO, S&A Foods
One of the UK's two so-called curry queens - the other being Meena Pathak - the founder and CEO of S&A Foods began her career making ethnic finger foods from her kitchen after moving to the UK from India and being unimpressed with the Indian food on offer in UK supermarkets.
The entrepreneur soon spotted an opportunity and after blind tastings, her company, which she named after her two sons Sadiq and Abid, won contracts to supply chilled and frozen food to Asda and Safeway. She has since diversified into Thai, Malaysian, Chinese and American food.
There have been hiccups along the way. She sold the business to Hughes Food Group in 1987 and had to battle to buy it back after the company went into receivership four years later. But today, S&A is the fastest-growing independent food manufacturer in the UK, turning over around £100m in 2003. Her husband, a doctor, even quit his job to join her, taking on the sales and marketing side of affairs.
Now one of the richest Asian women in the UK, Warsi has won a string of awards, picking up her MBE in 1997 and a CBE in 2002.
Known jokingly as Chief Spice by staff, she says that the most important ingredients of success are "clear vision and determination. You must be disciplined, but make sure you enjoy what you do."
Lizette Craig
Managing director, Botterills
The daughter of Botterills Convenience Stores chairman Jim Botterill, Lizette Craig stepped up from retail director to managing director of the business last September.
Just 32, she admits that her father is a hard act to follow. But she is just as commited to keeping Botterills, ranked 21 in The Grocer Top 50, an independent retailer.
She certainly has a useful financial track record. With a degree in accountancy from Glasgow University under her belt, she is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland.
She spent five years with accountancy firm Scott Moncreiff before leaving at the end of 1997 to join Botterills.
This year, she says, she will focus on store refits and new store openings. She would like to see the 40-store estate grow to 50 by next year, which marks the retailer's 50th anniversary.
Self-effacing and down-to-earth, she is married to the company's financial director, Allan Craig.
"The best thing about my job is that no two days are ever the same," she says, adding that being a woman has never been a problem.
"I can relate to the 85% of my staff who are female. I face the same problems as they do day in day out - shopping, ironing, cooking, cleaning as well as holding down a job that involves long hours."
Katie Bickerstaffe
Group retail director, Somerfield
Starting off on the Unilever management training scheme kickstarted a high-flying career in grocery for Katie Bickerstaffe. On graduating from Nottingham University, Bickerstaffe joined Unilever, where she was seconded to Safeway as part of the training scheme.
She then spent three years with Walkers Snack Foods as HR manager. The US-owned company had a different approach that she found more challenging and aggressive.
"It was very driven and focused on operational skills," she recalls.
After Walkers, she joined Dyson Appliances as group HR director in 1998, three years later moving to Somerfield.
Her rise has been meteoric. In October 2002 she became group HR director and was appointed to the group executive committee.
After a stint as director of Somerfield stores and retail services, she was promoted again to group retail director, also responsible for Kwik Save retail operations. She was appointed at the same time to the Somerfield board.
Known for her energetic and informal management style, the 37-year-old is described as "decisive and direct", someone "who is not afraid to get stuck in".
Tipped for the top by company insiders, Steve Back, group chief executive, says of her current role: "Katie has brilliant
credentials through her career and training to make this a success."
She is just as driven in her personal life. A keen marathon runner, she enjoys skiing and travel and has also been bitten by the property bug - in her spare time, she is renovating a Georgian house.
Lynne Watts
Chief operating officer, Blueheath
Watts, who took over as chief operating officer of wholesaler Blueheath last September, could "sell snow to Eskimos," quips Jeff Stanton, chief executive of logistics company CERT Group, her former employer.
"Lynne is unique in her style of management and once met not easily forgotten. I used to say that a mobile phone was an unnecessary piece of equipment for Lynne as you could often hear her at great distances without the aid of any technology."
Even in the early days she wasn't afraid of making her views known.
Starting out at Ernest & Julio Gallo in 1986, when the company's UK presence amounted to no more than a handful of people, she says she learned the hard way, by "getting my sleeves rolled up and doing things quickly".
Before long, she had taken on the role of customer services manager with a remit expanded to business development across Europe. In 1995, CERT Group offered her the job of launching and running a new promotions division.
She says one of her greatest coups was helping in the 2000 relaunch of the Rimmel cosmetic brand, owned by Coty. But she didn't rest on her laurels and before her departure had developed a number of other strands to the group.
Four months into her new job, she's not fazed by her lack of front-line grocery experience or by the lack of female peers in her line of work.
"Always do what you say you're going to do - that's the greatest leveller of all," she says.
Pat O'Driscoll
Chief executive, Northern Foods
O'Driscoll received a mixed reception initially at Northern Foods, which is no surprise given the task in hand. She joined from Shell last March and is now mid-way through restructuring the business and ridding it of what she has described as its "complacent culture" under predecessor Jo Stewart. So far, she has established an executive operating board and replaced the 15 former operating companies with four units. She has also announced 1,000 job cuts and two plant closures.
Her current role is the culmination of a far-from-predictable career path. Born in Zimbabwe in 1959, O'Driscoll began her career as a trainee chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse after graduating in sociology from Exeter University. She then joined the Marks & Spencer graduate programme working as a buyer and store manager.
Stints with Tesco and food brokerage followed after which she joined Safeway as business unit director of alcoholic drinks and tobacco.
She is said to have been bullish about Northern Foods' prospects in meetings with institutions before Christmas. But the profit warning last week was described by one analyst as "a damaging blow to her credibility".
Even so, she is still viewed by many company insiders as the right person for the job.
As one puts it: "She is charming and likeable, confident but not overbearing and a good listener."
Angela Megson
Buying director, Waitrose
There are not many categories that Angela Megson, Waitrose's buying supremo has not had a taste of in her career.
After taking a degree in physiology and psychology at St Catherine's College in Oxford, she joined M&S in 1983. During stints in fresh food buying and merchandising, she developed a real passion for the business, she says. "I was drawn to the very fast-moving environment of retailing - it is a place where leadership counts. My early experiences at M&S gave me the buzz."
After seven years, she joined Sainsbury as a senior manager. There she was seen as one of the retailer's rising stars, handling a range of categories from dairy, cheese, chilled convenience foods and delicatessen to frozen foods and bakery.
In 2000, she was promoted to the board as director of e-commerce and business development for Sainsbury. She was instrumental in the roll out of the home shopping service, the Taste for Life web site, and oversaw the joint venture with Carlton Food Network.
Her talents did not go unnoticed and in 2002 Waitrose appointed her as director of buying, overseeing buying strategy, food technology, store layout, merchandising, direct business and export.
Seen as "a dynamic, charismatic leader with intelligence, drive and a passion", Megson says her game plan is to "push quality and innovation and build a team that can rise to the challenge of a more competitive and growing business".
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