Sam Dyer MBE, CEO & CIC Director

Sam Dyer MBE is a Cambridge-based food systems leader with around 20 years’ experience working across the food industry as a chef and business owner, local government and cooperative development. She is a founding Director and CEO of Cambridge Sustainable Food CIC, where she has helped grow practical, community-led responses to food insecurity, food waste and climate challenges. Her work brings together partnerships, social enterprise and grassroots action to build a fairer and more resilient local food system. Sam is known for combining strategic thinking with a hands-on approach, and for championing good food as a way to strengthen communities, improve health and create lasting change. She is a trustee of national charity Food Matters and Director of Grow Cambridge CIC, a community farm in Cambridge.

Claire Ives, Senior Project and Operations Manager

Claire holds an MSc in Food Policy from  City University's Centre for Food Policy and comes has a background in communications campaigns across local government and the third sector. She is passionate about systems approaches to food issues, and upstream interventions that tackle the root causes of food-related social and health inequalities and environmental unsustainability. As mum to three young children she is motivated by a desire to help the next generation understand what good food is, and would love to see them grow up in a world where positive food environments are the norm.

Sarah Bowden, Food Centre Coordinator

Sarah co-ordinates the day-to-day operation of our food redistribution warehouse making sure that food gets where it needs to be across Cambridge. She does this with the help of a team of volunteers.

Sarah's background is in plant sciences and she joined our team in spring 2023 after volunteering with us.

CSF CIC Board

The CIC Board directors are responsible for the financial and operational control of the organisation and for implementing the strategy and action plan of the CSF Partnership Board.

Ann Mitchell

After a career in primary school teaching, I became interested in the fairness and sustainability of the food system, joining Transition Cambridge and becoming involved in various food projects. I was a founder member of Cambridge Sustainable Food in 2013 and became a director when CSF became a Community Interest Company in 2018.  It has been a privilege to be part of CSF’s phenomenal development and its ambitious plans for the future.

Claire Ives

Claire comes from a background in communications campaigns across local government and the third sector, and has recently completed an MSc in Food Policy at City University's Centre for Food Policy. She is passionate about systems approaches to food issues, and upstream interventions that tackle the root causes of food-related social and health inequalities and environmental unsustainability. As mum to three young children she is motivated by a desire to help the next generation understand what good food is, and would love to see them to grow up in a world where positive food environments are the norm. Claire is excited by the opportunity to contribute to CSFs work and help shape their strategy for the future.

Tina Riches

Andrew Smith
Andrew owns Garden Kitchen, a catering business he started in 2005. Operating two cafes and a catering company in Cambridge, his business has always seen the importance of balancing a responsible environmental ethos with a successful commercial mindset.

As a member of the board, Andrew is keen to help CSF on their journey towards financial sustainability. 

Nuwan Dishan

Nuwan is an experienced senior executive who specialises in innovation, corporate learning, and executive education. He has a strong background in learning project management in the consulting and higher education sectors. He is passionate about creating customised learning solutions that match the modern corporate learning strategies. He works with technology experts, learning designers and global HR leaders to design personalised learning experiences for senior executive audiences.

He has a wealth of knowledge in creating and delivering outstanding executive education programs in partnership with distinguished educators and faculties from around the world. These programs are designed for decision-makers and cover a variety of relevant management topics such as Sustainability, ESG, Business Model Innovation, Design Thinking, Digital Transformation, Transformational Leadership, Corporate Innovation, and Data Strategy.

He also has practical experience in instructional design, learning experience design, growth hacking, new venture development, creative communications, and lead generation. Before joining Cambridge Judge Business School, he led the executive education learning business at a big 4 consulting firm.

James Murray-White

I’m excited to step into this new role as one of the directors at CSF, and will bring all my passion and imaginative thinking to this role. I’m particularly keen to help the CIC make more links & connections, including with farmers and growers on the outskirts of the City, and would love to help establish a community compost scheme for Cambridge - good quality rich soil is at the heart of good quality food. As the UK seeks better food resilience, community food sharing and cultivation needs to have a greater place in all we do across society and particularly within the unequal demographic here.

JMW has made a career out of finding & sharing stories: first in the theatre, then as an environmental journalist (print & online), and for the last 20 years, in film, primarily documentary. He was story advisor for the 2024 Independent doc, ‘Six Inches Of Soil’ that looks at both the broken food system and regenerative agriculture in the UK.

Growing up in a South Cambs village, he Inherited his parents love of growing food, and has tried to grow vegetables on a mixture of soils wherever he has lived around the world.

Sam Dyer

Sam is the CEO of Cambridge Sustainable Food (CSF) and a Director of CSF CIC, the not-for-profit company which implements the projects recommended by the CSF Partnership Board.

She is responsible for organisational and partnership development, project management and overseeing the day-to-day work in the CSF office.

Sam has worked as the City Council’s Sustainability Officer and for Cambridge Co-operative Development. She has also run her own catering businesses.