David Ough

David, the longest serving member of the team, has been part of Rush Group since 1990. David’s roles within the company have been wide and varied, giving him the necessary expertise to help keep the company on a clear course, in the ever-changing world of fresh produce.

David recently ceased trading fruit and vegetables, in order to concentrate on Rush’s global expansion.

Murray Hogge

Murray was born in Kenya and brought up in rural South Africa, but left for the UK during the dark days of apartheid. After studying Agriculture at Reading University, and completing a PhD at the University of Cambridge, he continued as a research scientist conducting crop husbandry research with CUPGRA (Cambridge University Potato Growers Research Association). He soon took on associated agronomic work with a couple of potato producer groups in the south west of England, before deciding that the commercial world looked a touch more exciting than the research world.

Murray joined Rush in 1996, and is looking forward to embarking on his second 20-year stint with the company, especially as it expands in terms of personnel, products and geographical regions. He is excited to be a part of this unique dynamic team.

murray@rushgroup.co.uk

Guy Burgoyne

Guy grew up knowing little of the agricultural world. Educated as a Historian he learnt to appreciate the variety of cultures across the globe. This passion for travelling led to a further understanding of people and what makes them tick.

It was in 2007, when he joined the Rush Group, when Guy began to merge his education and his growing love for international business. The fresh produce trade offered an excitement of both fast action dealings with longer, more fulfilling business. Working with something real and tangible has given him satisfaction like nothing else.

guy@rushgroup.co.uk

James Bulford

Having grown up in the Hampshire countryside, James’ love of agriculture inspired him to study for a degree in Estate Management at the Royal Agricultural University at Cirencester.

James enjoys being involved in the global potato market because of the challenges it presents on a daily basis. His favourite part of this role is finding quick solutions to problems for his growers and customers, enhancing relationships and making things happen!

james@rushgroup.co.uk

Tom Ebdon

Although farming is not a family tradition, Tom spent much of his youth in the English countryside until he became old enough to drive a tractor and work on the local farm. A good understanding of farming practices helped secure a Degree in Agriculture and introduced him to the world of fresh produce.

Tom enjoys the dynamic life, which the fresh produce industry has to offer. His favourite product is carrots and the global presence this product commands. Much of his role is solution based, and getting a result for his customers instills great satisfaction.

tom@rushgroup.co.uk

Joe Yates

Fresh produce has always been of great passion for Joe. He previously worked on an arable farm in South Staffordshire, which grew mainly combinable crops and potatoes. He also worked at Sainsbury’s for 5 years and his love of agriculture and the environment led him to study Countryside and Environmental Management at Harper Adams University.

Joe enjoys dealing in UK potatoes, as they are a physical and real product that is used in everyday life around the world. His favourite part of his role is meeting and sourcing new growers for Rush Group and looking closely at the quality of their produce. Carrying out quality checks on produce is something that Joe does so that Rush can help find the most profitable home for the produce.

joe@rushgroup.co.uk

Nadia Hossain

Nadia studied biomedical science at university, giving her a good grounding in procedures and being organised. She concentrates on haulage, mainly dealing with potato and sweet potato shipments from UK to The Continent.

Being fluent in Hindi and Bengali, Nadia enjoys working in an international company, and looks forward to putting her language skills to good use.

nadia@rushgroup.co.uk

Patty Ziolkowska

Patty studied sales at Zespol Szkol Handlowych im. Marii Dabrowskiej college in Bydgoszcz, Poland, before coming over to England. Since living here she has worked as a line leader, playground installer, barista and now quality assurance.

She loves working in the fresh produce industry and enjoys learning the new skills that this position brings.

pziolkowska@rushgroup.co.uk

Patrycja Smiarowska

Patrycja graduated from Warsaw University of Technology (Poland) with Bachelor of Science in Management and Production Engineering. She then moved to America in order to learn English, where she also completed the course in Corporate Sustainability Strategy at Harvard Extension School (Cambridge, USA).

Her excellent management and organisational skills will be invaluable in her role of organising transport and logistics.

patrycja@rushgroup.co.uk

Nicola Boddington

Nicola originally joined Rush in 2000 after completing a four-yearDegree in Economics and French at Anglia Ruskin University and Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, after working within investment banking and insurance.

She has since moved back to Rush, having spent some time back in Investment Banking and working in a client facing role in the Aerospace industry for 10 years. Her main role is keeping the office running smoothly and building the Group’s French Exotic business.

nicola@rushgroup.co.uk

Francis Morrison-Bell

Francis comes from a family of sheep farmers in Northumberland. He has always enjoyed agriculture, he read agriculture at Reading university. However he always wanted to move into a more business-related aspect of farming. He now lives in London, which he loves, but is happy that agriculture still plays a part in his life.

francis@rushgroup.co.uk

Hugo Leach

Hugo grew up on a pick-your-own farm, which produced a wide variety of fresh produce, including onions. He went to Harper Adams University, where he studied agriculture. Hugo always wanted to be linked to agriculture, but the business not the physical farming side appealed to him more.

hugo@rushgroup.co.uk

Jason Archie

Born in London to Ghanaian parents, Jason brings his Ghanaian roots as well as a varied experience in sustainable entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility (CSR) to Rush. Having left the London smog to study in rainy Manchester, he spent years getting involved in various start-ups and it’s here where his love for all things entrepreneurship grew. This sparked his decision to also undertake a PhD in International Business and Management, with a specific focus on responsible business. This resulted in forging connections  with global producers, retailers and importers across the global agro-foods industry. This experience proves invaluable in his role at Rush.

Jason works mainly on all things sweet potato and developing new projects and trading relationships across the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa. Whilst also making sure sustainability is at the heart of everything he does.

jason@rushgroup.co.uk

Mindaugas Andrulionis

Before moving to UK, Mindaugas completed a Bachelor in Law and customer services at Vilnius University. From a young age he was involved with agriculture due to his parents being farmers in Lithuania. His favourite part of my current role is meeting and sourcing new growers for Rush Group and looking closely at the quality of their produce.

mindy@rushgroup.co.uk

Daniel Sayer

Working on farms from the age of 13 and becoming a farm manager at 22 for four years, Daniel has been involved in agriculture for most of his life. Upon leaving university where he studied Accounting & Finance, he started work as a potato merchant, specialising in crisping potatoes, something he has been doing for 10 years. Daniel enjoys the challenges that the complex and detailed processing sector offers, as well as building relationships with customers and growers alike around the globe.

daniel@rushgroup.co.uk

Ross Haynes

Ross has been working in the seed potato industry since 1980, during this time he has been involved in many aspects of the seed industry including hydroponic pre-basic seed production to screening new varieties and producing and marketing commercial grades seed for the UK and export markets alike.

Ross sees his main role at Rush as being able to supply his customer base with high grade seed potatoes by selecting suitable stocks for both their own growing operations and processing contracts along with their international customer’s requirements.

ross@rushgroup.co.uk

David Storer

David has been working in the fresh produce industry for over six years, specialising in processing, crisping and wholesale procurement and supply throughout the United Kingdom.

Previously a chef and still with a passion cooking, he has brought this experience to his current profession, particularly when it comes to potatoes’ texture and flavour. He matches this enthusiasm with excellent customer relations and quality control.

David joins the Group to enhance its reputation within the wholesale market and to support the ever-expanding processing department.

dstorer@rushgroup.co.uk

Sam Crocker

Sam grew up in a potato farming family. He worked on the farm from the age of ten, right through his teens, as a result he understands the mechanics of farming. The fact that things don’t always play out the way you expect them to. It is this uncertainty and the problem solving that excites Sam about his current role.

His grandfather would probably be turning in his grave now if he knew sales of traditional potatoes were being dented by the ever-popular sweet potato. Sam has however decided to move with the changing times and has kicked off and developed the Rush Group sweet potato and butternut squash business since 2009.

In between the early years and Rush, Sam went to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and received a First Class degree in Economics, Business and Marketing. Much of what he learnt here has proved invaluable in developing and maintaining a sustainable and successful multi-national business.

sam@rushgroup.co.uk

Jacob Isaac

Jacob graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a BSc Hons. in chemistry. As well as dealing in processing grade/sizes of sweet potatoes and butternut squash, he is actively working on building a profitable market for melons in the UK wholesale markets.

jacob@rushgroup.co.uk

Laura Neamt

Laura studied at Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, where she gained a Bachelor and Masters Degree in International Business and Economics. She worked in the international food industry, trading frozen products for three years before joining Rush Group.

She is passionate about getting to know clients’ particular needs and in turn developing productive business relationships.

 laura.neamt@rushgroup.co.uk

Renata Rudy

Renata, assists colleagues in the smooth running of all aspects of the business while processing all sales orders, managing data for international shipments and providing transport support. In addition, she works closely with customs agents, shipping companies and clients.

renata@rushgroup.co.uk

Gavin Andrew

Gavin joined Rush Group in 2017 as the Group’s Technical Assistant. He helps support the team with any technical demands placed on the business. He has 10 years’ experience of working in the retail industry before joining Rush, where he gained knowledge in quality control, an understanding of what product quality truly means to the customer and developed excellent customer relation skills.

gavin@rushgroup.co.uk

Mitch Mulley

Trained and working originally as graphic designer and then a builder, gave Mitch a great eye for detail, visual awareness and time management, three skills that he employs on a daily basis.

Working out of the Group’s Lincolnshire pack house supplying supermarkets, Mitch checks that all the sweet potatoes and butternut squash meet the appropriate requirements. He also carries out daily stock checks.

mitch@rushgroup.co.uk

Jenny Scott

Jenny started her working career in hospitality, where she honed her organisational and people skills. At Rush she is an account manager for the Group’s contracted sweet potato and butternut squash customers, she processes a large number of daily orders, many of which include dealing with accounts and logistics.

Jenny enjoys camaraderie and team spirit of working in a small office, with the need to be flexible and adaptable

jennifers@rushgroup.co.uk

Patty Ziolkowska

Patty studied sales at Zespol Szkol Handlowych im. Marii Dabrowskiej college in Bydgoszcz, Poland, before coming over to England. Since living here she has worked as a line leader, playground installer, barista and now quality assurance.

She loves working in the fresh produce industry and enjoys learning the new skills that this position brings.

pziolkowska@rushgroup.co.uk

David Oyetunde

I have always been passionate about healthy eating and a healthy environment, which led me to study Sustainability and Supply-Chain Management, focusing on how to achieve waste-less food supply-chains. My Bachelor’s thesis concentrated on how to prevent and reduce food waste at a Dutch fresh produce importer/exporter.

Coming from a Ghanaian, Nigerian, German, and Spanish family has given me the ability to form relationships across a wide range of cultures. From a young age I always wanted to work on an international platform.

At Rush, I have been given the opportunity to trade fresh produce while building channels to help reduce food wastage.

david.oyetunde@rushgroup.co.uk

Jose Nazare

Jose finished studying agronomy in 1991, and has been working in agriculture ever since. He joined Rush in 1997 as the Group’s agronomist and subsequently became Technical Director in 2005; this role involves supporting his colleagues with appropriate specialised information, as well as visiting growers, ensuring that all rigorous industry standards are met.

jose@rushgroup.co.uk

Ken Couceiro

Fluent in Spanish, Ken grew up immersed in the fresh produce industry, as his family were involved in the fishing business in Spain and in the United Kingdom. Since then he has been buying and selling fresh and frozen products for the past thirty years. Ken started trading potatoes with Rush in 1990 within the Spanish market, and as such has strong links throughout the Spanish fresh produce industry as a whole.

ken@rushgroup.co.uk

Chris Lioe

Crisping potatoes is the core product that Chris handles, importing them into a number of Asian counties such as Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. All the major brands of crisps sold in this region will have some of Rush’s potatoes.

He spends a lot of time travelling to visit potato farms in Germany, Egypt, Bangladesh and China, to inspect the fields and ensure their quality is good enough to meet customer demands. There is a huge potential in this sector as more and more crisps and French fries are being consumed in Asia.

chris@rushgroup.co.uk

Charmaine Tia

Charmaine works as an administrator in Rush South East Asia office. She has been working in the fresh produce industry since 2002. With these 14 years of experience, she has gained an in depth knowledge in operation flow, customs and clearance procedure, quality control management, purchase and sales protocol and shipping arrangement.

She enjoys working in this fast-moving fresh produce industry as every day brings different challenges that in turn expand her knowledge of trading fruit and vegetables.

charmaine@rushgroup.co.uk

Tamara Machavariani

Tamara heads up the Rush Group’s Dubai office, where she has lived for eight years. Tamara has considerable experience in trading fresh and frozen produce within U.A.E and G.C.C. countries. As well as vegetables, she has considerable experience in fruit, especially berries.

tamara@rushgroup.co.uk

Sally El Ali

Born in Lebanon, Sally graduated from Heriot-Watt University (Dubai Campus), where she graduated with a BA Hons in Business Administration. Her qualifications have proved invaluable in her role, where her responsibilities include: invoicing, container/shipment follow-ups, stock inventory follow-ups and PRO related works.

sally@rushgroup.co.uk

Andrew Chance

Andrew was born and raised in Zimbabwe on a mixed arable and horticultural farm. Political instability meant a family move to Zambia where the family currently run a mixed arable and livestock farm. Shortly after completing a BSc Hons in Agricultural Science at the Royal Agricultural College he joined the Rush Group family to follow a career closely linked with Agriculture.

Andrew enjoys playing a part in the movement of food around the globe. A keen interest that has been developed from a young age and something he is intrinsically linked with today.

andrew@rushgroup.co.uk

Phoebe O’Hanlon

Phoebe has helped set up Rush Group’s first African office and is now exploring more opportunities for the company with Africa. Her daily duties include the smooth running of day to day trade, developing relationships with suppliers for mange tout, sugar snap, fine beans and garden peas as well as helping the research into regional trade within Africa.

phoebe@rushgroup.co.uk

Marcin Wawrzynczyk

After finishing Technical Electric High School, Marcin attended University where he studied building and construction. Marcin’s determination and ambition led him to leave Poland 12 years ago for England, where he stayed for five years. He started a successful scaffolding company, whose equipment allowed builders to access higher levels – thus filling a gap in the market.

Six years later he joined Rush and started to run the Group’s Polish office, which continues to grow year on year, employing six people and trading 20 products.

marcin@rushgroup.co.uk

Justyna Wawrzynczyk

Justyna joined Rush in 2006, while she was studying at The Faculty of Educational Sciences University at Lodz. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to London looking for a summer job, and it was here she met the owners of Rush, who offered her a job that culminated three years later in Justyna setting up the Polish office.

Justyna believes having an office in such a strategically important location gives Rush the advantage of being in close proximity to its customers, growers and business partners.

justyna@rushgroup.co.uk

Adam Owczarek

Adam has been trading and selling since he was 18, while he was studying English language in the PWSZ in Płock. After finishing his studies Adam started to work for the largest supermarket nursery product supplier, dealing in such items as fruit trees. He began as an account manager for Polish customers, and then after attending dozens of courses was promoted to an account manager at more than ten retailer chains in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

He then joined Rush as a trader’s assistant dealing with wholesale markets in Poland, providing his customers with pomelos, onions, cabbage, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and ginger.

Adam enjoys working in the wholesale market needs as his customers require constant contact on daily basis. As a trader he has to organise transport and prepare offers, and also check the quality of sent good.

His aim is to make Rush best possible option for wholesale markets that are looking for fresh, vegetables and fruits of the highest quality and delivered on time

adam@rushgroup.co.uk

Eryka Kutryj

Eryka lived and worked in the UK for six years, which gave her an excellent training in fresh produce administration and a deep understanding of dealing with both customers’ and suppliers’ requirements.

As Marcin’s assistant, she is responsible for the daily running of the office, where her duties include, planning transport, controlling all documentation, and dealing with any issues as they arise.

Eryka is also researching the East Europe market for new opportunities in fresh produce industry.

eryka@rushgroup.co.uk

Liudmyla Petrychenko

Liudmyla has a Master Studies in International Economic Relations (Ukraine).
She conducted a research on the topic of how Ukrainian growers could get on the international arena and trade directly with international customers. Her 2006 findings, still hold true today.

She followed this with a Degree in the Baltic Sea Region Studies (postgraduate studies, graduated in 2017, University of Tartu, Estonia) that covered policy making in the region (in economic and social spheres).

She is interested in building strong relations with farmers of fresh produce on the territory of Post-Soviet space including The Baltics.

liudmyla@rushgroup.co.uk

Bartosz Nowak

Bartek lived in the countryside from an early age, where he became aware of farmers and how they worked to get the best yield from their crop. His love of trade started at an early age, when he began to sell products from his own farm.

After graduating from high school, he opened his own jewellery trading business, still helping his parents on their blueberry farm.

Jewellery however was not his passion, and so he joined Rush, where he helps us find good quality products from Polish farmers.

bartosz@rushgroup.co.uk

Agata Prominska

Prior to joining Rush Agata worked as an accountant in various companies. Her role in the Polish office is to keep it running smoothly, mainly by prioritising what needs to be done now and what can wait until later. She is relishing the opportunity to learn new skills.

agatap@rushgroup.co.uk

Togrul Safarzade

Togrul’s experience in the fresh produce industry began by working with his brother’s grain business, where he was responsible for exports to Georgia, Iran and Turkey. Togrul is fluent in Turkish having studied in Turkey for five years, and so was also responsible for developing new business in Turkey.

Togrul has an MA in Public Policy (Central European University, Budapest) and a BA Hons. in Political Science and International Relations (Middle East Technical University NCC).

Togrul is a talented linguist: Azerbaijani (native), English (fluent), Russian (fluent), Turkish (fluent) and Swedish (conversational)

togrul@rushgroup.co.uk

Hajnalka Erdos

Graduating with a Masters Degree in Economics gave her the desire to work in the fresh produce industry, as she enjoys its ever-changing nature. She enjoys trying to bring new products to market as well as dealing with a broad customer base around the globe.

hajnalka@rushgroup.co.uk

Alexander Lukacs

Alexander puts his love of agriculture down to his grandmother, as a child he spent a lot of time with her and helped her planting and harvesting the fruit and vegetables she grew. He was therefore very excited to get the opportunity to work with fresh produce, even though he lives in the city.

alexander@rushgroup.co.uk

Maurice J Molloy

As a qualified accountant of 25 years, Maurice has held directorship roles in a number of small and medium sized UK enterprises in the food industry. These companies varied from the import/export and distribution of dried and preserved ingredients for the bakery sector, to the temperature controlled storage and distribution for the catering sector and now with a global coverage for the fresh produce sector in the wholesale markets, supermarkets and snack manufacturers.

Maurice enjoys the continuing development of the global network of fresh producer traders, in particular, exploring efficiencies and offering support, which will ensure the future growth and sustainability of the company.

maurice@rushgroup.co.uk

Laura Francis

Laura is responsible for the smooth running of Rush’s accounts office. Her in-built organisational skills and keen eye for detail, along with administrative experience ensure that any issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Suzanne Jago-Gibbons

Suzanne began her career as a Medic in the British Army and during quiet times when there were no emergencies she worked on the Medical Centre’s budgets.

She then used this experience to begin her second career in Accountancy in ‘Civvy Street’ 30 years ago and has since enjoyed working in different industries and ran her own small book-keeping/accountancy/payroll business for 10 years.

She joined Rush Group in 2010 and is responsible for haulage/shipping and all things to do with logistics and enjoys playing a part in keeping the Group’s fresh produce moving.

suzanne@rushgroup.co.uk

Christopher Jones

Christopher is a qualified Accounting Technician to AAT Level 4 standard.

His role at Rush includes producing the Monthly Management Accounts, budgets, commentaries and financial statements; Undertaking financial administration and internal audits.

He has worked in the accounts departments for an International Pharmaceutical company and a large accounting firm in the South West for the last 4 years. Prior to this heworked in financial services for various local and international banks and finance companies in varying roles from client facing to back office.

cjones@rushgroup.co.uk

Elżbieta Tokarzewska

Elżbieta came to England from Poland in 2012, before joining Rush she worked mainly in the hotel/leisure industry as well as for the N.H.S. and customer service.

She enjoys the challenges that come with working within the Group’s busy accounts office in her new career. When Elżbieta is not working, she is studying for her English GCSE.

elzbietat@rushgroup.co.uk

Nicky Dew

Nicky qualified as a Chartered Accountant in London before joining the investment banking industry. Here she led the Distressed Debt team in Product Control and then moved on into Financial Control, managing the audits of a number of global entities.

Nicky enjoys working in an industry with tangible products and ensuring the accounting information is in place to support both the day-to-day functions and growth of the business.

nicola@rushgroup.co.uk