GS1 UK appoints Anne Godfrey as CEO

Godfrey is currently the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), a role she has held since January 2016. Prior to joining CIEH, she held senior positions at The Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Business Travel Association and The Law Society. Her earlier career was in professional publishing included senior sales, marketing and product development roles for Thomson Reuters and Pearson.

The appointment concludes a search initiated by GS1 UK chair Chris Tyas in January after current CEO Gary Lynch announced his intention to retire. ‘We were determined to embark on a process to secure the right person to succeed Gary, and in Anne I am certain we have. She has the drive and experience to deliver the great vision we have for our members and, even more importantly, she is culturally aligned with our organization and the industries we support,’ said Tyas. ‘I was also looking for someone to lead and inspire our UK organization, while maximizing our influence in GS1 globally. Anne has worked in several federated organizations, where success can only be achieved by leveraging the network and this will be critical to maintain the UK’s sphere of influence. Anne is an energetic leader, driven and versatile, but with the empathy that is critical in this role, due to the need to understand and respond to the multitude of stakeholders.’

‘In normal circumstances the task would have been hard enough, but with the added complexity of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am even more relieved that we managed to complete Anne’s appointment and have agreed a start date of August 1, all things being equal,’ added Tyas.

Anne Godfrey added: ‘The opportunity to deliver GS1 UK’s vision of responding to key macro trends and supporting a diverse membership across all industry sectors is fascinating. Having met members of the team and supervisory board I knew that GS1 UK has a strong culture of collaboration, and a passion for what they do, which is aligned to my own belief as to how you build successful membership-based organizations.

‘There is an opportunity to learn from the 114 offices across the globe and be part of delivering major programmes such as Verified by GS1. We know this focus on quality trusted data is going to be key as the societal consumer looks to take control and make informed choices about their purchases and lifestyle options. From complete transparency in farm to fork, to allergen labelling and management, GS1 UK and its members have a role to play.’