Meet the Team Roundup

Behind NCASS is a team of experienced professionals dedicated to supporting independent hospitality businesses at every stage of their journey. From membership support and public affairs to finance, compliance, HR and technology, each team member plays an important role in helping members build and grow successful businesses.

What makes the team unique is the depth of real-world experience they bring, with backgrounds spanning hospitality, food businesses, public affairs, finance, customer service, environmental health and business development. Many have spent years running their own businesses or working directly within the industries our members navigate every day.

Together, the NCASS team works behind the scenes to provide expert guidance, champion independent hospitality, and ensure members have access to the support, knowledge and resources they need to succeed. We thought it was about time you got to know them!

Gary Bruce – Business Relationship Manager

Gary works on the New Member Team and has been at NCASS for three years. He’s also spent over 20 years running restaurants and pubs, giving him an understanding and appreciation of what members have to deal with on a daily basis.

Henry Poultney – Public Affairs Lead

Henry is Public Affairs Lead and works to champion independent hospitality on behalf of NCASS through engagement with MPs, local authorities and regulators.

Henry’s journey through hospitality has taken him across multiple concepts, formats and cities. Alongside his wife, he first founded Mexican-inspired Café Horchata, trading from a 1970 Renault Estafette serving across Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

From there, he went on to develop a string of creative food and drink ventures including Creamed Pops, an ice cream pops concept, and Holy Dough, a mobile woodfired pizza business.

His passion for building unique, neighbourhood design-led hospitality experiences later led to Grace + James, a wine bar and cheese shop, and Poli, a neighbourhood pizza restaurant in South Birmingham. He is also co-founder of Kask Wine, a natural wine bar in Bristol.

Lee Woodger – Head of Membership

Lee leads the membership team at NCASS and is responsible for ensuring the association continues to enhance the value, support and services it provides to members, driving the organisation’s ongoing growth and development.

With a career spanning membership, stakeholder engagement and business development, Lee Woodger brings extensive experience from a range of sectors. Before joining NCASS, he worked in education and training, spent seven years with Calor Gas, and then 17 years with the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).

During his time at the NFU, he was involved in a wide range of initiatives, from lobbying in Westminster and Brussels to supporting food procurement for the London Olympics. He also spent ten years as Head of Membership, helping to deliver significant growth in both membership numbers and income.

Mark Jobe – Financial Accountant

Mark is NCASS’s Financial Accountant and has been part of the team for the past three years. With over 25 years of experience in finance, primarily within the aerospace and power generation manufacturing sectors, Mark spent much of his career as a Management Accountant before joining NCASS in a local part-time role.

Liz Jeffcott – Membership Team Manager

Liz is Membership Team Manager at NCASS and joined us almost a year ago as an Account Manager. Finding that working with people has always been her passion, she’s worked in customer service for 17 years across a range of industries including bariatric surgery and aerospace!

Ed Lester – Account Manager

Ed has been an Account Manager at NCASS for more than 10 years – he’s practically part of the furniture!

Chris Wright – Senior Developer

Chris has over ten years’ experience in software development and has been Senior Software Developer at NCASS for three and a half years.

Michelle – HR Manager

Michelle has been at NCASS for over four years as HR Manager. Her background started in Customer Services before she moved into Human Resources where she has acquired over 30 years’ experience in supporting people.

Sarah Moss – Office Manager

Sarah Moss is Office Manager at NCASS and has been with the organisation for eight years. She spent over 14 years working in banking from 2003 to early 2018, before joining NCASS in March 2018 – and hasn’t looked back since!

Ryan McCloskey – Account Manager

Ryan has been an Account Manager on the NCASS Membership Team since February 2025.

Fiona West – Environmental Health Officer

Fiona is our in-house Environmental Health Officer, who supports our members with expert guidance on food safety, compliance, and best practice to help them run safe, successful businesses.