We have brought together talent from across the travel, food, retail and other complementary industries to deliver world-leading operational and business excellence. From our general managers on the ground to our board directors, our management are some of the most experienced specialists in the business; a truly international team of Food Travel Experts.
Simon was appointed Group CEO in 2019, having joined the business as CEO of the UK & Ireland division in 2014. Before joining SSP, Simon was at WH Smith for ten years, most recently as managing director of WHSmith’s travel division. During his tenure, the travel division expanded to more than 20 new international markets across Europe, India, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Simon has more than 20 years of experience in the retail and catering sectors, having begun his career at Fenwicks before moving to Allders Department Stores and then Safeway, where he worked in both commercial and marketing roles. He joined the travel division of WHSmith in 2004 and held the roles of trading director and chief operating officer before his promotion to managing director.
Simon holds a first class Economics honours degree from Leeds University.
Jonathan has been the Chief Financial Officer of SSP since its formation within Compass Group in 2004. Jonathan brings extensive financial experience to SSP and has spent over thirty years working within retail and FMCG companies.
Jonathan began his career in Unilever plc’s management development programme before joining OC&C, the strategic management consultancy, as a start up in 1987, where he was part of its rapid growth and development to become a leading international consulting firm. From 1995 to 2004 Jonathan worked for Safeway plc, where he was Finance Director on its Executive Board between 1999 and 2004.
Jonathan is a Non-Executive Director of Assura plc, where he is Senior Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee.
He holds a degree in Chemistry from Oxford University and an MBA from INSEAD Business School, France.
Jeremy Fennell is CEO of Continental Europe, which covers the Nordics, Frabel, DACH and Spain. He joined SSP in October 2019 as CEO of the Nordics region, from Dixons Carphone, the leading multichannel consumer electricals retailer. Jeremy spent four years as Managing Director of Carphone Warehouse, and was also responsible for international airport chain Dixons Travel.
Prior to this, Jeremy led the Dixons eCommerce business where he developed the multichannel offer for Currys, and also has experience working in the Nordics region, as Category Director of market leader Elkjøp, with more than 400 stores in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.
Mark is currently CEO of SSP’s Asia Pacific region which covers Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, China and India. He joined SSP in February 2012 as Chief Executive Officer of its UK and Ireland division and in April 2014 he was appointed Chief Commercial Officer for the SSP Group before taking on responsibility for the Asia Pacific region, and more recently, EEME.
Mark began his career in merchant banking with Schroders before moving into the FMCG pharmaceutical sector, working at ICI (now Astra-Zeneca) and Colgate-Palmolive in a variety of international marketing and then management positions. Mark then joined Greene King Pub Company as Managing Director and was a board member of Greene King PLC before spending four years as Chief Executive Officer of PizzaExpress Restaurants.
Mark holds a degree in modern languages from Cambridge University.
With 25 years’ experience in the food and beverage industry and with SSP America since 2014 as Chief Executive Officer, Michael Svagdis leads a talented team driven by an unparalleled passion for bringing cool, authentic restaurants to airports that reflect a taste of place. Michael’s tenure is marked by his ability to assemble a world-class executive team who have collectively driven dramatic corporate growth of 300% in annual revenues since Michael joined SSP America. The team simultaneously developed a unique corporate culture based on a set of highly embraced principles. Called the PASSION Principles, the Principles were imparted to each manager and employee during a continent-wide effort to unite the company around one set of ideals. The result has been a dramatic decrease in employee turnover and increased employee satisfaction.
Richard Lewis joined SSP in September 2019 from Greene King plc where he was Chief Operating Officer, leading 40,000 team members at the company’s c. 1,700 pubs, restaurants and hotels. Prior to this, Richard held a number of different leadership positions at Greene King over the eight years at the company, including Group Property Director, and Group Integration Director, where he led the integration of the Greene King and the acquired Spirit business in 2017, as well as various MD roles within the business. Richard also has significant international experience, having worked for seven years in New Zealand and managed a Sourcing Office in China. Richard was COO of the Warehouse, New Zealand’s largest non-food retail group, where he contributed to the modernisation and turnaround of the business and opened Australasia’s first hypermarkets. Before that, he held a variety of operational and commercial roles at both Sainsbury’s and Woolworths in the UK.
Helen joined SSP Group as General Counsel and Company Secretary in March 2007, and leads the Group legal team which she formed following her arrival at SSP.
Helen is a solicitor and has extensive experience in providing commercial legal advice at board and group-wide level, having previously been company secretary and general counsel for Gullane Entertainment (formerly The Britt Allcroft Company) and HIT Entertainment.
Helen holds a degree in law from Exeter University.
Sukh started his career in Granada Group, progressing to Finance Director of Granada Purchasing in 1995. In 1997 he was appointed Finance and Commercial Director, managing £500 million of spend per annum. Following the merger of Granada Group and Compass Group, he was then appointed Managing Director of Compass Purchasing in 2002, managing £1 billion of spend per annum, and joined the Compass UK Board.
In 2004 Sukh was appointed Group Commercial Director of SSP Group. Sukh’s core responsibilities include purchasing, cost management and supply chain as well as leading key commercial negotiations across major SSP territories.
Sukh is a qualified CIMA Accountant and holds a MBA from Oxford Brookes University.
Mark Smith is Chief Digital and Technology Officer and joined SSP Group in February 2018 as Group CIO. Mark is responsible for strategy and implementation of digital and technology solutions across the business.
Mark started his working life at Accenture and over a 10 year career worked at clients such as Selfridges, Dixons, Argos and Sainsburys. He then moved to M&S where he was Head of HR Transformation before joining Tesco where, as CIO for Asia, he had responsibility for technology across 2500 stores in Thailand, South Korea, China, Malaysia and India.
Mark holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Warwick.
Nathan joined SSP Group as Chief People Officer in July 2021 from Boots UK & Ireland, where he was Vice President for HR, sat on the UK&I Executive Team and was a senior member of the Walgreens Boots Alliance Global HR Leadership Team. In this previous role, Nathan led the HR function through an extensive program to improve its customer focus, capability and productivity, launching a Customer Service Model for Boots stores nationwide. He also led the Diversity and Inclusion agenda.
Prior to Boots, Nathan was Group HR Director for the Daily Mail Media Group, where he was responsible for HR strategy and delivery across the UK, USA, Ireland, Australia and India during a period of rapid global digital expansion. He has also held a number of senior HR roles at Morrisons Supermarkets plc, B&Q (part of Kingfisher plc) and PepsiCo.
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Sarah is Corporate Affairs Director at SSP Group, with overall responsibility for Communications, Corporate Responsibility and Investor Relations. Sarah joined the business in 2015 as Director of Investor Relations and was promoted to the Group Executive Team in 2021.
Prior to joining at SSP Group, Sarah was Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs for Compass Group PLC from 2003 until 2014. She has also held positions at ABN AMRO, including as Head of Equity Research, Dresdner Kleinwort Wassterstein and Price Waterhouse Coopers.
Sarah has a BA (Hons) Business Studies and is also a trained Executive Coach.
Miles is responsible for the Group Finance function, overseeing all of the Group’s financial reporting, financial planning and analysis and investment appraisal. He joined SSP in July 2006, and since then has gained extensive experience of the business through various roles in Group Finance and as CFO of the UK division.
Miles began his career by qualifying as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen, before moving into the food retail sector with Safeway plc, where he worked from 1992 to 2004 in a variety of finance roles. Immediately prior to joining SSP, he enjoyed two years as Group Financial Controller of Lastminute.com, the online travel and leisure business.
Miles holds a degree in law from Manchester University.
