Directors

Henry Amar - Chairman

Henry Amar graduated from St. John’s College, Oxford in 1960 and went straight into the family firm. He became its Sales Director in 1966, Managing Director in 1983 and Chairman in 1998.

Active in trade affairs, he was Chairman of the Delicatessen & Fine Food Association (DAFFA) on three separate occasions. He is also active in community affairs.

Married, with two sons, Henry Amar’s interests include cricket – which he played for 50 years – reading and walking. He is an Arsenal supporter and a lousy golfer.

David Mellor - Chief Executive

David's love affair with the UK food trade began 27 years ago as a totally inexperienced salesman who was launched on an unsuspecting bunch of buyers in the North of England to sell them Dutch butter and cheese. A brief alliance with the edible oils industry gave way to the opportunity to pioneer the sale of Continental canned vegetables in the UK. After six years doing this, and a further three years working for the Cirio Company, David joined RH Amar in September 1987, where he has been responsible for developing a wide range of fine food products.

Born in Preston, Lancashire in 1952, David has long since outgrown his long involvement with the playing of Rugby Union, settling now for advising referees on the error of their ways – qualification for which was achieved entirely in the front row of various scrums at Blackburn RUFC, Preston Grasshoppers RUFC and Henley RUFC.

David's passion for walking and woodlands, grubbing in hedgerows, and sandy beaches generally, led him to take up golf where he has been able to indulge each passion regularly.

With his wife - Sylvia- two children - Adam and Sonya - and two grandchildren – Sacha and Alex – there is little hope for an early retirement and as such any further personal details will be available on subsequent updates of this page!

Tim Brady - Operations Director

After studying business, finance, marketing and business law at college, Tim joined the supermarket group Safeway. He spent eight years within their supply chain working on numerous ground-breaking projects such as 24-hour ordering and consolidated warehousing. Many of these initiatives have become standard practice within the trade.

In 1996 he left Safeway to work for the Food Brands Group who supply product from around the world to the UK market. He became a Board Director in 1999 and has been an officer of the Distribution Consortium and member of the Institute of Logistics.

Tim joined RH Amar in December 2000 to look after Customer Services, Buying, Logistics, Warehousing, Stock Control and I.T. He continues to have a keen interest in the workings of UK supermarkets so is well worth avoiding at dinner parties!

Tim cannot remember if it was RH Amar’s innovative and forward thinking attitude, passion for fine foods or the promise of a place in the middle order batting line-up of the Amar cricket team that convinced him to join up!

Happiness is his family (Debbie and children Rosie, Freddie and Bertie). Depression comes from his support for Bristol City Football Club and English Cricket. He still attempts to keep fit and play football, cricket and golf, in the vain hope of a belated England call-up!

Paul Tuhrim - Finance Director

After 10 years in the profession, Paul left in 1989 and became Finance Director of GET PLC, a distributor of cables, flexes and electrical accessories. Sustained growth led to a stock exchange flotation in 1995 but in 1998 Paul left to join Cromwell Group Services PLC, specialists in office and industrial contract cleaning who were considered to be one of the fastest growing companies in the UK. The company expanded rapidly mostly by acquiring a number of businesses within the same sector. 2½ years later, Paul was approached by RH Amar’s auditors to assist with the implementation of the company’s computer system.

After successfully going live Paul joined the board of directors in July 2001 and he is now responsible for a department of 5 that manages all aspects of financial accounting, reporting and credit control. He is married with 3 children, a keen sportsman and has outside charitable interests.

April Muers - Business Development Director

Born in Nottingham, April's early years involved learning dance, singing and acting at a stage school, as well as travelling and living abroad with her parents. In her later studies, she majored in Business Studies, Marketing, Finance, History and Journalism. She worked in journalism for a while before accidentally finding herself in Sales!

Her career in the food industry started with Mars. Since then she has worked for many well-known companies, including Courage, RHM, Tobler Suchard, and Veetee Rice. Her last role before joining RH Amar was as Sales & Marketing Director for Maple Leaf Foods.

As Business Development Director, April is responsible for the retail business, including discounters and convenience, and for both branded and private labels, the latter being an increasingly important and successful area. She also controls the Company's technical imput.

Outside work, April likes to relax by running, riding and kick-boxing. She enjoys reading and foreign travel.

Simon Fry - Marketing Director

In his school days, Simon was interested in many sports, but found the most appealing to be target rifle shooting - because it required him to lie down and move as little as possible. In this comfortable position, he went on to become Vice Captain for the Great Britain under 19 team, shot for Guernsey in the Commonwealth Games, and he gained his colours from University.

Simon left Exeter University wih a BSc (Hons) in Physics and joined Cable & Wireless on their graduate training scheme. A stint in their Marketing department confirmed his desire to pursue a career in marketing.

Working as Brand Manager for Percol Coffee and Export 33 Beer, two of his most consumed beverages, confirmed Simon's interest in the food industry.

He then joined Cafédirect as their Product Development Director where he launched Teadirect into the UK multiple trade.

Before joining R.H. Amar Simon completed his MBA from Durham University. At R.H. Amar he has responsibility for the profitable growth of the Company's brand portfolio and manages the commercial relationships with suppliers.

Simon is married with two children and has recently taken up golf, which he finds hard going as there is not enough lying down.

Maureen Amar - Non-Executive Director

Maureen joined the Company in 1996. Her background is in social and market research and was a Board member of NOP Research between 1987 and 1995.

It took Maureen a long time to decide to join the family firm. After graduating in 1966, her father offered her a job, which she declined on the grounds that she wanted "to work with people, not with tins". The next job offer came from her brother, 30 years later, and was graciously accepted.

Her years at RH Amar have been spent partly in PR and marketing and partly as Customer Services Manager. Since joining the Board in 2004, she has been working on special projects, including the Company's Investor in People accreditation.

Outside work, she enjoys the London theatre and opera scene, swimming, and cultivating the garden with her husband, Richard.

Rob Amar - Director

Rob can't quite remember when he first worked at R.H. Amar, but thinks it was stuffing envelopes in our old offices in Raans Road in the late 1980s. His first paid job for the Company came in December 1992, where as an enthusiastic 16 year old, he helped out in the warehouse during the busy pre-Christmas period.

Rob continued to supplement his beer fund by working during his lengthy student holidays, but after graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in Modern Languages, Rob entered the exciting world of the dot.com boom as a Research Associate for Forrester Research, writing strategy reports on online financial services.

After 18 months, Rob realised he was more interested in food than IT systems, and joined the business full time in October 2001. Rob started in the Supplier Liaison department, which evolved into Product Marketing. Since then he has spread his wings to other areas of the business, and joined the Board in April 2008.

Outside work, Rob spends the winter watching Arsenal FC, and the summer playing cricket for Coleshill CC. Now a married man, Rob expects to be doing a bit less of both!