Howard Wilkinson

Website: http://www.ayrshirefoodnetwork.co.uk    Twitter: howardfarm    

Howard Wilkinson has had a wide range of business management, marketing and selling experience, both in the UK and internationally. He spent 22 years working and learning in large companies including Mars, Black and Decker, Chase Manhattan Bank and British Aerospace. He then joined the real world of small and micro business in 1994 when he set up a business development organisation - Howe Associates - to engage in collaborative rural business activities. Together with his wife he also set up Petrie Fine Foods in 1998 to produce vegetarian and latterly gluten free food, which is sold primarily at farmers’ markets or directly to consumers.

He has been involved in running farmers’ markets in Scotland since their inception, and has with others created a 60 strong Ayrshire Food Network involving both producers and providers. This has been in operation since 1993 and is linked into the Slow Food movement. For 4 years he championed the cause of local food and tourism within the Tourism Innovation Group in Scotland, and his current areas of activity and interest include business mentoring, and leadership for regeneration of rural areas.

He is a Chartered Marketer, gained an MBA from Cranfield where he specialised in field service operations and motivation, and has worked as a tutor for Cambridge Marketing College for the last 5 years. He lives and works from farmhouse in Ayrshire with the help of wi-fi broadband, and relaxes watching the varied wildlife that surrounds his home.

Courses taught by Howard Wilkinson

• CAM Diploma in Marketing Communications