The Shockingly Fresh story
Shockingly Fresh was founded by a team with experience of developing over 4GW of energy projects around the world, which has attracted over £3 billion of investment.
Our team is using this experience to help locate, develop and fund the large-scale Controlled Environment Agriculture projects that are essential to enable UK growers to compete in the fresh produce industry.
Our mission:
Providing end-to-end solutions to facilitate the transition to sustainable Controlled Environment Agriculture
Our values:
Integrity
Innovation
Sustainability
Performance
Reliability
Quality
Collaboration
Human Rights
Our Executive Team
Alan Baker - Managing Director
Alan has worked in the power sector for over 25 years. Previously he was the CEO of Airtricity (Scotland). Airtricity was sold in 2009 to SSE.
In 2010, Alan co-founded 2020 Renewables which was focused on the development, construction, and operation of onshore wind projects in the UK and raised funding in excess of £800m to support the construction of projects in UK and France. Alan led the team that sold a large French wind portfolio (under the name Velocita Energy) and several operational wind projects in the UK in 2016.
Alan is currently CEO of Forsa Energy Ltd, director of Ardgowan Distillery Company Ltd. and Non-Executive Director of Renewco Power Ltd.
Alan graduated as a Civil Engineer from the University of Glasgow and is a Chartered Engineer.
Gerard Van der Hut - Chief Operating Officer
Gerard has been involved in the horticultural industry for over 40 years and has spent 26 of those years as a grower specialising in leafy salad production and Controlled Environment Agriculture.
In 2006 Gerard joined global seed company Rijk Zwaan as their Leafy Crop Specialist for outdoor and indoor growers. He went on to become Managing Director for the UK subsidiary, driving the team forward and growing Rijk Zwaan’s UK market share substantially, enabling them to become market leaders in their field of expertise. During this time he acted as advisor for the UK Government’s Food Security Policy.
His desire, aligned with that of Shockingly Fresh, is to deliver an environmentally sustainable future for food production, not just in the UK but globally. Gerard is well known in the industry for his passion and knowledge of horticulture, together with his desire to learn, and he continues to support and advise the industry in an increasingly challenging time for food supply.
Garth Bryans - Chief Technology Officer
Garth helped found Shockingly Fresh and supported all aspects of establishing Shockingly Fresh, Abercromby Power and the Ardgowan Distillery Company, including the development of finance models, planning, and procurement. Previously at Aquamarine Power, Garth founded and managed a research consortium, bringing technology developers to jointly fund and research the development of power take-offs for wave power devices. The consortium attracted £1.5m of investment.
Garth has a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Power System Markets from Queens University Belfast and University College Dublin, an MSc in Applied Physical Oceanography and a BSc in Marine Biology and Oceanography, both from University of Wales, Bangor.
Pamela Sealey - Chief Legal Officer
Pamela is a Solicitor with over 10 years private practice experience in all legal aspects of securing the necessary rights for major infrastructure projects, acting for large scale developers and funders in the financing and acquisition & disposals of project portfolios.
Pamela has acted for Alan for the last 10 years across 2020 Renewables, Forsa Energy and the Ardgowan Distillery. As a trusted advisor, she was brought onboard to utilise her shrewd legal acumen and harness her experience in the development of major infrastructure projects.
Pamela has valuable previous experience in-house taking sites through selection, financing, construction and subsequent sale.
Alex Fisher - Director
Alex is the founder and CEO of Saturn Bioponics Ltd and has over the last six years raised finance for, (including six Innovate UK grant awards totalling over £1.1m) and managed the development of the Saturn system from theory to a commercial product.
Nick Mauro - Director
Also a Director of Valefresco, Nick operates farms in the UK and Italy. Valefresco’s operations include growing crops, picking, planting, packaging, and distributing directly to large supermarket brands across the UK. Valefresco has also successfully launched their own brand of bagged baby leaf, named “BABYFRESCO”. Nick has experience of using the Saturn Bioponics system as well as growing crops both in greenhouses and outdoors.
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