Jonathan Doughty

Jonathan Doughty has been in the foodservice industry for over 45 years, starting his career in a public house in Nottingham, England, aged 14. He earned his first wages sorting glass bottles and it was from this early age that he fell in love with food & beverage.

Jonathan trained as a chef and then a professional hotel and restaurant manager, completing his craft qualifications. This was followed by a Diploma and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Foodservice Management.

Following time with Imperial Inns and Taverns, Trusthouse Forte, Whitbread, Mars, Masterfoods and Marriot, Jonathan embarked on a consulting career, working on the first UK food courts, transit catering and inflight foodservice.

In 1993, Jonathan started Coverpoint, the foodservice consulting business. The company expanded over 26 years, delivering projects in over 50 countries.

Jonathan became known as a leading thinker in his industry. He remains connected at the highest level with foodservice leaders and businesses across the world and with airport owners and operators, and property owners and managers.

In 2014 Coverpoint was sold to JLL, the New York Stock Exchange-listed professional property services business. Jonathan joined ECE as Global Head of Foodservice in 2017 and is now a consultant for the firm, as well as providing services to a number of other companies and locations. He is currently engaged at Vienna Airport, Austria as the Food & Beverage consultant assisting with the Southern Extension development and tendering process.

Susan Gray

Susan Gray is a Managing Partner of airport commercial planning and strategy consultancy Concession Planning International (CPI). Susan has over 25 years’ experience in the airport industry, starting her career as an airport journalist, working for travel F&B operator SSP in global communications and business development roles, and for the past 15 years as a highly respected consultant to airports worldwide.

CPI are global experts in optimising commercial revenue for airports in existing terminals and new developments. On planning projects, they work with airport commercial teams, partners and stakeholders to identify optimal commercial space requirements, provide optioneering on mix, layouts and flow, and develop valuations of the opportunities. They also provide strategic, tactical and practical support when taking opportunities to market, from developing the leasing strategy to support with documentation and evaluation.

CPI has worked on hundreds of airport projects worldwide, with clients including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Denver International Airport, Sydney Airport, the new Istanbul Airport, Manchester Airport Group, Keflavík Airport, Perth Airport, Wellington Airport, Launceston Airport and many more.

CPI also runs popular bi-annual airport commercial development and management courses, providing intensive professional development opportunities in this highly specialised area.

Susan is based in Sydney, Australia.

Nick Goddard-Palmer

Nick Goddard-Palmer is a results-driven executive with 17 years of experience in international airport retail and hospitality. He has managed and developed multi-million dollar commercial businesses to award-winning success and ensured exceptional service and guest experiences.

Nick’s commercial strategy projects include CEO of DDFS at Indira Gandhi International airport and project development manager for Aer Rianta Middle East. He was instrumental in creating the impressive F&B programme at Hamad International Airport, which won SKYTRAX 5th World’s Best Airport for Dining in 2017. With over 25 years of international experience, Nick specialises in retail and hospitality management, project management, and business strategy.

Nick Inkster

Nick Inkster spent his entire career in hospitality. The last 26 years of that career were in various senior positions with SSP, where he was a member of the group’s Executive Committee for 16 years, responsible for businesses across the globe.

Instrumental in helping plan the first-ever FAB awards in 2011, he has been an active supporter ever since. In 2019 he retired, and received a FAB award himself for his outstanding career contribution to airport F&B. Since then he has acted as a judge of the awards, and he retains a close interest in travel retail.

“There is so much that is new and exciting since the last FAB awards, and I’m really looking forward to seeing this year’s submissions.” he says. “Judging gets harder every year and that reflects how innovative and vibrant our sector is.

Robert Shepherd

Robert Shepherd is an expert in aviation catering, inflight retail and airport F&B. He has over 35 years’ experience leading all aspects of aviation services – from mergers and acquisitions to marketing, business development and new product innovation.

​Having held executive leadership roles across Europe and the USA, Robert has a strong, pragmatic approach and displays resilience to the challenging climate in fiercely competitive markets.

​Robert is adept at building excellent working relationships, defining strategic objectives and striving to achieve ambitious targets set by competitive businesses.

​​He supports the clients of The Hayward Partnership, leveraging the following skills sets: executive leadership; expert witness representation; contract negotiations; mergers and acquisitions; and financial management/forecasting. He is also skilled in contract management; market analysis; strategic planning; supply chain management; brand scheduling; and culinary NPD; as well as stakeholder management; resource management; equity financing; change management; and business transformation and mentoring.

Robert’s Airport food & beverage experience encompasses accountability at Board level in Sweden, Bulgaria, Romania and Italy.

Kevin Zajax

Kevin Zajax is CEO of Trippas White Group, delivering premium dining experiences at over 150 locations across Australia. Kevin also serves as Director of a number of businesses, including Australia’s leading stadia and airport advisory business, Ground Control Global. This is Kevin’s 5^th year on the judging panel for FAB.

Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie created The Moodie Davitt Report (then called The Moodie Report) in 2002, driving it to prominence from a start-up to the leading provider of business intelligence for the travel retail and airport commercial revenue sectors. He also conceived The Trinity Forum and the Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards.

A New Zealander, now based out of London and Hong Kong, Moodie has been involved in this industry for 37 years. From 1992 he was Editor and, from 1996, Managing Director of Duty-Free News International.

In 2002 he took the fateful decision to step out on his own and develop travel retail’s first digitally led media and business intelligence service. Within two years The Moodie Report was market leader, a position it has since strengthened.

Today The Moodie Davitt Report ranks as one of the world’s most successful business-to-business multimedia titles, enjoying strong readership and respect levels all around the globe. It has embraced the digital age with zeal and is synonymous with innovative, immediate and highly visual coverage of major industry developments. In 2017, Martin Moodie received the Frontier Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry.

Nick Inkster

Nick Inkster spent his entire career in hospitality. The last 26 years of that career were in various senior positions with SSP, where he was a member of the group’s Executive Committee for 16 years, responsible for businesses across the globe.

Instrumental in helping plan the first-ever FAB awards in 2011, he has been an active supporter ever since. In 2019 he retired, and received a FAB award himself for his outstanding career contribution to airport F&B. Since then he has acted as a judge of the awards, and he retains a close interest in travel retail.

“There is so much that is new and exciting since the last FAB awards, and I’m really looking forward to seeing this year’s submissions.” he says. “Judging gets harder every year and that reflects how innovative and vibrant our sector is.

Kevin Zajax

Kevin Zajax is CEO of Trippas White Group, delivering premium dining experiences at over 150 locations across Australia. Kevin also serves as Director of a number of businesses, including Australia’s leading stadia and airport advisory business, Ground Control Global. This is Kevin’s 5^th year on the judging panel for FAB.

Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie created The Moodie Davitt Report (then called The Moodie Report) in 2002, driving it to prominence from a start-up to the leading provider of business intelligence for the travel retail and airport commercial revenue sectors. He also conceived The Trinity Forum and the Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards.

A New Zealander, now based out of London and Hong Kong, Moodie has been involved in this industry for 37 years. From 1992 he was Editor and, from 1996, Managing Director of Duty-Free News International.

In 2002 he took the fateful decision to step out on his own and develop travel retail’s first digitally led media and business intelligence service. Within two years The Moodie Report was market leader, a position it has since strengthened.

Today The Moodie Davitt Report ranks as one of the world’s most successful business-to-business multimedia titles, enjoying strong readership and respect levels all around the globe. It has embraced the digital age with zeal and is synonymous with innovative, immediate and highly visual coverage of major industry developments. In 2017, Martin Moodie received the Frontier Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry.