Leah Mathias-Collins

Group Environment Manager

Leah's story

The environmental drive of the company is fantastic

What is your full name and job title?

I’m Leah Mathias-Collins and I am the Group Environment Manager for Vitacress.

How long have you been with Vitacress?

I joined Vitacress in 2015

Tell us a bit about your role within Vitacress?

Over my eight years with Vitacress, I have undertaken many responsibilities. These include ensuring legal compliance, working with site colleagues to ensure they understand environmental responsibilities and how they impact their roles, and engaging with customers to ensure we are aligned with our environmental ambition. When I first started working for the Company, I covered the UK operations, but more recently, my role has extended to cover the Group – UK, Portugal and Spain. My main responsibility is the management and delivery of the Vitacress environmental sustainability plan, Second Nature. I am brand ambassador for environmental sustainability, lead the net zero Science Based Targets initiative, maintain awareness of current legislation and emerging issues, and manage their implications.

From the farmers and operations teams, to the engineers and our leadership team - everyone is focused on driving forward our sustainability agenda.

What does a typical day look like for you?

There is no typical day! I can be wading through the river at one point monitoring water quality, to sitting at a desk and ensuring our legal permits are fully compliant to monitoring bees and butterflies with our farmers to sharing our environmental achievements with our customers.

What do you like about working for the Company?

I really enjoy working across a diverse set of departments, from food safety to engineering.  The range of experiences and knowledge is inspiring, and the environmental drive of the company is fantastic.

What do you think about the culture of the business?

I am very proud all of my colleagues here at Vitacress.

From our watercress farmers for their enthusiasm in trialling new ways of farming, including phosphate trials and moving water through different systems, such as settlement ponds and wetlands.

To our engineering and operations teams who are always coming up with new and better ways of processing our salads.

To our leadership teams who drive forward our sustainability agenda to ensure we continue to have a thriving and resilient business.

All of their passion and knowledge for their trade and their care for the environment in which they work is commendable.

What’s your background?

I am a Chartered Environmentalist with a degree in Wildlife Conservation and a full member of Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA).

What would you say to a new person just about to join the Company?

Come and give it a try – you’ll meet some lovely people and learn a lot.

Other stories

Julie Nilssen-Francis

Raw Material Planner - Procurement, Vitacress Herbs

I started on a Graduate Programme in September 2021, and was meant to stay on the programme for two years rotating across four different parts of the business. However, I was offered a permanent position during my first placement, and ended up moving into an R&D Coordinator position in January 2022.

Simon Hues

Production Director, Vitacress Portugal

I have always enjoyed working on the farms with the growers in all geographies, a great team of grounded people. Baby leaf is fast moving and I have a lot going on all the time. This is one of the most intensive forms of outdoor farming, which you get a bit of a buzz from.

Vânia Santos

Supply Chain Planning Manager, Vitacress Portugal

I started working in Vitacress in 2001 in reception and expedition of produce. Back then, we only had the export business. After 2 years, my role was expanded and I also started doing quality control on the reception warehouse.

Madalina Brutu

Process Improvement Coordinator, Vitacress Salads

I joined in September 2018 working a few days a week with no real plan. Since then, I’ve worked in a quality auditor role and after three years, having built up my experience and understanding of the business, I moved to a process improvement role to progress my career with Vitacress.

Nathaniel Wood

Harvest Supervisor – Mullens Farm

I spent 18 months working across various parts of the business within the growing/agronomy teams and on the farms. I worked on projects, many of which focused on our Second Nature priorities as we work towards net zero. For over a year now, I’ve worked at Mullens farm in Wiltshire managing the harvest team and getting involved in as many projects as possible.