Pete Ritchie, Executive Director

Pete has a background in community development and social policy. As executive director, Pete is responsible with the board and staff team for focusing Nourish Scotland’s work where it can be most effective. This includes engaging with policy-makers and stakeholders as well as working for change from the bottom-up with grassroots groups. Pete is a first-generation farmer. For over 20 years he ran Whitmuir Organics with his partner Heather Anderson.

Jade-India Balmer, Research Coordinator (Public Diners)

Jade is a recent Msc History Graduate who joined the team in 2024. They have experience in heritage, culture, local and national politics and charity organisations. Jade is currently assisting in the ‘Public Diners’ project researching the history of British Restaurants of the 1940s, exploring its social legacy and its inspiration for Nourish. When she’s not getting lost in archive material and dusting books you can find her collecting and listening to 1980s new wave records or performing drag.

Anna Chworow, Deputy Director

Anna‘s background is in community development, systems thinking and third sector governance. She is interested in using thinking tools and participatory methods can help achieve lasting change. She joined Nourish in 2017. She supports development of long-term strategy and scopes new areas of work. When not at Nourish, you’ll find her lost is some form of creative pursuits or pottering around the garden.

Diana Carolina Garduño Jiménez, Senior Food Justice Officer

Diana (Dee-ah-nah) joined Nourish  in 2020. She coordinates work on non-hierarchical knowledge exchange in agroecology. She is also co-working with experts by experience to understand what meangingful public participation should look like under the Good Food Nation local food plans.  She is passionate about exploring what decoloniality means in practice within food systems and using creative methods such as arts-based practices and games in her facilitation. When she’s not working with Nourish you can find her dancing or having the slight suspicion that her sourdough starter might really be dead this time.

Simon Kenton-Lake, Senior Officer

Simon leads on Nourish’s work on food partnerships, bringing together public, private and third sector stakeholders to collaborate across local and regional food systems.  His background is in behaviour change responding to the climate emergency, including network support and effective partnership working. He is passionate about food and when not growing, eating or cooking, he likes to run up hills and sit in pubs.

Miesbeth Knottenbelt, Project Officer

Miesbeth joined our team in 2017 to manage the Making a Living from Local Food Programme. Currently the main focus of her work is  the Scottish Organic Stakeholders Group, the Scottish Food Coalition, a Cash First Project, and other bits and pieces.

Before joining Nourish, Mies worked for more than 20 years in universities setting up, researching and running staff- and student- teaching support; worked for The BikeStation promoting cycling in North Edinburgh for a while, and did a lot of telephone counselling for Parentline (Children1st). She has an active role in supporting Spokes The Lothian Cycle Campaign and keenly accompanies developments in the active travel (alongside the food and drink) policy worlds. Mies works part-time, generally over five long mornings.

Irina Martin, Project Officer

Irina co-delivers Nourish’s Dignity in Practice project. Her background is in community development, promoting healthy eating and social engagement. She is passionate about good food, building communities, the environment and social inclusion. She is an advocate for Zero Waste Scotland and works alongside other community organisations towards a fairer food system. She recently joined Nourish to work on the Dignity Practice project. She is from Bolivia but studied in Aberdeen and London, lived and worked in New Zealand, London, Inverness, Edinburgh, and currently Glasgow. Her graduate and post-graduate studies focused on gender, politics and social movements.

Lewis Borrowman, Finance and Data Officer

Lewis manages our finances and data, joining Nourish in late 2022. He is from Edinburgh and his academic background is in economics, moving on to work in Ethical Investment. He is passionate about working somewhere that makes a positive and material difference in the world. He also enjoys handling complicated spreadsheets and likes when things add up to zero. Outside of the workplace he is a long-suffering Dundee United and Scotland football fan.