Katy Thompson
Managing Director
Katy is the proud and passionate lead for Venues by CH&CO and this business is Katy’s world. Katy provides strategic support for our clients and a hands-on escalation point, bringing inspiring and creative input to the table through her genuine love of the industry. A foodie through and through and never short of a restaurant recommendation or two!
Andrew Bapniah
Operations Director
Andrew is ‘Mr Cool’ with a calm and confident presence. You will always find Andrew positive and willing to adapt, viewing each challenge as an opportunity to drive his business forward. Andrew’s experience and hands on approach inspires his teams to deliver world class service. Andrew has been granted the Freedom of the City of London by the Founders’ Company for his dedication and lifetime work in the City.
Jane Reid
Operations Director
Jane oversees a select group of our Venues including some of our most prestigious sites working with both government and royalty. Specialising in events operations and logistics, Jane has worked in the City for over 11 years building up extensive Livery knowledge and was previously General Manager at The Mansion House for 6 years before moving into Operations. Jane was a recipient of a Acorn Award in 2015 recognising the top 30 people in Hospitality under the age of 30.
Elaine Jackson
Operations Manager
Elaine has progressed her career in hospitality from starting as a apprentice chef with Springboard at Intercontinental Hotels to providing support and strategic management to a number of our prestigious central London venues. Elaine is driven to promote careers in hospitality and giving people support and opportunities to develop within CH&CO. Attention to detail and achieving results is part of Elaine’s DNA.
Emma Jones
Head of Venue Sales and Marketing
Emma brings over 18 years’ experience in hospitality sales and marketing, and leads the venues and central eve team in delivering on target and exceeding client expectations. Emma is driven by innovation, creativity and staying a few steps ahead of the competition. Maintaining an energetic and motivated team is at the heart of everything she does.
Lily Lubowitz
Group Sales Manager
Lily loves all things sales and events! Having worked at site level for multiple eve venues, Lily now supports the venues across the group, working closely with the sales teams to develop and deliver their strategic marketing plans. Lily is all about the detail and is passionate about using industry data to find insights and trends to fuel our marketing strategy and drive sales.
Rob Milligan
Executive Head Chef
Robert has many years experience with the events and hospitality industry and has won numerous awards over the years including leading TONIC to event caterer of the year in 2016. With Michelin experience Robert is as comfortable with small intimate dinners to large experiential events. Robert is a complete foodie who always has his finger on the pulse of the next big thing and is at his best when bringing that element of fun to client events.
Karen Poynter
Executive Head Chef
Karen is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Cooks of London and won the ‘Banqueting and Event Chef Award’ at the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards 2017. With over twenty years of experience, Karen is known for her ability to blend creativity with the precise formal traditions. Karen’s main ingredients are creativity, leadership, culinary genius and efficiency – all served with a significant portion of commercial astuteness and financial acumen.