Alumni Board

Nik Basran, Class of 1998: President of the OWA

Nik left Cheadle Hulme School in 1998 to complete a degree in German and Management at the University of Leeds. Following a short stint travelling he joined his family business, The Authentic Food Co., in 2003.

Nik is now CEO of The Authentic Food Co. He is a second generation family business leader, taking over the company from his parents, who started the company from their kitchen in 1985 when Nik was 5 years old.

His biggest challenge to date has been buying out the family business during a recession in 2008, while his biggest achievement was launching the Beyond Meat brand in the UK & Ireland in 2018 and doubling the sales every year since. Beyond Meat is the largest plant based meat company in the world based in LA and is backed by Bill Gates and Leonardo di Caprio among others.

Nik employs 200 people in his Manchester head office and is proud to work with the Manchester United Foundation supplying food to 26 schools around the Greater Manchester area. Building on the work started by Marcus Rashford’s school meals campaign, last Christmas The Authentic Food Co. provided 65,000 meals and plans to do much more in the future.

At CHS Nik was Captain of the First XV Rugby team. Since leaving he has returned to the School to speak to pupils about his journey in business.

Amanda Newman (Wardle), Class of 1992: Chair of the Alumni Board and 1990s representative

“Mrs Ellison, my maths teacher always believed in me which resulted in me going on to do a degree in maths & computing. This set me up for my career in tech. My first post-graduate role was at IBM, followed by 21 years at Shell, then Microsoft, and on to my current role at Accenture. I set up The Career Mum, a global community of over 6,000 members to support and empower women, and am also keen to attract more women into tech roles.

My CHS was a home away from home. I was a Boarder and us kids looked after and supported each other. Even though I wasn’t an A* student, I left as a well-rounded individual armed with social skills and a strong network.”