Rachel Collins steps up to lead the next chapter for Ulrick + Short, the specialist functional ingredients supplier
Ulrick + Short, the specialist supplier of clean label and functional ingredients, has appointed Rachel Collins as Managing Director.
Rachel joined Ulrick + Short as Commercial Director in 2025, and her impact was felt quickly. Over the past year she has led a refresh of the company’s strategy and brought a renewed clarity of direction to the business, alongside a step change in its commercial performance. Her appointment as Managing Director is the natural next chapter, and reflects U+S’s parent group, Ingå’s, model of autonomous businesses led by exceptional people.
Rachel brings deep food and beverage manufacturing experience and a strong track record of building businesses around their people. She began her career in specialist powder blends before spending almost two decades as Managing Director of David Berryman, the specialist liquids manufacturer, where she led the business through its successful acquisition by The Hut Group (THG). Most recently she has worked as an industry consultant across the ingredients sector.
She takes the helm at an exciting moment. Over the past year Ulrick + Short has opened a new manufacturing and blending facility in Leeds, completed a rebrand, and expanded internationally through distribution partnerships with Nordmann across DACH and France and Prodotti Gianni in Italy. The appointment comes as Ingå itself continues to grow, building a group of market-leading specialty ingredients businesses across the UK and Europe.
Rachel said: “I’m incredibly proud to be taking on the role of Managing Director at Ulrick + Short. We have a fantastic team, a strong business and a huge amount of opportunity ahead of us, and I’m excited to build on those foundations and lead the next stage of our growth.”
Adrian Short, founder of Ulrick + Short and CEO of Ingå, said: “Ingå is a growing family of ambitious specialty ingredients businesses, and we are building at real pace. Rachel’s appointment says everything about how we do that: brilliant people, given real ownership, leading businesses they believe in. She has already made her mark on Ulrick + Short, the team is behind her, and I could not be more confident about where she will take it.”
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