Rodney Hunt, 57, who has been managing director of the Today's Group since its formation in 1987 and who was chairman of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors from 2002 to 2006, has had a long association with the independent sector.

Hunt said the highlight of his time as chairman was the success of the FWD campaign against duty fraud. He was also chairman during the most momentous time in its history when it challenged Tesco's takeover of the Adminstore chain of c-stores. This began a sequence of events which led to the Competition Commission's investigation into the grocery industry.

Hunt was the first employee when Nisa-Today's was founded by Dudley Ramsden and Peter Garvin and in addition to running its wholesale arm he was in charge of the group's Central Distribution arm from its inception in 1985 until 1992, he lead its Central Buying Consortium (CBC) from 1994 to 1998 and launched the Foodservice division of Today's to allow greater focus on this specialised area of trading.

Rodney Hunt

Hunt commented: "I have a great passion for the independent sector and am a strong believer in its survival against the multiples. I have thoroughly enjoyed the past 26 years I have been with Nisa-Today's, working with Peter and Dudley and all of our members and am grateful for having worked with such a super team of people. However, there are things that I would still like to achieve in my personal life before I become much older and I look forward to having the time to achieve them when I retire next year."

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