A manager from Whitchurch's Grocontinental has received a prestigious European award which recognises outstanding leadership potential.

Commercial manager Ben Price was presented with the 2019 GCCA European Cold Chain Future Leader Award by the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) which represents all major industries engaged in temperature-controlled logistics across the world.

The award was presented to Ben by Corey Rosenbusch, president and chief executive officer of GCCA, and Doug Harrison, chairman of the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW), during the GCCA European Cold Chain Conference in Brussels, Belgium where more than 120 temperature-controlled logistics professionals gathered together to share experiences and best practices, build relationships and meet with industry suppliers.

"I’m extremely proud to be recognised as a future leader in the cold chain industry by receiving this award,” said Ben.

“This was an amazing experience for me, and I really appreciated the opportunity to learn, grow, meet new people and represent the company I work for.”

The GCCA Future Leader Award recognises talented young professionals who have the potential to become future leaders and make a positive contribution to the development of the global temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics industry.

Following a shortlisting process, Ben competed for the award with Andrew Lawrence, from Chesterfield. As part of the selection process, each nominee was interviewed and judged by a panel of industry leaders from around the world.

Candidates were evaluated on their knowledge level of the industry, track record of excellence, communication and leadership skills.

Having scooped the European award, next stop for Ben will be Chicago where he will compete with other young leaders from around the world for the global GCCA NextGen Award at the Global Cold Chain Expo, taking place June 10-12.

“GCCA is committed to recognising the next generation of leaders through the GCCA Future Leader and the GCCA Global NextGen Award programmes,” said Mr Rosenbusch.

“The emerging leaders within the Cold Chain never cease to impress me – Ben is respected as leaders among their peers and are examples of the quality talent that our industry possesses.”

Grocontinental is part of the AGRO Merchants Group.