The Team
Our team has a wide range of experience…
Sir Christopher Bland
is Chairman of Leiths School of Food and Wine Ltd and bought the company with Caroline Waldegrave in 1994. He is a former Chairman of the BBC and BT plc, and is Chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Canongate Books.
Caroline Waldegrave
is a Director of Leiths School of Food and Wine Ltd and was Principal of the School from 1975 to 2002. She is a former member of the Health Education Authority and past Chairman of the Guild of Food Writers. She was awarded an OBE in 1999.
Camilla Schneideman
was appointed Managing Director of Leiths in June 2008. A graduate of Leiths School of Food and Wine, Camilla went on to work in restaurants here and abroad before establishing the successful Café Divertimenti and Divertimenti Cookery School and the Lemon Tree Cookery School. Camilla has also published ‘The Divertimenti Cook Book’. She is responsible for the overall management of the School.
Claire MacDonald
is a graduate of Leiths School of Food and Wine. Claire worked at various restaurants before returning to Leiths to teach. She taught at the School for eight years before becoming Principal in 2007. Claire is responsible for the day to day administration in the kitchen and for the welfare of the students.
Alison Cavaliero
is Vice Principal and is responsible for the students’ future careers. She runs our employment agency Leiths List and runs the schools franchise scheme.
Charlotte Rouse
is the Financial Controller at leiths and is responsible for the day-to-day finances of the company.
Phil Elliot
is a senior teacher at Leiths. A former Diploma student at Leiths Phil went on to work in restaurants and later as a free lance caterer in and around the London area. He returned to Leiths in 2006 to teach full time.
Rob Cottam
is a Senior Teacher at Leiths and has been teaching here since 2006. On completing the Leiths Diploma in Food and Wine he has worked in the catering and restaurant industry both in the UK and Australia including Rhubarb Food Design in London.
Max Clark
completed the Diploma at Leiths School of Food and Wine and joined Leiths as a teacher in 1989, where she taught for 10 years, before becoming the Buyer for Leiths. She has written contributed to Leiths Cookery books. Max has co-written Leiths latest cookery book, Leiths Meat Bible with Susan Spaull.
Teachers
Leiths have a dedicated teaching staff of trained professionals with a wealth of expertise gained in the world of restaurants and commercial catering. Many are former pupils of Leiths. In addition, renowned chefs, cookery writers and Masters of Wine regularly demonstrate or lecture at the School