Catherine Wakeman

Administrator and Credit Controller

Catherine is our administrative anchor-person: we rely on her as a safe pair of hands, making sure that things run smoothly behind the scenes.

She joined us after five years with a big insurance company. However before that, she had a richly detailed career in catering, with over twenty years in management rôles in pubs, restaurants, schools, staff canteens, retail bakeries and even prisons. So she does more than just track projects and payments: with her experience, she has a real insight into the challenges and opportunities within the industry, learned at the sharp end.

Key Skills

  • Office administration
  • Software skills – Word, Excel and various in-house systems
  • Financial management
  • Staff motivation and training
  • New Business Development
  • Hygiene and H&S for catering operations
  • Catering skills:
  • Grill chef
  • Front of house
  • Site manager
  • Area manager.

Having joined the prison service in the catering department, Cath became a fully trained Custody Officer, working with young offenders. Right now, she lives on a houseboat not far from the MYA offices. Both in life and work, Cath likes to step away from the ordinary, and take on a challenge.

  • The team, led by Carla McKenzie, were meticulous in every detail. They modelled the cleaning requirements to deliver the optimum solution for the facilities across EMEA, and really took time to understand the culture of our business. I have no hesitation in recommending MYA and its team – they are dedicated and innovative, and always go the extra mile.

    Natalia Ros Vargas, Office Team Leader, Booking.com
  • Carla and her team have broad experience in the industry. Apart from being very supportive in inventing (new) concepts, they also make use of their many years of experience when implementing these concepts. Their ultimate goal is to let people enjoy honest and good food.

    Marcel Bisselink, Owner, Daily Fresh Food, Galeen, Netherlands
  • Carla and her team worked tirelessly with us to ensure our very international and cross-cultural needs were met with great creativity and skill. They listened to us, responded to our needs and delivered above expectations.

    Angela Hencher, Director of Business Administration, Dulwich College, Shanghai Pudong
  • They are brave enough to challenge others in pursuit of the ultimate solution, whether it be behind the scenes with kitchen flow and catering management, or front-of-house service and design.

    Richard Russell, Catering Equipment Distributor Director, Western Blueprint
  • If all companies who serve the independent school sector had your breadth of vision and openness of mind, I have little doubt that the sector would be a richer and more exciting place to be.

    Phillip Godfrey, Bursar, Halliford School
  • During the negotiation process, Carla’s knowledge and expertise enabled our company to achieve a very strong commercial outcome, and some significant savings were yielded from the exercise.

    Penny Arnold, Commercial & Operations Director, Fusion Lifestyle