Vending Star Chamber

Star Chamber was the name given to an English Court of Justice during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, so named because of the star shape in the ceiling of the room in Westminster in which it met.

Published: 18 June, 2008

This month sees the launch of the Vending Star Chamber - a new initiative from Vending International designed to create a platform upon which a carefully selected and representative group of ten leaders from the vending industry will be invited to comment on important matters of the day to the vending industry, its specifiers and customers.

The ten individuals, nominated for their knowledge of and service to the UK vending industry, represent all sectors of the industry, will be invited, to give readers of Vending International the benefit of their knowledge, opinion and comment on matters of current importance.

Each subject for comment will be presented, usually in question form, either to the full Chamber or to a number of appropriate/interested members to comment upon in writing. This avoids the costs and time commitment involved in attending ‘round-table' meetings - helping everyone improve their carbon footprints.

The written responses will be collated into an important feature within the magazine. It is hoped to carry such a feature at three-monthly intervals - maybe more frequently.

Any readers of Vending International, members, suppliers or customers of the vending industry, or indeed members of the Vending Star Chamber itself, are welcome to submit interesting and topical subjects for comment to the Editor.

Members of the Vending Star Chamber

The distinguished members of the new Vending Star Chamber are:

Barry Bennett, current Chairman of the Automatic Vending Association
Carl Bjorkstrand, Managing Director of N&W Global Vending
Richard Gibson, European Marketing Director, MEI UK International
Susan Nash, Trade Marketing Manager with Kraft Europe and founder board member of Paper Cup Recovery and Recycling Group
Andy Porter, European Managing Director of Crane Merchandising Systems Europe
Kevin Reed, National Sales Manager, Siemens Financial Services
Charles Trace, Chief Operating Officer with Coffee Point Group, and past Chairman of AVA
Brian Tustain, Director of Associated Vending Services and AVA representative on the European Vending Association
Gary Unsworth, Managing Director of Aimia Foods, and past Chairman of AVA
Roger Williams, Managing Director of Coin A Drink, previous board member of AVA, founder board member of EVA and board member of Save A Cup Recycling Company.

On occasions, it may be felt appropriate to co-opt a further member(s), depending upon the subject under review.

Introducing the new Vending Star Chamber, John Sewell, Editor of Vending International, said: "I think that this is a great opportunity to present readers with opinion and comment from key players in the industry, whose experience and expertise are beyond question. I am very grateful to the ten members of the new Chamber for readily agreeing to participate in this initiative and look forward to some interesting features to come.

"Who knows? One day it might be feasible to stage a round table meeting of the Star Chamber in front of an audience from vending, perhaps alongside an exhibition or conference."

The first subject for discussion

The following pages contain the first Star Chamber feature, in which the Members were invited to talk about ‘AVEX 2009 and beyond' - the current situation regarding AVEX and perhaps the direction in which the event might be moving in the future.

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