David Gleave
David Gleave MW, the founder of Liberty Wines, one of the UK’s leading wine importers, started his journey in wine while working in hospitality in the early 1980s. After working in pubs in Dublin, he moved to London where he became the wine manager for a restaurant in Clerkenwell Green. He moved from there to retail in the mid-1980s, working with Nicolas Belgrage MW, and together they built the importing arm of Winecellars into the UK’s leading specialist in Italian wines. Gleave started Liberty Wines with his wife in 1997, primarily as an Italian specialist selling to the on-trade. Today, Liberty Wines imports from about 400 different producers in 26 countries. Liberty Wines has been named Educator of the Year at the International Wine Challenge (the wine trade’s Oscars) for the past seven years for the work it does in education, and particularly for the creation of the Liberty Wines Academy.
Neville Abraham
After spells in government and management consultancy, Neville founded Group Chez Gerard, as well as several other wine and restaurant businesses in London. More recently he has supported other entrepreneurs as non-executive Chairman of their enterprises. He believes that people working in hospitality have a great future. Through his charitable foundation Neville now supports a number of philanthropic projects to help young people. Together with a number of trusted colleagues he founded Jupiter Restaurant Scholarships in order to develop future leaders and managers for the UK restaurant industry. He loves good food and wine, classical music and opera, and identifying and developing talented people.
Michael Gotllieb
A successful entrepreneur with an established record of founding or managing various restaurant groups. These have included My Kinda Town Ltd, Smollensky's Restaurants, Christopher's and Rocket. He is extremely well connected and respected in the industry with specialisms in sales, marketing and training. He now advises a range of hospitality organisations from restaurants to hotels to drive growth and resilience.
Meet The Founders
John Lederer
A restauranteur to his very core, John's career spans “eat as much as you can" buffets to two Michelin stars and quite a lot in between, such as Brasserie Blanc, City Centre and MW Eat. He now cherry-picks interesting projects as well as mentoring people who work in the industry. He believes the Jupiter Restaurant Scholarship is a chance to successfully introduce others to an industry that has been hugely rewarding for him. When not at work, he enjoys cooking and tries to catch up on all the books he hasn't managed to read over the past 40 years!
Debby Jelffs
Debby fell into the hospitality business but went on to develop a career both in restaurant management and HR. She started her management career at Tuttons and then became the first female Manager at Cafe des Amis. Debby later moved to Groupe Chez Gerard, starting as Operations Director and then HR Director. She joined MW Eat as HR Director, where she still currently works. Her passion is to train and develop young people in the career she has personally enjoyed so much. Debby is delighted to be part of the Jupiter Restaurant Scholarship Scheme which she recognises will help others, like her, develop a career which is both rewarding and fun.