Our Team
Paul Gould, Group Executive Head Chef
Paul is Amadeus' Group Executive Head Chef covering all of our venues and events.
Paul’s passion and enthusiasm for food are well known throughout the chef world.
After training at Birmingham College of Food, Paul completed his apprenticeship in Zurich, London and on
the South Coast before joining the NEC in 1976 and making Amadeus his home.
Paul is well regarded as one of the most innovative chefs in the UK and has consistently been first
to market with new initiatives in event catering.
He is the only chef in Great Britain to have won a Gold Medal at the World Culinary Olympics,
The Banqueting Chef of the Year Award, The Grand Prix D'Honneur and The Arthur Hope Trophy at the
British Cookery Open Championships.
To this day this has not been achieved by anyone else.
Neil Ashton, Executive Chef, Olympic team
Neil Ashton leads our Olympic 2012 culinary team, developing concepts and ultimately is responsible for delivering our offer at the London 2012 Olympics at Olympic Park North. Prior to this Neil was Group Deputy Executive Head Chef of Amadeus. Neil has been with us for 22 years having previously held roles at Ettington Park and The Mortal Man Hotel in the Lake District and worked on events including the Rugby World Cup. An avid rugby fan, Neil coaches an under 15’s rugby team in his spare time and follows Leicester Tigers whenever he can.
Kevin Magee “Buzz”, Group Deputy Executive Head Chef
Kevin, more commonly known as “Buzz” has been with us some 28 years. Initially he joined “for a few weeks” whilst awaiting a visa to go and work in Singapore.
However weeks turned into months and luckily Buzz decided to stay with us! He worked his way up through the ladder and became Deputy Executive Chef in 2008.
A lot of Buzz’s time is spent on menu development and managing rotas.
However, whenever there’s a major event on you can be sure Buzz will be back at the helm in the kitchen doing what he loves best.
An experienced competition Chef, Buzz enjoys training and developing newcomers for the competition world.
That leaves us with just one thing; the question on everyone’s lips is “Why is Buzz called Buzz?” Apparently the name came from a character called Buzby in a 1970’s BT advert and it stuck!
Simon Hellier, Executive Head Chef, The ICC
Simon Hellier leads our team at The ICC Birmingham and has been based with Amadeus at The ICC since it opened in 1991.
Simon learnt his craft at The Plough and Harrow Hotel, Edgbaston (a former Egon Ronay hotel of the year).
Through hard work and long days he moved up the kitchen ladder to become one of the youngest ever ‘chef de partie’.
At just 22, Simon went on to work in a four star hotel as ‘sous chef’ and later had the pleasure of travelling the world working aboard Cunard Ship QE2.
A leading innovator in event catering and highly respected by both his event industry and Birmingham restaurant contemporaries, Simon is always keen to push boundaries and take things up a level.
Darren Proud, Senior Head Chef Events
Darren had always wanted to be a chef and started his career straight from school in Newcastle.
He eventually wound up as Head Chef at London’s Grosvenor House before deciding he
wanted more variety and headed to the NEC Group where he now heads up the Amadeus chef team.
When he’s not busy at work, Darren has two young daughters and is teaching them
the tricks of the trade. Find out more about Darren and his latest recipes
here