Meet the 2025 Speakers

Darren Sanderson-Williams has been General Manager with Specsavers since March 2024. He was previously the Global Head of Leasing for Impress where he led site selection, negotiation and legals to lease in all seven markets. Darren is the Founder of Williams Harding Consulting working with start-ups, expanding and distressed businesses, primarily in retail and hospitality, but also outside of these sectors. In addition, he is Non-Executive Chairman of men’s skincare company Scrubd and a Trustee at Action 4 Youth. Darren has formerly held senior roles in several retail and hospitality businesses, including Hotel Chocolat and Unilever. He currently holds two ambassadorial roles, including Schools Role Model for Stonewall, and fundraising and awareness for Target Ovarian Cancer. Williams Harding also partners with a Bulgarian dog rescue centre.

Rowland Gee is CEO of The Shoklite Company, a revolutionary new urban cycling/scootering apparel and Director of AromaChimie, a company who supply nutrition for the farming, poultry and livestock industry. He was until recently the Chairman of The Board at Cell Workout Athleisure for the past four years. He is an experienced retail manager with over 35 years of public company experience in the retail, marketing and design sector – he was CEO of Moss Bros Group from 1989-2002 and helped develop Hugo Boss retail operations in the UK to 17 stores. With two co-authors, Rowland wrote The Retail Start Up Book published by KoganPage, which was released in 2019 and is specifically targeted at the retail start up community. He has also founded Grey4Gold.com (G4G) and has recently completed a contract to mentor retail businesses in Wales, and with Cherwell District Council, Shropshire Councils on re-invigorating town centres and on the restoration of the UK high streets

Sharaz Khan is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience across sales, operations, finance, and customer service in diverse roles and industries. Currently serving as Retail Operations Manager at New and Lingwood, he oversees logistics, store processes, and customer service strategies, driving operational efficiency and enhancing customer experiences across international locations. His prior roles include Store Manager at Reiss, Menswear Department Manager at Selfridges, and extensive tenure at Harvey Nichols, where he excelled in operational, financial, and departmental leadership roles.

Bunty Stokes was until recently the Managing Director of Pampeano – inspired by the rich heritage of unrivalled horsemanship and traditional leather work – Pampeano began by sourcing the finest leather polo equipment from local artisans before working closely with them to develop refined leather pieces that were unique, and inspired by the landscape and cherished artisanal techniques. She was prviously Consulting Managing Director at Asquith, eco activewear clothes for yoga. She was Managing Director of Sunuva from 2015-2020. Over the five years that Bunty was there, the company looked to leveraging the sales opportunity in ecommerce – not just in wholesale but to grow and develop the team around that, and scale up for future growth. Prior to that, she ran the UK business at Vente-Privee from 2009-2011, after which she set up her own consultancy firm and worked with companies including eBay and Cocosa. Bunty was previously Sales & Merchandising Director for Brandalley.co.uk from 2007- 2009 and also worked for TKMaxx owners TJX for five years from 2002- 2007, as a Senior Buyer and later as a Divisional Merchandise Manager.

As the former Managing Director of Rituals, Penny Grivea orchestrated the brand’s remarkable growth in the UK & Ireland, expanding its retail presence from 9 to 80 stand alone stores and forging strategic partnerships to amplify brand visibility. Her visionary and personal approach to team development and fostering an entrepreneurial culture led to Rituals’ emergence as a premier well-being brand through innovative marketing campaigns and exceptional customer service initiatives. With a proven track record of driving accelerated growth and profitability, Penny’s strategic acumen and passion for mentorship continue to make her a driving force in the industry as a Non-Executive Director and Board Member of NBCC. Prior to her tenure at Rituals, Penny held prominent positions at luxury retailers including Folli Follie, Selfridges, and Harrods, further solidifying her expertise in premium brand management and retail strategy.

Deborah Ormondroyd is Retail and People Director for a Bird & Blend Tea – a business committed to putting people first – which is why she is so passionate about her current role. Deb has always been a people focussed retailer, for over 30 years working across many categories from couture to wine. Previous to her current role, she was a Divisional Director for Majestic Wine, helping her team navigate a tricky few years, whilst trading through lockdown. Before that she was the HR lead across Europe for Cath Kidston. Leading through people is why Deb continues to love retail and to see how it evolves in the future – she has knowledge of leading teams in different countries and how to navigate everything that it throws at you!

Daniel Moylan is a Conservative peer and the House of Lords Opposition Front Bench spokesman on Transport. He has been involved in London and national politics since the early 1990s, with responsibilities particularly in respect of transport, infrastructure and public realm. Until recently he chaired the House of Lords Select Committee on the Built Environment. Lord Moylan was educated at the Queen’s College Oxford, was President of the Oxford Union in 1978 and served in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (principally in South Africa) before becoming an investment banker and later working as a consultant to the investment banking sector.

Raishma Islam has created over 2,000 couture and bridal gowns since 1998. In 2013, with the help from the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme-qualifying investment, she entered the ready-to-wear business, creating a range for the premium high street.

Tara Carlile-Swift is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Freckleface Home Fragrance, alongside her son Noah – the duo started the business from the kitchen table in 2017, when Noah was just 14. They have seen phenomenal growth since their humble beginnings and currently have five home fragrance retail stores, a coffee shop, online store and are stocked by over 850 garden centres/gift shops in the UK. Freckleface celebrated a fantastic year in 2023 – as well as seeing over 50% increase in sales across the business, they won Gift of the Year for their pick + mix wax melts, won Family Business of the Year at the Lincolnshire Business Awards and also became the licensee of home fragrance products for the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society, launching two ranges; heritage and botanics. As a business, this year the focus is on building the brand to be more recognisable on the high street and growing their high street customer base, to convert them to online or trade customers.

Luke Phillips started the role of IT Director at nail care brand Townhouse in June 2023, after serving as Programme Director Studio Retail since 2020. He was previously Head of IT at Kurt Geiger and IT Director at Crew Clothing Company. Luke is passionate about developing high performing IT organisations to meet the needs of growing consumer facing businesses.

James Rutter has been the Chief Creative Officer at COOK for the last six years, he was previously their Brand & Strategy Director for 14 years. Establised in 1997, COOK Trading produce award-winning, frozen meals and puddings, with values baked into everything they do.

Will Lockie is an experienced digital leader, with a strong track record of growing global premium brands, SME’s and private equity owned businesses, by building teams and products that deliver results. With 15 years in digital and 10 in retail, I find opportunities which unlock customer growth, drive sales and grow the bottom line. He is currently leading the transformation of the global digital function at NOBLE PANACEA and before that he was at Georg Jensen, where digital sales tripled since he joined. Previously, during his tenure at Evans Cycles, he doubled the share of the eCommerce business, which grew from 20% of total sales in 2010, to 40% in 2016.

Lucy Litwack is one of the most experienced executives in the global lingerie industry. With over 20 years’ international experience in lingerie and the retail world, she has managed a series of luxury and mainstream icon brands. Lucy has been CEO of Coco de Mer for the last 10 years, leading an MBO of the business in 2017. Under her leadership, Coco de Mer has grown from a niche business to a global luxury brand reaching new audiences and markets. Collaborations with Sotheby’s, Pamela Anderson, The V&A Museum and Helena Christensen amongst others have driven creative evolution, business growth and industry innovation. Prior to Coco de Mer, Lucy held director positions at brands including La Perla, New Zealand based lingerie business Bendon and Victoria’s Secret in New York in addition to developing and launching David Beckham’s Bodywear line.

Sanish Mondkar is the founder and CEO of Legion. He has over 20 years of leadership experience in products, technology, and cloud operations. Before founding Legion, Sanish was the EVP and Chief Product Officer at SAP with responsibility for all procurement and business network areas, representing over $1B of annual revenue.  Prior to SAP, Sanish was Chief Product Officer and EVP at Ariba, where he was responsible for the creation of several market-leading enterprise products, including the Ariba Network from the ground up, which is the largest business network in the procurement space. Sanish holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from Pune University and a Masters of Computer Science from Cornell University.

 

Rebecca Posner is an experienced behavioural psychologist and the Director of Inclusive Research at RiDC where she leads the delivery of their research programmes focused on understanding the barriers that disabled people face across society, and developing the solutions to address these. With over a decade of experience spanning government, academia, and the private sector, Rebecca has developed and led multidisciplinary research programs addressing critical challenges in future mobility and building a more inclusive society. She focuses on using innovative research methods and applying behavioural science to understand human behaviour as well as the needs and concerns of disabled people. Her work builds the actionable evidence that enables the development of the most relevant interventions to create inclusive products, services and policies

Robin Osterley is Chief Executive of the Charity Retail Association, the UK’s only trade organisation representing the interests of charity shops and their parent charities. He has extensive experience in membership associations, having previously spent 16 years as Chief Executive of Making Music, the UK’s leading association for amateur musical organisations, as well as a short time as Chief Executive of sports umbrella Supporters Direct. Alongside this management experience Robin has a longstanding background in lobbying and advocacy work, and he has been a representative on numerous Government and industry forums including the Music Business Forum and the board of ACEVO. He was also, with others, responsible for setting up the sector skills council for the creative and cultural industries, CCSkills.