Meet the Speakers

Sara Duxbury is a business psychologist, executive coach, and founder of Blooming Potential. With nearly 15 years’ experience in the retail, professional services and public sectors, she specialises in helping individuals, teams and organisations to unlock their potential through accessible, tailored coaching and development solutions. Known for her people-first approach and practical insight, Sara is passionate about making personal and professional growth achievable for everyone.

Helen Dickinson leads the team and sets the strategic direction of the BRC. She joined in January 2013 and has been working with retailers for over 25 years. In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for Services to Retail. Helen is passionate about diversity and inclusion in retail, acting as the BRC’s Social Mobility Commission ambassador; participating in the Timewise Innovation Unit, looking to support more flexibility in jobs, particularly at senior levels; supporting the Everywoman Retail Ambassadors Programme; and having previously been the Chair of Working Chance, a charity helping women offenders find employment. Helen believes retail can make a strong contribution to communities, and is also on the advisory board for Pennies, a charity which offers digital charity boxes to businesses. Helen was previously UK Head of Retail at KPMG, driving and developing the retail practice and leading relationships and audits for many clients.

As Chief Executive of the Retail Trust, Chris Brook-Carter has been a passionate supporter, advocate and champion of UK retail across his entire career. Prior to joining the Retail Trust in May 2020, he was the Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Retail Week and the World Retail Congress. Chris led these brands, as editor in chief or more recently as MD and SVP for ten years, transforming the business from a weekly print title, into a digital-first information and global events brand that continues to sit at the heart of global retail by delivering on its mission to inform, connect and inspire the leaders that continue to colour this great sector. He is a passionate campaigner for the positive impact of retail on the UK economy as well as a leader in the fight for diversity in business, having been recognised by both the Women’s Business Council and Management Today as an agent of change by fighting for gender equality in business leadership.

Stuart Lawrenson is leads the Shoosmiths’ Solent Employment Team and is also Head of the Solent Office. As an experienced, strategic, solutions focussed partner, he provides commercial, pragmatic advice to a range of national and international clients across a broad range of sectors on all aspects of employment law. He is known for his pragmatic, no-nonsense approach and for helping clients navigate employment law issues from complex disciplinary and grievance matters to and discrimination matters. Stuart has regularly appeared in  Tribunal, where he has secured successful outcomes for both employers and employees, including costs awards and high-value settlements. He has a particular interest in the Consumer and Retail sector and leads the sub-group having acted for numerous clients in the retail secor for a number of years including a number of high street names. This interest has resulted Stuart developing a specialism providing advice regarding national minimum wage queries and he has supported a number of clients through complex HMRC national minimum wage investigations. Stuart is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Jo Causon joined The Institute of Customer Services as its CEO in 2009, where she has driven membership growth by 150 percent and established the UK Customer Satisfaction Index as the country’s premier indicator of consumer satisfaction, providing organisations with an indicator of the return on their service strategy investment. Jo focuses on demonstrating a clear link between employee engagement, customer service strategies and organisational performance. Working across the public, private and voluntary sectors she provides strategic advice to Boardrooms to raise the standards of service provided by UK organisations and to provide evidence of the connection between customer satisfaction and operational efficiency and profitability.

Stephen Wyeth is a leading junior with a specialist employment law practice at 3PB Chambers. He was appointed a fee paid Employment Judge in 2009 and sits in the Watford Employment Tribunal. Stephen is particularly experienced in high-value claims involving discrimination (with emphasis on disability and maternity issues) and is highly knowledgeable in all forms of detriment and unfair dismissal complaints, especially those involving allegations of whistleblowing. He frequently appears, and succeeds, in complex lengthy multi-day trials.  He also has notable experience in cases involving employment status.  In addition, he regularly undertakes TUPE work, usually with multiple respondents. Stephen acts repeatedly on behalf of a number of large organisations including NHS Trusts, Local Authorities and Blue Chip companies. Prior to transferring to the Bar in June 2010, Stephen practised as a solicitor for ten years following his qualification in 1999 and offers an advanced level of service in all areas of employment law.

Mathew Dutton is Chief People Officer at Space NK. After supporting the business through their high-profile acquisition by US powerhouse Ulta Beauty in 2025, he was permanently appointed in his executive role and is responsible for leading the people and culture strategy for the business during its sustained high growth across the UK and IRE. Mathew has extensive experience as a HR practitioner in PE backed high growth consumer businesses (retail and tech), spending a number of years with Charlotte Tilbury Beauty during its rapid global expansion and majority stake acquisition by Puig, a multi-brand international retail portfolio holder. He has also worked with other brands such as Stella McCartney, Superdrug and Gumtree & Motors/Cazoo. Since joining Space NK in early 2025, Mathew has developed a new scalable people agenda to support commercial aims, growth and performance, with a targeted investment on people growth and development, people technology and employee experience.

Jane Clifford is the People Director for Brewers Decorator Centre, the largest independently owned decorators’ merchants in the country. Brewers has been trading since 1904 and employs more than 1800 colleagues to provide a range of products and expert advice for both trade and retail customers. She has more than 25 years’ experience in HR, in a variety of sectors including professional services, construction, manufacturing and retail. Her current remit includes HR, recruitment, learning and payroll. Jane is passionate about inclusion, equality and creating a workplace in which colleagues can be happy. Jane is always striving to balance the commercial and compassionate drivers within HR, so the department is seen equally as adding value and caring about every colleague.

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!

Jo Bracegirdle is Head of People at Bravissimo, where she leads a team responsible for business partnering, recruitment, employee relations, performance and talent, people systems, payroll and benefits. With HR experience spanning the pharmaceutical, automotive and FMCG sectors, she brings a broad commercial perspective to people and culture. Since joining Bravissimo in 2018, Jo has played a key role in evolving the People function and is passionate about extending Bravissimo’s uplifting experience to more women by creating an inclusive, engaging culture where people can thrive and do their best work.

Liz Jewitt-Cross is the Founder of Future HR and Advisory Partner to the internationally acclaimed and award winning The Coaching Solution. Through her multi-industry career, she has supported over 40 of the UK’s best loved brands, including Sainsbury’s, American Express, National Lottery, Mosaic/Aurora Fashions, Joules, Jaeger, New Look, Pets at Home, Co-Op Lincolnshire, McArthurGlen, as well as Banking, Health, Tech and Private Equity ventures. An expert in navigating high-impact change, Liz is best known for her work and successes as an Interim Chief People Officer and Executive Coach, leading businesses, leaders, and people and change teams through rapid growth, digital transformations, new operating models, M&A’s and critical business turnarounds and restructuring. Through Future HR, and as an Advisory Partner for The Coaching Solution, Liz also champions and supports the next generation of People leaders and is part of a pioneering new mentoring program for first-time Chief People Officers, People Directors, and future talent, which is receiving high interest and exceptional initial feedback for its transformative impact. A longstanding supporter of the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust, Liz is looking forward to supporting the charity in a new capacity as an Ambassador, helping champion the Trust and the support it provides to families across the fashion and textile 
 

 

Peter Collyer is an experienced business leader, HR professional and accredited coach. His career spans blue chip consumer and retail HR roles in UK/Europe and USA. He specialised in coaching and development, with a focus on leadership, embedding global culture and enhancing employee engagement within a multi-generational world. His most recent position was Chief People Officer for Ted Baker, where he was responsible for sustainability, ethics and all things people related. Today, he manages a multi sector “portfolio career”, encompassing: fractional CPO, executive coaching, board facilitation, Independent Chair, CIPD Associate and Ambassador for Wondrous People Ltd. Peter is ORSC trained (Organisational Relationship Systems Coach), a graduate of both the CTI Coaching programme and Leadershape’s Global Transpersonal Leadership Certification. Known for being practical, candid and ever curious, Peter is passionate about our profession and helping build purpose‑led cultures where the human connection supports people “in and beyond” their working lives.

Maxine Granville is an HR Director with more than 18 years of experience leading people strategy across beauty, retail, fashion, and manufacturing businesses. She specialises in organisational change, leadership development, and building high-performing cultures, partnering with senior leaders to navigate growth, transformation, and uncertainty. Maxine is passionate about helping organisations balance commercial success with creating workplaces where people can do their best work.

Louisa Devine is an experienced HR Business Partner with a strong foundation in the retail industry and a passion for people, currently workng at Shiseido UKI. She began her career on the beauty shop floor, where she spent nine years gaining first-hand insight into frontline operations, customer experience, and team dynamics. Driven by a passion for people and organisational development, Louisa transitioned into HR seven years ago. Since then, she has steadily progressed from a HR support role to her current position as a Senior HRBP for Retail and Corporate teams, leading a team of 4 and partnering with leaders to drive engagement, performance, and a positive workplace culture. Louisa’s unique blend of operational experience and HR expertise allows Louisa to bring a practical, people-first perspective to her work and to the conversations she leads.

Una O’Reilly has worked extensively in human resources, organisational development and employee engagement, with a track record of creating award-winning people practices that promote inclusivity, attract top talent, improve retention and increase engagement leading to stronger commercial business results. Her skills in steering organisations through periods of significant growth and transformation really came to fruition when working as the European Human Resource Director Westfield, where she oversaw the People Leadership aspects of the merger of Westfield with Unibail-Rodamco and helped develop and deliver values and led strategies to enhance employee engagement, wellbeing, and advance diversity and inclusion. This included, among many other things, reviewing all People practices and maternity and paternity policies, that earned URW 9 Best Practice Awards and got Top Employer recognition. In addition, the diversity and inclusion strategy resulted in 40% of senior management roles being held by women, and a community strategy that led to 80% of employees taking part in volunteering which led to them taking home the HR Excellence Award for Best CSR Strategy.  

Kate O’Hara is an experienced HR Business Partner and Transformation People Lead. She partners with senior leaders to shape people strategy, organisational design and high-performing operating models. Kate has led major transformation programmes, with expertise across workforce planning, talent development, employee relations, change management and organisational effectiveness. She is passionate about helping leaders energise, enable and empower their teams through a pragmatic, people-centred approach.

Ella Dillon is a communications and employee engagement professional with experience shaping employee communications strategies across global retail and consumer brands. As Senior Communications and Engagement Manager at The White Company, she partners with leaders to bring business strategy, culture and purpose to life through meaningful employee experiences and communications campaigns.
Prior to joining The White Company, Ella was Global People Communications Manager at Unilever, where she helped engage more than 60,000 employees worldwide. She also spent over five years at Ted Baker, playing a key role in building and growing the company’s global Internal Communications and Engagement function and developing their corporate communications approach. Passionate about the role communication plays in driving culture and business performance, Ella specialises in employee engagement, change communications, leadership communications and creating experiences that help people feel informed, connected and inspired at work.

Venessa Okonkwo is the Global Head of People & Culture at Dock & Bay, where she leads the people strategy across the UK, US and Australia. With expertise spanning organisational development, culture transformation, leadership, employee engagement and DE&I, Venessa is passionate about building agile, human-centred organisations where people and commercial performance can thrive together. Her practical and inclusive approach has helped Dock & Bay achieve strong employee engagement and gain recognition from Great Place to Work and The Sunday Times Best Places to Work, including recognition as one of the UK’s Best Places to Work for Women and for Development. A regular speaker and contributor within the HR community, Venessa brings an honest, commercially grounded perspective to conversations about scaling culture, psychological safety, inclusive leadership and the future of work.

Morven West is a senior People and Culture leader with 20+ years’ experience helping organisations grow, improve performance, and treat their people like adults. She has worked across retail, hospitality, consumer brands, and purpose-led organisations, developing practical people strategies that support both commercial progress and healthier workplace cultures. Morven’s expertise includes organisational design, recruitment, employee relations, performance, learning and development, internal communications, policy, and the less glamorous but equally important work of making sure managers actually manage. After spending time in several proudly “traditional” workplaces – where confidence occasionally appeared to be mistaken for competence, and inclusion could feel more aspirational than operational. Morven is particularly focused on creating clear, equitable, accountable environments. She believes culture is revealed in decisions, behaviour, and whose voices are heard in the room, not in a values statement drafted once and forgotten. Currently People Lead at Saint and Sofia, Morven brings a commercially grounded, people-first approach to helping teams do great work and building organisations worth staying in.

Rhianon Plews is the UK HR Director Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG), leading the HRBP, Talent Acquisition and HR Operations to support the business tackle their pressing issues and longer-term goals through an aligned and integrated people plan. Part of the People Leadership Team, she is dedicated to partnering the business to build a culture which sustains high performing teams through the colleague experience. Prior to WOSG, Rhianon was Head of HR People Transformation and Change at Boots UK, leading the HR transformation and change agenda, driving strategic change projects with HR and for the business, ensuring they deliver benefits.

Ryan Cheyne is a seasoned HR leader with more than 20 years experience driving people strategies that create exceptional workplaces. Until recently, he was Managing Director of People and Culture at Flutter UK & I, the home of gaming brands Sky Betting and Gaming, Paddy Power, Betfair and tombola. Ryan led the successful creation and rollout of new company values and achieved impressive engagement results, with the team winning awards for their approach and use of data. Prior to Flutter, Ryan was Interim Chief People Officer at Motorpoint, Senior People Director at Rentalcars.com which then merged with Booking.com and prior to that he spent 10 years leading the people team at Pets at Home, where they won the Sunday Times Best Place to Work award in 2013. Throughout his career, Ryan has demonstrated an ability to develop high-performing teams, reduce turnover, and significantly enhance organisational cultures, driving both employee satisfaction and business success.

As a Senior People Partner at the V&A, David Hippolite is passionate about helping leaders turn ambition into meaningful change through people. The V&A is a complex, multi-site organisation with a wide range of stakeholders across very different areas of expertise, experience and skillsets, and much of his work involves helping leaders navigate that complexity to translate strategy into action and build the leadership capability needed to deliver it.David’s work sits at the intersection of leadership, culture and organisational performance. He focused on helping leaders align people, culture and capability with the wider vision of the organisation, so that transformation is not only planned, but successfully delivered. David believes the most effective organisations are those where leaders are empowered to unlock the potential of their people, and where culture becomes a powerful driver of both performance and purpose.

Sarah Day is a strategic, commercially focused Chief People Officer with over 25 years’ experience leading transformation and growth across banking, travel, and luxury, premium retail, beauty, and digital consumer brands. She has held CPO and senior HR leadership roles at Stella McCartney, Nelsons, Charlotte Tilbury, and Jack Wills, working across large corporates, start-ups, and founder-led creative environments to build high-performance organisations and strengthen executive leadership capability. Sarah partners closely with CEOs, Boards, investors, and private equity stakeholders to drive value creation, optimise operating models, reduce cost, and scale high-growth businesses. She is deeply passionate about transformation, mentoring, and developing people to realise their full potential.

Ashley Marsh is a seasoned HR Business Partner with a career spanning leading consumer-focused lifestyle brands. Having built the foundations of his career at premium cycling brand Rapha, he gained broad experience across both retail and corporate functions. Following time with lifestyle hotel brand The Hoxton, Ashley now plays a pivotal role at On – one of the world’s fastest-growing sportswear brands – supporting its rapid retail expansion. He is deeply passionate about careers in retail and partnering with leadership to build engaged, high-performing teams driven by brand culture and values.

Tom Bailey is a Global Talent & Leadership Lead at Specsavers, with more than 15 years’ experience designing and delivering large-scale learning, leadership and talent programmes across complex, international organisations. He is currently leading Specsavers’ AI & Data for Leaders programme, a global initiative for approximately 700 senior leaders designed to build AI capability and confidence while keeping culture and behaviour change at the centre of digital transformation. Tom is known for combining human-centred design, systems thinking and a genuine commitment to behavioural change, helping organisations move beyond awareness-raising to deliver leadership development that drives real cultural and business impact.

Richard Watts has spent 25 years with Next, starting as a Christmas temp on the shop floor before becoming a Store Manager and later moving into head office. After a decade working on productivity, efficiency and store contracts in the Organisation & Methods team, he now leads Rewards and Recognition for Retail. Outside of work, Richard has three dogs and will happily shoehorn them (or dog training) into any conversation or video call. Don’t ask him about the links between that and workplace recognition,  you’ll lose the afternoon…

Victoria Evans has over a decade experience in health and wellbeing roles with a focus over the last 6 years in the HR Reward space of strategic design of wellbeing programmes, employee benefits in financial services followed by the recent move into the retail sector. She has a passion for preventative health and employee engagement in employers supporting throughout key life stages for their colleaguges.

As Senior Business Development Manager at Peoplesafe, John Seddon advises on the provision of worker protection technology for some of the UK’s largest retailers, including Pret a Manger, TPRG and Pandora. With over 15 years’ experience working with personal safety technology companies, he is passionate about pioneering tech for good to keep colleagues safe.

Carmen Bamford is Programme Director at The Retail Bulletin, where she leads the development of insightful, relevant and engaging content for the retail community. With more than 20 years’ experience in content development, research and writing, her work focuses on understanding the issues, trends and emerging themes shaping the retail sector, and translating them into compelling, accessible content. Carmen brings a broad perspective on retail, with particular expertise in researching complex and fast-moving subjects, identifying the questions that matter and developing content that brings together different perspectives. She combines in-depth research with strong editorial judgement, going beyond the headlines to uncover the insights and ideas that can drive meaningful discussion and help retail leaders navigate a rapidly changing landscape.

Dawn Smedley is an Organisational Listening Strategist at WorkBuzz, with more than 20 years’ experience in employee experience and culture. She’s passionate about the power of operational listening to keep leaders connected to what’s really happening across their organisation, bringing the voice of the frontline closer to decision-making and turning what people see, hear and experience every day into organisational intelligence that helps leaders understand what’s working, what isn’t and where to act.