Meet The 2024 Speakers

Michael Truluck joined Joe Browns, a remarkable and “feel good” UK fashion brand, in September 2023 as Chairman, to oversee the strategic direction of the company and help exploit its massive potential both in the UK and Internationally. Prior to this, he worked for Redcats (former parent company of La Redoute and part of the Kering ‘PPR’ Group) for over 15 years until 2023. He was involved in the management buyout of La Redoute and the subsequent sale of the company to its new shareholders, The Galeries Lafayette Group. Michael believes that for any business to succeed and ultimately create value for its shareholders, the business needs to be focused not only on its customers but also on its employees. Further, his philosophy is that if you have engaged and passionate employees, they will make your customers happy which in turn will create shareholder value. In 2012, Michael was awarded Finance Director of the Year at the Yorkshire Finance Director Awards.

Matt Purt has worked in the fashion, retail, and technology industry for nearly 30 years. In 2019, he co-founded LRG Online Ltd which acquired Secret Sales in March 2020. Secret Sales was relaunched as a B2C marketplace for brands and retailers to open and operated a digital concession for off-price. The platform has become one of the most highly desired off-price channels in the UK from both brands and consumers and has since then launched new international sites in mainland Europe. Matt has built, led, and managed both Global and European teams delivering positive EBIT with full P&L responsibility and accountability for the strategies within numerous organizations, including; eBay UK, SIGG Switzerland AG, The Baird Group, and various positions for over a decade within Ralph Lauren including retail, merchandising, and wholesale management. He received recognition in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2020 (rank 28th) as being one of the Top100 most influential people in Retail (Movers & Shakers Report – Retailer Insider and K3 publication).

Maria White works as Global SEO Lead at Kurt Geiger and is a regular contributor at Search Engine Land. She specialises in attracting relevant and converting traffic globally for Kurt Geiger, as well as consumer trends analysis, technical and international SEO, and global digital PR. In October 2023, Maria was featured in Google’s Search Central live conference in Zurich.

Kimmo Jukuri is the Global Head of External Products & Partners for H&M, where he is responsible for the ecosystem of brand partners at H&M Group. The area is a growing fast with different partnership elements and speedy market expansion. Kimmo brings to the panel years of experience from online marketplaces, partner relationships as well as professional services development ranging from Startups to Global industry leading companies.

Emma Thackray is the co-founder of Hip Pop, a brewer of functional gut lovin’ drinks. Since inception, Hip Pop has experienced exponential growth, with its range of vegan, low-sugar and non-artificial kombuchas and living sodas stocked by retailers including Booths, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and most recently, 280 Sainsbury’s stores – the brand’s largest commercial listing to date. The alternative beverage brand was awarded a total of 5 stars across 4 of its fermented living culture drinks at this year’s Great Taste Awards – the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme – in addition to being shortlisted for ‘SME Emerging Business’ at the Food & Drink Federation (FDF) Awards 2023. Emma was also recently selected to join Insider Media’s ‘North West 42 under 42’ list for 2023 – an annual campaign which profiles 42 people from the region who are excelling in heading up businesses, aged 42 and under.

Paul Martin, former IT Director for Footasylum, has over 25 years in retail technology, has a proven track record of championing and delivering omnichannel solutions. Renowned for seamlessly integrating technology into business operations and mentoring robust teams, he is adept at fostering a culture of collaboration and empowerment, with a strong focus on value delivery and data-driven decision-making.

Alix Thompson-Burn is Head of Digital at Bird & Blend Tea Co., an independent award-winning Tea Mixology Company with growing D2C online sales & over 15 physical stores across the UK. Alix has over 15 years’ experience working in e-commerce and analytics with Brands such as Topshop, Pandora and Albaray. She also previously worked as Digital Director for Warehouse Fashions where she oversaw the global e-commerce function. Alix is particularly interested in the use of analytics data to shape growth plans and the impact that cross-channel marketing can have for retailers with a store estate.

Neil Stapleton is leading Skipton Building Society’s colleagues to deliver omnichannel experiences for customers – digitally, in branch and through other points of customer contact.  Whilst technology plays a leading part, leading colleagues through change is a particular focus of his.  Over the course of his 28 year career, Neil has worked in customer experience roles across finance, retail and in the public sector.

Greg Tufnell is currently Managing Partner of Prime Advantage Capital Partners, a business advisory and corporate finance company specialising in the consumer, automotive, energy and data sectors. In addition, he is on the Advisory Board at Cabin Zero, a fast-growing travel lifestyle brand for travel hungry millennials and Boulevard Online, a rapid growth VC backed marketplace super seller. Greg is also Chairman of Chinti and Parker, a premium knitwear brand; Common Objective, a sustainability platform for the fashion industry and Radiant Law, in the legal technology sector. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive of Marchpole Holdings for four years, specialising in the management of designer brands such as Yves St Laurent, Ozwald Boateng and Emanuel Ungaro. He was Managing Director of Boxfresh, Mothercare and Burton Menswear, having started his retail career as Buying and Merchandising Director at Next in 1994.

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.

Octavia Benham has been at Dreams for seven years, joining after graduating from King’s College London. Moving from the merchandising team into eCommerce in 2019, she helped steer the online team through Covid, going on to fill the role of Head of eCommerce in 2021. Growing the team over the last two years, her focus remains on optimising the customers experience online whilst driving trade, online and in store, to navigate through an ever-changing retail landscape.

Titus Trossel was responsible for corporate development and strategy at Currys, where he assessed industry trends, peers and competitors to inform internal strategy, assesses new growth and innovation opportunities and M&A projects. Following eight years woking in transformation and strategy at the retailer, Titus has gained an in-depth understanding of the UK retail landscape and the inner workings of a major retailer. He started his career at Accenture in corporate transformation and has recently joined SquareTrade as their Director of Business Development.

Nathaniel Wade is one of the co-founders behind Wakuda, known for his role in unlocking growth for African and Caribbean brands through eCommerce. Nathaniel’s strategic insights have driven Wakuda’s award-winning success, making him a trusted figure in fostering growth for diverse and culturally rich businesses.

 

Gracia Amico is a dynamic board level digital, eCommerce and retail executive with over 20 years global experience with corporate retailers such as Burberry, Topshop Topman and Hobbs in addition to CEO roles in various entrepreneurial digital environments. Currently Chair of the Board of Closer Pets, digital NED of Stitched and board advisory roles for tech and retail companies, in addition to advising on digital operations of portfolio companies for private equity firms.

Neil Tunbridge is currently the Head of Marketplace at Viva.com, the pan-european neobank and payments business. He previously spent the last decade in various entrepreneurial roles, having been the co-founder and director of Mellow – the global health and wellness eCommerce Company, as well as a founding partner of Pivot International, an eCommerce marketplace agency which was acquired in January 2020. Prior to these roles, Neil spent the previous decade in the Middle East, where the majority of his time was dedicated to leading a specialist custom retail research and consulting practice, before switching into eCommerce as the Sales Director of Tejuri.com, a Dubai Government funded multi-category marketplace. Before his time in Dubai, he had progressed in various roles at Emma Bridgewater, Selfridges and House of Fraser.

Gregor Murray is an independent digital commerce strategy consultant and has worked with the likes of L’Oreal, Mondelez, Bayer, Glanbia, Nestle and Haleon to build their digital commerce capabilities. He currently works with Kellogg, Barilla & Britvic, working on digital commerce strategy, channel and retailer strategies, search and customer journey optimisation, and 3P capability development. Gregor’s previous employers include Pfizer, Aegis Media North America, Mars, Lidl & Unilever. He is the author of The 52 Myths of Digital Commerce, an online publication.

James Coughlan has been Interim Sales Transformation Lead since April 2023 at Arco, the leading retailer in keeping people safe at work. He is supporting the Sales Director & Senior Executive Team in the strategic execution of the company’s digital transformation with a data-first approach, through leveraging insights and analytics to drive improvements in group revenues. Past roles include Interim Head of Global Transformation, Digital & Data at Inspired Education Group and Interim Head of Digital & CRM, UK & Ireland at Northgate. James was Managing Director, Digital at HMV for three years from 2013-2016. He is an inspirational and transformational business leader, recognised for a deep understanding of enterprise technologies and quickly cutting through to the heart of the challenge.

Gareth Jones was most recently the Marketing Director for the UK’s hottest new French grocery startup Mon Panier Latin, where he’s responsible for all aspects of brand, acquisition, retention & product strategy. Mon Panier Latin is aiming to bring the essence of French food culture to the UK & worldwide. Gareth has worked in eCommerce for almost ten years across food, fashion and beauty, embracing data and innovation, to build competitive advantage.  Back in 2017, he worked at The Body Shop building their AI personalisation programme and since then has been an early adopter and fervent advocate of both personalised content and AI driven solutions.  Gareth then went on to become Head of eCommerce at fast growth lingerie brand Pour Moi, before founding White Mirror – an eCommerce and growth marketing consultancy in the AI and VR sector.

Peter Scott has over 20 years’ experience growing retail and eCommerce businesses, as an international CEO with extensive UK, European and Stateside knowledge working within large corporates and founder of start-up businesses. Over the past six years, he has held a number of interim and board advisory roles, supporting a range of consumer based companies through exceptional growth and expansion. Peter has a deep understanding of all things retail, eCommerce, subscription and direct sales along with experience in how to get all of these sales channels working together in the perfect omnichannel ecosystem.

Mark Dunhill has been the CEO of Stelar since 2020, an accessories brand that reflects a new generation of social entrepreneurs, driven by a mission to re-define the concept of luxury, while balancing both purpose and profit. He was previously the CEO of Whittard of Chelsea for five years, where he influenced the Board and Executive team to embrace a vision and strategy that saw Whittard’s transform from a traditional High Street retailer to an aspirational international brand. The strategy delivered root and branch change to product, packaging, service and the digital offer in parallel with global expansion to lucrative markets such as China, Taiwan, and Japan. Prior to Whittard, Mark was International Director at T. M. Lewin for two years and before that, he was CEO at Fabergé Services.

Maxim Gelmann founded Stroodles five years ago. Stroodles is an eco-tableware company, famous for its pasta straws, featured on Dragons Den, BBC Good Food, Unilad, Huffington Post and many more. The Stroodles portfolio also includes edible biscuit spoons and stirrers, edible wafer cups, eco wheat bran plates, biscuit bowls and saucers. The Alchemist, de Longhi, Benares, Marriot, Hilton, Selfridges and Whole Foods are already stroodling. Stroodles offers uncompromising solutions to the everyday consumer and business and inspire how fun and easy sustainability can be. Stroodles is part of a larger global effort to change the way we consume products, one Stroodle product at a time. Maxim is an enthusiastic, proactive, future oriented, multi-skilled and strongly networked entrepreneur, investor and freelancer with over 13 years of strategy consulting, mentoring, investment and operational and interim management experience across industries, with a focus on retail, fashion and FMCG.

Richard Saint is Head of eCommerce at Sue Ryder. One of the UK’s largest charity retailers, Sue Ryder has 400 shops across the UK and online operations, including an online shop and eBay auction site, run by dedicated teams and volunteers, who turn preloved items and carefully selected new goods into vital funds for the charity’s expert end of life care and bereavement support services. Previously, Richard has led eCommerce and marketing teams in multiple categories, including virtual reality, film & TV, grocery, health & beauty, fashion, consumer electronics and ethical & fair-trade products, including four years running Oxfam’s online shop and six years across various Amazon retail teams.

Gianfranco Cuzziol is an engaging individual who has traversed the agency – client-side divide. He is an experienced CRM, data, business transformation expert with a track record of both setting and delivering customer strategy, with customer and business objectives at the centre. Ginafranco was most recently Avon International CRM and Personalisation Lead with Natura &Co for nearly five years, working across four iconic brands – Aesop, Avon, Natura and The Body Shop – setting their CRM and personalisation vision. Prior to that, he was Global Head of CRM at Aesop for over two years, responsible for delivering business transformation projects centred on CRM, loyalty and subscription. This included a global remit delivering global and regional capability / technology to support a global CRM programme across 23 markets.

Founder and CEO of Sol Retail, Barry Tong had built a global business from scratch without a loan, investment, or overdraft. The now £15 million pound a year business is one of Amazons largest beauty businesses on the planet and is on a path to deliver a £50 million turnover in the next three years. A previous regional winner of the Great British Entrepreneur of the year award, Barry is also a Department of International Trade export champion helping companies grow globally. He has helped many new businesses get a foot on the global marketplaces and participates in both live and digital events speaking about how to take a business from start up to £15 million.

Edward Osborne has over 25 years of experience in retail, eCommerce, logistics, and operations. He was until recently, Group Operations Director at Fox International Group, where he led the Rather Outdoors company’s operations, logistics, and supply chain strategy across multiple brands and multiple distribution locations in Europe.

Ed Duggan joined Fishpools in the summer of 2013 as their CFO & Commercial Director, where he has built a considerable multi-site retail finance, commercial and operational skill set in businesses of varying size and complexity. He currently has responsibility for all aspects of finance, brand & communication strategy, online development, plus marketing. He started his career as a member of the Tesco Graduate Scheme, working his way up to more recently as Finance & Commercial Director for Furniture Village and is now at Fishpools.

Alberto Billato started as Head of eCommerce & Digital at Videndum in January 2021 and is now their Director of Digital eCommerce. Videndum – the world’s leading provider of accessories for the imaging market – are based in Italy, where Alberto is responsible for eCommerce D2C, digital transformation and international consumer care management. He was previously Head of eCommerce Sales & Digital at Stiga, where he was globally responsible for brand, communication, trade marketing, digital transformation and for eCommerce sales (both B2B and B2C) of the gardening power tools brands STIGA, Alpina, Mountfield, Castelgarden and ATCO. Prior to that, Alberto was Group eCommerce Manager for DeLonghi for three years, responsible for the strategy and P&L of the D2C online sales channel and the CRM for the brands DeLonghi, Kenwood and Braun Household, with the objectives of driving highly profitable revenue streams and extending the customer lifecycle.

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.

Jack Sweeney is the Founder & Chief Strategist at JDS, a boutique consulting firm that empowers consumer product brands with strategic marketing & sales. Previous to this, he spent 10 years working for household name brands, most recently as Marketing Director for Kärcher UK. Relentlessly customer-centric, data-driven and profit-focused, Jack believes in a strategic no-nonsense approach to business, always seeking to simplify the seemingly complex.

Joanna Ward joined Vertiv in 2022, where she specialises in developing and managing retail / hospitality customers. With 30 years’ experience in business development, sales, bid and account management, tenders and preferred supplier frameworks, negotiation, and implementation – she has spent the last 16 years in the critical power industry. Joanna’s previous experience covers a broad cross section of industries including retail and hospitality, emergency services, industrial and commercial, data centres, manufacturing, education, and utilities. Her focus has always been on building longstanding relationships with her customers and creating tailored solutions to meet the unique needs, particularly developing, and managing relationships with retail clients to ensure their EMEA multi-site requirements are met seamlessly.

As Managing Director of Retail at CONCENTRIX + Webhelp,  Mark Guest is a commercially driven and highly successful senior leader that has a proven track record of delivering sustainable results within numerous organisations and industries. With retail is his specialism and passion, Mark’s focus is always centred around the customer being human, whilst ensuring technology is used to make all interactions efficient, easy and ultimately achieving the desired outcomes.

 

Kelly Whitwick is Head of Retail Market Insights at GfK and has over 12 years’ experience in the retail industry, across tech, durables, and home markets. She works closely with the UK’s leading retailers in this space, delivering consultancy on retail trends, by intertwining Point of Sale data with consumer research methodologies, to give a holistic view of the retail market and consumer shopping habits.

Jackson Versitano is currently Regional Manager, UK & RoEMEA with Lightspeed Commerce. Previously known as Vend by Lightspeed, he was their Sales Manager, EMEA for nearly four years, where Jackson’s role was to ensure their Account Executives and Sales Development Representatives were engaged and high performing, and to promote Vend in EMEA, by ensuring customer acquisition is in line with strategic initiatives.

Charlotte Rees-John is the Head of Retail, Leisure & Hospitality Sector at Irwin Mitchell. She is also an Employment Partner with over 20 years’ experience. She acts for a number of key clients including Costa Coffee, PureGym and McArthurGlen and has worked for many other well-known brands in the Consumer Sector including Mothercare, McDonald’s, Arcadia Limited, Whitbread, Top Shop and Pets at Home to name just a few. Charlotte advises on all areas of Employment law but is particularly recognised for her commercial advisory work, advising on large scale restructures involving collective consultation, multi-jurisdictional project work, TUPE and matters involving potential brand damage/media interest. She also takes a keen interest in Diversity and Inclusion and has worked with a number of clients to create and implement clear D&I Strategies as part of their overall ESG commitments.

Hannah Wade and her team at exponential-e support retail organisations with all areas of their IT estate – to help them design, develop and deliver their business transformation strategy.  More specifically, Hannah speaks to retailers about improving customer experience through omnichannel; agile working solutions; cloud migrations – public, private and hybrid; securing access to data, governance and control; solutions to minimise business disruption; and scalable storage for large data growth.

Darren Williams has been GM 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.