Meet The 2023 Speakers

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 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.

Shelly Nash has been the People & Culture Director at London Marathon Events since January 2022.Prio to that, she was the People & Experience Director, EMEA for Deckers Brands, whom she started with in 2015 as their HR Business Partner for Omnichannel, Brand & Enterprise for UK. Shelly is a highly motivated HR Professional, who enjoys the fast pace and creativity that you find within the world of retail and wholesale.

Charlotte Rees-John is the Head of of Consumer Goods and Services sector. at Irwin Mitchell, as well as being 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, (D&I) and has worked with a number of clients to create and implement clear D&I Strategies as part of their overall ESG commitments. Charlotte is passionate about the consumer sector and leads the full-service consumer team, overseeing the client relationships - helping to develop and win new opportunities for her colleagues, as well as for clients through referrals and networking opportunities. She has considerable experience in franchising, having advised both franchisees and franchisors in relation to brand protection through establishing clear, value driven, people practices. She has also advised and supported brands looking to continue their success in the UK from overseas. Charlotte is recognised as a ranked lawyer by Chambers and Partners and by her clients as being a commercial, straight talking and as a trusted legal advisor.

Emma James has been the Head of Colleague Experience & Comms at Moto Hospitality since January 2022, leading the charge to ensuring their colleagues have the best possible experience at Moto and are able to feedback and drive change throughout their time with them, through influencing decisions and prioritizing colleague voice. Prior to this role, she was Head of Internal Communications & Engagement for just over a year. Before Moto, Emma was the Group Employee Engagement Manager at Merlin Entertainments for nearly five years, leading employee engagement strategies on a global level.

Jeremy Gautrey-Jones has been the Assistant Director of Employee Experience with the RSPCA since 2020, working as a core member of the people and culture leadership team, driving through vast improvements to the employee experience to create a modern and inclusive culture. He has extensive experience in developing and maintaining employee relations strategies in small to large sized organisations, as well as leading effective negotiations at the most senior levels at a UK and European level on a wide range of issues. Jeremy is an experienced employment law practitioner, who can undertake and oversee complex case management and investigations.

Liz Jewitt-Cross is an interim board/c-suite chief people and business transformation officer, passionate in helping businesses and teams drive high performance in periods of rapid growth, change, turnaround through organisation, digital and culture transformation. Her most recent interim role was People & Transformation Director (CPO) at New Look from 2021 - February 2023, where she helped to lead a successful turnaround; transformation & post pandemic return and reset of New Look. Prior to New Look, Liz was Interim Chief HR Officer at McArthurGlen Group for two years from 2018-2020, creating and leading their global people strategy, multi-national teams & Business & HR Transformation, Organisation change and digital modernisation including the company’s new entry into Spain and implementation of new Workday systems. Liz was HR Director (CPO) at Jaeger from 2013-2015 as a board member, supporting their business rescue and turnaround, following a takeover with responsibility for HR, business change, CSR, health and safety.

Avichal Kulshrestha has 11 years of research and leadership experience across various industries and is the Principal Manager for Industry Insights at UKG. He works with global researchers and industry leaders to identify key trends, insights, and best practices to educate organisations on how technology can help improve their people operations to achieve better employee experience and business outcomes. Prior to joining UKG, Avichal worked with several sectors including Retail, Manufacturing, and AI Technology. Avichal holds an MBA degree from University of Cambridge, UK with a focus on organisational theory and an Engineering degree from India.

Melanie Steel is currently an Interim Human Resources Consultant with ATPI and has over 25 years’ experience in HR and transformation, across a broad spectrum of organisations and recognisable brands, including FTSE 100 companies and central government. Melanie has worked in various roles, most recently Interim HR Director at Solus (owned by Aviva Insurance). She has previously held the role of Interim HR / Transformation Director, in organisations including Arriva Rail London; Boots Opticians; and Royal Sun Alliance Insurance. Prior to this, Melanie was HR Director for the Cabinet Office, where she supported the Prime Minister and Deputy Ministry and the Head Office for Government. She also worked for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as HR Director to the Corporate IT Function. Prior to that, she was at Unilever in the HR Transformation Team, the largest HR outsourcing deal, in partnership with Accenture. Melanie also spent 14 years at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), including four years in Germany supporting the Armed Forces, establishing an HR function.

Pete Fullard is the CEO of Upskill People, innovators in the global online learning market. He helps people get the most from their careers, and businesses get the most from their teams. Pete knows that L&D is at its most powerful when outcomes are measured, analysed, and built into actionable plans. His ultimate goal is to inspire any organisation he works with to operate at its absolute best.

Elizabeth Cowper has over 20 years of leadership experience and is a working mother of three and founder of Ludo, providing HR tech for inclusion. She spent her career working for brands such as Planet Organic, Harvey Nichols, LVMH and most recently Tapestry, the umbrella owner company for Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman, where she was VP HR for Europe and Global Head of Wellbeing. Elizabeth has been described as the culture adjuster and has been listed in the HR Most Influential Awards for the last 5 years.