Meet The 2024 Speakers

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.

Carrie Westwell is a recent addition to Bensons for Beds as Head of HR. Under her leadership, Carrie’s team has consistently pushed the boundaries of traditional HR practices, focusing on fostering a culture of inclusivity, growth, and continuous improvement. Her efforts have not only enhanced colleague satisfaction and productivity but have also propelled her to be recognised multiple times as a ‘Best Companies’ and ‘Business Culture Awards’ Winner, a testament to the positive and impactful work environment she has cultivated. With a career spanning over 20 years across a variety of industries including FMCG, retail and property, she holds an MA in Psychology and is MCIPD qualified, showcasing her deep commitment to understanding the intricate dynamics of workplace behaviour and employee engagement. Carrie’s approach to HR is rooted in a belief that understanding and nurturing the psychological well-being of colleagues is key to unlocking their full potential.

Sara Duxbury is a seasoned people professional with a passion for leadership and learning. With 15 years of experience in talent and development and 10 years as a qualified business psychologist, she brings a wealth of knowledge and a fresh perspective to every role she has had. Known for her practical application of psychology to deliver an effective and commercial organisational development strategy, Sara currently heads up L&D, OD and Talent globally for AllSaints & John Varvatos.

Chantal Cooper has been with New Look for the past six years,  and in her current role she is leading their Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing program. As People Experience Manager she is helping to shape the future of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at New Look, leading on several key initiatives supporting their diverse colleague community . Prior to this, she was a in various retail leadership roles at New Look, including Regional Business Manager, leading teams across London and General Manager of the flagship store. Before that, Chantal was with Foot Locker UK & Ireland as a District Manager. She started her early retail career with New Look back in the late 1990’s and as a result, has a great understanding of the brand and their colleague community and life at New Look.

Sacha Harvey is the People Director at Lucky Saint, a B Corp on a mission to inspire the world to drink better with their alcohol-free beer. She leads the people strategy which is underpinned by a culture of learning and growth mindset, championing everyone’s chance to be a ‘learn it all’. She is big on innovation and using people analytics to create and implement people strategies that enable employees to have purpose alignment in their roles and flourish in the workplace. Sacha has over 12 years’ experience in learning, development, and people experience. An innovative and creative professional who is passionate about the wellbeing, performance, and growth of people and businesses. She has a master’s degree in applied positive psychology and coaching psychology and is a certified Strengthscope practitioner.

David Anderson is Rough Trade’s Head of People. He joined Rough Trade over two years ago as Head of Retail, marking the beginning of a new chapter – transitioning into his current role as Head of People, where he redefined what it means to manage people in retail. David’s ethos is to focus on learning and development, integrity, and community engagement. His efforts underscore a commitment to the growth of the business and every individual within it. David prioritises learning and development to ensure that Rough Trade’s staff are empowered individuals with a clear path to growth. His work extends beyond the internal mechanisms of HR, improving aspects like mental health and wellbeing. Their partnership with the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) to combat suicide was a proud moment showing the power of community engagement and support. Before joining Rough Trade, David spent 15 years at Gap Outlet, where he managed stores across the UK.

Ciara Tully has been with N Brown in a variety of roles for over five years starting in learning and development, progressing to Inclusion and Emerging Talent Manager – where she is developing and communicating the group’s equity, diversity, inclusion & belonging strategy to 1700+ colleagues as well as managing the recruitment and development of N Brown’s early career pipelines. She helped lead N Brown to win the Drapers 2023 Diversity & Inclusion Award and was the Runner Up for the Drapers 2023 Retail Star of the Year Award, receiving “highly commended” by the judges. Her passion for emerging talent and EDI&B has seen her lead several initiatives such as managing and co-chairing N Brown’s communities, working closely with youth charities including The Prince’s Trust and driving the growth of apprenticeships within the organisation. She has also worked for many other well-known organisations, including Vodafone and Hallmark Cards in various HR areas including talent, learning and development, and diversity and inclusion. Ciara is a CIPD Level 7 professional with an MA in Human Resource Management from the University of Leeds and a Level 4 Data Analyst qualification.

David Nottage is the Head of the Employer Brand and Talent Acquisition Department at Footasylum. A former professional footballer, who went into marketing and then into talent acquisition, he has a degree and masters in Public Relations and Marketing, as well as being CIPD Level 7 qualified. David has always loved tech, he has coded and built websites – even as far back as using Dreamweaver. He is an RL100 Core member – passionate about candidate experience, employer branding and creating campaigns to attract the best talent.

Cat Hambleton-Gray joined Eurocell as People Director in January 2024, after spending 27 years in a variety of HR and L&D roles. Most of her career has been spent in the retail industry including B & Q, Halfords and Pets at Home, along with sometime in the veterinary sector, where she created and launched their wellbeing strategy. The earlier part of Cat’s career was spent in L&D roles, mainly in hospitality and retail, Cat has a real passion for developing people, employee engagement and wellbeing, along with developing teams to deliver results.

Deborah Ormondroyd is Head of Retail 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!

Sally Price is a Global Talent Acquisition Associate at Astrid & Miyu, a jewellery company she started with in 2022. Previously she was in retail store management at Sweaty Betty for three years. At Astrid & Miyu, Sally recruits across office team members, UK and US retail store teams, as well as Services Team members such as Piercers and Tattoo Artists.

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.

Anna Rasmussen is the Founder & CEO of OpenBlend – the platform for transforming 1:1s to boost performance and develop people. As a former executive leadership coach, Anna is extremely passionate about helping people reach their full potential through frequent, effective, and holistic conversations that support employee wellbeing, motivation, development, and performance.

Paul Ridings, Global Director of Growth for People at OneAdvanced, is a leader in the realm of digital transformation for retail organisations, with a special focus on empowering deskless and frontline workers through the power of technology. His expertise in strategic business development and technological transformation programmes positions him as a key resource for HR leaders. Paul’s approach is centred on leveraging innovative systems to enhance the employee experience, making him an invaluable asset for retailers on their digital journey. Having previously been a customer of HR technology, then going on to hold senior positions with HR technology providers (who have served a combined 3 million retail users globally), Paul is considered a trusted tech advisor in the retail space.

Liz Jewitt-Cross was until recently interim Chief People Officer with Pepco, she is also an HR and organisation change adviser, with a global career spanning multiple industry sectors including retail and fashion with many of our best known and loved business brands. Most recently, Liz assisted New Look, the UK’s largest value fashion retailer for 18-45 year old women and Drapers retailer of the year 2022, as their Interim Chief for People and Transformation, leading the reset of the company’s people strategy to a new omnichannel operating model. Prior to this, Liz worked for two years as Interim Chief HR Officer for McArthurGlen,the UK and Europe’s largest designer shopping outlet centre group who host over 1000 luxury and retail brands and 30,000 retail employees, supporting their digital transformation, market growth and the transition to a new HR operating model with new Workday systems. Liz has enjoyed a successful career specialising in roles and projects helping to lead or advise upon rapid growth, acquisitions and turnarounds as well as major change including one of the largest IT outsourcing ventures of its time for Sainsbury’s; the creation through acquisition of the Mosaic fashions group; American Express’ industry-first multi-lingual global Corporate Travel Centre in France; the successful relicensing and restructuring bid for National Lottery, and the successful past rescue of Jaeger.

Jo Coxhill helps HR, internal communication and business leaders build happy, healthy and highly engaged teams through the power of employee voice. Her passion lies in creating positive workplace experiences and high performing cultures. Jo works with global organisations in a wide range of sectors, including retail to create and implement communications and engagement strategies to drive positive employee experiences through knitting together organisational culture, purpose and values, employee value proposition, employee experience and engagement, learning and development, and recognition and reward into a seamless proposition. With a strong background in marketing and internal communications, Jo is effective at engaging employees and embedding business and marketing strategies to ensure a consistent brand and tone of voice throughout the entire employee and customer journey.

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.

Rob Savin was the Marketing Director at Alpkit from 2019-2023, where he was a member of the Board with responsibility to develop and deliver the digital and marketing strategies, to grow Alpkit in the UK and internationally. Prior to Alpkit, he was Head of Digital Marketing at the Co-op for a year, where he led the Digital Marketing Team in delivering the digital trading of Co-op Funeralcare and Co-op Legal Services. Before that, Rob was Senior Manager Digital Channel at Yorkshire Building Society Group for nearly three years, where he led the eCommerce Team in delivering strong digital trading performance and online customer experience.