Meet The 2022 Speakers

Darren Williams 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. He is also the Executive Chairman of a men's skincare company Scrubd and a Trustee at Action 4 Youth. Darren has formally held senior roles in several businesses in retail and hospitality, including Hotel Chocolat and Unilever. He currently holds two ambassadorial roles, being a Schools Role Model for Stonewall, and fundraising and awareness for Target Ovarian Cancer, Williams Harding also partners with a Bulgarian dog rescue centre.

An executive leader, specialising in innovation and strategy in customer engagement management and growth, Andrew has been in the outsourcing and technology domain for over thirty years and brings considerable knowledge of transformation and operational excellence into his relationships with clients and teams delivering exciting operations and customer-centric tech-enabled transformation.
Andrew has a focus on working with clients to develop relationships and solutions that truly impact their business and their customer's experience with them, ensuring measurable benefits and outcomes. Recognised in the customer engagement space as a lead thinker in innovation and the future of technology in customer engagement.
Passionate father and family man helps keep Andrew grounded and up with the latest youth lingo.

Shetal Bhatt has been the Senior Director - Digital Customer at Sixt since February 2022. She was until recently the Head of Digital Marketing with Alshaya based in Kuwait, where she was co-creating and implementing the digital/CRM/loyalty and data strategy for their multiple Retail franchise Brands ranging from fashion to food and entertainment (inc. Starbucks, Boots, H&M, Pizza Express). Shetal has previously held national and international roles at Engine, Subway, Shell, British American Tobacco and Philips, which involved digital and CRM leadership, data management, and implementing the Martech stacks needed to facilitate the marketing strategies of these organisations. She was the winner of the 2015 Data IQ Award for 'Data professional - Client'.

Dr Edda Blumenstein is an experienced manager and consultant in omnichannel retailing transformation. Her current role is as the Director of Customer & Retailing Transformation at BYKO, a leading hardware and home improvement retailer in Iceland, where Edda leads the organisation's transformation from multi- to omni-channel retailing. Edda is also a board member at The Center for Retail Studies and a part-time teacher at the University of Bifrost. As a consultant, Edda has worked with leading Icelandic retailers to craft holistic omnichannel strategies, including Kringlan Iceland's largest shopping mall and Kronan, a leading Icelandic grocery retailer.

Mark Dunhill recently joined Stelar London as their CEO and is also joining the board of another premium start up business, this time in the beverages space - Knoops. Prior to this he was Managing Director of Whittard of Chelsea from 2014 – 2019, where he faced the objective of transforming the company from a UK high street retailer to a global aspirational brand. Prior to Whittard, Mark worked for T.M. Lewin as International Director from early 2011. Before that role, Mark held the position of CEO of Faberge, where he led the multi-national team to restore the famous name to its former position as one of the most desirable jewellers in the world.

Laurina Kennedy has been the Digital Marketing Manager at Skinny Dip London since April 2018. She is highly motivated analytical and results-driven eCommerce and digital marketing expert with over 9+ years' experience in web content, content strategy, and relationship marketing. Identify and capitalise on new growth opportunities through customer focus, market research, product expertise, and proven business acumen. Prior to Skinny Dip, Laurina was eCommerce Manager at Thomas Lyte and before that she was Web Content Editor at Mr & Mrs Smith.

Emily Laws is Head of Brand for Lucky Saint, the 0.5% superior unfiltered lager dedicated to changing alcohol-free beer forever, and finally rewarding those who aren't drinking with the beer they deserve. Emily joined Lucky Saint six months ago, having previously worked for premium mixers brand Fever-Tree as Brand, Activations and Partnerships Manager.

Jennie Farmer is Chief Commercial Officer at luxury furniture company Oka. Since she started at Oka in January 2021, Jennie has been able to demonstrate her passion for crafting distinctive client-centric strategies and her track record for building unique global brands. Jennie’s career experience in luxury retail is extensive with previous stints as Brand & Product Director for De Beers Jewellers, Head of Luxury Fragrances for P&G Prestige, as well as experience leading cross-border teams working for various global wine houses in the LVMH family.

David Robinson has been the Chief Operating Officer at Pets at Home since April 2019. Previously, he was Managing Director at Bestway Retail for nearly three years and before that, Conviviality Retail for two years. He started out as a Commercial Director for Homebase in 2009 and then for Argos in 2012.

James Coughlan has worked for some of the biggest organisations driving compelling digital transformation across the retail, telco, technology, transportation and entertainment industries. This includes both owning and consulting for PE & VC backed startup's delivering large scale digital strategy execution, e-commerce and commercial marketing. Companies include Vodafone, HMV, Bullitt Group, Universal Music and Northgate plc.

Andrew Mann is an omnichannel leader with a consistent record of breakthrough commercial success within data driven insight, Loyalty CRM, brand development, and digital transformation. His broad experience includes Cadbury Schweppes plc, The Coca-Cola Company, Clubcard Director at Tesco plc, Insight & Loyalty Director at Sainsburyâ's plc , Customer Director at Coop, VP Insight, Pricing & CRM at Asda, and most recently, Head of Insight & Loyalty at M&S. He now heads up NorthBailey, a market research led business consultancy working with retailers, CPGs and tech suppliers. Andrew is a data driven commercial leader who is passionate about innovating and transforming the customer experience and driving customer numbers and L4L growth. He identifies the heart of the commercial challenge, making complexity clear, and listening to customers, to develop customer led solutions to solve commercial challenges.

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.

Chris O’Reilly is the CEO of Presto Music, an award-winning independent music shop and website with a wide range of classical and jazz recordings, sheet music, music books, accessories and musical instruments. Prior to Presto Music, Chris read Music at the University of Birmingham, and went on to complete a Masters in Historical Musicology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Aside from his role at Presto, in 2008 Chris became Chairman of Independent Classical Specialists (a trade association representing Independent Classical Music shops across the UK), and from 2010, spent 6 years on the Board at the Entertainment Retailers Association, including three years as Treasurer and Member of The Executive Board.

As the CEO and founder of GDR Creative Intelligence, Kate Ancketill has accrued more than 21 years of experience in trends affecting business sectors and consumer behaviour, sharing her visionary insights around the world. She is the innovation partner to around 30 of the world's largest consumer brands, supplying market leading consultancy and professional speaking to P&G, Tesco, Waitrose, Target, Sephora, Microsoft and Google. Kate is a business futurist, adept at making complex societal shifts and emerging technologies relatable for any audience. She also advises on the future of customer experience, how marketing is evolving, and how the best of the best are using tech to adapt to new customer behaviour.

Graham Johnston is the Senior Director for Omnichannel Customer Support & Transformation at Asda and formally headed up omnichannel transformation for Three UK. For the past 10 years, Graham has led large-scale transformations in customer interactions, focussed on innovation to bridge the gap between physical and digital. Graham also hosts his own podcast series 'Think Omnichannel' where he speaks to fellow Omnichannel experts about the use of digital innovation to create better customer experiences.

Janis Thomas is responsible for leading eCommerce and marketing at Look Fabulous Forever, the innovative DTC cosmetics and skincare brand designed to meet the needs of older women. She is an expert in driving digital marketing to deliver increased revenue and profitable growth in ecommerce & subscription businesses and she has grown diverse brands from Birchbox to Playboy. Janis has held senior consumer marketing roles in eCommerce, digital media and entertainment businesses.

Desi Reuben-Sealey is currently working as a Senior UX Manager at Victorinox and was the Senior UX/UI Designer for Debenhams until very recently. He offers a hands-on UX approach, to coach, mentor, grow and lead the design team in delivering a great digital product that crosses over the whole business. He has evolved the design language, utilised leadership skills to evolve the experience design strategy that supports the innovation and product streams of the organisation. Above all, Desi has established and evangelised UX methodologies, whilst embedding them as best practice and collaborating with other areas of the business, to make great UX a reality for debenhams.com.

Guy Bosworth has worked in the retail and F&B space for over 12 years, working with some industry heavy weights such as Pret A Manger, KFC, Aldi and Boots. Now as Head of Store Operations for Ole & Steen, he is leading the stores on an adventurous growth journey to build on the 30 year history the business has in its home country (Denmark). His passion has and always will be the people that work for him, developing them to be the greatest that they can be - he has a rather strange mantra - 'to create a team that no longer needs him". Developing a strategy that enables his team to deliver the standards and experience that every customer deserves, therefore creating raving fans.

Trevor Gordon is currently Global Director - Customer Capability of a large global CPG. He was previously Global Director of Omni-Channel Retail at Sodexo (Sodexo is a Global Services company that operates in 80 countries and serves over 100 million customers a day). He has extensive experience of successfully building and leading teams for Global Brands on both client and agency side. Trevor specialises in the transformation and digitalisation of consumer facing businesses in a broad range of sectors including retail, telco, entertainment, and financial services.

Shelagh Stoneham has been President of Power WearHouse since 2019, a professional line of weighted wearable training products that helps build power and endurance for serious athletes. She was previously Senior VP & CMO at Chico's FAS for three years and before that, Shoppers Drugmart for two 2 years. A general management, marketing and digital leader with a successful track record in improving P&Ls to optimise shareholder value, Shelagh’s expertise is in creating and articulating a clear brand vision and customer-centric omnichannel strategies that have led to successfully launching, building and revitalising brands. She has been on the RightFit Technologies Advisory Board since 2019 and the Global Retail Marketing Association’s Retail and Hospitality Board since 2017.

Russell Danks has spent the majority of his career working in brands across the globe, specifically in marketing, innovation and strategy roles. Brands include Tesco, YUM Brands, KFC, P&O Cruises, Cunard & UK pub groups Greene King & Punch Pubs & Co. Becoming famous for challenging the 'status quo' and delivering big change in big business. Russell is acknowledged as having an ability to predict human behaviour and in particular how technology is impacting the way we interact with the world and the subsequent changes on big business. His unique ability to see what is on the horizon and translate this for business, coupled with his ability to build structure and strategy has built him the reputation as the man who knows the 'art of the possible' and led to the creation of the Future Factory London (FFLDN) in 2017. Russell now leads the charge as the Marketing & Strategy Director at Punch Pubs & Co where he is been in role since 2018.

Krisi Smith is the visionary behind the incredible tea innovation at Bird & Blend Tea Co. Nearly nine years after launching, she continues to tirelessly work in an incredibly hands-on way to grow the business, do good in the world and create magic through tea. Now with a team of 100+, 15 retail stores & a thriving international online store, Bird & Blend is leading the way in tea innovation in the UK.

Mei Chen is Head of Fashion & Luxury for UK, Spain and Northern Europe & Head of US Luxury at the Alibaba Group, which she joined four years ago. In the past two years, Mei has primarily focused on helping global luxury brands and fashion businesses understand and seize the opportunity that lies for foreign brands in China, by leveraging the innovations and technologies on Alibaba Group’s ecosystem. Shei is also leading various innovations projects across Alibaba Group’s ecosystem and is the international lead for Alibaba's flagship fashion shows Tmall Collection, Taobao maker festival's West Lake show, and Tmall China Cool, among others. Mei brings extensive knowledge of the retail and technology industries to the role, having spent over four years at Google.

Neil Tunbridge is the Co-Founder of Mellow.store, the trusted online destination for customers and brands to learn, buy and sell CBD. He is also the Co-Founder of Egg Brands, a portfolio of luxury British heritage brands that are being gradually revitalised and relaunched, starting with John Pound - the oldest luggage brand in the world. He was a director & co-founder of Pivot International, an eCommerce marketplace agency which was acquired by Muloot.com in January 2020 and as Managing Director of Muloot, Neil is building a high-growth marketplace trading and financial services agency via a suite of business growth tools.

Shweta Pamula is currently European Category and Campaign Insights Manager at Samsung Electronics. She is a customer insight professional with eight years experience in leveraging customer and market data to inform business strategies and decisions across product, marketing, customer experience, digital and brand teams. Shweta was previously Strategy And Insight Manager for Debenhams, where her role entailed using a broad variety of quantitative and qualitative data sources to ensure that market context and customer insights was at the heart of the business. Prior to that, she was a Research Manager with River Island, providing actionable insights to the business across all levels, to inform product strategy and develop the brand equity and positioning.

Ken Daly is CEO of JML, the innovative consumer product group with global sales through retail distribution, ecommerce and TV home shopping. Ken joined the company in 1994 shortly after it was founded following a background in electronic engineering. JML now employs 250 people in the UK and has distribution partners in more than 50 markets worldwide.

Susan Connolly is the Sales & Marketing Director at Connolly SPAR in Tidworth. Founded in 1932 in the Netherlands, SPAR is the largest food retail chain in the world. In a highly competitive industry, SPAR bets on exceeding its customers’ expectations by creating more relevant in-store experiences. Susan is keen to innovate on the way they work, to better understand the shopping experience they offer, and to improve the overall quality of their customer service.

Callum Campbell is CEO of Linnworks, an industry leading SaaS commerce platform which empowers brands and retailers to grow their business. Linnworks works with the worlds major marketplaces and sales channels including Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, Shopify, BigCommerce and Magento to help businesses conduct commerce wherever their customers are.
Prior to joining Linnworks, Callum founded Autonative, an automotive software and services business that continues to be a key player in the automotive eCommerce industry today.

Alex Mead leads contact centre, customer service and operations teams, driving CX innovation, delivering top class customer experiences, operations efficiency and customer loyalty. He has a proven track record of consistent contact centre, customer service operations and CX improvement, often succeeding in high pressure leadership positions. Alex believes customers should get EPIC Service Experiences but that most companies are a long way from that. He has recently worked with companies including Alvarez & Marsal (EMEA & LATAM), Derayah (MEA), Silah Gulf (MEA), Edrington (Global) & ATPI (Global).