Amir Mashkoor, MINISO UK Brand Owner, is a seasoned entrepreneur and franchising professional with experience in developing franchise holdings across the UK.Amir specialises in pop culture and lifestyle retail, hospitality and telecoms and has a proven track record of taking multiple outlets from inception to maturation within a few years.

Bassem Awada joined Exotec in 2024. He studied in the UK, obtaining an MBA from Warwick Business School, an MSc in control system engineering from the University of Sheffield, and a BEng first-class honours degree from the University of Leeds.

Morris leads the global go-to-market strategy for Quinyx’s AI capabilities. With a background in statistics, he started his journey at Quinyx eight years ago as a developer and implementation consultant. Since then, he’s managed both sales and implementation teams and now works closely with customers and prospects across industries to explore how AI can transform workforce management.

Leanne is CEO of Bravissimo, an award-winning retailer of lingerie and swimwear for women who wear a D cup and up. Bravissimo aims to inspire their customers to feel confident and amazing, and to make shopping a fun and uplifting experience. Leanne began her career as a management trainee on the shopfloor at Marks & Spencer, later becoming CIMA qualified and building diverse experience across a range of commercial, operational, financial and programme roles at Legal & General, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Travelex. Leanne was appointed CEO of Bravissimo in December 2020, having joined as Finance Director in 2017 and progressed to Managing Director in 2018. Leanne has played a pivotal role in driving forward Bravissimo’s profitability and successfully led the company through a strategic sale to Wacoal Europe in 2024. Leanne is a strong advocate for purpose-driven, authentic leadership. As well as being a woman in leadership, she is from a working-class background and was born with a limb difference. Outside of work, she is Chancellor of the University of Sunderland and through this aims to support others to fulfil their potential, fostering social mobility and access to higher education.

Joe is a retail leader and transformation specialist with over 20 years' experience across operations, leadership, and technology enablement.He began his career on the shop floor at Tesco, progressing through store management roles before moving into senior leadership positions at Wickes. Throughout his career, Joe has helped deliver operational re-engineering programmes, customer proposition improvements, and cultural transformation initiatives that supported business expansion and long-term performance.In his current role as a Consultant at Logile, Joe partners with major retailers to drive operational efficiency, empower frontline teams, and align technology to business and cultural objectives. He brings a pragmatic, people-first approach to technology adoption, helping organisations unlock lasting value from continuous learning, collaboration, and innovation.Joe is passionate about building retail cultures that embrace change at every level, believing that true efficiency is not just about systems and metrics, but about fostering engaged, adaptable teams.

Andrew is an experienced procurement and supply chain leader with deep expertise in delivering significant cost optimisation and margin improvement programs. As head of 4C Associates retail practice he works with retail clients to build solutions that solve some of their most complex operational and commercial challenges, delivering tangible value with a sustainable impact.

Stephen is a highly motivated and passionate individual who genuinely cares about the people and clients he works with. His career began in the British Army, specialising in communications and intelligence. After leaving the military, Stephen embarked on a career in Information Technology. Over 17 years, he developed core skills in technical engineering, solution architecture and design, which eventually saw him moving into more senior technical leadership roles. Throughout his IT career, Stephen worked across various industries, providing his expertise to defence, financial services, retail, and public services. Always seeking to be challenged and driven by a passion for thought leadership and innovation, Stephen spotted an opportunity to join CDW as the Chief Technologist for Security within the Office of the CTO. In this role, he now provides CDW's voice and opinion from a proposition and go-to-market perspective within their security growth pillar, whilst offering business guidance and customer support to CDW's clients from a more strategic and advisory perspective.

Giuseppe Guillot is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience in digital scale-ups across the USA, UK, Sweden, and Italy.After years in strategic leadership roles, he now serves as Executive Advisor to Temera, supporting the company in tailoring its solutions and expanding its presence in the UK market.In the UK, he played a key role as Logistics and Systems Infrastructure Director at Kurt Geiger, where he led the transformation of IT and supply chain systems toward a direct-to-consumer model. His work included the launch of the US market, the rollout of Manhattan OMS and WMS platforms, and the design—together with Temera—of technologies to turn physical stores into digital, data-rich environments.Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer at YNAP (formerly YOOX Group), overseeing Technology, Operations, and Customer Care globally. Under his leadership, the company saw tenfold revenue growth, automated its warehousing operations with Temera’s RFID technology, and expanded from 16 to 36 online flagship stores, while formalizing a joint venture with the Kering Group.Giuseppe holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Industrial Engineering.

Andrew is VP of global demand generation at Canto. He’s a B2B marketing specialist with a career that has spanned advertising agencies, the SaaS start-up world as well as cyber security and is well versed in all things content marketing. With in-depth experience of work management tools, digital asset management and change management strategies, Andrew has a knack for helping companies set themselves up for success by scaling their creative operations.

Matt Hanrahan, Co-Founder of Reskinned, is passionate about creating a more sustainable clothing world. He’s been involved in consumer marketing and innovative technology development for more than twenty years. From his wealth of in-depth knowledge of innovative tech, Reskinned was founded. The company offers brands and their customers better ways to continue the lifecycle of their garments, and strives to develop smarter, more effective circular textile systems.

Simon has more than 20 years of experience in customer science, data and analysis, in the retail, FMCG, CPG, telco and finance sectors. In his current role as group data director at Kingfisher, he is responsible for the development and implementation of data, analytic, and AI applications across the group, to drive growth and value. Simon was previously vice president, data and analytics at Asda, building data-driven data capabilities to grow sales, margin and create customer value. Before that, he spent 17 years at dunnhumby, including spending time leading the China and Latin America businesses.

Robert believes that retail efficiency is not a one-time cost-cutting exercise, but a continuous process of honing individual abilities and optimising the capabilities and efficiencies of both operators and systems. With over a decade of hands-on experience building and scaling lean, profitable retail operations across both digital and physical channels, Robert continues to explore how value-driven brands can punch above their weight through tactical cost transformation, agile tech adoption, and a culture of radical accountability. He is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Stroodles, a purpose-led challenger brand. Previously, Robert served as COO at everything5pounds.com, where he built and ran one of the UK’s most efficient e-commerce operations on a tightly controlled budget. From transforming a derelict shed into a high-performing fulfilment centre to orchestrating full-scale tech replatformings and launching national marketing campaigns on a shoestring, his leadership consistently focused on keeping operations lean and efficient while enhancing customer experience and workforce engagement.

Will first started working for Timpson in 2008 in our Aylesbury Market Square shop. From there, he went on to work in, and manage shops in each of the different Timpson Group businesses. He left the business for a short time (to go to university) and then rejoined full time in 2011. Will returned as a management trainee and worked in roles across the group (and country) before taking on his first Senior Leadership position in 2017 as Director of Jeeves of Belgravia and Jeeves International, becoming a member of the Timpson Group Executive Board at the same time.In 2021, in addition to his responsibilities for Jeeves, Will was made Managing Director of Timpson Direct, the fastest growing business in the Timpson Group. Timpson Direct is the home for a number of different Timpson Group businesses, including; franchising operations, Timpson Security, MaxPhoto.co.uk, TescoPhoto.com, Timpson.com (and all of our other websites), our B2B businesses and our vending businesses. He also looks after our buying teams and our Strategic Partnerships; predominantly with the supermarkets and DIY retailers.Will is a Fellow of the RSA and is very passionate about providing employment opportunities for disadvantaged jobseekers. This includes people with criminal convictions, people with disabilities, refugees and ex-service personnel. Outside of work, Will lives in London with his wife Katie, their sons Theo and Archie and their dog- Morgan.

Richard is Chief Executive Officer of Retail Economics, an independent economics research consultancy focused on the consumer and retail industry. Previously, Richard held the position of Chief Economist at the British Retail Consortium before heading up the Retail Insight and Analytics team. Richard has a wealth of experience in data analytics, retail insight, economics and consumer research. He was voted as a Top Ten Voice for LinkedIn for sharing his insights on the retail industry and is also voted a top retail expert by ReThink Retail for three years running, and a top 100 global

Orla McGreevy is Sales Director for LoweConex, working with leading retailers to help them understand asset challenges in their estate, identify areas for improvement and establish business cases to drive energy and maintenance cost efficiencies at scale.A passionate leader in the business, Orla has spent the last 10 years working across a variety of roles supporting retailers such as L’OCCITANE, Co-op franchises, Stonegate Group and Charles Tyrwhitt to implement technology that provides ground-breaking impacts on bottom line savings.

Richard Meeus is Akamai’s EMEA Director of Security Technology and Strategy. With more than 20 years of experience, Richard is responsible for designing and building secure solutions for some of the world’s most influential organisations. During his time at Akamai, Mirapoint, and Prolexic, Richard has had held strategic roles across a broad range of projects, including the deployment of DDoS solutions for multinational organizations to protect critical infrastructure and sensitive data. Additionally, Richard is a chartered member of the BCS and a CISSP

Hilary has spent the last 20 years of her career at The Body Shop. She has worked in various roles in Europe and Asia, and is now the global commercial director. She has recently led the implementation of a new AI solution to enable more data-driven commercial decisions in both the company operated home market of the UK and also to support the many franchise partners around the world.

Harshini Patel is a highly accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience in commercial and logistics, demonstrating exceptional problem-solving, numerical, and analytical skills. Her expertise spans multi-channel retail, e-commerce, wholesale, and dropship operations. She is recognized for her resilience, dedication, and passion for delivering results.In her most recent role as Merchandising & Supply Chain Director at Seraphine Ltd from July 2020 to the present, Harshini has made significant contributions, she successfully launched a US distribution centre with a new 3PL partner in six months, introducing dropship partners such as Macy's and Nordstrom. She also established bonded UK and EU DCs with an EU 3PL partner and brought on dropship partners like Zalando, M&S, and Next. Her achievements include developing processes for bonded returns in key non-EU markets and implementing a product renewable facility with an EU 3PL to restore garments for resale. She also enhanced customer experience by introducing advanced refunds for returns in key markets and improved the TrustPilot score from 3.6 to 4.3 through operational and customer service improvements.Harshini improved merchandising processes across the product cycle (Plan, Buy, Move, Sell) via WSSI, introduced a new buy model to reduce terminal stock, and increased full-price sales and profit growth.Her responsibilities encompass planning and merchandising, including budget, forecasting, OTB management, and seasonal buy strategy. She also manages global 3PL relationships, oversees the end-to-end supply chain process, and drives continuous improvement in operational processes.

Dave has twenty five years retail experience with the John Lewis Partnership, working in operational and transformational roles across a wide range of business areas including commercial, marketing, people, technology, sourcing and manufacturing.   In his last role at John Lewis  Dave led the successful relaunch of the iconic ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ John Lewis Brand promise.    Prior to this highlights have included bringing customer-centricity to the delivery of shared-service HR, scaling sourcing offices in India and Hong Kong and leading Herbert Parkinson, John Lewis’ wholly owned UK-based soft furnishings manufacturer.  Outside of work Dave is a volunteer board advisor with Be The Business, supporting small business owners to grow their businesses. 

Paul is a CTO, chief architect and strategic board advisor with over 20 years’ experience across a wide range of business areas, working primarily within B2C and B2B industries and across several international locations. Alternatively: Dad, husband, author, passionate yet distinctly average guitar player with a curious mind and a fascination for the use of technology in business.

David Tingle is Director of Operations at LoweConex, a leading provider of enterprise-ready big data solutions for the building controls sector. With over 14 years of experience in refrigeration, HVAC, and lighting, he specialises in energy management, remote connectivity, and facilities optimisation across large-scale retail estates.David holds qualifications from the Chartered Management Institute and in Building Services Engineering. He has led the successful rollout of connectivity solutions for major UK retailers—improving efficiency, reducing energy use, and aligning innovation with business strategy.Known for combining technical insight with operational leadership, David is passionate about leveraging data and connectivity to drive sustainable, scalable outcomes in the built environment.