Alex is an Associate Director at KPMG, bringing over 12 years of experience in delivering analytics-driven cost optimisation and performance improvement projects within the Retail sector. His journey began in Retail supply chain and logistics, where he honed his skills in optimising complex operations. 

Today, Alex leads KPMG's Economic Profitability Tool proposition, empowering clients to identify and unlock value opportunities across their entire product flow. His deep understanding of Retail operations, coupled with his passion for data-driven insights, enables him to deliver impactful solutions that drive sustainable growth for his clients.

Sarah is currently the CFO of Mamas and Papas, the leading nursery brand in the UK, with her role covering finance, operations, procurement, property and legal. Sarah is ICAEW qualified but unusually studied and trained “in industry” during her first role out of university at P&G. Sarah has spent much of her career in global consumer goods businesses in a variety of finance roles (P&G, Heinz and Pladis). Latterly, she spent 4 years at Asda as a senior finance director for George Clothing and non food, plus a role leading M&A and cash management for the business. Sarah also is a charity trustee and a passionate mentor of women in business.

Vineta Bajaj is an industry expert in the e-commerce and grocery industry, bringing several years experience in this space. She spent 10 years at Ocado Group, the FTSE 50 online grocer and technology provider supporting its growth and supporting strategic M&A, strategic divestments and fundraising over £2bn. She is now the Group CFO of Rohlik Group, a Pan European online grocer spanning 5 countries that has unicorn status. Her experience spans the US, UK, Europe and Asia. She is a finance, tax and business expert.

Vineta acts as an angel investor and advisor to a number of pre-series to series A start-ups across a variety of industries and gives her time to supporting small businesses.

Martin is a proven leader, delivering customer focused transformational change providing creative direction and design across store design, visual merchandising, space planning, in store and digital marketing. A passionate and commercially focused customer advocate, with a drive to deliver seamless omni-channel customer experiences through scalable, innovative solutions. Starting life as a Chartered Accountant, before moving into Retail where he has built his career working with Homebase, B&Q, Wyevale, Wolseley and H&B in various roles centred on Customer Experience, Store Format, Channel Strategy and Commercial Development.

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.

Helen leads the team and sets the strategic direction of the BRC. She joined in January 2013 and has been working with retailers for over 25 years. In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for Services to Retail.Helen is passionate about diversity and inclusion in retail, acting as the BRC’s Social Mobility Commission ambassador; participating in the Timewise Innovation Unit, looking to support more flexibility in jobs, particularly at senior levels; supporting the Everywoman Retail Ambassadors programme; and having previously been the chair of Working Chance, a charity helping women offenders find employment.Helen believes retail can make a strong contribution to communities, and is also on the advisory board for Pennies, a charity which offers digital charity boxes to businesses. Helen was previously UK head of retail at KPMG, driving and developing the retail practice and leading relationships and audits for many clients.

Graham Dixon is the Chief Technology Officer at x-hoppers and leads the technical support division for Wildix UK. With nearly two decades of expertise in IT and telecommunications, Graham excels in creating bespoke solutions tailored to unique business requirements. He holds a certification in the Business of AI from the prestigious London Business School and is a key architect behind the innovative x-hoppers retail communication solution.

As EVP at Proxima, I have responsibility for products, solutions, and marketing. I like to view my role as understanding the sorts of challenges that current and prospective clients face and then calibrating Proxima solutions to solve them. My (brilliant) team is thus accountable for presenting Proxima in the market, what we do, and how we talk about it. I’m also a regular writer and speaker on all things procurement, digital, and change-orientated.

Simon Jones is Exotec’s Senior Sales Executive for the UK and Ireland. For the last 18 years, Jones has helped companies introduce new technology to their supply chain and logistics operations to improve productivity and customer service. Prior to Exotec he has worked with companies such as Honeywell and Vocollect, as well as robotics solutions provider 6 River Systems. This has given him a unique understanding of the challenges faced in retail, e-commerce and warehousing, together with practical experience of how to use disruptive technology to solve these challenges.

Rob Kestertonis head of transformation design at Co-op Group

Luke Kosman is the Global Director of RFID at Datascan, leading initiatives to optimize inventory for multinational retailers using RFID technology. With extensive experience, including leadership roles at Sensormatic and as Head of Partnerships at TEDxGöteborg, Luke is an expert in leveraging tech to enhance operational efficiency and accuracy for retailers worldwide.

Ryan Lane is the Head of ISV and Partnerships in the UK for viva.com where he leverages his expertise in business relationship management, planning, and payments to drive strategic partnerships and growth. For almost 20 years, Ryan has developed a proven track record in sales and his deep understanding of soft POS, in-person, and mobile payments.

Ryan previously led strategic alliances at CyberSource within Visa and commercial partnerships at WorldPay.

Manju Malhotra is a highly experienced and influential businesswoman who started her journey at Harvey Nichols as a newly qualified accountant in 1998. Over the years, she climbed the ranks, eventually becoming chief executive of this British luxury retailer. Her tenure was marked by resilience and adaptability, successfully guiding this national treasure through the pandemic that was declared just weeks after she assumed leadership. Her legacy remains one of galvanizing Harvey Nichols as a luxury destination, delivering exceptional in-store and digital customer experience . Manju has since taken on a number of non-executive director posts – at the flexible office provider Workspace, where she is chair of the ESG committee, and the fund manager Abrdn’s smaller companies growth trust, which she is the Audit chair. Manju was recently shortlisted as “NED to watch” in the Sunday Times non-executive Director awards. She is an alumna of the Asian Women of Achievement and was featured in the Retail Week 100 and Draper’s Power 100 lists as well as being an ambassador and mentor to organisations that support and mentor the next general of business leaders.

Donna has over 30 years of experience in the food and home furnishing retail sector, with the majority of this time spent building customer centric strategies, driving change and transformation across the retail operating model.

Within IKEA, she is responsible for leading the digital transformation and driving growth through effective digital strategies and integration of digital products amd platforms to meet the needs of the customers and enhance the end to end omni-channel journey.

Donna has worked at IKEA for 26 years and prior to that worked at Greggs for 11 years, from being on a graduate trainee programe to an Area Manager.

Brett Parker is property director, at Gail's

Alfie has 20 years’ experience blended between retail, hospitality and consulting, with the majority of this spent building new capability in organisations and driving change and transformation strategy and programmes.

He has previously worked with EY, Tesco, Change Management Group and Levy Restaurants.

A team orientated leader, who likes to solve problems and is enthusiastic about growing and gaining new skills, Lisa has over 25 years’ experience working in the retail sector. In her career, Lisa has progressed from a colleague role in stores to her current position as the Group Change & Operations Director at Holland & Barrett. Holland & Barrett has a portfolio of 780 stores across the UK and Ireland with a further 230 stores in Benelux, as well as franchises and partnerships across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

In her role, Lisa leads a highly engaged and diverse team that are responsible for the delivery of transformation and change across the business, process innovation,  and continuous improvement. Alongside this Lisa and her team are also accountable for the governance of the business strategic initiatives and supporting the delivery of EBITDA, ensuring the team act as custodians of cultural change and champion the HB way of change.

Caroline Woods is an accomplished sales leader in the security industry, with a strong focus on delivering tailored solutions to key clients like Royal Mail, Gymshark, Mercedes & Accor. She has held leadership roles at Shred-it, Chubb Fire and Security, and Verkada, excelling in consultative solution solving and driving strategic growth across corporate accounts. Her achievements include multiple award wins, such as Verkada’s Founders Club, Shred-it’s EMEA Elite Presidents Club and the Women in Sales Awards. Outside of work, Caroline enjoys reading and CrossFit and resides in North London.