Chris Allen is director of sustainability for Decathlon.

Ruth Andrade began her career with British cosmetics company Lush in 2004 as a sales assistant in its flagship store in Covent Garden, London.

Since 2018, after having worked outside the group for a few years, Andrade has been in charge of Lush's 'Earth Care Team' in the UK and Europe, a department that manages Lush's sustainable development strategy.

Mike Barry is a sustainable business transformation consultant.

Mike was until 2019 Director of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer, spearheading its ground-breaking Plan A. He co-chaired the Consumer Goods Forum’s sustainability work and has worked with Tata Consulting Services (TCS), Consumers International, Bloomberg NEF, Chanel, PwC Japan, Unilever, SAP, JC Decaux, Havas, Nestle, Danone, Microsoft and many more.

Ross Barry, Co-Founder of Reskinned has a lifetime of textile recycling sector experience, and in-depth insight into all aspects of clothing collection, grading and recycling. Reskinned is a company leading the way in brand-led takeback services, acting as a connection between brands and customers to provide a transparent solution for preloved clothing. As well as this, Reskinned promotes innovation in textile recycling and empowers mechanical and closed-loop fibre-to-fibre technology.

Oscar Benjamin is Head of Sustainability at Brompton Bicycle.

Oscar leads Brompton’s approach to balancing people, planet and profit. Oscar is driving a net zero strategy, designing a new a low impact factory and improving the sustainability of Brompton’s supply chain. He has worked on sustainability in the DIY and grocery retail sector in the UK. He has a dual masters in environmental management and business administration from Yale University.

Zoë Brady is Ethics & Sustainability Lead for Planning & Performance, John Lewis Partnership.

Melissa Braithwaite is the Piñayarn Product Development Manager at Ananas Anam, with a Textile Design degree earned in 2013 and a decade of experience working in the fashion and textile industry.

Melissa specialises in yarn and fabric development, driving textile innovation and implementing sustainable strategies to enhance social and environmental aspects of textile value chains. Her technical expertise aids companies in achieving their Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in reaching net-zero emissions through circularity efforts.

Sara Brennan is Positive Business Director at Pentland Brands – where she leads the ethical trade, corporate responsibility and sustainability programmes.

Sara started her career in regulatory affairs and later moved into sustainability and CSR. Her work caused her to grow more conscious of existing sustainability issues and opportunities and the role of businesses in addressing those issues.

Tony Bryant is director, Microsoft Global Alliance at K3.

Tony leads the business and channel development at K3 Business Technologies. With an MBA in retail, Tony works closely with customers and partners to bring about digital and business transformation in retail and fashion.

Dorothee D’Herde is director of responsible business, Kingfisher

Dorothée joined Kingfisher plc in March 2023 to lead the responsible business agenda. She is also a trustee at Earthwatch Europe, an environmental charity. She joined Kingfisher from Vodafone, where she led the sustainable business team for 3 years. Before that, she spent 10 years at McKinsey & Company, first as head of external relations for the sustainability practice and then as director of sustainability and social impact.

Catherine David is a senior leader in the sustainability sector, with experience in developing and nurturing partnerships for impact. Catherine joined WRAP in October 2021, bringing experience from roles at The Fairtrade Foundation and The Coop.

Catherine is passionate about building a fairer and more sustainable planet for future generations. Her responsibilities at WRAP include leadership of our business collaboration work - including through our voluntary agreements on food, plastics and textiles - as well as oversight of WRAP’s citizen behaviour change activities.

Helen Dickinson OBE is chief executive officer British Retail Consortium. 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 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.

Rose Dyer is a strategic global programme/portfolio manager and ESG leader connecting strategy to execution: do the right projects, do them collaboratively, do them right: with agility. Her mindset is focused on people, planet, prosperity. Leading ESG strategy at Beauty Pie towards B-Corp and NetZero frameworks. Collaborating with internal and external peers to reduce environmental impact, increase charity/community impact, embedding DEI across the teams.

Clara Eisenberg is Legal & Sustainability Director at The Dune Group. She was a corporate finance lawyer in the City for 10 years before having a change of career, moving into music with Jazz FM. She joined The Dune Group in 2018 where, as well as being general counsel, she ensures the integration of a responsible business agenda across the group covering sourcing, sustainable materials and packaging and ESG reporting. She is a member of Zero Carbon Forum’s advisory board.

Emma Slade Edmondson is a Retail and Behaviour Change Consultant, Writer and Marketer with a focus on Sustainability and Ethics.

Emma has worked with some of the UK’s biggest brands and charities to deliver some of the most prominent UK/EU behaviour change campaigns including Charity Fashion Live, Love Not Landfill and Cancer Research UK Retail redesign. A TedX Speaker - Emma has been named as a Forbes100 Environmentalist.

Simon Finch is the Supply Chain Director at Harrods and is responsible for delivering Harrods omni-channel Supply Chain and Distribution operations. He believes strongly in collaboration and works closely with both partners and suppliers to deliver improvements across the end to end supply chain.

Simon is passionate about driving sustainability and social benefits through supply chains.

Gemma Goldfingle is editor of Retail Gazette.

Sarah Greenwood started her career as a product Designer, working at both Abercrombie & Fitch and Marks & Spencer. She now works for Centric Software where she helps brands digitally transform their businesses using PLM. A platform that paves the way for capturing and reporting on sustainability metrics.

Sarah is passionate about helping brands move towards their sustainability goals.

Harriet Hird is head of marketing at pedal-powered urban logistics disruptors, Zedify. She has 15+ years’ experience driving growth at purpose-driven brands including non-profits, startups and in the circular economy space.

Dean Kramer is Services Director for the UK & Ireland at Currys, responsible for the retailer’s delivery, installation, recycling, setup, protection, repair and re-use services. He has held a variety of commercial, operational and marketing roles at Currys during his 18 year tenure with them.

Dean plays a crucial role overseeing the development of Currys’ work in the circular economy, powered by the brand’s “Long Live Your Tech” commitment.

Carmel Mcquaid is head of ESG at Marks & Spencer.

Having joined the business in 2007 as a Climate Change Manager, Carmel has been involved in the evolution of the M&S’ eco and ethical plan, Plan A, since its inception. In 2021, M&S reset Plan A to focus on becoming a net zero business across it’s entire value chain by 2040 and is continuing to make progress on its roadmap to tackle the issues that matter most to customers.

Charlotte Morley is a Great British Sustainability Entrepreneur of the year 2022, and a record breaking Dragon Slayer. One VC recently described her as “one of the most backable founders we have come across with clear vision and purpose.” Charlotte launched her circular clothing platform, thelittleloop - which counts Steven Bartlett and Deborah Meaden among its investors - in 2020, after leaving her role as Head of Digital Product at Notonthehighstreet. Since then she’s grown a community of 20,000 committed parents, 20 brand partners (including John Lewis) and hundreds of active subscribers, and is well on the way to building the best way for parents to dress their children.

Pip Murray is the founder and CEO of B Corp certified peanut butter brand, Pip & Nut. Over the last eight years, she has been shaking up the healthy food and drink sector with her range of natural nut butters and nut butter cups. Pip has been a vocal advocate of ethical sourcing and better business practice since she founded the brand in 2015 and is now a proud Trustee of B Lab UK, a non-profit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet.

Karina O’Gorman is European head of force for good at Innocent.

Karina joined innocent drinks two years ago, to help deliver their big dreams to bring people together, create positive change and help the world live well. Karina has worked across both private and public sector for leading organisations including L’Oréal UKI, IHG Hotels, Pentland Brands, Microsoft, BlackBerry and Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.

Jacqui Parr is editor of Sustainability Beat.

Safia Qureshi is CEO and founder of Clubzer0.

Alex Robinson is CEO of Hubbub, an award-winning creative charity that inspires action that’s good for the environment and for everyone. Since 2014 Hubbub has been forming unique collaborations across business and communities, using behavioural insights, everyday language, and good design to make environmental choices both more desirable and more possible. After a successful career as an entrepreneur in the music industry, Alex turned to his passion for environmental and social issues, joining Hubbub in 2017. He thereby joined a very small group of people who have worked with both Snoop Dogg and KPMG.

Russ Taylor is an Engineering and Technology Management Consultant and serial start-up specialist, being involved with 30+ innovative new high-tech businesses over his career. He got involved in developing recycling for the bicycle retail trade through his role as a Trustee of a bicycle refurbishment charity where he applied his engineering knowledge to a hitherto unsolved issue of rubber waste in the cycling industry that was affecting the organisation. This resulted in the establishment of Velorim Limited who now operate the UK National Bicycle Waste Recycling Service for the UK Cycling Sector, where Russ is Technical Director.

Alyson Walsh is Commercial Director at FareShare with responsibility for Fundraising, Marketing Communications and Volunteering, having joined the organisation in 2016. With 25 years’ experience in the food and retail sector, Alyson possesses a wealth of industry and consumer knowledge, having previously worked on product development, launches and communication campaigns both in the UK and internationally for Sainsbury’s, Kingfisher plc and Fortnum & Mason.

Anna Woods is a woman on a mission. Having worked as a buyer and buying director including for Topshop (where she met brand director, and now good friend and business mentor, Jane Shepherdson), Kurt Geiger and LK Bennett, Anna knows what sells and how to sell it. In 2020, when Topshop went into administration, she knew it was time for her to do things her own way and Positive Retail was born.

Today, Anna has three stores - Ramsgate, Margate and Deal - in which she works with a community of sellers to sell their pre-loved designer items and she works with brands to sell their unsold stock. She is determined to prove there is a better alternative to fast-fashion.

Kate Wright is Group Sustainability Director for DFS Group. After 20 years as a Creative Director in for brands such as John Lewis, Harrods, notonthehighstreet and Dunelm, Kate decided to go back to university to complete an MBA focused on sustainability.

Already working within DFS Group as Head of Product and Brand for Sofa Workshop, she championed the need for change and is now Group Sustainability Director, leading their sustainability strategy.