Speakers
 | Cathie Osborne, Managing Director & Founder of Retaissance Cathie Osborne is an experienced entrepreneur and the Managing Director and Founder of Retaissance, a first-of-its-kind UK based free B2B marketplace designed to help brands connect and trade with retail buyers. With a long-standing passion for sales and retailing, Cathie has worked with countless consumer goods and giftware brands to help grow their sales, approach new markets and launch new products. In addition to managing Retaissance, Cathie heads up Hatton and Spencer, a UK-based packaging brand specialising in jewellery, gift and heritage. |
 | Martin Balaam - CEO & Founder of Pimberly CEO & Founder of Pimberly, a Manchester based Enterprise SaaS platform for Product Information Management and Digital Asset Management, since January 2015. The business was a start-up initiated under the Jigsaw24 Group and was then spun off and invested in by Martin and NorthEdge Private Equity in February 2018. Pimberly’s SaaS platform is designed to help retailers, distributors, brand owners and manufacturers which have the challenge of managing vast quantities of product data, images, videos and documents. Before joining Pimberly, Martin was the CEO of Jigsaw24, the UK's largest Apple and Adobe Systems Integrator, an investment alongside NorthEdge where he grew revenues from £45m to £125m in 5 years and successfully exited in 2018. He is also Co-Director of his family business, Welcome Furniture, the UK's largest manufacturer of Bedroom furniture for the Retail and Student Accommodation industry. |
 | Frederic Bruneau - CEO & Co-founder of Foxy Nerds Frederic is the CEO and cofounder of Foxy Nerds, a worldwide social influence marketplace boosted by artificial intelligence. During the last 15 years, Frederic has developed a strong international background in entrepreneurship and digital marketing. With Foxy Nerds, Frederic helps companies better know and target their audience, and develop higher engagement level with. |
| Anton Dell - Founder & CEO of Anton Dell Fashion Consultancy Celebrating over 25 years of success matchmaking brands with sales representatives globally. At The Anton Dell Fashion, Gift & Home Consultancy, we know that there are more good brands and designers than agents or distributors, and finding the right match can be a tricky and lengthy job. That’s where we come in – we find the right agents with detailed research and an extensive knowledge of the market. For the last 25 years, we’ve been a flourishing and ever-expanding international consultancy, providing a world-class professional service to fashion, gift and homeware brands globally. Connected to more that 25,000 industry contacts, we can find partners from Australia to Scandinavia or the USA to Japan. | |
 | Kasia Dorsey - CEO at Yosh.AI Kasia, nominated as Forbes “100 European Female Founders”, after years in marketing in The Coca-Cola Co., fashion e-commerce, she founded Yosh.AI with the mission to re-invent shopping with AI, conversational commerce and visual recognition offering to the companies AI virtual assistant in voice and text. Yosh.AI works successfully with many international retailers implementing automation into their communication through the use of AI. Yosh.AI is the global Google Cloud Partner and the winner of numerous International retail tech competitions. Kasia is passionate about deep-tech and creating value to business through the implementation of AI. She is an active mentor in Google, global Ambassador of Blackbox Silicon Valley Acceleration program, she supports growth of innovative and passionate people. |
 | Toby Flenley - European Sales Director at First Insight Inc. First Insight introduces the voice of the consumer into your merchandising and product design decisions. Retailers, manufacturers and brands use First Insight to design, select, price & market the most profitable new products for reduced markdown rates and improved sales, margins and inventory turnover. 100% of customers have experienced a 3-9% increase in gross margin. Toby’s customers include Arcadia, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, GAP, Pandora, Crocs, Kohl's, JC Penney, Under Armour and more. |
 | Marco Guardigli, group co-founder and technical director at Netgate Marco Guardigli, group co-founder and technical director, is an entrepeneur, solution designer and enterprise ICT consultant. Over the last 25 years he had the opportunity to work in computer network design for many international companies. Relying on a solid experience in networking, iot and data analysis, he brought to WDS his vision about data ecology and context-dependent information delivery. He is passionate for Open Source. |
 | Willie Hamilton - Back on the high street Former CEO of Company of Master Jewellers, Willie has a wealth of experience in many aspects of the retail industry. CMJ thrived during one of the toughest decades imaginable for high street jewellers. Beyond day to day management and business successes, a raft of commercial divisions was created, a jewellery specialist PR agency, a Design agency an IT business and Distribution arm. Turnover increased tenfold from £18m to £180m over a 10-year tenure. Ethical jewellery campaigner Greg Valerio MBE has said: “If it wasn’t for the likes of him, we never would have made half the progress we have made in improving the ethics and working practices of the jewellery industry.” |
 | Lauren Harmon - Fashion United With a strong background in fashion and digital, Lauren uses her vast network to connect with and work with key players in the retail industry in order to build long-term partnerships. With experience in content marketing and sales, Lauren helps companies from the fashion industry shape their online narrative, define their USP's and future-proof their business from a digital and a thought leadership perspective. Currently working for FashionUnited, she is responsible for media and B2B digital partnerships on a local and global level. Working with trade shows, digital solutions partners, brands and many more, her proven track record of delivering strong financial results, leads to successful business relationships. |
| Felix Huber - Head of Supplier Acquisition and Onboarding Wayfair Europe In his role, Felix is responsible for identifying and onboarding new suppliers for all home and living categories from all over Europe. With his vast professional experience in e-commerce, consumer goods, sales, and consulting, he has a strong track record supporting suppliers on their journey towards becoming a high performing online players. He will share an introduction to Wayfair‘s business model and the opportunity for new suppliers, followed by a detailed outline how to get started with selling on Wayfair. | |
 | Megan Jones - Senior Strategist at R/GA Megan is a Senior Strategist at R/GA London. She started her career in a media agency, working on some of the UK’s top publishers and winning industry awards for the best use of data. Megan joined R/GA to bring media thinking into the creative and strategic process. She strongly believes that today’s media environments are offering brands amazing ways to connect with people but are not being used to their full potential. Today she works as a strategist across the Unilever portfolio. Megan has been quoted on data and marketing in The Times and has written for LLBOnline. |
 | Evangelos Kotsonis - CEO at e-satisfaction.com Evangelos Kotsonis has been active in the digital marketing industry since 2010 and has significant experience in e-business and digital marketing topics. As the founder and CEO of e-satisfaction.com, the most complete customer engagement platform for omnichannel retailers, he has been active in the customer experience space since 2014, bringing in the knowledge of technology and digital marketing in customer experience and market research. |
 | Antoine Leclercq - CEO & Founder of Caast.TV Antoine is the founder of Caast.TV, a live shopping solution dedicated to retailers and e-commerce players, that fully integrates into the customer experience both during and after the live to boost conversions and sales on product pages on digital an in-store. |
 | Gisle Mariani Mardel - Head of Development at NF&TA (Norwegian Fashion & Textile Agenda) As the former CEO of Norwegian Fashion Institute, he is a designer and entrepreneur specialised in business and industry development for the creative industries. |
 | Ben Mercer - CEO & Co-founder, Personify XP Personify XP automates digital experiences for anonymous digital shoppers driving an average increase of 10% in revenue. Personify XP partner with some of the world’s most exciting brands like Farfetch, boohoo, BMW, Pentland Brands and Lovehoney. A Gartner Cool Vendor in Personalisation, Personify XP delivers ‘personification’ solving the ‘cold start problem for personalisation’. |
| Tim Nash - Retail Creative Expert, Visual Thinker, Brand Activator A Visual Thinker and Creative Curator, passionate about creating experiences that engage and inspire. “Go big or go home” certainly sums up my aesthetic, juxtaposed by my ethos, echoed by Steve Jobs: "Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people". Tim has worked in the Visual Merchandising & Display industry for nearly twenty years. Creating some memorable brand experiences globally for some of the coolest retailers along the way. Winning some awards and accolades while at it. | |
 | Medi Parry-Williams - Operations Director, Dransfield Properties As Operations Director at Dransfield Properties, Medi Parry-Williams has extensive experience in shopping centre management and a history of high-level decision making in retail. Appointed to Dransfield Properties’ board of directors in 2015, at the age of 32, Medi is responsible for managing operations across the organisation’s extensive portfolio of shopping centres and department stores across the UK, including Morpeth’s Stanley Terrace, and Sandersons Boutique Department Store. Medi has been involved in all aspects of marketing across the brand, including managing events with up to 50,000 attendees. She is also a non-executive director for ProxiSmart, a start-up technology company that connects high street retailers to their customers and reduces pain points, increases loyalty, improves relationships and ultimately uplifts revenues. |
 | James Prince - Head of branch, John Lewis Partnership James Prince’s current full-time role is Head-of-Branch at the John Lewis Partnership flagship branch in Leeds. He also reports directly to the executive board on the digitally-led and culture-change programme. Before his appointment to the Leeds branch, he led 450 partners to commercial success as head of John Lewis Sheffield and played a key role in establishing the first-ever ‘John Lewis at Home’ store. In addition to his work at John L ewis, James has a history of supporting independent businesses across the North of England, and his previous appointments include Chairing the Sheffield Business Improvement District, and a non-executive directorship at Leeds’ Business Improvement District. |
 | Narmada Ramakrishna - Co-founder and CEO of pink maharani Pink Maharani enables artisans with ongoing opportunities, girls in India to outshine stigma and children in challenging circumstances with remedies – which removes barriers and brings peace of mind. They do this by offering the finest cashmere, silk and alpaca shawls. Their journey started with an innocent random conversation at a tea shop in Geneva. With a perfect blend of entrepreneurship and social impact, pink maharani was cofounded by Narmada Ramakrishna with a clear vision and strong commitment for the people and the planet. The socially-driven business is holistic and helps others in some form or the other. So in simple terms, it was the love of fabric, supporting and enabling people, especially women that got pink maharani going. |
 | David Stern - Former Global CEO, Crabtree & Evelyn Before Crabtree & Evelyn, David was the Regional Executive Officer, Americas/EMEA and VP of Flagship Brands for Kao Corporation, the $15bn Tokyo-based consumer products company. David managed Kao’s Mass Beauty Brand Portfolio, including the John Frieda, Jergens, Biore, Curel, Guhl and Ban brands, across the Americas, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. Earlier in his career, David was CEO of Endeavors Inc., a manufacturing and distributor of premium home and personal care products. Previously, David also spent 11 years at Unilever, where he held several high-profile leadership positions in the United States and United Kingdom, including President and CEO of the Unilever/iVillage joint venture, VP of Interactive Marketing and E-Commerce, and Director of New Brand and Business Development in Home and Personal Care. |
 | Lee Thompson, Fulfilment Crowd Helping online retailers maximise their potential through applied software technology, integrated processes, proven management systems and industry-leading order fulfilment services. Proud to lead fulfilmentcrowd, a high-growth and international leader in the third party logistics sector. |
 | Sarah Ward - CEO, Allied Trade Association Sarah Ward is the Chief Executive of the Giftware Association which is at the heart of the Gift Industry. Over the last couple of years, the Jewellery Distribution, British Travel goods & Leather Accessories and designGap Associations have also been brought under the GA’s umbrella and Sarah’s leadership. The GA supports its member’s by offering invaluable advice and assistance to everyone involved in this wonderful industry. Coming originally from a blue-chip retail background, Sarah then worked at Penny Kennedy where she gained extensive knowledge within the card, wrap and stationery areas of business. Her role at the GA has seen her utilise these skills across a broader environment and we are delighted to now offer our help to everyone from established companies to start ups, manufacturers and retailers. |
 | Michael Weedon - Managing Director, Exp2 Limited & Head of the High Street Advisory Board for SaveTheHighStreet.org Successful, energetic, creative leader, working hard to ensure the progression and stability of the retail sector. SaveTheHighStreet.org is an incredible project which holds the foundation that the future of the high street depends on how we all act now. SaveTheHighStreet.org provides support for high street businesses, community champions, trade associations, local authorities, landlords, industry innovators and others, across the UK, through the Coronavirus-era and beyond. Diverse, successful high streets benefit everyone. The more of us who join, the stronger we all become. |
 | Joseph Williams, DA Languages An experienced sales leader within the translation and localization industry, focused on helping businesses communicate in any language. Skilled in sales strategy, communications, marketing & growth management. |
