Global Speakers

Dave works on the Retail & e-Commerce Team for Facebook in the UK. In his role, he collaborates with clients on how to best utilise the Facebook platform to drive business results, from a branding and performance perspective. Clients that Dave works closely with include LEGO, Alibaba, Shop Direct and Made.com. Prior to working at Facebook, Dave worked in London’s Tech City for the award winning e-Commerce start up Flubit.

Kirsten is responsible for developing B&Q’s vision and plan to become a true omnichannel retailer. She leads the business development of their fulfillment and collection propositions; developing their digital in store selling offer across store formats; and prioritizing the development of their digital products. Kirsten is also responsible for digital insights and analytics, ensuring the development programme is data and customer led.

Kirsten has worked for B&Q for 12 years and has held a variety of senior roles across digital and customer insights. Prior to B&Q, Kirsten worked in similar roles at M&S, Freemans and AXA.

Steve Webster is Head of eCommerce at Steinhoff UK, driving the omnichannel growth of Harveys Furniture, and Bensons for Beds. An experienced ecommerce professional, he has spent the last decade optimizing online strategies for retailers including Boohoo and Fashion Union. Well-versed across fashion, home and lifestyle brands, Steve was also named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in online fashion for two consecutive years by Directorsof.com and British Vogue.

Listed as one of most influential people in the industry by the WatchPro Hot 100 Retail Titans, Damian has been part of iconic retail institutions in the UK. From managing multi-branded retail portfolio to mono-branded strategy, Damian has previously worked at Selfridges, where he held senior roles and managed few business categories, from fashion to beauty. He also opened Global retail flagship for Burberry at Regent Street and is now part of the Aurum group where he is responsible for the Flagship market as a Retail Director for Watches of Switzerland. He is also a contributing editor to various contemporary UK publications as well as a retail consultant.

Siobhán heads Kurt Salmon’s strategy and private equity service offer in the UK and Ireland, leading assignments with global and European firms, involving due diligence, operational improvement and international expansion. From her 20 years’ retail experience, which includes senior management posts at Wal-Mart, Home Retail Group and KFC, she has also developed an in-depth understanding of operating a multi-channel business, strategy, new format development and international expansion.

Sarah Davis heads Kurt Salmon’s digital practice in the UK, with responsibility for developing services and initiatives to assist multi-channel businesses deliver the high level of personal interaction that customers are demanding across all buying touch points. She advises companies on strategy, 1:1 Connected Customer Retailing, business development and technical solutions. Sarah’s 20 years’ experience has been gained through a broad range of digital engagements spanning retail – department stores, e-commerce, grocers – consumer products and media industries.

Tom is the Director of Social at Twelve AM, helping to make brands relevant to their target audience through effective and intelligent solutions. Prior to that, he worked at Ogilvy & Mather Group UK. He is also the tech and innovation editor for “We Are Social Media”, a global ambassador for Hootsuite, a member of the Institute of Directors (IoD), a university drop-out and also a busy man.

Frameless Adventures was formed a couple of years ago when Chris realized that few people were aware of the massive change occurring with media technologies and the creative potential this provides.  He has since worked as a consultant and freelance producer on some  award-winning virtual reality and immersive projects for brands such as Cancer Research UK, Samsung,  Real Madrid and Gucci.

Edward is an interactive imagery specialist and has produced interactive imagery for the likes of BBC, UEFA, ESNP, Vogue, NHS, Daily Mail and Royal Ballet. In 2014, he captured the first news documentary for the Oculus Rift, captured during the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests. Later in 2015, he created the first 360-degree video of a live surgical operation, in association with the Royal London Hospital.

Steve has 20 years experience in the media agency world, working with clients including Volkswagen, Starbucks, Waitrose and Renault.  He created the Beyond division within Manning Gottlieb OMD using start-up thinking to develop growth strategies for early stage businesses through to established blue-chip organizations. Steve’s approach looks ahead to next generation consumer solutions and how personalization of connection built around VR, AR and AI will prove to be the key to long term success.

Morris Pentel is a Customer Experience and Contact Strategy Designer and runs one of the most respected private Customer Experience and Contact Strategy consulting businesses in the world. Based in the UK, he has a track record for successful work for some of the largest institutions and government organizations all over the world. He has delivered workshops over the last 18 months in 11 countries and his designs have influenced billions of the world’s Customer Experiences.

As Customer Insight Director at Getty Images, Alex helps everyone in marketing to generate and publicize insights from their channels. Her “built to grow” approach unites the whole team around the customer and their needs, democratizing the task of customer insight and amplifying the results of the marketing teams. Alex enjoys hearing and representing the voice of the customer – as expressed through data, research and service channels.

Guy has focused on social customer care since 2008, when he set it up at The Carphone Warehouse. At that time he was seen as one of the early pioneers of social customer care in the UK. Currently the Social Customer Care Lead at IBM, Guy helps organizations navigate through their own social journeys. He has been described as one of the world’s leading thinkers on social customer care.

James is the Chairman and Founder of IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group). For over 20 years, IMRG has been the voice of e-retail in the UK, assisting the successful adoption of e-commerce by business, government and consumers in Europe and across the world. James previously held Business Development Director positions with Convergent Communications and New Media Productions. He also served as a member of the Government’s European E-commerce Taskforce, chaired by Lord Young, and currently serves on the Government’s advisory Future Retail Working Group.

James has been actively involved in the development of international e-commerce industry standards, measurement, governance and cooperation. Acknowledged for his unique and holistic insight into the e-commerce industry, James is a regular speaker on the subject at conferences worldwide and regularly called upon to serve as an industry expert.

Dr. David Benyon has been working in the area of human-computer interaction (HCI) and interaction design for over 25 years. He has lectured and written widely on the subject and has attracted significant commercial and research income to support his work. His recent work includes developing the concept of a “blended space” to characterize UX in this era of omnichannel interaction. He is the author of the best-selling “Designing Interactive Systems” currently in its 3rd edition. The new edition, due in 2017, is called “Designing User Experience” a change that reflects the rapid and significant changes in the area.

With automotive experience gained in several countries and spanning international e-commerce projects with OEMs as well as leadership of a large retailer group, Ian has delivered sustainable sales growth in Volkswagen UK through the design and implementation of Blended Retailing. This integrated customer journey has provided customers with a seamless experience between the digital and physical touchpoints, and led to increased sales, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Fully empowering the people tasked with delivering this new customer experience remains the key ingredient of that success.

Steen, a Google Partner Academy Program Trainer, has been in the analytics game for more than 15 years. He has been nominated as one of the world’s leading analysts by the Digital Analytics Association for the last 3 year running. He has shared his thoughts on the subject from Silicon Valley to Budapest and from Oslo to Barcelona for IIH Nordic, the agency he co-founded more than 10 year ago. With more than 55 employees, clients all across EMEA, and a nomination for Global Analytics Agency of the year, IIH Nordic is a Scandinavian data-driven force to reckoned with.

Nick has been working within mobile delivery for the last 6 years, mainly within the sports and leisure industries with clients such as Wembley Stadium, Glastonbury, The Premier League and more recently, The Restaurant Group. With a strategy, design and development past, he is able to work closely with all stakeholders within a project. Heading up Product & Delivery at Omnifi means he sits in-between everyone in the agency, acting as the starter, the ideas man, the sense checker, the motivator, the good guy, the bad guy and the annoying guy.

Sam has worked in marketing all of her career, starting with trade marketing in the wine industry before moving to consumer and retail marketing with companies including John E Fells & Sons, O’Briens Wines and Lendlease Bluewater.  Influenced by the surge in digital and data driven marketing strategies, she joined Aimia to gain data driven and digital marketing experience. Sam is now Marketing Director at TRG with a particular focus on data and digital innovation across Frankie & Benny’s, Chiquito, Coast to Coast and all other brands.

A two-fold digital leader and an international marketing expert, Francesco is currently in charge of the planning and execution of JLL omnichannel marketing initiatives within EMEA as its EMEA Digital Director, while championing the integration of digital in JLL core business. In his previous role, Francesco managed Acer digital presence in 55 markets across PANAM, EMEA and APAC, where he pioneered several business transformation projects worldwide including Acer’s real time predictive marketing platform, which is regarded as the industry best practice. Prior to that, he was the Head of Digital CRM at Vodafone, where he led an award-winning team who re-engineered customer relationship and customer lifetime value management. Widely regarded as a motivational leader with excellent public speaking skills, Francesco is also a Lecturer at MIP Politecnico di Milano for its Executive MBA program.