Global go-to consumer specialist, Kate is a multi-award winning international business consultant & commentator. She works with some of the world's biggest brands to reimagine their customer engagement.

A highly respected media business presenter & reporter, she has created & featured in documentaries & prime-time TV & Radio shows including top-rating shows on BBC, Netflix and CNN.

With an illustrious career as a business advisor to some of the worlds most beloved brands including Disney, Hermes & American Express,  Hardcastle has created transformative strategies that improved profit, process and brand longevity as well as social responsibility. 

She is the founder of Buy Smarter, Buy Greener ™️. 

Hardcastle has developed impactful consumer strategies with household brand names across the world, and was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty, The Queen, for services to business & entrepreneurship.

She is the creator and host for The Rock N Roll Business Podcast ™️ - interviewing the great and good from show business and taking the learning's from success stories into engaging business lessons for today's fast moving commercial world. 

Hardcastle is a Director at the Fragrance Foundation, and a commentator for Forbes & Vogue.

Peter began his IKEA career as a part-time self-serve co-worker in the Gothenburg store. Since then he has worked all over the IKEA world, in Trading and Purchasing in Russia followed by a move to Vietnam, joining the IKEA Asia-Pacific team. In 2000, he joined IKEA UK and Ireland and held several positions including Store Manger IKEA Lakeside, Marketing Manager, Sales and Communications Manager and Deputy Retail Manager. Prior, Peter spent nine years at Clas Ohlson AB, where he held various roles including acting CEO, Executive Vice President/COO as well as Director of Operations.

Ariel Haroush is the CEO and Founder of Outform. From the very beginning, he has always had a deep love for design and technology. However, the real magic happens when these elements come together to create meaningful experiences and memories for people. As the founder of Outform, Ariel wanted to create an environment where passionate people could come together to bring innovative design to life. Outform thrives on helping brands find new and exciting ways to create a lasting impact. "Dare to Innovate" is the DNA of Outform, and it is the approach Ariel takes in everything he does, both in business and personal life. Driven by creativity and innovation, with over 20 years of experience connecting brands with their consumers, Ariel's passion and dream is to shape the future of retail.

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; 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.

Professor Jens Nordfält is Professor of Retailing at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. His research focuses on retailing, both traditional bricks and mortar retailing and newer aspects such as digital retailing and omnichannel retailing. His research has been published in a number of journals and has also been rewarded for his achievements in building bridges between marketing academia and the retail industry, with a professional background in the retail sector.

Aged 30, she became a board member at Harvey Nichols before founding her own retail consultancy. Mary has since worked with some of the biggest names in global retail.

Her BBC series – Mary Queen of Shops – premiered in 2007 and she has presented on television and radio for the BBC and Channel 4 ever since. In 2009, she partnered with Save The Children to reinvent charity shops. To date, the 26 Mary’s Living & Giving shops nationwide have raised more than £30 million for charity. She also conducted a review of the future for high streets for the British government in 2011. 

Mary is the author of three books: an autobiography Shop Girl [ 2015] and two non-fiction books - Work Like A Woman: A Manifesto [2018] which looks at the restructuring how we work for the future; and Rebuild: how to thrive in the new Kindness Economy [2021]. The Kindness Economy podcast was #1 on the business chart.

As co-chair of the Better Business Act, Mary heads a coalition of businesses calling for a change in the law to ensure UK companies align their interests with those of wider society and the environment.

In addition to presenting two series of Mary Portas: On Style for BBC Radio 4, Mary is also a podcaster – in her latest series Beautiful Misfits she interviews fellow changemakers taking the imaginative leap to create a better world.

Most recently, Mary took on the government with Kevin McCloud & Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in The Great Climate Fight on CH4.

In 2024, Mary made the King’s New Year Honours list, being awarded an OBE for her services to business, broadcasting and charity

Dee Corsi is Chief Executive of New West End Company, the UK’s largest retail, leisure, and hospitality Business Improvement District. It represents over 600 property owner and occupier businesses across the West End, and is anchored by Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street.

Working alongside its members, New West End Company delivers transformational projects, sustainable place management, destination marketing, advocacy, and commercial insights, all in service of maintaining the West End’s global reputation as a flagship destination.

Henrik has been the CEO for H&M UK & Ireland since September 2022 and is responsible for all UK & Ireland subsidiaries of H&M. This includes responsibility for around 7,000 employees, the operations of 200+ physical stores, the digital platforms and the development of the brand & customer base for the third biggest market in the H&M Group.

In his first 18 months as Country Manager, Henrik has overseen online growth in a declining online market with a steep profit increase in the UK & Ireland. He continues to drive brand performance with a key focus on digital transformation and store portfolio development.

Originally from Sweden, Henrik started his H&M career in Stockholm in 2008. Since then, he has worked in various roles within the business, including Global Business Unit Director for Menswear and Kidswear,  Country Manager for the Philippines and Global Head of Franchise for H&M Group.

Henrik is an Advisory Board Member for the Stockholm School of Economics as well as Board Member for the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in the UK and has a Masters in Business Administration from Lund University, Sweden.

Over the last nine years at Primark, Kari’s role has revolved around driving strong UK store performance, starting first in the North-West of England before being responsible for the entire UK business. Prior to this, she’s held senior regional and international roles at Debenhams, making up over 20 years of retail and store experience. Beyond her work, Kari lives with her husband and two daughters by the sea in North Wales where they enjoy spending time outdoors with activities including cycling, horse-riding and water-sports. 

Elin Hammenfors is the Head of Sales UK for Ingrid - the market leading delivery experience platform. Elin has been working with SaaS based retail technology platforms for the past 8 years and since Ingrid did their market entry to the UK in November 2023, they have signed brands such as ME+EM, Paul Smith, Ellis Brigham, Osprey London and Jo Loves. Elin will share insight on the importance of a great delivery proposition and experience that offers choice, flexibility and transparency for the customer but that also drives profitability and international scalability for the retailer.

Before being appointed to the role of Country Digital and Business Development Manager in May, Donna previously held the role of Head of Customer Experience for. She is an accomplished retail and customer experience leader with 30 years of knowledge and experience in the food and home furnishing retailing sector.

Within IKEA, Donna is responsible for transforming and delivering customer centric strategies and enabling change across the organisation, and the integration of digital products and platforms to meet the needs of customers and co-workers to enhance the end-to-end customer journey.

Donna also oversees the vital role of transforming IKEA’s Customer Support Centre into a modern remote customer meeting point, embracing digital capabilities to bring the range and services to the many customers, from the comfort of their own homes.

An experienced senior professional with a passion for eCommerce, with over 15 years’ experience in retail, marketing, commercial and operations.

As Director of Refurbished and Home Improvement at eBay UK, Mark works closely with sellers, partners and consumers to grow the circular economy, extending the lifecycle of everyday products. Encouraging consumers to make refurbished a first thought, not an afterthought. Partnering with reputable sellers who offer a huge selection of high quality products from some of the world’s leading brands, including Apple, Dyson and Ninja, and communicating the benefits of refurbished technology to consumers.

Jocelyn Paulley – Partner, Co-Head of the Retail Sector, and Co-lead of Data Protection and Cyber Security sector (UK)

Jocelyn is a technology and data Partner, with expertise in IT agreements, data protection, data centres and telecommunications. She has extensive experience in ecommerce (procurement of core ecomm systems, payment services, agreements with platforms and structuring and creating ecomm platforms), and on the consumer law and privacy aspects of retail online. Jocelyn also has experience with advising clients who are both procuring AI systems and developing AI systems.

Creative Leader and Founder/CEO with 25 years of experience of working with brands, agencies, private equity and then Accenture through multiple acquisitions in creative and marketing technology.

Most recently the Agency leader of Accenture Song – Accenture’s creative division – following the sale of Karmarama to Accenture. In this role Ben had responsibility for Karmarama, Droga5, Rothco, Spark44 and Creative Drive – with over 1,000 colleagues.

Prior to sale, Karmarama – where Ben was founder and CEO - was the highest ranked agency in the Sunday Times Best Companies Awards for 7 years in a row. As well as growing to be one of the biggest and highest ranked Independents in the UK. Ben brought in Phoenix Equity Partners to help grow the business through acquisition and then sold to Accenture in 2016.

Council member of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and member of the Marketing Group of Great Britain and the Marketing Society. As well as a founder member of the Industry’s Ad Net Zero initiative. Council Member of CreaTech – the government backed industry body looking at the intersection of the Creative and Tech industries.

Ranked one of the “20 Most Influential People in Marketing and Advertising” by The Sunday Times. Ben is now a serial Non-Exec and Chair for agencies and brands such as Lucky Saint Beer.

Laurence Painell is a seasoned software product leader with extensive experience in product and market development across various industries and business models. He is currently the Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) at Quinyx in London, overseeing the integration of product and technology strategies to support frontline workforces and businesses.
Previously, Laurence held leadership roles at The Access Group, Microsoft, PatSnap, Quantrix, and IDBS, where he developed and executed successful product strategies and go-to markets across his 25 years+ in software.

Jacob Lovén is the founder of the podcast "Den Digitala Draken", one of Sweden's most influential voices within tech. He has a background from digital companies such as Klarna, Schibsted Media and MTGx. Since 2023, he's an active board member of Effektify, one of Sweden's fastest growing martech companies.

Engin Celikbas is renowned for drive and passion of building enterprises and teams that challenge the status quo. Engin has led international advertising agencies like KesselsKramer (Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles) and Anomaly (Amsterdam), working with clients such as Bulgari, IKEA, Turkish Airlines, Diageo, and Audemars Piguet. Beyond advertising, he founded XBank, the world's largest Dutch design store, and invested early in Billy Grace, an AI and machine learning performance marketing planning and buying platform. Other investments and ventures include expanding and selling Coffee Company to Sara Lee Douwe Egberts, and developing hospitality brands like Sir Hotels, Max Brown, Vonder, and Cardo.