Current issues for:

Innovation Stage

Peter Grant

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Peter Grant has built a diverse career across FMCG, retail, and analytics, including running his own analytics business. With experience spanning the entire supply chain, he has worked at Sara Lee Corporation and Mars before joining Boots, where he now leads media effectiveness.

While marketing and media were not his initial focus, they have become his true passion. He thrives on making connections between people, data, and technology, continually uncovering new insights in this dynamic field. Driven by curiosity and innovation, he embraces the ever-evolving landscape of media effectiveness as an ongoing adventure.

Martin Villanueva

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Martin is a digital innovation leader with a proven track record for 20 years at global brands like McDonald’s, Nike, Adidas, and now at IKEA. He combines strategic thinking, creativity, and a data-driven approach to push boundaries and drive results.

His experience as a university football team captain and player in Australia’s Premier League taught him valuable lessons in teamwork and collaboration. Having lived and worked in Argentina, The Netherlands, Australia, Peru, Panama and studied in New York and Hong Kong, Martin brings a unique global perspective to his work.

Martin is also the creator of the @pordondepaso Instagram account, where he showcases his skills in content creation and digital storytelling. He is dedicated to applying his expertise to every challenge, always striving for innovation and excellence.

Farzin Saber

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Farzin Saber is Vice President of the Digital Project Office at IKEA, overseeing a project portfolio spanning business and IT. Previously, he was a Management Consultant with Nordic responsibilities at Deloitte, EY, and Accenture.

From 2015 to 2017, Farzin built and operated Cool Minds, a science centre for children in Malmö. A strong advocate for knowledge sharing, he has published articles in supply chain magazines, contributed to expert panels for Børsen, lectured at the Royal Technical and Leiden universities, and delivered a TEDx talk at Lund University. His expertise spans digital transformation, innovation, and strategic leadership.

Mark Ralea

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Mark Ralea is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in the tech and eCommerce sectors. He currently serves as the General Manager of Fabletics and Yitty in Europe. Before that he was CEO of 8fit, a popular health and fitness app, where he focuses on expanding the company’s reach and enhancing its product offerings. Before his role at 8fit, Mark was the Managing Director at Stylebop.com and Glossybox, where he played a crucial role in driving growth and transformation. His career also includes significant roles in marketing and product management at DailyDeal and founding the agency Eikyo GmbH.

Dorothee D’Herde

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Dorothee leads the Responsible Business team at Kingfisher plc, bringing 20+ years of experience across business, government, and civil society. Previously, she was Head of Sustainable Business at Vodafone Group, shaping its ESG strategy and disclosures. She also held leadership roles at SystemIQ and McKinsey, driving sustainability and inclusion initiatives. Earlier, she worked with the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the European Commission, and GPlus Europe. Passionate about positive change for people and the planet, Dorothee has a deep understanding of sustainability, policy, and business strategy, helping organisations drive meaningful impact.

Sophie Trueman

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Too Good To Go is a social impact company on a mission to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste together. Their app is currently the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food. Help users rescue good food from going to waste, offering great value for money at local stores, cafes and restaurants.

Amir Awan

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Amir Awan, a former optician, founded Dupeshop Beauty in 2021 to provide affordable, high-quality alternatives to expensive beauty products. Frustrated by the lack of difference in quality between pricey fashion lenses and standard glasses, he applied this insight to the beauty industry, offering ethical, cruelty-free “dupes” made with premium ingredients and top-tier manufacturing processes.

Dupeshop’s products are vetted by experts, including cosmetic scientists and dermatologists, ensuring they perform at the same level as luxury items. With a global customer base, Dupeshop ships directly from the UK, making beauty accessible to everyone, regardless of financial circumstances.

Amir’s innovative approach has been featured in Forbes, Beauty Independent, The Sun, and more.

Bob Neville

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Bob Neville leads Clark’s UK operations, overseeing 365 stores and franchises across the USA, Europe, and China. He is focused on aligning the brand’s marketing to better reflect its UK heritage, addressing concerns over the U.S-driven strategy that risks alienating a broader customer base.

With a background in senior roles at New Balance and Adidas, Bob has driven major brand transformations, including New Balance’s rebrand from “dad shoes” to a fashion staple and Adidas’ expansion of 15 stores a day for several years.

Bob’s expertise in brand strategy and global retail growth makes him a dynamic leader dedicated to preserving brand authenticity while driving expansion.

Nick Beighton

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Mission led, e-commerce/digital business builder and leader, guides by values, purpose driven and passionate. Unafraid of using culture, technology and logistics to disrupt existing thought patterns and do things in a different way. As CFO then CEO at ASOS, grew turnover to £4bn from £200m and transformed the e-commerce fashion landscape. Founder Trustee of the ASOS Foundation, helping raise c£10m breaking down barriers for young people in fashion and tech. member of the Variety Club Rugby Golf Legends Committee raising c£2m. Voted Top 5 most influential retailer in Fashion (Retail Week), highly numerate, number 3 excel rated CFO & CEO. Always restless, always looking for product, brand, tech and customer opportunities.
Aim listed Online purely fashion business, founded in 200, now trading in 200 territories. the largest fashion brand never to have a store. Employing c13k people world-wide, t/o £4bn. ASOS is a purpose driven, mission led organisation guided by values, aware of its role in customer lives and its responsibility to the planet and people. ASOS has redefined global ecommerce fashion, its has driven growth through culture, technology, logistics and product. Its stocks 85k 1P products through the main site, 160k though the ASOS marketplace and delivers 6-5k new products a week. 26m social media followers. As CEO grew sales from £1.2bn to £4bn. Profits grown line to £193m. Appointed CEO in April 2009, when ASOS had 178 people, t/o £165m (20% International (£35m)) delivering PBT £14m, market cap £300m. As CFO t/o grew to £975m (60% Intn) delivering PBT £47m. Appointed Chief Operating Officer for a year, during which t/o grew to £1.2bn.
Luminar: A FTSE 250 Leisure business. Market cap c£400m. Uk’s leading operator of late night venues (>100 units and 6000 people). Transformed in response to challenging market and regulatory conditions. Led 80 people across accounting & finance, tax, treasury, IT, Procurement, IR, property, audit/ business risk, developing strategic capability and improving operational efficiency.
Matalan Retail Limited: A FTSE 250 UK based value retailer with 180 stores, 5.5m soft of retail space, 13000 team members and £1.1bn t/o. Joined when turnover was £590m from 86 stores. led finance through rapid expansion (fastest growing retail business in 1998/99 ) Held increasingly broad and senior change and finance leadership roles, ultimately Executive Director , responsible for a team of 250 people.
KPMG – from trainee to Senior manager in Business transformation, working in Corporate Recovery, Transaction Services and Consultancy.

Nick is also a member of the Retail Sector Council, was a trustee of the ASOS Foundation, Ambassador for the RetailTrust and Advisor to the Anti-Slavery Collective.

Rory Hugill

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Rory Hugill is the senior innovation portfolio manager at Pangaia, the material science-focused fashion brand that received B Corp certification in 2022. A former ‘sneakerhead’, Rory is working to transform the fashion industry from its linear model to a circular Good Fashion approach that is regenerative and restorative for nature.