Our speakers

A CIMA qualified accountant, Caroline joined Kingfisher 10 years ago as a buyer before being promoted to category manager, in this role she was instrumental in the decision to remove all gas patio heaters from B&Q UK. In 2012 she was asked to join the company’s new energy saving proposition as a business development manager – designed to help customers reduce their home’s energy use through intelligent product developments and installed solutions. It was then a natural step for Caroline into her current role as Director of Responsible Business at Kingfisher. Caroline has
a passion for sailing and in her spare time you’ll often find her cruising and racing on the Solent.

David is a multichannel veteran with a wealth of online and offline retail experience.

He is currently helping to drive Heal’s, the world-famous furniture and interiors brand, to record levels of sales and profitability.

He has previously held leading commercial and digital roles in major high street names such as WHSmith, Waterstones, Borders and Snow+Rock Group. Now a self-appointed ‘champion of the SME’ David is always on the look-out for effective and innovative solutions that deliver real results.

Debbie has 20 years broad industry experience in fashion and textiles. For the last 13
years she has shaped the Product and supply chain at the pioneering, sustainable
outdoor clothing brand, Finisterre. As Product Director she has led ambitious
initiatives to reduce the brand’s impact and re-imagine a new and positive way to do
business.

Drawing on her experiences at Finisterre, Debbie has founded ThinkCircular, to work
within business, education & policy as a change agent and circular activist, to inspire
the transition towards circularity.

Geoffrey has had a diverse career journey starting his working life in the entertainment industry,
working with artists signed to Def Jam and Dreamworks records. He then moved into health care, transport, and media.  He has worked in Human Resources/people functions for several years and
has experience in Recruitment, Talent Management, learning and development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Organisational Design and Diversity Equity and Inclusion.

He is the Global Head of Diversity Equity & Inclusion at Dr Martens & He was the former Global
Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Thomson Reuters.

He has been featured in the Financial Times Top 100 ethnic minority role models and DIMA 50 male advocates for equality in marketing and media. Geoffrey was recently named on the Global Diversity List 2020, a list that celebrates the people who work tirelessly to ensure that diversity and inclusion
are at the very heart of everything they do – a list that contains VP Kamala Harris and Jacinda Ahern amongst others.

Geoffrey is the co-founder of   www.RockingUrTeens.com  a social enterprise that introduces young people to the real world of work & aims to connect the teens to a positive and vibrant future.  He is also the co-founder of www.oneumbrellaproductions.com an independent production house where they produce original content providing a fresh perspective on the modern Britain, and is a strategic
advisor to www.fairhq.co

Geoffrey is a renaissance man who try’s his hand at many different things, but all leads to people understanding how trust, collaboration and community lead to success.

Experienced, inspirational and influential brand design specialist and founder of Cosu, a retail and workplace innovation studio.

Cosu was created to be an alternative to traditional creative agencies, bringing a fresh approach to connected brand experiences. We combine creativity with a more commercial, data-based
approach and work with our clients to shift the perspective from ‘I think’ to ‘we know’.

Prior to Cosu, Guy has worked at the pinnacle of retail and workplace design for 20+ years,
creating award winning and sector defining schemes for clients including Hugo Boss, Wework and Topshop with projects successfully delivered in 35 countries across 5 continents.

Regular keynote speaker at industry events including WGSN Creative Futures, FUTR,
Millennials 20/20 and Future Stores. Serves as a judge on the Design Business Association’s
design effectiveness awards.

Ian Jindal is a consultant, publisher and advisor in eCommerce and multichannel retail. Ian cofounded and is Editor in Chief of InternetRetailing, providing insight and research for Europe’s etailers and multichannel retailers. Ian co-founded RetailX, researching performance in multichannel retail, brands and vendors. In 2015 InternetRetailing launched the UK Top500 ranking of retailers (IRUK) and in 2016 the first performance-based ranking of European’s retailers.

Mike is a change agent, committed to helping businesses big and small, new and established to prepare for and succeed in the great sustainability disruption that will wash through the economy in the 2020s. He’s worked with organizations such as Unilever, SAP, Grosvenor, GSK, Just Eat Takeaway, Nestle, Reiss, Lidl, Nomad Foods, The Climate Pledge, the Environment Agency, Which, Royal Society of Chemistry, British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, IGD, Rentokil, Skipton Building Society, CoGo, Clim8Invest, Bord Bia and Climate Action.

Mike was until 2019 Director of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer, spearheading its ground-breaking Plan A (because there is no Plan B for the one planet we have) sustainability programme. He co-chaired the Consumer Goods Forum’s sustainability work bringing the world’s largest retailers and fast-moving consumer goods brands together to work on issues such as deforestation, plastics and forced labour. He is a Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and a Trustee at Blueprint for Better Business.

Miranda Wayland is the Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC. In this role she is responsible for
overseeing the overall on-air, onscreen diversity and inclusion strategies across output; supporting the commissioning teams and independent suppliers to drive change, increase representation and
ensure the BBC delivers against its strategic goals and public purpose.

She provides specialised knowledge and expertise on diversity related matters, plans, develops and implements effective interventions related to on-air talent portrayal, commissioning guidelines,
diverse audience panels, monitoring and reporting that will further strengthen a culture of diversity and inclusion.

Previously, Miranda held the role of Interim Head of Diversity and Inclusion, and Diversity Lead for Radio and Education as well as BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production arm that creates world-class programmes including Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who and EastEnders.

Miranda has built strong relationships across the industry, through her involvement with the
Creative Diversity Network (CDN), working closely with the BBC, C4, Sky and independent
programme makers to implement change across the sector. Her contribution as a CDN Board and Committee member has enabled the organisation to deliver the world’s first pan industry Diversity monitoring system: Diamond.

Before joining the BBC, Miranda worked at ITV plc for nine years, most recently as a Social
Partnership Executive for ITV Studios and ITV Broadcast and previously as a Diversity and Inclusion Manager, playing an integral part in defining ITV’s diversity strategy, increasing on and off screen representation and implementing highly effective initiatives that enabled the business to remain competitive, inclusive and accessible to all.

Miranda was awarded inspirational leader by the Precious Awards, received a ‘Special Recognition
Award’ at the Asian Media Awards for her contribution and dedication to diversity and inclusion within the media industry.

Sally oversees Forum for the Future’s mission to accelerate a big shift towards a sustainable
future by catalysing transformational change in global systems. This involves working with global businesses such as Olam and Walgreens Boots Alliance, foundations, such as the Laudes Foundation, and membership organisations, such as the United Nations Global Compact. This work takes the form of both one to one partnerships and as part of multi-stakeholder collaborations designed to address complex challenges in systems as diverse as food, energy, apparel and shipping. A regular speaker at international conferences Sally also writes for a number of publications, with articles published the New Statesman, Huffington Post, Management Today and The Independent. Sally is an independent advisor on Advisory Boards for several global businesses including Kimberly Clark and Burberry and also Co-Chair of the Independent Advisory Group for Travalyst, the global travel and tourism collaboration led by the Duke of Sussex.

Susan Aubrey-Cound is a digital commerce and AI pioneer known for driving transformation.
She has held senior executive roles at BAA Airports, Marks and Spencer and the Daily Mail
Group, and is a non-executive director at JML Group. Most recently part of Israel’s ‘Startup
Nation’ for four years, Susan worked with Syte AI tech founders in Tel Aviv to become global
leader in visual discovery, personalisation and searchandising, achieving partnerships with
tech platforms Microsoft and Samsung, and with a global ecommerce portfolio including
Farfetch, Next and Kingfisher. Previously a founder of Marks and Spencer’s ‘Plan A’
sustainable business policy, Susan now works with brands, retailers and tech startups to
tackle sustainability, supply chain optimisation and PBIT through AI.

Tea is the Founder and Chair of DiR – Diversity in Retail, an organisation whose mission is to support companies across the retail industry to create diverse and inclusive environments and positively impact 1 million employees globally by 2025.

Tea is the Senior Independent
Director on the Board of Watches of Switzerland Plc and serves as non-Executive Director on a number of other Boards.