Meet the 2024 Speakers…2025 Speakers coming soon

With over 20 years of retail experience at IKEA, Tanya Hamilton has held a number of strategic and operational roles within people and culture, truly developing the IKEA business through its greatest asset – their co-workers, whilst being guided by the IKEA vision “to create a better everyday life for the many people”. Her commitment as IKEA UK&IE Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager is to create a more ‘equal everyday’ across the UK&IE, through truly wonderful co-worker experiences and a workplace environment where diversity is celebrated, equity is pursued and inclusion is the norm. The IKEA culture and values are a living reality and through our continued focus on inclusive experiences, we are passionate about developing an even more affordable and accessible IKEA offer for the many more people

Helena Feltham currently hold a independent non-executive director role with Hostmore, owner of the TGI Fridays chain of restaurants. She has more than 30 years’ experience in consumer facing and HR roles. She recently served as the interim non-executive chair of Ted Baker, where she had also been senior independent director and chair of the nominations committee. Helena previously held executive roles at B&Q PLC and was People Director at Jack Wills, Woolworths South Africa and Marks and Spencer. She also spent time in executive search with Odgers Berndtson, covering senior appointments across both public and private sectors. She has served as a non-executive director in the NHS, as an independent director of the Assembly of Wales and as a Justice of the Peace.

Fiona Lambert is President of The Twenty Club and was most recently Managing Director of Jaeger, previously holding C-suite roles with major retailers, Next, Dunelm, River Island, Jaeger at M&S and George at Asda, of which she was part of the inception next to the Founder, George Davies. With dual passions, product and people, she has a reputation for transforming brands and developing teams and individuals – Fiona is one of the UK’s leading business women in fashion retail. Whilst still consulting in the industry, she’s currently leading a charge against ageism in the workplace and about to publish a book about setting new goals at 60. Fiona is an ambassador for The Retail Trust and has been a Board Member at Matalan since May 2023.

Darren Sanderson-Williams has been General Manager with Specsavers since March 2024. He was previously the Global Head of Leasing for Impress where he led site selection, negotiation and legals to lease in all seven markets. Darren is the Founder of Williams Harding Consulting working with start-ups, expanding and distressed businesses, primarily in retail and hospitality, but also outside of these sectors. In addition, he is Non-Executive Chairman of men’s skincare company Scrubd and a Trustee at Action 4 Youth. Darren has formerly held senior roles in several retail and hospitality businesses, including Hotel Chocolat and Unilever. He currently holds two ambassadorial roles, including Schools Role Model for Stonewall, and fundraising and awareness for Target Ovarian Cancer. Williams Harding also partners with a Bulgarian dog rescue centre.

Chris Shearer-Wright is an equity, diversity, and inclusion professional with over a decade of experience working at British, design-led, lifestyle retailer Oliver Bonas. Originally from Scotland, where he studied marketing at university – he combines the knowledge gained from his studies, time spent working on the shop floor and, most recently, years in Learning and Development – to form and awareness of both customer and team. A firm believer in the power of talking to people and listening to their points of view, Chris chairs the wider EDI team – made up of the leads of the brand’s ERGs, aptly called The Voices networks, as well as key stakeholders from various parts of the business. The networks have supported the brand successfully implement new and updated policy, create engaging inclusive activity, content, and a transparent approach to recruitment. Outside of the 9-5, Chris is also a mentor to creative entrepreneurs through the Black Business Residency – a 12-month programme developed in partnership with DOES, sponsored by Morgan Stanley and Somerset House.

As COOK’s People Director, Alison Payne is passionate about inclusive policies and structures that facilitate the needs of a fast-paced growing business, with happier people and customers year on year.  Wellbeing (physical, mental and financial) has always been high on the COOK agenda.  Alison leads her team to look after everyone in their role and ensure leadership development is a central enabler to everyone’s growth, as COOK continues to grow. Prior to COOK, she held many operational roles at Tesco Stores Ltd before becoming a Group Personnel Manager for the Tesco Metro format in London.  Alison is also a Trustee for The Island Learning Trust, local to The COOK Kitchens in Sittingbourne, Kent

Faye Ryder-Humphries is the Head of People at Wingstop UK, where she oversees the brand’s growing workforce, cultivating a positive and engaged culture. She leads on areas such as talent acquisition, DE&I, and wellbeing, and is passionate about nurturing career development within the hospitality industry via Learning & Development frameworks. Prior to joining Wingstop UK, Faye held senior HR & operational roles in several retail and hospitality businesses, including EG Group and TGI Fridays, and worked across America and Australia. Faye holds a MA in Human Resources Management.

Sanish Mondkar is the founder and CEO of Legion. He has over 20 years of leadership experience in products, technology, and cloud operations. Before founding Legion, Sanish was the EVP and Chief Product Officer at SAP with responsibility for all procurement and business network areas, representing over $1B of annual revenue.  Prior to SAP, Sanish was Chief Product Officer and EVP at Ariba, where he was responsible for the creation of several market-leading enterprise products, including the Ariba Network from the ground up, which is the largest business network in the procurement space. Sanish holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from Pune University and a Masters of Computer Science from Cornell University.

 

Shelly Nash is Group People and Culture Director at London Marathon Events. Before joining London Marathon Events, she held senior HR roles in retail and wholesale with brands such as Deckers, All Saints and New Look.

Thomas Merrigan is the most recent addition to the HR leadership team at URBN Group (Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, Free People), as Head of Learning and Development. He has a track record of impactful learning interventions, holding roles across every facet of L&D and training team leadership at recognisable brands in luxury, high-street, fashion, beauty, hospitality and technology within the retail sector. With over 20 years in the retail sector and over half or that in L&D, Thomas turns his passion for developing people, coaching and leading into innovative and effective L&D. His forte is in making learning highly engaging, memorable, human centred and strategically business relevant. Beyond the leadership of L&D, Internal Comms and Engagement teams, Thomas plays an active role in coaching and supporting leaders to strategisze within and navigate the ever-evolving retail landscape.

Since joining Murray in 2015, Ken Denny has used his wealth of experience in delivering successful uniform programmes to onboard clients such as B&Q and Holland & Barrett. Utilising Murray’s Science of Uniform® process to align solutions with the client’s core objectives, ensures an optimised ROI is delivered. He is passionate about this and doesn’t leave any stone unturned.

Alana Inness’s current role at Specsavers includes talent acquisition, executive search, employer brand, early careers and talent development.  She aims to use always use evidence-based insight in a pragmatic way that is right for the organisation and its people to inspire individual and business performance.  Alana is a Certified Principal Business Psychologist and a Fellow of the LPI (Learning and Performance Institute).  She has over 20 years of people and talent experience, starting her career in consultancy working across a variety of industries, supporting large and small organisations to define and improve the people experience and business performance by working across multiple elements of the employee lifecycle.  She has spent most of the last 10 years in retail organisations B&Q (and parent company Kingfisher) and Specsavers. Last year Alana was recognised as a key influencer in talent acquisition, being asked to join the Resourcing Leaders 100 (RL100 UK) network for senior in-house resourcing leaders committed to creating positive change in the world of resourcing.

Sam Westwood is People Experience Director for KFC UK & Ireland, taking responsibility for the experience of their 37,000 employees and directly leading on areas such as organisational development, EDI, internal comms, engagement, reward, wellbeing and employer brand. Sam has 20 years’ experience in the people space and holds both a BA and an MA in Human Resource Management. Throughout his career, Sam has worked for a number of large brands within the retail and hospitality industries including McDonald’s, Topshop Topman and Whitbread. His passion centres on optimising employee experience to drive engagement and business performance.

Peter Collyer is an experienced HR professional, accredited coach, consultant and facilitator of executives, leaders and teams.  His career spans blue chip consumer and retail HR roles in UK/Europe and USA. He specialised in coaching and development, with a focus on leadership, creating and embedding global culture and enhancing employee engagement within a multi-generational world.  His most recent position was Chief People Officer for Ted Baker, where he was responsible for sustainability, ethics and all things people and culture related. Peter was appointed as an Independent Board Governor to De Montfort University, Leicester, in January 2022. He is a member of their People and Culture Committee, nominations committee and Chair of the Remuneration Committee. Peter is a graduate of both the CTI Coaching programme and Leadershape’s Global Transpersonal Leadership Certification.

Sara Duxbury is a seasoned people professional with a passion for leadership and learning. With 15 years of experience in talent and development and 10 years as a qualified business psychologist, she brings a wealth of knowledge and a fresh perspective to every role she has had. Known for her practical application of psychology to deliver an effective and commercial organisational development strategy, Sara currently heads up learning and engagement for AllSaints & John Varvatos.

Dhruvin Patel is the founder of Ocushield, where they help people enjoy their digital devices without compromising their eye health. He studied to become an optometrist at City University, where he developed a deep passion for eye health. Dhruvin noticed how much screen time was affecting people’s eyes, including his own, and wanted to do something about it. That’s how Ocushield was born. They created the world’s first medically-rated blue light blocking screen protectors to help reduce digital eye strain and improve sleep. Since starting Ocushield, it’s been amazing for Dhruvin to see their products make a real difference in people’s lives.

Emy Rumble-Mettle has over two decades within the people and talent space, spanning industries such as advertising, AI, gaming and retail. Her expertise in people change and transformation has been pivotal in cultivating thriving cultures at companies such as ASOS, Flutter, GroupM (WPP) and BenevolentAI. Emy leads with compassion and empathy, whilst always maintaining a commercial outlook that is strategically aligned to business priorities. Her main ambition is to create environments where people are thriving and excited about the work they are engaged in, loving life and loving the work that allows them to live a life well lived.

Paul Ridings, Global Director of Growth for People at OneAdvanced, is a leader in the realm of digital transformation for retail organisations, with a special focus on empowering deskless and frontline workers through the power of technology. His expertise in strategic business development and technological transformation programmes positions him as a key resource for HR leaders. Paul’s approach is centred on leveraging innovative systems to enhance the employee experience, making him an invaluable asset for retailers on their digital journey. Having previously been a customer of HR technology, then going on to hold senior positions with HR technology providers (who have served a combined 3 million retail users globally), Paul is considered a trusted tech advisor in the retail space.

Luke Ward (they/them) currently heads up the People & Culture department at Evolutions, one of the top post-production houses in the TV industry, following their time at luxury retailer and Royal Warrant holder, Smythson. They fell into working with People when they gave up chasing the dream of the West End and started living the dream of HR. Their lived experience as non-binary and queer means they always approach work (and life) with an ED&I lens, choosing to celebrate the individual and create a culture of belonging. Luke is also part of the team behind ProudHR, a networking community for LGBTQ+ HR professionals and allies.

Niki Coppard was appointed Chief People Officer of Huws Gray in December 2022, one of UK’s leading independent building merchants and building services group, backed by Blackstone. Previously, she spent five years at Costa Coffee as People Director for UK and Ireland and prior to that, six years as Managing Director of NC People Solutions where Marie Curie and Selfridges were clients.  Niki is also a trustee for the charity Blue Cross.

As Partner & National Head of Employment at Irwin Mitchell, Elaine Huttley has considerable experience of contentious and non-contentious employment work including tribunal litigation and advocacy, advising clients on day to day employment issues including disciplinary and grievance issues, drafting contracts and policy documents. She also deals with corporate transactional work and has a particular interest in high level employment disputes involving shareholders and/or senior executives.

Antonia Tony-Fadipe is an award winning Coach and DEI Consultant. She formerly worked for The Body Shop as their Diversity & Inclusive Hiring Lead, where she drove DEI and implemented the Open Hiring programme in the UK. Antonia is passionate about supporting marginalised people, while helping them overcome barriers to employment. She helps companies to incorporate inclusive recruitment models and mentors and coaches young marginalised people into being their best selves. Prior to joining The Body Shop, Antonia worked in a male adult prison for over six years where she managed the effective resettlement of prisoners approaching release.

Liz Jewitt-Cross was until recently interim Chief People Officer with Pepco, she is also an HR and organisation change adviser, with a global career spanning multiple industry sectors including retail and fashion with many of our best known and loved business brands. Most recently, Liz assisted New Look, the UK’s largest value fashion retailer for 18-45 year old women and Drapers retailer of the year 2022, as their Interim Chief for People and Transformation, leading the reset of the company’s people strategy to a new omnichannel operating model. Prior to this, Liz worked for two years as Interim Chief HR Officer for McArthurGlen,the UK and Europe’s largest designer shopping outlet centre group who host over 1000 luxury and retail brands and 30,000 retail employees, supporting their digital transformation, market growth and the transition to a new HR operating model with new Workday systems. Liz has enjoyed a successful career specialising in roles and projects helping to lead or advise upon rapid growth, acquisitions and turnarounds as well as major change including one of the largest IT outsourcing ventures of its time for Sainsbury’s; the creation through acquisition of the Mosaic fashions group; American Express’ industry-first multi-lingual global Corporate Travel Centre in France; the successful relicensing and restructuring bid for National Lottery, and the successful past rescue of Jaeger.

Abigail Wilmore until recently was the Chief People Officer at Tom Ford Fashion. She was previously Chief People Officer at Dr. Barbara Sturm, where she defined and implemented the people strategy, bringing the ethical, sustainable and responsible elements of what the brand stands for into their people and culture agenda. As a breaker of tired outdated HR ‘rules’, Abigail operates with the values of trust, respect, integrity and compassion to create a heart centred global community.

David Dagger leads the Communications and Corporate Affairs team at The Institute of Customer Service. He is a passionate advocate for the role customer experience plays in improving business performance and the impact it has on the UK’s economy. David has 25 years marketing and leadership experience, from a multi-sector career that has included co-founding a marketing agency (later sold to Havas) and building the marcomms function for a group of leadership consulting and talent businesses.

As Chief Executive of the Retail Trust, Chris Brook-Carter has been a passionate supporter, advocate and champion of UK retail across his entire career. Prior to joining the Retail Trust in May 2020, he was the Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Retail Week and the World Retail Congress. Chris led these brands, as editor in chief or more recently as MD and SVP for ten years, transforming the business from a weekly print title, into a digital-first information and global events brand that continues to sit at the heart of global retail by delivering on its mission to inform, connect and inspire the leaders that continue to colour this great sector. He is a passionate campaigner for the positive impact of retail on the UK economy as well as a leader in the fight for diversity in business, having been recognised by both the Women’s Business Council and Management Today as an agent of change by fighting for gender equality in business leadership.

Suresh Banarse established Surety after more than 30 years of working in leadership roles in hospitality and retail, covering both operations and HR. His approach is to support teams with commercially driven, fit for purpose, HR interventions, helping align people with the business objectives.  With a passion for promoting diversity, Suresh embraces the unique opportunities they have as hospitality people and support leadership teams to rationalise and drive profits, whether downsizing or driving growth through maximising the potential of their people. Before Surety, as the Human Resources Director, he was managing and driving the people strategy for the Ivy Collection and Caprice Holdings, some of the most exclusive restaurants in the UK including Scotts, Sexy Fish and Bacchanalia. Prior to that, Suresh was the People Director at Wahaca; Global HR Director at Gaucho’s Argentinian Restaurant & Cau Restaurants, and before that he was at People Director at YO! Sushi for over eight years.

Melanie Steel is currently a Non-Executive Director at the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and has over 25 years’ experience in HR and transformation, across a broad spectrum of organisations and recognisable brands, including FTSE 100 companies and Central Government. Melanie has worked in various roles, most recently Interim HR Director at Solus (owned by Aviva Insurance).  She has previously held the role of Interim HR / Transformation Director, in organisations including Arriva Rail London; Boots Opticians; and Royal Sun Alliance Insurance. Prior to this, Melanie was HR Director for the Cabinet Office, where she supported the Prime Minister and Deputy Ministry and the Head Office for Government. She also worked for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as HR Director to the Corporate IT Function. Prior to that, she was at Unilever in the HR Transformation Team, the largest HR outsourcing deal, in partnership with Accenture. Melanie also spent 14 years at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), including four years in Germany supporting the Armed Forces, establishing an HR function.