Meet the 2025 Speakers

Nick King, as the Insight Director at Auto Trader, analyses and interprets the trends in consumer adoption of technology and what this means for manufacturers and retailers. By doing so, can demonstrate strategies for customer acquisition and retention through digital and traditional offline channels. He has a particular focus on best practice in digital retailing today; how to stand out in digital marketplace – what are successful retailers doing today to win and; what will be the must have technologies – AI, VR, augmented reality.

Olaf Akkerman is a member of Microsoft’s UK Senior Leadership Team and leads the Retail & Consumer Goods Industries. A seasoned leader in the UK tech industry for more than 20 years, he drives a customer first approach and focusses on building inclusive and high performing cultures. Olaf and his team work closely with a diverse set of customers across the sector to enable them to create better and more sustainable outcomes for consumers worldwide. He has held various senior sales positions at Microsoft, including leading the Media & Telco, and Professional Services industry teams. Prior to this, Olaf was the VP of Sales EMEA for Rackspace where he led several companywide transformation projects, expanded into new markets across Europe, and launched new service offerings that drove significant customer and business impact.

Giles Smith is the former Head of Technology for Selfridges, responsible for the technology strategy and delivery of their Digital, physical retail and omnichannel technology. Prior to that he was the Digital Director for Burberry and has also delivered technology innovation and transformation at John Lewis, Arcadia, Matalan, Unilever, Diageo and more. He is a MACH Alliance founding board member and also a new judge on our prestigious People in Retail Awards 2024. He is currently advising, CTO, CPO, and CDO’s in various world-famous brands on broad aspects of Digital product, technology strategy and leadership.