Event: First speakers announced for WIRED Smarter 2019
WIRED UK has announced the first speakers for its annual conference WIRED Smarter on Wednesday 30th October at Kings Place, London. Curated by WIRED’s award-winning editorial team, WIRED Smarter is a one-day conference dedicated to exploring the future of business.
Focusing on retail, money and security the event features an editorially-curated programme of compelling speakers, startup showcases and experiences. Attendees can pull insight and inspiration from a collection of perspectives, so that they can turn disruption into a useable, action-driven, future-flexing business strategy.
The retail and money industries continue to find new footing as business ecosystems are disrupted by the influx of startups offering alternative services, the impact of rapid technological advances, and by fast-changing consumers.
However, disruption doesn’t just happen overnight – and it will only continue to evolve. So it is critical that businesses resist the temptation of reacting with short-term strategies, and look forward instead. WIRED Smarter will address these challenges through a full day of discussions, tracks dedicated to retail and money, and an additional workshop focused on security elements. Confirmed speakers in 2019 include:
- Plenary Speakers:
John Maeda, Chief Experience Officer, Publicis Sapient
World-renowned design innovator John Maeda has spent his career spearheading a new convergence across the design and technology industries. From his time at the MIT Media Lab, then as the former President of the Rhode Island School of Design and most recently as the Head of Inclusion and Computational Design at Automattic, John’s work and books have been influential on graphic design and the movement for democratic web design.
Barbara Martin Coppola, Chief Digital Officer, IKEA
As the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for Ingka Group – known as IKEA – Barbara Martin Coppola has the overall responsibility for leading the company’s digital technology capabilities and overall transformation. IKEA is the world’s largest home furnishing retailer and owns and operates 367 stores in 30+ markets (FY18) under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V.
Mariana Mazzucato, Professor of Innovation and Public Value at UCL, Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose and Author
Mariana Mazzucato is Professor of Innovation and Public Value at UCL, Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, and author of The Value of Everything: making and taking in the global economy. She advises policy makers around the world on innovation-led inclusive growth.
Bruce Daisley, Vice President, EMEA, Twitter
Bruce Daisley, Sunday Times best-selling author of The Joy of Work, joined Twitter in 2012 following his role running YouTube UK at Google. Responsible for all of Twitter’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Bruce is at the forefront of changing the business – and ensuring the use of its platform by tweeters keeps Twitter a good place to have conversations.
Sharmadean Reid, Founder, Beautystack
In 2017, entrepreneur Sharmadean Reid founded Beautystack, a startup creating a beauty professional booking app through social technology. Before Beautystack, she founded WAH Nails – changing the beauty landscape with its millennial voice, feminist attitude and innovative salon space – and later created a product line with Walgreen Boots Alliance. Sharmadean was awarded an MBE from HRH the Queen in 2015.
Tom Blomfield, CEO & Co-Founder, Monzo
Tom Bloomfield is Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Monzo, a digital bank that has grown to more than one million customers since its launch in 2013, and which recently doubled its valuation to $2.5bn. As a digital-only bank, its highly engaged customers and subsequent advocacy is one of the reasons for its strong growth. In 2013, Tom was recognised as one of the top five entrepreneurs under 30 by the European Commission.
Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of AI and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum
Kay Firth-Butterfield is a Barrister-at-Law and part-time Judge in the United Kingdom, and Professor of Law. With her role leading AI learning efforts for the World Economic Forum, Kay works with governments and businesses to address the challenges and implications of implementing artificial intelligence, such as ethics, regulation and bias.
Akshay Naheta, Managing Partner, EMEA, SoftBank Vision Fund
As a Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, Akshay Naheta accelerate businesses with the potential of making a huge impact on society by providing them the resources they need to convert their vision into reality. The SoftBank Vision Fund was announced as a $100bn fund by SoftBank Group Corporation Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son at the end of 2018.
- Retail Speakers:
Helen Hunter, Group Chief Data Officer, Sainsbury’s
As Group Chief Data Officer, Helen Hunter supports Sainsbury’s strategy to know customers better than anyone else. In her eight years at Sainsbury’s, Helen has also served as Director of Innovation and Director of Data and Relationship Marketing, helping develop digital products like Brand Match and new Nectar. Before joining Sainsbury’s, Helen held roles at emnos, Home Retail Group, Woolworths Group and Kingfisher.
David Fischer, Founder, Highsnobiety
David Fischer founded Highsnobiety in 2005 as a streetwear and subculture-focused passion blog, which has since evolved into an authority media brand. Highsnobiety sits amongst the most visited global sources on emerging trends and products in fashion, music, art and lifestyle.
Kris Miller, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, eBay
Kris Miller is eBay’s Global Strategy Leader, responsible for setting the future direction of eBay: our ambition, where we play, and how we win in the market. She and her team lead the transformation of the $80B+ GMV global e-commerce marketplace—partnering with product, technology, and regional business teams to put strategy into action across eBay’s end-to-end customer experience.
Knowledge partner: Richard Potter, CEO, Peak
Richard Potter is CEO of Peak, a pioneering global AI company that provides customers with the technology and skills needed to become AI-driven. He previously worked for high-growth semiconductor company Wolfson Microelectronics (now Cirrus Logic), running a product line that supplied chips to tech giants including Apple, Samsung, Amazon and Sony.
- Money Speakers:
Ed Maslaveckas, Founder and CEO, Bud
Ed Maslaveckas founded Bud with school friend George Dunning in 2015. Under his leadership, Bud has grown to more than 100 people, securing more than $20m in investment from banks such as HSBC and Goldman Sachs. The company is headquartered in Old Street, London and works with some of the largest banks in the world on realising the potential of open banking for their customers.
Rishi Khosla, Co-founder, OakNorth
Rishi Khosla co-founded OakNorth, a fintech firm redefining lending to small-to-medium sized businesses globally through its use of next-generation credit platform. Prior to this, Rishi co-founded Copal Amba, a financial research firm which was scaled to 3,000 employees and sold to Moody’s Corporation in 2014.
Karen Croxson, Head of Research & Deputy Chief Economist, Financial Conduct Authority
Karen Croxson leads an interdisciplinary programme, integrating economics, data science, and behavioural science to analyse retail and wholesale markets, inform policy, and improve FCA internal operations. Before specialising in data science she worked as an academic economist at Oxford University and a strategy consultant at McKinsey.
Heike Riel, IBM Fellow
IBM Fellow Heike Riel is the head of the Science & Technology department at IBM Research based in Switzerland. She has contributed to advancements in OLED display technology, molecular electronics and semiconductor nanoscale materials and devices, and has authored more than 120 peer-reviewed publications and filed more than 50 patents.
Knowledge partner: Margarete McGrath, Chief Digital Officer, Dell Technologies
As the Chief Digital Officer for Dell Technologies for the UK and Ireland, Margarete McGrath works with a diverse group of Dell Technologies clients to support them with their digital and security transformations. Previous to that, Margarete worked as a Management Consultant where she worked for EY and PwC leading complex change programmes.
This year, WIRED pleased to announce that its knowledge partners for this year’s WIRED Smarter are: Darktrace, Dell Technologies, Lloyds Banking Group and Peak. Expect top-level headline keynotes, trend-led industry briefings, case-study dissections and showcases from a wide range of inspirational startups and scaleups. As with other WIRED events, the day will culminate in an evening reception with the Test Lab’s selection of hands-on demos and fun exhibits.
WIRED has built a reputation for creating world-renowned conferences that inspire, inform and challenge participants into action. With WIRED Smarter, WIRED continues its mission to deliver essential learnings, offer customer value and set their events apart from traditional conferences and exhibitions.
Join WIRED this October as an engaging way to benchmark, source inspiration, meet new contacts and get in early on some of the most fascinating trends, technology and disruptors in the retail and money sectors. Early bird rates are available on multi-track or single-track passes online at http://wired.uk/smarter-tickets. Find out more information online at http://wired.uk/smarter-event.
