Derek is Executive Chairman of Aurora Fashions, the group behind the well known international fashion brands Karen Millen, Coast, Warehouse and Oasis. Aurora Fashions was created in March 2009 from the most successful brands in the Mosaic Fashions portfolio and Aurora now trades from 1,471 stores in 45 countries.  Derek joined Oasis Stores Plc (the founding brand of Mosaic Fashions) as Chief Executive in October 1999 before completing a Management Buyout of the business in 2001. 

Prior to this, Derek was the Chief Executive of the Clothing Division and a Board Director of Sears plc, where he had responsibility for Wallis, Warehouse, Miss Selfridge, Richards, Adams and the Outfit. Prior to joining Sears plc in 1992, he spent eight years with Storehouse plc where, having spearheaded the creation of a fashion division that included brands such as  Richards,   Blazer, Jacadi and Anonymous, he was promoted to the board and given responsibility for Mothercare.

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Justin Stead
Chief Executive, Aurum Holdings

After studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University, Luke joined the DTI. His time there included working in the Secretary of State's office. He left to join Thomas Cook where, after a period managing the shops in the South of England, he became Development Director leading the expansion of the shop network and negotiations with suppliers. During this time he gained an MSc Econ at London University.

In 1985 he moved to British Airways just ahead of privatisation where he held senior positions in Marketing and Human Resources. His responsibilities included frequent flyer, online reservations, recruitment and management development. In 1991 he became CEO of Shandwick Europe.

In 1992 Luke became a Director of the John Lewis Partnership, initially responsible for Development and then in 2000 as MD of John Lewis. He oversaw, among other things, the acceleration of new shop openings including Bluewater, the major modernisation and refurbishment programme including the transformation of Peter Jones, the introduction of advertising, the extension of opening hours and the launch of John Lewis Direct. He also chaired the London Retail Consortium.

Luke left John Lewis in 2005. Since then he has been Chairman of private equity based retailers Pets at Home and Bank Fashion. He is currently a Director of WH Smith, Brambles and Tate Enterprises.

John Lovering read Economics at Exeter University and graduated in 1971. He has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Manchester Business School (1975).

He has been associated with twelve private equity owned companies, ten of which have been successful exits, with the other two still ongoing. He is the former Chairman of Debenhams the international department store retailer which floated in May 2006 and which he has chaired through private equity ownership since 2003. Until its sale in February 2009, he was also Chairman of Somerfield Stores. More recently he has reformed his private investment vehicle Echelon Capital to carry out industrialist-led buyouts.

His previous roles include the Chairmanship of Homebase Ltd where he led one of the most successful European retail buy-outs ever, Fitness First Ltd, The Laurel Pub Company Ltd, Odeon Cinemas Ltd, The Peacock Group plc, Birthdays Group Ltd, Fired Earth Ltd and Hoogenbosch, the sports retailer based in Holland . He was also Vice Chairman at Barclays Capital, the private equity arm of Barclays. His earlier career was spent in a number of financial and operational roles with retailer and consumer groups such as Grand Metropolitan, Sears and Tarmac.

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Richard Pennycook joined the Board of Morrisons as Group Finance Director in October 2005. Prior to that, he was the Group Finance Director of RAC Plc, the quoted specialist motoring and vehicle management company. Previous senior roles include Group Finance Director of H P Bulmer Holdings PLC, Laura Ashley Plc and J D Wetherspoon plc and Chief Executive of Welcome Break Holdings plc. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Persimmon Plc.

Ben joined Mothercare from The Walt Disney Company, where he was Managing Director, Disney Store, Europe and Asia Pacific. 

Prior to joining Disney, Ben was employed with the WH Smith Group, where he held a variety of senior roles, both in the UK and the US.  These included Managing Director of the Company’s internet and TV activities, Managing Director of Travel Retail - the Group’s 300 airport and station stores – and Chief Operating Officer of the Group’s US business.

Before WH Smith Group, Ben was with L’Oreal, the French cosmetics group.

Ben lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife and three children.  He holds an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Bristol University and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Richard Kirk CBE, chief executive, was appointed to his current role in 1996, having joined the company as a non-executive director in 1995; he was previously managing director of Iceland Group.

Peacock Group runs more than 900 shops in the UK under its Peacocks and Bonmarché brands, and a further 76 in Eastern Europe and the Middle East; the company was taken private by Och-Ziff and Perry Capital in 2006 in a £420m deal. 

Richard Brasher
Commercial & Trading Director, Tesco

Following a brief spell in manufacturing at both Unilever and RHM Richard joined Tesco 22 years ago where he is now the Main Board Director responsible for Commercial and Marketing.

Richard was part of the team that changed the fresh food operations in Tesco during the 80s and early 90s, specifically accountable for the development of their convenience food business and the opening of their first Metro store in Covent Garden.

Following a brief spell in retail operations running stores Richard became the UK Marketing Director responsible for the development of the Clubcard scheme, data insight and the customer strategy.  In 2000 he took on the role of transforming Tesco's non food business which has seen Tesco become the largest non food operator in the UK with one of the most developed international direct sourcing models in the marketplace.

In 2004 Richard joined the Tesco Board responsible for Commercial and has more recently taken on responsibility for Corporate Purchasing and Marketing.

James Timpson is Managing Director of Timpson, a family retail business based in Manchester.

Through 625 shops across the UK and Ireland Timpson is the largest shoe repairer, key cutter, engraver and watch repairer. Over 3000 colleagues run the shops within an "upside down management" structure which Timpson has developed to ensure those serving customers are the most important in the business; everyone else is there to help.

Max Speilmann consists of 200 photo processing stores and is a recent addition to the Timpson family.

Before and after Durham University James worked in all areas of the business from branch manager to area manager until joining the Timpson House team.

James and his father John have created a unique business culture that is based on recruiting personalities and giving them complete authority to run their shops however they want. Timpson is well known as being a great place to work and has recently purchased a seaside hotel to increase the number of holiday homes for colleagues.

James is married to Roisin and with their three children live near Chester.

Steve Easterbrook was appointed President and CEO of McDonald's UK in April 2006. He became President, Northern Division, McDonald's Europe in January 2007 with responsibility for the UK , Sweden , Finland , Denmark , Norway , Iceland and the Republic of Ireland . Steve's current roles at McDonald's build on a 15 year career within the company which has included senior roles in finance and operations.

Under Steve's leadership, the company has embarked on a wide-ranging strategy to improve the experience for the two million customers McDonald's serves each day in the UK . Most visible have been a major restaurant design and re-imaging programme, menu innovation and investment in staff training.

Steve holds a number of key roles outside McDonald's, including chairing the CBI's Education and Skills Committee. He also sits on the CBI's Chairmen's Committee and is a member of the President's Group of the Employers' Forum on Disability. He is also a member of the steering group of The Prince's Rainforests Project, which draws together people from governments, business and NGOs to help find practical solutions to tackle tropical deforestation. In 2008 Steve was admitted to Oxford University as a Visiting Fellow, to lecture on Corporate Reputation .

Born in Watford in 1967, Steve attended Watford Boys Grammar School before studying Natural Sciences at Durham University . Prior to joining McDonald's in 1993, Steve enjoyed a successful career as an accountant with Price Waterhouse.

Andrew Woodward is Senior Vice-President and Global Practice Leader for Merchant Solutions at MasterCard Advisors in New York . MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide, provides information, analytics, marketing services and payments consulting to financial institutions and their merchant partners worldwide. As head of the Merchant Solutions practice, Andrew leads a new team focused on leveraging MasterCard's network data and proprietary analytics to deliver customer insights, data analytics and direct marketing solutions to a wide variety of retail, travel and hospitality merchants.

Andrew joined MasterCard in 2007, after holding a variety of marketing and business development roles in the UK retail industry, in the department store, apparel and luxury goods categories. Prior to joining MasterCard, he was Marketing Director at John Lewis, where he was responsible for expanding the role of the marketing function significantly, by spearheading a customer insights focus, introducing an integrated category marketing approach for Electricals and Fashion, and expanding John Lewis' communications into advertising and direct marketing, alongside catalogue and online activity. John Lewis achieved market-leading like-for-like sales growth of 10.3% in FY 2006/7.

Prior to John Lewis, Andrew was Marketing & Business Development Director at Austin Reed Group, where he oversaw redevelopment of the Austin Reed flagship store site in London and grew the penetration of the customer loyalty programme for the Country Casuals brand to cover almost 50% of total sales. Andrew also spent five years with the Chanel luxury goods group, managing expansion into the US and Europe for one of the group brands. He cut his teeth in retail with strategy consultants McKinsey & Co, where the majority of his projects focused on product range profitability analysis and strategic acquisition work for a major high street retailer.

Andrew has a BA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MBA from the international business school, INSEAD, in Fontainebleau , France .

A highly accomplished global retail executive with more than 30 years of achievement at some of the world's most respected high-end, speciality stores including Harrods and House of Fraser in London , Brown Thomas in Ireland , Holt Renfrew in Canada and Saks Fifth Avenue in USA .

His most recent assignment was the turnaround of Woolworths: Retail, South Africa , a US$2.8B business with 400 stores appealing to the mid/premium market.

Recognized for his leadership capabilities and performance-driven management style, Andrew Jennings commands a vast knowledge of consumer trends, vendor networks and retail practices in mature and emerging markets. He has distinguished himself in senior positions in central buying, marketing and store operations in five countries and four continents.

Key to his sustained success is his ability to adapt his management approach to address the challenges and optimize the opportunities presented by dynamic trading environments at pivotal stages in their evolution - from the sophistication of New York City to the new world complexities of South Africa.

His passion for brands, breakthrough marketing and the creation of memorable consumer experiences was recognized in 2006 when he was awarded by the President of Italy as ‘Grande Officiale al Merito' the highest Italian civilian honour for his significant contributions to Italy throughout his career.

A respected voice for the global retail industry he is a frequent media commentator and sought - after speaker at prestigious conferences and forums on the subject of leadership, change and innovation.