Multi-Channel Retailing Conference

We are delighted to announce that the following speakers will contribute to the day:

	Sean Clark, Head of Web Operations, Adnams plc Sean has been with Adnams plc since April 2008, with over 10 years experience working online he heads up the web team looking for new ways to give customers the Adnams experience online. Never far from his iPad, Sean is always connected to the online world whether on Twitter, blogging, producing video or podcasts


	Ruth Spencer, Director of Insight, Loyalty and Multi-Channel, Alliance Boots Ruth joined Boots UK in 2007, with responsibility for the delivery and development of the Boots Advantage Card - one of the UK’s largest loyalty card schemes. She is also responsible for all UK customer insight work undertaken within the business and its multi-channel offering. Ruth is passionate about providing customers with a rewarding and seamless experience as they interact across Boots UK channels, by recognising their complete relationship with the brand; making rich content available both on and offline and targeting offers consistently across channels. Prior to joining the business, Ruth worked in a number of senior customer loyalty management positions for Shell, NatWest, The Co-operative Group and as a consultant with Accenture.


	*Dr Douglas Gurr , Formerly Executive Development Director , Asda-WalMart** Douglas Gurr was appointed Executive Development Director at Asda in 2006, and a main Board Director of Asda Group Limited. In January 2011 he moved to a new role within Walmart as part of the acquisition team for the South African retailer Massmart. Prior to Asda Douglas spent five years as Chief Executive at Blueheath – the internet enabled stockless wholesaler he founded in 2001, and six years at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, ending up as partner and head of the UK Retail Practice. Douglas was a Trustee of the National Museum of Science and Industry before being elected Chairman in 2010.


	Andrew Brem, Multichannel and Services Director, Best Buy Europe Andrew joined The Carphone Warehouse as New Business Director in January 2008 and was charged with overseeing The Carphone Warehouse’s strategic move into the “Wireless World” – transferring the principles that made it so successful in mobile phones, into broadband, laptops and other connected devices. Andrew’s responsibilities were subsequently extended and he is currently responsible for all of Best Buy Europe’s online businesses, including Bestbuy.co.uk, as well as carphonewarehouse.com, mobiles.co.uk and e2Save.com, as well as the services businesses, including the Geek Squad. Andrew previously worked at ASDA Wal*Mart, where he held the roles of Trading Director for Speciality & New Business, and Trading Director for ASDA.com. Andrew’s earlier career was mainly at McKinsey & Company, where he enjoyed a number of management consultancy roles in both London and New York. Whilst there, Andrew gained an MBA from INSEAD. He graduated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford University in 1990 with an MA/BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later in 1992 with an MSc in the Economics of Developing Countries.


	Richard Braham, Policy Adviser: Distance Selling, Consumer Credit & Retail Payments, British Retail Consortium Richard joined the BRC in June 2010 and is policy lead on distance selling, consumer credit and retail payments. He previously worked at the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA), where he held various policy and communications role - focused on the role of innovation and technology as a driver of growth. Prior to that, Richard worked in a political consultancy in the property and development industry, as the Parliamentary Researcher in a MPs House of Commons office and for a non-governmental organisation.


	Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium Stephen’s career has spanned 14 years on the boards of major UK retailers building on earlier management roles with Mars Inc, Unilever and Alberto-Culver. Stephen served for seven years as Marketing Director at B&Q plc before leading the acquisition of Screwfix Direct which he then chaired steering it through a period of strong growth. He went on to become Director of Communications at Kingfisher plc and took the helm of the Ellen MacArthur sponsorship. Followed by 3 years at Woolworth plc. In a non-executive capacity Stephen is a board member of the National Portrait Gallery Company and Timpson Group. He is a former Chairman, and now Fellow, of the Marketing Society.


	Tony Prescott, E-Commerce Director, Focus DIY After studying for a degree in computer science Tony thought he’d work in IT. However, whilst waiting for the right IT job to come around, he took a ‘temporary’ job in retail, found that he loved it and is still there to this day. He’s worked in various retail roles including operations, marketing and e-commerce. Tony has been working at Focus DIY for the past year developing a strategy for multichannel growth within the Home and DIY market. Prior to Focus, Tony was Multichannel Director at Asda and had the responsibility for developing their e-commerce business and creating a UK multichannel strategy within the worlds largest retailer Walmart . He launched the new general merchandise e-commerce platform and catalogue branded Asda Direct in Sept 08 and this was the first phase of their full multichannel proposition. Prior to Asda, Tony held the position of Multichannel Director in Woolworths where he had spent 3 developing their online and multichannel proposition. He’s previously worked for some of the major High Street retailers including BHS, DSGi, and MVC and was also MD of the online retailer BOL.com.


	Tony Stockil, Founder and GEO, Javelin Group Tony Stockil is the founder and CEO of Javelin Group, Europe’s largest specialist consultancy in multi-channel retail and ecommerce with a team of 100 professionals advising retailers, brands, and distributors such as Tesco, Rexel, Walmart, Sony, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Mothercare and many others. Established 13 years ago to help clients to exploit ecommerce, Javelin Group now operates across Europe advising on ecommerce and multi-channel strategies, operations and technologies, and implementing ecommerce solutions. Because of his firm’s work across so many leading retailers in all product categories, Tony is well-placed to identify trends and comment on best practices. Tony has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a background in corporate strategy.


	Simon Russell, Head of Multi Channel, John Lewis Partnership Simon Russell was appointed Head of Multi Channel in February 2010. He joined John Lewis just over 20 years ago after graduating from St Andrews University and has been mainly branch based. His most recent posts have been Managing Director, Sheffield and, since July 2005, Managing Director, Bluewater overseeing the planning and implementation of it's £22M refurbishment and introduction of a new foodhall. Simon has been involved in our multi channel plans for the past two years and has now taken up a full time role as Head of Multi Channel to help fully integrating a rapidly growing online business with the existing successful shops.


	Tim Curtis , Managing Director, Lands' End UK Tim Curtis is Managing Director, Northern Europe for Lands’ End and Deputy Chairman of The Catalogue Exchange. Prior to this he was Head of Mothercare Direct, a consultant to Tesco Clothing and the RAC, and COO of classicforum.com, a dotcom start-up sold to Alibris.com in 2001. He began his professional career in the Royal Engineers and migrated via strategy consulting to senior marketing, merchandising and supply chain management roles within Halfords and Do It All before entering the world of e-commerce and direct retailing.


	Alan White, CEO, N Brown Group Alan White is the CEO of N Brown Group plc, a FT250 home shopping company with revenues in 2009/10 of £690m. He first joined the company as finance director in 1985, a position he held for 14 years and during this period turnover grew from £42.7m to £324.3m and pre-tax profit from £4.6m to £43.2m. In 1999 he joined the £2.5 billion turnover Littlewoods plc, as group finance director covering home shopping, the Index and Littlewoods stores, football pools and Shop!, the television shopping channel. He returned to N Brown Group as CEO in September 2002, since when the proportion of online sales has increased from 3% to over 40% and profits have risen from £58m to £93m. Alan is currently Chairman of the CBI in the North West of England and sits on the Business Leadership Council for the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. Alan graduated with a law degree from Warwick University in 1976 and joined Arthur Andersen where he qualified as a chartered accountant, before joining Sharp Electronics in 1979 in a senior financial role. He also sits on the board of Topps Tiles plc as a non-executive director, a role he previously held with J D Sports plc.


	David Hogg, Industry Marketing Director- Retail/CPG, EMEA, Sterling Commerce (UK) Limited David is Retail/CPG marketing manager at Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) subsidiary and one of the world’s largest providers of multi-enterprise collaboration software and services. David joined Sterling Commerce in 2006 and is responsible for supporting Retail / CPG initiatives in Europe, Middle East and Africa. He has extensive understanding and experience of the global retail industry having spent his entire career buying and selling retail solutions. He worked for ASDA, Woolworths and Eatons before transitioning to software sales roles. He has held senior positions with vendors including Kewill Systems, and prior to joining Sterling Commerce at Transora (1Sync), where he was the Director of Business Development for Europe. In his previous role at Transora, David created the company’s business strategy to penetrate the European market and to grow business with key customers including Proctor & Gamble, Colgate Palmolive, Unilever, Carrefour, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ahold, Delhaize and Coop Italia. David has presented at many seminars throughout Europe and Asia Pacific. He currently sits on the GDS adoption Committee of GS1UK and is involved in the Global Upstream Supply Initiative. He holds a BSc in Computing Science and Engineering from the University of Stirling, Scotland.


	Murray Hennessy, CEO, Trainline.com Murray joined Trainline in 2008 and has since led a rejuvenation of the business across multiple fronts. Prior to joining Trainline Murray was CEO of Avis Europe from 2004 to 2008. At Avis Murray spearheaded the restructuring and refinancing of the organization and brought about the end of the company’s prolonged profit decline before hiring his replacement at the end of 2007. Prior to working with Avis, Murray spent three years with John Lewis Department Stores after it purchased Buy.Com (UK) Ltd., where he was Chief Executive. In 2001 Murray became Managing Director of John Lewis Direct, the Internet arm of the John Lewis partnership, and was named Commercial Director in 2002. Before his stint with Buy.Com and John Lewis, Murray was with Pepsico Restaurant Services and eventually with Tricon Global Restaurants, the spin-off of Pepsico’s restaurant division and the world’s largest restaurant group. It comprised brands such as Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, among others; over the course of nine years, Murray held several management posts with Pepsico/Tricon, including VP and General Manager for Europe. Murray moved to Pepsico/Tricon from Bain & Co. Consulting Group where he worked from 1984 until 1991. Murray joined Bain’s Boston office in 1984 as an Associate Consultant, became a Consultant in its Tokyo office in 1986 and a Senior Consultant in it London office in 1989. Raised in England, Ireland and the U.S., Murray earned his BA in Economics at Williams College in Massachusetts and a diploma from Institut D’Etudes Politiques in Paris. His MA in Business Administration is from Harvard University where he earned first and second year honours and was named a Baker Scholar. Fluent in French and proficient in Spanish, Murray holds both U.S. and Irish citizenship.


	Leigh Smyth, Managing Director, Race Online 2012 Leigh Smyth, as managing director for Race Online 2012, is responsible for running the digital champion Martha Lane Fox's campaign to forge a truly networked nation, where everyone can use the web, in the UK . She joined from the Home Access programme, a £240M government scheme to get computers and connectivity to 270,000 low-income families (500,000 children) which was launched in January 2010. Previously most of her career has been in blue-chip retailers, including Dixon , Kingfisher, Sears and Arcadia groups. www.raceonline2012.org


	Robin Phillips, Director, E-Commerce, Waitrose Robin joined the Partnership in 2005 initially in Business Development in the Corporate Centre before moving across to Waitrose in Commercial Finance, succeeding Rob Collins as E Commerce Director in June 2010. Prior to the Partnership Robin worked in the Venture Capital industry and has a background in Corporate Finance and Strategy from his time at PWC (he is an ACA) and Diageo.