Speakers

A global leader in Finance, Guillaume de Pommereau excels in driving business value at enterprise level and leading financial organizations across complex multinational environments.

In leadership roles with Hitachi Europe, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Europe, Newell, and Dell Computer, he has delivered significant value while developing strong business partnership and maintaining the highest standards of compliance.

Leading a team of 70 finance experts at Hitachi Europe, he focuses as much on the revenue side as on the cost side, with a view that Finance is at the heart of a company’s performance ability.

Guillaume started his career in audit in PwC in Paris 26 years ago. He worked in France, Germany and is now based in the UK. His experience covers the technology sector at Dell and KPNQwest, the consumer goods sector with Parker Pen, Waterman, Papermate, the health sector with Takeda Pharma and Alliance Healthcare and the industry sector with Hitachi.

Guillaume is a graduate from EM Lyon Business School and holds a Master in Econometrics from Paris University. In 2009, he graduated from TRIUM, a Global Executive MBA delivered by NYU Stern School of Business, HEC Paris and London School of Economics.

Markus Kobler is Global Chief Financial Officer for Allianz Global Investors and a member of its Global Executive Committee.

Markus joined Allianz Global Investors in 2013 from Bank Julius Baer & Co where he was Global Head of Onboarding and responsible for the transfer of clients and staff in the integration of Merrill Lynch International Wealth Management into Julius Baer.

Prior to this, Markus was COO Asia and Deputy CEO Bank Julius Baer, Singapore. Based in Singapore for more than six years, he was part of a team that set up Julius Baer’s operations in Asia, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Jakarta. He was responsible for building the bank’s platform with two booking centres and oversaw the support functions including IT, Operations, Finance, Legal & Risk and HR.

Before moving to Asia, Markus helped to coordinate the integration of SBC Wealth Management into the Julius Baer Group in 2005 and was in charge of the Business Line
Management function of Julius Baer’s Asset Management division.

Before joining Julius Baer in 2003, Markus was a senior consultant at McKinsey in Zurich where he managed client merger initiatives and strategic redesign projects in the areas of performance and product management for a number of asset managers and private banks.

Markus holds a PHD in Economics from the University of Basel in Switzerland.

A Chartered Accountant and also USA qualified, Paul started his career at Deloitte & Touche where he was a Senior manager in its USA practice. This was followed by a 13 year career at Exel plc where he held a number of senior finance and operational roles including Deputy Group Finance Director and was a member of the executive board of Exel plc and Chairman of their Acquisitions and Project Review Board. Paul was appointed Group Finance Director of Hays plc in 2006 and has helped transform the business into the preeminent global specialist recruitment business with operations in 33 countries.

Adrian is a solutions focussed CFO with over 30 years success in financial change management helping companies adapt and thrive in the evolving financial world. He is presently the Director of Finance in Great Britain for one of the largest hotel brands in the world, Best Western, heading teams which handle the impact of digital disruption on the industry, managing the behaviour economics and the implementation of technologies to minimise the risks and maximise the opportunities.

Adrian’s previous roles include working extensively across the FMCG industry having worked for Unilever, Sara Lee Corporation, United Biscuits, Uniq and Kerry Foods.  All of which experienced similar technology led disruption to supply chain management systems, buying behaviour and payment solutions.

Away from the office, Adrian is a lifelong Hull City AFC supporter, which has gifted him 45 years’ experience of managing expectations early and the patience needed to lead long-term projects.

Emma Connell is responsible for ensuring that Centrica’s 13k strong engineering field force provides optimal customer service and efficiency through transformational programs that digitize and improve services.

As well as services she has worked in FMCG (Unilever and Pepsi) and the highlights of her 20+ years in Finance Partnering include:

• Designing Finance Excellence Centres as part of Finance transformation
• Devising strategic pricing frameworks for a £6bn Global Category (Hair)
• Managing disposal and acquisition of traditional and digital FMCG business
• Optimization of creative and marketing agency services

Her passion is in bringing teams together to support each other and achieve things that they previously only dreamt they could.

She was born in London, has worked around the globe, and currently lives on the river Thames, where she enjoys open water swimming, surfing in the Atlantic and entertaining family and friends.

Lord Dr (Michael) Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE, began his career as a teacher moving into government service in 1986 supporting policy initiatives to bring employment and development to Britain’s inner cities.

In 1990 he started working for TVAM on education programming and then GMTV as its Chief Political Correspondent. In 1994 Michael moved to the BBC as a presenter on the weekly Around Westminster programme before joining its Corporate Affairs division. In 1996 he became the BBC’s head of Public Affairs and then its first head of Corporate Social Responsibility in 2003.

Michael is a Trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation and a Vice President of UNICEF UK and Tearfund. He is also a Patron of Free the Children and a Director of Junior Achievement Worldwide. In 2014, Michael was conferred with a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury in recognition for his leadership and for his work in international development and corporate responsibility. In 2017 Michael was installed as the Chancellor of Regent’s University London.

Peter is Chairman of 2 online retailers – boohoo.com plc, a UK quoted company selling young fashion; and Mister Spex, selling eyewear from its base in Berlin. He is also Chairman at U and I Group PLC, the leading property regeneration company; Senior Independent Director at Rightmove plc, the UK’s largest property portal and Chairman at DP Eurasia, owner of the Domino’s Pizza franchise in Turkey and Russia.

During his executive career he was Chief Executive at both Selfridges plc and Alpha Airports plc. He has also served on the boards of ASOS plc, Cineworld Group plc, Sportech plc, Jaeger, Blacks Leisure Group plc, JJB Sports plc, the EMI group, Silverstone, OfficeTeam, Erno Laszlo, Capital Radio plc and GCap Media plc.

Roger Ellison is a Director at Accenture Strategy, with over 15 years’ experience working with global clients on transformational and strategic change initiatives. He specialises in enterprise-wide Operating Model Design and implementation, Zero-Based Organisation Design and Organisational Analytics.

Spence Knudson is non-executive director focused on improving the governance, strategic planning and financial management of fast growing tech companies. He is currently advising three companies including Clear Review, a VC backed SaaS software provider.

He was previously the CEO of Key Travel, an international travel management company focused on serving the non-profit sector. Initially joining as CFO/COO in 2007, he led the private equity backed MBO in 2013 and oversaw expansion into the US and Europe ahead of its subsequent sale in 2018.

After qualifying as an accountant with Arthur Andersen, Spence has held senior finance roles in private and publicly listed companies in the TMT sector. The recurrent themes of high growth, international expansion and M&A have necessitated a constant focus on technology change, be it development of online customer tools, or mid-office and finance system migration and integration.

Spence is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW), member of the Institute of Marketing and holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Reading.

David Santoro is a Partner and UK Markets Leader within EY’s Financial Accounting Advisory Services practice. He works with clients to provide greater trust and assurance around a broad range of topics including external reporting, performance measurement, merger and acquisition transaction due-diligence, and long-term value. David also leads the firm’s global Assurance Managed Services competency, leveraging over 25-years’ of experience in business transformation, system-integration and outsourcing.  Prior to EY, he held senior leadership positions at IBM and Accenture.

Talita is an experienced C-Suite executive, entrepreneur, consultant and international speaker with more than 22 years of corporate experience with global brands, including: KPMG; Investec Bank; and BMW. She understands the financial language of business, strategy, and risk, as an experienced Chief Financial Officer and balances this with her experience as an Executive Board Director of human resources; helping organisations and leaders to transform. Talita is the former CFO and CHRO of BMW UK Ltd. and BMW Financial Services Ltd. and has led and implemented award-winning cultural transformation programmes in multiple industries. Talita has worked in four countries and in two different industries; Financial Services and Automotive. After leaving corporate life at the end of 2016, Talita published her first book, ‘The Authenticity Dilemma Resolved®’ and helped various organisations locally in the United Kingdom and internationally, to transform their leadership and cultural approaches. Talita’s passion is to help develop the next generation of finance business leaders to be inspired, transformational leaders who engage their teams for high performance and trust to unlock creativity, innovation and high levels of collaboration.

After graduating from the University of Durham, Tim joined Deloitte where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.  In 2000, he joined Vauxhall Motors, which at the time, with its sister brand Opel, made up the European operation of General Motors, and he worked in a number of finance roles in the UK, in both decision support and core finance.  In 2015 Tim moved to his current role, taking over responsibility for GM’s accounting centres of expertise in Europe. In the summer of 2017, GM sold its European operations to Groupe PSA, which became Europe’s second largest vehicle manufacturer with its Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall brands.  Tim now leads Groupe PSA’s shared accounting services, delivered from locations in Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Hungary by 250 people.

Tom joined Thomson Airways as Finance Director in 2015. Thomson Airways a member of the TUI Group, is the world’s largest charter airline. Previously Tom was Vice President of Finance for Jumeirah Group in Dubai between 2013 and 2015 and Group Financial Controller at easyJet plc between 2007 and 2013. Tom studied at Durham University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1998 with Deloitte. Married with three young children, Tom is a passionate supporter of Arsenal FC and enjoys travelling, the gym and running.

Wayne Close was appointed Managing Director for UK Health Services in October 2017.  Prior to that he was Acting CEO of International Markets. He has 25 years experience at Bupa having joined in 1992.  His roles include leading Bupa International (the precursor to Bupa Global), MD of Bupa Global North America, setting up and leading Bupa Saudi Arabia, and holding a number of CFO roles across Bupa including the former International Development Markets (IDM) MU.  Wayne is a Qualified Accountant and a Chartered Director.

Wendy Smith is the Chief Financial Officer for Kellogg’s EMEA Region. She was appointed to this post in September, 2015. Prior to joining Kellogg’s, Wendy held senior finance positions in Johnson & Johnson and P&G. Most recently Wendy was the Chief Financial Officer for J&J’s Consumer Division in Asia Pacific Region. To date, she has held a range of senior positions in finance functions globally and in different regions across the world. She has industry experiences in Consumer Products, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceuticals.

As a finance professional, Wendy believes in the importance of Compliance, Business Partnering & People Development. Her primary focus and passion is in developing people, and being an active mentor and sponsor for many professionals in and outside of her company.

Married with three sons, Wendy values work life balance, diversity, and professional excellence. Her personal philosophy is to always push for breakthrough results and breakthrough thinking. She recently moved with her family to Ireland and enjoys traveling, music, photography, and spending time with her family.

Yemi Jackson is a solutions-focused Senior Executive and dynamic leader with more than 20 years of success in finance, across retail, logistics, housing and property, commercial, and education industries. Areas of expertise include accounting, change management, performance management, business process improvement, and project management. A member of the Association of Chartered Management Accountants (ACMA) professional body and completing an Exec MBA from Warwick Business School, London. As a seasoned team leader and finance executive, Yemi has worked extensively with executive teams to optimise sustainable business solutions.

Yemi is now CEO and Founder of Engage Transform a recruitment and talent developing company assisting organisations in increasing the diversity of talents they attract, developing these talents and optimising output. As a female BAME with children she has first-hand experience of gender and race equality issues at senior management level in Finance departments of major corporations. Tenacious and relentless she refused to take a lower grade role as a working mother and rose in her professional career to CFO in multi-national company. This wealth of life and professional experience has made Yemi a voice amongst Finance and Treasury professionals, challenging them to transition from back to the front office working in partnership with rest of business to optimise organisations objectives.

CEO and founder of Think Forwards, a financial and businesses consulting group on a quest to embed commercial finance excellence, creating value-add financial business partnering teams, and to help you understand what changes may be needed in your businesses to optimize growth and profitability. We bring real-life financial experience to deliver results.  We look at what businesses do today and help them implement those changes they want to make to transform tomorrow — delivering positive financial impact.

Chris thrives in situations where he can talk with people about their business and work with them to find ways to drive their business forwards. He has extensive experience in leading projects to drive transformational change whilst ensuring profitable and sustainable growth.

Chris has experience in both large multi-national businesses and in start-ups. In his prior role as International CFO at Allergan, he led an international finance organisation of 170 people supporting a business with $3bn in sales and 4,500 employees delivering double-digit sales growth in over 100 countries. He has established finance functions and to raise funding for smaller early stage companies.

Resident CFO at the Finance Director Magazine, guest lecturer at the Henley School of Management, and judge at the British Accountant Awards.

Chris is a Chartered Accountant with ICAS, and holds a PhD and Masters degree in Chemistry.

Contact Chris at [email protected]. Find him online at linkedin.com/in/chris-astle/ and @astle_chris.

Richard is the Senior Vice-President of Finance and Commercial Operations at Syco Entertainment, Simon Cowell’s joint venture with Sony Music and the company behind the iconic TV formats the X Factor and Got Talent amongst other diverse music and entertainment interests.  Richard is responsible for corporate governance and the achievement of the commercial targets while ensuring a highly innovative and talent led environment is maintained along with a willingness to take creative risks.

Prior to joining Syco, Richard spent seven years at the Nordic Entertainment business, Modern Times Group (think Sky for Scandinavia) and held the roles of the UK General Manager, VP Finance and CFO of the Broadcasting division.  During his time at MTG Richard led the transformational restructuring of the UK Operations and led on multiple international M&A transactions.

During a long and varied career, Richard has also held senior finance positions within BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC), Warner Brother’s UK home entertainment division and spent 11 years in international roles with Heinz.    Key themes during Richard’s career include international finance leadership, transformation, M&A and people & team development.

Richard is a Fellow of the ICAEW, is a passionate Spurs fan, a keen runner and in August is moving to Shanghai, China with his family.

Following the Business Administration Degree cum Laude at LUISS Guido Carli in Rome (2003) started working for Procter & Gamble in Rome in the Finance Department.

During my 13+ year finance career, went through a succession of challenging and fulfilling assignments across Western Europe in primary multinational Corporations (Procter & Gamble, Jaguar Land Rover [JLR]).

Key focus areas I developed over time relate to:

• Business leadership (strategy planning, cost management, operations leadership);
• Financial management (accounting, reporting, internal controls, SOX compliance);
• Organization leadership (creating and developing high-performing organizations).

Additional interests concern Management and Personal Development techniques, Macroenomic and Socio-Political dynamics, photography (which was also run professionally in between finance assignments).

On top of the corporate day job, I also started developing an interest in Start-up Companies which I support in developing and growing with the tools and the knowledge gained over time.

Robs specialism & passion is improving Finance functions, starting with 10 years in the Profession and then 15 years in industry (large complex multi-national FMCG & Telecoms/Media). He starts with a compelling vision for Finance, anchored in the business strategy, and translates that into practical improvement to systems, processes, data and performance management. But ultimately Rob feels it is about people – working through change, managing stakeholders, unleashing potential. He has been at Sky for 9 years, and looks after Finance Transformation whilst leading our Finance Shared Service.

Naomi is the Chief Finance Officer of VolkerWessels UK, Chair of the audit committee for the National College for High Speed Rail and has recently completed professional training as an Executive Coach.  Prior to joining VolkerWessels UK, Naomi was Finance Director of London Underground where she led major transformation and change programmes across Transport for London including systems implementations and the integration of Metronet.

She joined VolkerWessels UK in 2010 with a mandate to enable the development of VolkerWessels UK as a significant player in the UK infrastructure market, bringing together a number of subsidiaries to work together as a united group. She has delivered finance transformation and been instrumental in developing a broader business focussed shared services centre with c200 employees where she leads a number of support activities for the UK based businesses, including Finance, IT, HR and Learning and Development.

Matt joined The Instant Group in 2014 to expand the knowledge and expertise of our team and continue to grow the range of solutions we offer our clients. Matt brings with him considerable business experience and a large network of multi-national contacts. Prior to The Instant Group, Matt spent four years at global food and facilities provider Sodexo, developing their staff engagement programmes and working as a Health Ambassador, a role which he continues.

Matt’s early career was spent as a successful international rugby player, playing for the Northampton Saints and London Wasps between 1991 and 2006. Matt toured three times with the British and Irish Lions as well as being part of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup winning side. Since retiring from Rugby, Matt has forged a successful career in television and media which continues to play an important role in his life with commitments including Question of Sport, Radio 5 Live and BT Sport.

Gomars sprang to prominence when he led the 1992 England Schools U18 team to their first Grand Slam in 11 years. The following season, he joined London Waspsand made his full England debut in 1996 against Italy. In 1997, he played in three Five Nations games and came on twice as a replacement on tour in Argentina.

On the club scene, he was a member of London Wasps‘ 1999 Powergen Cupwinning side, then transferred to Bedford, where he was captain, before being persuaded to join Gloucester Rugby. He was a Gloucester Rugby favourite, and took part in his second Powergen Cup triumph in 2003.

In 2002 Gomars re-ignited his England rugby career after a period of 27 months in the international wilderness, when he played in the 26-18 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires in June. He sealed his place as one of the three scrum halves for the World Cup with a strong performance in England’s 43-9 defeat of Wales at the Millennium Stadium, during the World Cup warm up matches. He scored two tries in the 111-13 win over Uruguay in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Brisbane.

Emerging enhanced from his World Cup performances, Andy was selected as England vice captain for the non-cap game against the New Zealand Barbarians in December 2003. Gomars started all three of England’s 2004 Autumn internationals at Twickenham and was vice captain in the England XV against the Barbarians in May as well as the Churchill Cup tour.

However, injury led to his replacement at both Gloucester Rugby and England, and so to prolong his career he signed a three year deal with Worcester Warriors in June 2005. However, his injury worries returned to plague him, and he was released along with nine other players by Worcester in May 2006, two months short of the end of the season.

On 25 September 2006 Gomars signed a one year “pay-as-you-play” deal with Harlequins.

Gomarsall performed well for Harlequins and was selected for the England squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. It was his kick down the touchline that enabled Josh Lewsey to score 5 points – the eventual winning margin for England that sent them into the final against South Africa on 20 October 2007.

In 2008, Gomarsall started the first two Six Nations games for England. After a brief spell at Leeds Andy has now retired and available for broadcasting and speaking opportunities.

Paul Harris is a Commercial Finance Director at Starbucks EMEA, based in London.   In his role Paul is responsible for planning, forecasting and investment appraisals for the EMEA region.

Prior to joining Starbucks, Paul was EMEA Finance Director for Apple and before that a Commercial Finance Business Partner at Nike.  Holding leadership positions in large global companies has made has developed his skills in working in fast paced, high growth matrix environments.

Paul has recently completed his Executive MBA at the London Business School and is a Professional Management Accountant.

Peter was born in Paris in 1965, with arms that end at the elbow and no legs. From that moment, his parents were determined he should have the best upbringing he could. They let him fall and they let him discover so he could find his limits. As it turns out, he hasn’t found any yet.

He went to school, got a job, competed in two Paralympic Games and he has never allowed himself to step away from anything simply because of his body.

His parents instilled in him a core belief: ‘It’s not my body that limits me, I know I’m capable of anything, but the environment that I live in.’ So from a very young age he learnt that he would have to become adaptable and determined in his approach to life.

When he first announced he was going to drive, a friend of a friend, who was a driving instructor, told him he would never be able to drive – so he set out to prove him wrong. And did.

His swimming journey began in the 1970s when his school recommended he take it up for all-round exercise. It was clear that his upper body would have to be his strongest asset so he began to use the school pool and quickly discovered that he floated very well.

Swimming became a sanctuary for him and once he began to swim competitively at the age of 10 it wasn’t just about beating other people. It was about beating people’s expectations.

In 1984 he was scouted by the GB Paralympic squad and asked to join them – but he didn’t have a coach. He didn’t even have access to a pool. By coincidence, he got a job working at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst where he was allowed to use the swimming pool. By another happy coincidence, they hired a manager, Mike Gibson, who was a qualified swimming coach. He approached him to ask if he could be his coach, and between them they created a plan to help get him to the Seoul Paralympic Games in 1988.

It wasn’t until the Barcelona Paralympics in 1992 arrived that he really proved what he could do. He won 3 Gold medals and set 3 world records. Not bad for a guy with no legs, half arms and a coach who’d never trained someone with limbs missing before.

Connie joined Opple in 2014 and is responsible for Finance, Tax, Risk Management and Legal for Europe. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Opple Europe.

Prior to Opple, Connie worked for Philips/ NXP Semiconductors for +10 years. She has held multiple leadership positions across various businesses and Finance functions in Europe and Asia. She has also led several business spin-offs and post-merger acquisition projects.

Connie is based in the Netherlands and is an active promoter of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence applied to Finance.

Ben Kay has been the UK & Ireland CFO for Swissport since September 2017. Swissport has a turnover of €400m with operations at 29 stations in the UK & Ireland (part of Swissport International the largest provider of ground and cargo handling services in the aviation industry). He has a team of 84 finance people.

He joined Swissport after 22 years at NSG (formerly Pilkington Plc) where his last role was European Finance Director (business partnering at a European and Global basis as well as running the finance function of 220 people across 15 countries).

At Pilkington/NSG, Ben gained his CIMA qualification and performed a number of roles at different levels and completed secondments in Italy, Germany and Australia.

Outside of the office Ben spends much of his time doing sport (running, squash, cycling, yoga, gym..)

Having qualified as a chartered accountant in 2002, Bina fast tracked her career path and established herself as a Commercial Finance Director with exposure to a number of different industries. Through her journey, she has experienced the evolving role of the FD / CFO, and now acts as a business partner to CEOs. A mother of two, Bina was looking for a way to capitalise on her skill set, whilst being able to spend time with her young children and help them shape their future. As a result, her company was born and offers portfolio CFO services to ambitious businesses. Her experience, vision and nurturing manner now enable these businesses to reach their full value potential, plan for a successful future and overcome barriers to growth, be these processes, profitability or funding.

Bina’s long term plan is to pair CEOs with mothers who are equally skilled and qualified, and able to offer an affordable, flexible service.

Jessica, a CIMA qualified management accountant, joined L’Oréal in 2010 as Commercial Controller within the Consumer Products Divisions.  Prior to this she had built her finance experience working within a range of industries including Fashion and Digital Media.  Jessica’s success in these roles won her recognition through being awarded the Accountancy Age “Young Accountant of the Year” in 2009.

In order to broaden her experience of the L’Oréal business, Jessica transitioned to a corporate finance role as Treasurer for UK & Ireland in 2012.  During this role she was pivotal in implementing a business transformation agenda in her field and was notably featured in the Treasury Today publication.  In 2015 Jessica became the Commercial Operations Finance Director, where she specialises in retailer and channel strategy, with a key focus on developing future capability within the finance function for a truly multi-functional business

Katie started her career at ConocoPhillips (Oil & Gas industry) and worked through a number of roles in Generalist HR as well as Talent Management and Talent Acquisition before moving to Accenture as a Consultant in Talent and Organisation. This role was focused on large scale organisation transformation and change management projects within the FMCG industry. Katie joined L’Oréal in 2016 as HR Business Partner for the Consumer Products Division working as strategic partner to the business. Katie has led the business through a number of organisational design transformations, creating truly multifunctional customer teams. A key focus area is talent development, building multifunctional career paths and succession plans that are adapted to the needs of the employee and the business.

Katie has a degree in Psychology from the University of Exeter, a Masters in Human Resource Management from the University of Westminster and is a Chartered Member of the CIPD.

John Park became CFO for McDonald’s UK in 2016, and is responsible for finance, supply chain and legal oversight.

John joined McDonald’s UK in 2003 as an Assistant Operations Accountant. His progression through the company has included responsibilities as Regional Accounting Manager, Franchise Finance Manager and Head of Commercial Finance.

In his previous position as Finance Director, John was responsible for corporate and commercial finance in the UK, including supporting the organisation with commercial analysis and setting pricing strategy.

John is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and prior to joining McDonald’s he worked for KPMG.

James is Chief Financial Officer of William Hills Global Online business, spanning more than 15 countries, James has over 20 years experience leading, growing and developing financial and commercial teams in regulated B2B and B2C businesses across a range of sectors including banking, payments, fintech, consumer financial & retail services, property, and gaming & betting.

James qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers before specialising in mergers, acquisitions, business development and strategy, working with private equity funders, debt investors and FTSE100/250/Fortune1000 companies, funding, developing and expanding fast growing, high potential businesses, both in an advisory capacity and as part of inhouse management teams.

• Britain’s most successful Female Gymnast
• Olympic Bronze Medallist
• Triple World Champion
• Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist
• 6 time European Champion
• 7 time consecutive National

Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Tweddle is a former British artistic gymnast and is the most successful British Female Gymnast in the history of the sport. Her impressive achievements include being an Olympic Bronze Medallist, a triple World Champion, a six-time European Champion, a Commonwealth Champion and seven-times consecutive National Champion.

Her medal haul started at the 2002 Commonwealth Games where she collected Gold and two Silvers. Over the next decade Beth won over 20 more Gold medals, competing all over the World in major Championships. Having achieved her lifelong dream of winning an Olympic medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Beth thought it would be perfect timing to retire from competitive gymnastics. Beth’s phenomenal achievement in the sport saw her nominated for Sports Personality of the Year Award twice, finishing 3^rd in 2006.  She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for her unequivocal dedication, commitment and success in gymnastics.

Beth, a three time Olympian, is almost as successful outside the gym as she is in it. In 2007, Beth found time to graduate from Liverpool John Moores University with 2:1 in Sports Science and subsequently was accepted to study Physiotherapy at the University of Liverpool. Although Beth retired from Gymnastics she couldn’t part from the sport, as she became the Director of Total Gymnastics, a company that delivers recreational gymnastics to thousands of children. Beth has also set up a series of #trainwithBeth camps across the UK, engaging thousands of children in bespoke, elite gymnastics experiences.

Beth is also involved in sporting governance, holding positions with the FIG as the Global Athlete representative and Team GB and British Gymnastics. Beth has also been appointed as a Director of Switch the Play, an organisation that delivers a pathway for professional athletes with a careers and training after sport.

Beth’s profile allowed her to take on a variety of media and sporting work. In 2013, Beth won the eighth series of Dancing on Ice and has also participated in many other TV reality shows. Beth also commentates regularly for the BBC and Sky Sports, as well as making numerous media appearances on both TV & Radio.

Since starting gymnastics at the age of seven, Beth has helped to reinvent British gymnastics and her achievements place her in the ‘greatest of all time’ category within her sport. Her variety of talents and life experience make her a highly regarded motivational speaker, approachable to inspiring school children, whilst being able to motivate the employees of blue chip companies.

Rasmus Ankersen is an expert on the topic of talent and high performance cultures. In 2012 Rasmus published The Gold Mine Effect, in which he explores how some countries and cities develop a disproportionate amount of top talent. In 2016 Rasmus published Hunger in Paradise: a book about how successful organisations can remain successful by eliminating complacency.

Rasmus is also the chairman of FC Midtjylland, his childhood football club in Denmark, and a director of the English club Brentford FC. Both are known as some of the world’s most innovative football clubs, especially recognised for their use of big data to drive decision-making.

Over the past few years, Rasmus has been hired to share his research on high performance cultures by global brands like LEGO, Google, Boston Consulting Group, IKEA, Google, Facebook, Hitachi, Roche, Ernst & Young and many more.

Helene graduated from the Lisbon School of Finance & Economics in 1998 with a degree in Economics. She also holds a Masters’ Degree in Management from the Catholic University of Lisbon and a Masters’ Degree in Digital Marketing from the IPAM – Lisbon School of Marketing.
After graduating, Helene held a number of Management positions in Finance with the French Supermarket chain ‘Intermarche’ and then joined the PSA Group, with its three world-renowned brands, Peugeot, Citroën and DS, in August 2000.
In the following years, Helene held a number of Senior Management positions with the PSA Group around Europe including Director of Finance for Peugeot Croatia and then Peugeot Portugal, Head of coordination B2B and Used Vehicle Sales for Peugeot and Citroën in Iberia and Peugeot Brand Director in Portugal. Since February 2016, Helene has been Director of Finance for the PSA Group in the UK based at its Headquarters in Coventry.

George Buckley is Deutsche Bank’s Chief UK Economist, also covering Scandinavia and Switzerland.  He has 18 years experience as an analyst at Deutsche Bank having joined in 1998, following a PhD at the University of Bristol (housing & mortgage markets).  While at Bristol, George lectured and taught tutorials in macroeconomics and econometrics.  He holds an MSc in Economics and Finance, also from the University of Bristol, and a BA in Economics from the University of Wales, Bangor.  George is a published author (What You Need to Know About Economics, Capstone, 2011) and won the Society of Business Economists’ annual essay prize on the topic of spare capacity.

Patrick Butcher joined The Go-Ahead Group as its Chief Financial Officer in March 2016. Previously he was Network Rail’s CFO and led capital raising activities in public markets for the organisation prior to its reclassification in 2014 as a public sector company.

Patrick has a wealth of CFO and transport industry experience acquired over 23 years having held CFO roles at English, Welsh and Scottish Railways (now DB Schenker), Mapeley Limited, London Underground and Kings College Hospital. His early career was spent at Deloitte & Touche as a management consultant and auditor.

Faye Chua is ACCA’s portfolio head – business focus, leading ACCA’s future research and its global research and insights programme with a focus on the future directions of business and the accountancy profession across a range of subjects and disciplines. Faye has over 10 years of experience in research across different sectors of the economy and has worked in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Peter is an internationally sought after guru who invests his time and money as an agent of change. Renowned for his out of the box thinking, he is an advisor and consultant to companies and governments, the author of blogs, articles and books on technology, business and managing rapid change.

With over 40 years of technology and operational experience, Peter has been involved in the creation and transformation of corporations. His BT career saw him progress to CTO with teams engaged in optical fiber, fixed and mobile networks, artificial life and healthcare, through to war gaming, eCommerce, and business modeling.

Peter has also spent time as an educator and was appointed Professor for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at Bristol (1998). He received the Queen’s Award for Innovation & Export (1990), numerous Honorary Doctorates and was awarded an OBE (1999) for his contribution to international communications.

Philip de Klerk joined Flybe in August 2014 as Chief Financial Officer from SABMiller, where he was Global Head of Financial Planning & Analysis and Finance Director of the Business Capabilities Programme and Global Finance Business Partner for Technical, Marketing and IT. Prior to this, he was Chief Financial Offer of Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe and spent 16 years at Unilever in a variety of finance roles in various countries. Philip de Klerk manages the finance team and recently took over the roles of Head of IT

Danny is a Finance Director at Steelcase, where he’s the Business Partner for the EMEA Channel Development team as well as for the EMEA pricing team and other Sales Support Functions. Prior to this role, Danny was the Finance Director for the UK & Ireland market.

Before joining Steelcase, Danny worked in Management Consulting with Accenture and Deloitte, where he advised various Consumer Goods companies on the role of the Finance Function, ranging from Operating Model design to developing Business Partnering capabilities, delivering large ERP implementations and streamlining end-to-end processes.

Danny holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Business School and is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA)

Steve has worked across FMCG and B2B with Unilever, retail with Sainsbury’s and private equity at Langholm Capital LLP. His experience spans developed and emerging markets ranging from the UK foods and ice cream businesses, global personal care and foods categories and CFO of Unilever Philippines. Consistently involved in change and transformation through making the complex simple, engaging and fun – he is now driving Unilever Finance ‘Horizons’ agenda to embrace technology to unlock more value. A physicist, accountant, foodie and geek with a passion for the potential of people and technology.

Simon became Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc on May 1st, 2009. In addition to responsibility for all Financial activities of the company, Simon is responsible for Strategy, Planning and Information Technology. He also acts as Regional Executive Director for Asia Pacific with specific oversight of new business development in China.

Simon is a member of the Main Committee of the 100 Group of UK FTSE CFOs, Chair of the European Round Table CFO Taskforce and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for European Reform, a UK based think tank. He is also a CIMA fellow (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), and has been a non-executive member of the Lloyds Banking Group Board since June 2014.

Stephen is Head of Taxation in the Institute of Directors’ Policy Unit. He graduated from Manchester University with an honours degree in Economics & Politics. He is a member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Taxation. Stephen has specialised in taxation for over thirty years and, before joining the IoD in September 2013, he was a partner in three global accounting firms (Grant Thornton, Ernst & Young and BDO) for a total of twenty-eight years. He was appointed by the Exchequer Secretary as one of the (then) eight independent members of HM Treasury’s Tax Professionals Forum. He often speaks on taxation and related matters at conferences and regularly appears in both the national and tax technical press and on the broadcast media. He is a strong supporter of tax simplification and reduced tax rates for both businesses and individuals and believes that it is imperative that the misconceptions about tax planning which are regularly asserted by anti-business lobbyists are aggressively refuted.

Andrew Hicks is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Advanced, having joined the company in December 2015. He is responsible for leading the Group’s strategic and operational finance, legal and HR departments. He also drives strategic organic and inorganic initiatives across the group.

Andrew brings 15 years’ experience in the software sector, serving in senior finance roles in public and private equity backed firms both in the UK and USA. Most recently, he was CFO of Kewill, a global leader in multi-modal transportation software solutions, which he helped transition from a public company to private ownership. Prior to that, he worked for a number of Vista portfolio companies including Advanced’s sister company, financial services software provider Misys, and as CFO of Vista’s P2 Energy Solutions.

Jo is Head of Corporate Governance within the Professional Insights team of ACCA, Jo has published on a wide range of corporate governance topics, including governance principles, board responsibilities, and diversity. She has lectured in front of various audiences, including directors, academics, and students. A qualified accountant, she is trained in tax and audit. In addition to corporate governance, she also has extensive experience in auditing and assurance.

Mark Jarvis is the CFO of IBM Security Business Unit in UK & Ireland, providing overall financial strategy and management across the Services and Software portfolio.  Mark joined IBM after graduating with a 2:1 in Mathematics from Durham University, and has spend 8 years in a variety of finance roles across IBM UKI.  Mark is a Chartered Management Accountant, with a dynamic enthusiasm for strategic problem solving whilst maintaining the highest levels of integrity.  Outside of IBM Mark is actively involved in his local church, and enjoys a game of tennis where possible.

As the CFO of IBM UK & Ireland, Vineet is responsible for driving results of a portfolio of businesses generating annual revenues of approximately GBP 3.7 billion. Additionally, as a key member of the UK and Ireland Leadership team his responsibilities also include supporting IBM’s transformation as a Cloud Platform and Cognitive Solutions company.

Prior to this role Vineet held the position of IBM Assistant Controller – Strategy & Budgets, based at Armonk, NY. His responsibilities included managing IBM’s long term financial model including driving the annual and the long term strategic plans.

Vineet has been with IBM for over 15 years and has held various finance roles of increasing responsibility across Europe and the USA.

He holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the Manipal Institute of Technology, India and a MBA degree from the Warwick Business School, UK.

Stuart has always had Rugby in his blood. A former full-time rugby player and until recently the Head Coach of the English national rugby union team, a position he held from 2011 until he stepped down on 11 November 2015. Admired for his work in developing young players, Stuart led England to a fourth consecutive second position in the Six Nations.

Known best for restoring a feel-good factor to English Rugby and leading an overhaul and reformation of England’s squad culture he brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in leading through change and uncertainty. And try doing that under the watchful eye of millions. A lesson on embracing failure, reflecting and growing as a leader.

Graeme Leach is CEO & Chief Economist of Macronomics, a macroeconomic, geopolitical and future megatrends research consultancy launched in 2016. Graeme is a visiting professor of economic policy, and a member of the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee of high profile UK macroeconomists commenting on the Bank Of England’s conduct of monetary policy. He also has a weekly column in the City AM newspaper in London.

Over the past decade he has undertaken over 150 live television and radio interviews for BBC News, Sky News, CNBC, CNN, the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme and BBC Radio 4 World at One.

Prior to forming Macronomics, Graeme was Director of Economics and Prosperity Studies at the Legatum Institute, focused on the drivers of prosperity across the globe. Between 1997 and 2013 he worked as Chief Economist and Director of Policy at the Institute of Directors (IoD), where he was also a Main Board Director. The IoD represents around 40,000 business leaders in the UK and overseas.

Graeme represented the IoD in discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and 10 Downing Street. Earlier in his career he was Chief UK Economist and Chief International Economist, at The Henley Centre for Forecasting. He was also Economic Adviser to the Scottish Provident Investment Group.

Jolyon Maugham QC has a predominantly litigation based practice in the fields of direct and indirect tax. He has particular expertise in avoidance, structured finance, intangible property, tax and judicial review, and employment taxation. In January 2016, The Lawyer featured him as one of only 10 members at the Bar in their ‘Hot 100 2016.’ He runs the hugely successful blog waitingfortax.com, attracting about 200,000 hits a year. In addition, Jolyon lectures and writes widely on tax policy matters. “He takes on board the commercial environment in which we’re operating, and his technical analysis is exceptional.

Tim is the Finance Director for Technology and Digital at O2, where he leads the finance and procurement teams partnering the business to optimise O2’s Network and IT investments and manage the P&L for O2’s high growth Digital business. Prior to this role, Tim was Head of Finance Operations for O2 with responsibility for Financial Control and Reporting, Treasury, Shared Services and Finance Systems for the UK business.

Tim qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) with Ernst & Young and prior to joining O2 worked in a variety of financial roles within IT and outsourcing businesses including Fujitsu, Logica and Serco where he was the Finance Director for the Global Services UK & Europe Division.

Martin Sanders is Chief Audit Executive for the European Region of Honda Motor Europe Ltd.

The role heads up the Corporate Audit function providing independent objective assurance of the adequacy of control and management of risk of the £5.2billion European Business

Joined Honda (UK) in 1994 and held senior positions of Head of Sales & Marketing for Honda (UK) Cars, General Manger Honda (UK) and Europe Power Products and for the past 3 years CFO/GM for Honda Motor Europe.

Prior to Honda, he worked for Volvo Cars (UK) as Managing Director of Volvo Finance and before that worked as a worldwide auditor for British Airways PLC.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of England and Wales qualified with Deloitte in the UK. He graduated with a degree in Economics from the University College Cardiff.

Martin is a Trustee and Chairman of Governance of Wooden Spoon, which is the national rugby charity for children who are disadvantaged physically, mentally or socially.

He is a proud Welshman, born in Cardiff and is married with three sons.

Lena Shishkina has over ten years’ tenure in the software industry in senior finance roles across emerging and mature markets. Lena’s experience includes delivering value to organisations through transformation of their finance functions, which the modern technology enables, M&A, general management, professional services.

As a Vice President of Finance in Workday, Lena is responsible for EMEA & APJ regions, driving Workday’s profitable growth and international expansion. Lena’s current task is to build a strong finance business partnership with Sales, Product and Services organisations, as well as support Workday customers and prospects in their journey with Workday Financials & HR systems.

David is a Chartered Accountant and qualified Treasurer who has been CFO of four listed PLCs (including Mouchel, SThree and Victrex) and Audit Committee Chairman of Sepura plc. He was most recently CFO of PE-backed Innovia Group. Whilst there he signed a supply contract with the Bank of England in respect of the forthcoming £5 and £10 polymer banknotes. David and his CEO received the BVCA Management Team of the year award in 2014. In the same year the Innovia finance team were named the Large Finance Team of the Year at the North West Finance Awards.

Andrew was appointed EMEA Finance Director at Zuora in August 2015 as part of the EMEA management team to drive strategy and commercial performance. Prior to this he has held senior finance roles in the TMT sector including IDT, EDS and AboveNet, where he has led international finance teams and worked as a strategic business partner to develop and execute business plans. Andrew started his career with Deloitte where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant having graduated from Southampton University with a degree in Business Economics.

Mark Wilson is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Aston Martin Lagonda. He joined the business in June 2015, and is a Board Member of Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.

Before joining Aston Martin, Wilson spent 8 years as Finance Director of McLaren Automotive and latterly held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at GCube Underwriting. He has also held senior positions at Lotus and Aviva UK. Born in March 1974, Wilson is married and has two children. A keen golfer he also enjoys sailing and supporting Northampton Saints.

Wilson’s ambitions at Aston Martin include successful delivery of the luxury marque’s six year ‘Second Century’ plan, a comprehensive strategy for the transformation and growth of Aston Martin, alongside bringing stability and profitability to the brand.