Previous Speaker Profiles

2011

Alan Giles, Chairman, Fat Face

Alan is Chairman of Fat Face, the active lifestyle retailer, and a non-executive director of Rentokil Initial plc, Wilson Bowden Plc and The Office of Fair Trading. He is also an Honorary Visiting Professor in the School of Management at Cass Business School, City University. He formed HMV Group as Chief Executive in1998 as a leveraged buy-out and led the Group through its London Stock Exchange IPO in 2002 before retiring from the Group in September 2006 to develop a portfolio of non-executive and teaching roles. From 1993 to 1998 he was Managing Director of Waterstone’s, having joined WH Smith Group in 1982 and being appointed to their board in November 1995. He also served as Operations and Development Director for Do It All and General Manager (Books) for WH Smith Retail. Prior to this, he spent seven years in buying and marketing roles with Boots. He was a non-executive director of Somerfield plc from 1993 until 2004. He graduated in Physics from the University of Oxford (Merton College) and holds a masters degree in Management from The Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, California.

Anthony Preston, Founder, Pets at Home

Anthony Preston bought a small pet supplies wholesale business called R & B Pet Supplies Ltd in 1984. This developed into Pets at Home, the retail warehouse pet superstore.In 2004, Anthony sold the majority of his holding in Pets at Home to Bridgepoint Private Equity, and exited the majority of his remaining interest when Bridgepoint sold Pets at Home to KKR in March 2010. We were delighted that Anthony agreed to share is experience and insights at the the Forum.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium

Stephen was appointed Director General of British Retail Consortium in 2008. Based in Westminster, Edinburgh and Brussels, the BRC represents UK retail, large and small, in lobbying governments and near-government organisations as well as producing key retail data. Stephen appears frequently in tv, radio and press to discuss business issues. Stephen's career has spanned 14 years on the boards of major UK retailers following earlier management roles with Mars Inc, Unilever and Alberto-Culver, seven years as Marketing Director at B&Q plc before leading the acquisition of Screwfix Direct. He went on to become Director of Communications at Kingfisher plc and took the helm of the Ellen MacArthur sponsorship. More recently Stephen served for 3 years on the retail board at Woolworth plc. In a non-executive capacity Stephen served for 3 years at Fresca, the leading fresh food supplier, and is currently a board member of the National Portrait Gallery Company. Stephen has recently joined the board of Timpson Group, (shoe repair and key cutting) and Max (photographic services) through 870 shops nationwide. He is a former Chairman, and now Fellow, of the Marketing Society.

Other previous speakers

Mike Clare, Founder of Dreams

Fraser Longden, Director of HR, B&Q

Charlie Mayfield, Chairman, John Lewis Partnership

Phillip Newton, Founder of The Perfume Shop

Mark Newton-Jones, Chief Executive, Shop Direct Group

Theo Paphitis, Chairmain, Ryman Stationery

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium

Mike Shearwood, Chief Executive, Aurora Fashions

Phil Wrigley, Executive Chairman, Habitat