Growth Strategy

Why organisations work with Adolfo Fernandez Operator perspective from inside the two platforms reshaping global retail. He has led commercialisation strategy for Google Shopping’s mid-market segment and now Global Product Strategy and Operations for TikTok’s eCommerce advertising suite. A working framework for cross-border growth, drawn from running Google’s internationalization advisory practice for the mid-market. It addresses the question most growth-stage companies misjudge: when domestic plateau means it is time to enter a new market, and on what terms. Recognised by the World Economic Forum, which invited him into its Expert Network on Retail, Consumer Goods and Lifestyle, and Digital Communications. That credential signals depth that bureau platforms alone cannot. Comfort across three buyer registers: regulators and policy bodies (UN, WTO), executive education audiences (IE Business School, MIT), and corporate boards. Leaders get a speaker who can move between policy frame and operating frame without losing either. Delivery in English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, which makes him useful for European and Latin American leadership audiences that other Silicon Valley operators cannot reach without translation. Biography highlights Global Director of Product Strategy and Operations for eCommerce advertising at TikTok, based in San Francisco Former Google leader: Business Development Manager for Spain and Portugal, Global Program Manager for Internationalization advisory, and Google Shopping commercialisation strategy lead for the SMB segment World Economic Forum Expert Network member since 2019 in Retail, Consumer Goods and Lifestyle, and Digital Communications Speaker at more than 200 international conferences, including United Nations and World Trade Organization platforms Guest lecturer at IE Business School and MIT MA in International Management, IE Business School; BA in Business Administration, University of Santiago de Compostela Biography Most companies still treat international expansion as a sequencing problem: which market next, in what order, on what timeline. The harder question is platform-shaped. Discovery, conversion and brand association now run through a small number of global commerce environments, and the rules of entry differ across them. That is the terrain Adolfo Fernandez works in. He is currently Global Director of Product Strategy and Operations for eCommerce advertising at TikTok, where he leads product strategy, product marketing and go-to-market for the platform’s commerce advertising suite. The role sits at the centre of one of the most consequential shifts in consumer attention of the last five years. Before TikTok, he spent close to a decade at Google. He started as Business Development Manager for Spain and Portugal in 2015, then took over Google’s Internationalization advisory services for the mid-market in 2018, before moving to San Francisco to lead Google Shopping commercialisation strategy for the SMB segment. The arc gave him an unusual vantage on how mid-sized firms actually win, and lose, in cross-border digital commerce. His public-facing work has reached the UN and the World Trade Organization, executive audiences at IE Business School and MIT, and the World Economic Forum, which invited him into its Expert Network on retail, consumer goods and digital communications in 2019. He works in English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, which extends his reach into European and Latin American audiences that most Silicon Valley operators cannot serve directly. Key speaking topics Digital commerce and platform strategy International growth and market entry Retail technology and consumer behaviour Brand building in digital-first markets Innovation and product strategy Future of work in technology-led organisations Ideal for Boards and executive teams of mid-market and large companies planning international growth CMOs, commercial directors and digital leaders rethinking discovery, paid media and conversion economics Retail, consumer goods and lifestyle leadership teams reassessing platform dependency Executive education and leadership development audiences in Europe and Latin America Audience outcomes A clearer read on how Google and TikTok are changing the economics of consumer attention and commerce A practical lens for deciding when and how to enter new international markets A working distinction between innovation and creativity inside large organisations Specific examples of how digital-native brands have built relevance and speed without losing core values

Why organisations work with Peter Field His IPA Effectiveness Databank analysis – spanning over 1,000 campaigns, 80+ categories, and 30 years – gives senior marketers an empirical base for budget decisions that no internal dataset can match in scale or authority. The 60:40 principle he co-established with Les Binet is now the dominant reference point for CMO-level investment decisions globally; organisations use it to resist short-term pressure from finance and hold the case for brand building with the board. His 2019 Crisis in Creative Effectiveness report – showing that creatively-awarded campaigns had lost their effectiveness advantage entirely due to short-termism – gives marketing leaders the evidence to argue for sustained creative investment rather than disposable activation. The Creative Effectiveness Ladder, co-developed with James Hurman for Cannes Lions and WARC, gives organisations a practical evaluation tool for assessing the long-term ambition of creative work before it runs. His extension of effectiveness principles into B2B – The Five Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing – fills an empirical gap that most B2B marketing leaders have had to navigate without equivalent guidance. Biography highlights Cambridge graduate; 15 years as a strategic planner at advertising agencies including BMP (later part of the DDB network) Co-author with Les Binet of the IPA Effectiveness Databank series: Marketing in the Era of Accountability (2007), The Long & The Short of It (2013), Media in Focus (2017), Effectiveness in Context (2018) Author of The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness (IPA, 2019) – analysing 24 years of data on the declining relationship between creative awards and business outcomes Co-author with James Hurman of The Effectiveness Code (Cannes Lions/WARC, 2020), which produced the Creative Effectiveness Ladder framework Honorary Fellow of the UK Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Regular keynote speaker at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, IPA EffWeek, and WARC Sessions Biography Marketing measurement has a structural flaw: the channels easiest to measure in real time are the ones least suited to building durable growth. Peter Field has spent 25 years making that argument with evidence – the IPA Effectiveness Databank, a repository of independently verified advertising effectiveness data spanning more than three decades. With Les Binet, Field co-authored the series of IPA Effectiveness Databank reports that set the empirical terms for decisions about budget allocation, media strategy, and creative investment. The Long and the Short of It (2013) established the 60:40 principle: most organisations systematically under-invest in brand building relative to short-term activation. Long-term emotional campaigns, the data showed, generate roughly double the profit of short-term approaches. The series has been cited in over 70 international academic publications and textbooks. Field’s solo research extended these findings into the relationship between creativity and effectiveness. The Crisis in Creative Effectiveness (IPA, 2019) revealed that creatively-awarded campaigns had become no more effective than non-awarded ones – the first time in 24 years of data – driven by the industry’s shift toward short-term activation work. His co-authored Creative Effectiveness Ladder, developed with James Hurman for Cannes Lions and WARC, provides a practical framework for evaluating the long-term ambition of creative work before it runs. A Cambridge graduate and former strategic planner at BMP, Field is an Honorary Fellow of the UK Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. His research has been presented at Cannes Lions, WARC Sessions, and IPA EffWeek, and has shaped how CMOs, CFOs, and boards across the world evaluate the returns on marketing investment. Key speaking topics Marketing effectiveness and budget allocation Long-term brand building vs. short-term sales activation Creative effectiveness and the business case for creativity Measurement, metrics, and the limits of digital attribution Brand growth and pricing power B2B marketing effectiveness Evidence-based commercial strategy Ideal for CMOs and senior marketing leaders under short-term commercial pressure from CFOs or boards CFOs and CEOs seeking an empirical framework for evaluating marketing investment decisions Brand and creative strategy leads making the case for long-term creative ambition internally B2B marketing directors who have lacked an effectiveness evidence base equivalent to B2C Audience outcomes A clear, evidence-based framework for allocating budget between brand building and short-term activation – grounded in 30+ years of campaign data A working understanding of why short-term digital metrics can systematically mislead commercial decision-making The analytical language to present the commercial case for brand investment to a CFO or board Practical criteria for evaluating whether a creative strategy is built for long-term effectiveness or short-term efficiency Awareness of how the Five Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing translate consumer effectiveness evidence into B2B strategy

Why organisations work with Henry Coutinho-Mason He brings a working method for trend-driven innovation, set out in Trend-Driven Innovation and refined across a decade as Managing Director of TrendWatching, rather than a curated list of things happening now. His second book, The Future Normal, co-written with WSJ bestseller Rohit Bhargava, gives executive audiences a structured view of the thirty shifts most likely to reshape the next decade, tailored by sector. He has delivered more than 100 keynotes and workshops across 30+ countries for Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson, Calvin Klein, Tata, Siemens, Google, HP and Marriott, so the material is already pressure-tested on senior corporate audiences. His AI sessions are built around a people-first innovation strategy, not a tools tour, which lands with leaders who need to commit capital and organisational focus rather than pilot for the sake of it. The 3Space track record, recognised by the FT/Citi Urban Ingenuity Awards and NESTA New Radicals, gives him operator credibility beyond the commentary layer. Biography highlights Co-author, The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade, with Rohit Bhargava (Ideapress). Co-author, Trend-Driven Innovation: Beat Accelerating Customer Expectations. Former Managing Director, TrendWatching. Guest lecturer, HEC Paris. Co-founder, 3Space; European winner of the FT/Citi Urban Ingenuity Awards, commended by Fast Company World Changing Ideas, selected by NESTA New Radicals. Keynote and workshop engagements with Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson, Calvin Klein, Tata, Siemens, Telefonica, HP, Google, GE, Accenture, and Marriott. Biography Most large organisations know their customer expectations are moving. What they struggle with is turning that awareness into a pipeline of decisions a board will back. That gap, between trend awareness and commercial commitment, is where Coutinho-Mason does his work. He spent roughly a decade at TrendWatching, ending as Managing Director of what became one of the most widely referenced consumer trend intelligence firms in the world. That run produced a method, published as Trend-Driven Innovation, for converting shifting customer expectations into concrete innovation bets rather than observations. His second book, The Future Normal, written with Wall Street Journal bestselling author Rohit Bhargava, maps thirty ideas and instigators shaping the next decade, from generative AI to biophilic design. Leadership teams at Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson, Calvin Klein, Tata, Siemens and others have booked versions of the material tailored to their sector, often as the opening frame for a strategy offsite. Alongside the speaking and advisory work, he co-founded 3Space, a social enterprise that turns empty commercial property into space for charities and community groups. It won the European section of the FT/Citi Urban Ingenuity Awards and was commended by Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas, a proof point that the innovation method travels beyond the corporate setting into organisations that have to ship results with little margin for error. Key speaking topics Trend-driven innovation Consumer and customer expectations Strategic foresight People-first AI strategy Future of retail, work and cities Business model innovation Growth strategy Ideal for CSOs and heads of strategy commissioning a multi-year innovation agenda CMOs and customer experience leaders recalibrating propositions against shifting expectations Chief innovation officers and transformation leads looking for a repeatable method, not a trend deck Executive offsites and board sessions opening a decade-horizon strategy conversation Audience outcomes A shared vocabulary for distinguishing durable consumer shifts from short-cycle noise A working framework for translating trend signals into specific innovation bets A sharper view of where generative AI changes the economics of their category, and where it does not Concrete examples of how peer-scale organisations have already moved, drawn from cross-sector research A clear set of questions to take back to strategy, product and marketing teams

Why organisations work with Cassandra Stavrou She has lived the operational reality of scaling a challenger consumer brand against entrenched incumbents, from cement-mixer experiments in her parents’ garage to listings in every major UK retailer. She made PROPER the first B Corp certified snacks company, then proved the model could withstand a major private equity consolidation deal, completed through Brexit and COVID. She speaks credibly to founders and corporate brand teams about the operational discipline required when purpose stops being a marketing claim and starts being an audited certification. A recognised authority on UK food and drink policy, sitting on the government’s Food & Drink Sector Council, with Veuve Clicquot New Generation and National Business Award recognition behind her. Biography highlights Founder, PROPER Snacks (PROPERCORN and PROPERCHIPS), launched 2011 MBE for services to the food industry, 2020 Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award, 2016 National Business Awards New Business of the Year, 2014 Member, UK Government Food & Drink Sector Council Board member, WARP Snacks, formed in 2021 through the Exponent-backed combination of PROPER and Eat Real Biography PROPER started in a kitchen with a cement mixer and a popcorn recipe. A decade later it was Europe’s largest independent healthier snacking business, with listings in every major UK supermarket and distribution across more than twenty countries. The category it competed in was dominated by global incumbents with budgets that dwarfed anything an independent founder could put behind shelf negotiation, marketing or supply chain. Cassandra Stavrou co-founded PROPER in 2011 and ran it as a challenger brand built on a specific premise: that healthier snacks did not have to compromise on taste, and that the business behind them did not have to compromise on its social and environmental obligations. PROPER became the first B Corp certified snacks company, embedding the standard from the inside rather than retrofitting it later. The Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award in 2016, an MBE in 2020 and a seat on the UK Government’s Food & Drink Sector Council mark a track record that goes beyond brand storytelling. The 2021 consolidation with Eat Real under private equity backer Exponent, forming WARP Snacks, gave the next test: whether the discipline that built the brand could survive the rationalisation that follows institutional capital. She speaks to founders, brand teams and boards on what changes when purpose moves from a positioning line to a binding operating constraint, and on the practical economics of building a category challenger that the incumbents eventually have to take seriously. Key speaking topics Founder-led brand building in consumer categories Scaling challenger brands against incumbents B Corp certification as an operating discipline Purpose and profit in the food and drink sector Female founders and capital UK food and drink policy Ideal for Founders and senior commercial leaders in consumer brands and FMCG Brand, marketing and category leaders in retail Investors and boards backing purpose-led businesses through scale events Conferences on entrepreneurship, sustainability and women in business Audience outcomes A working view of what changes operationally when B Corp standards are written into a consumer business from day one Honest detail on the trade-offs between speed of growth and brand integrity in a price-sensitive category The mechanics of negotiating shelf space, retailer relationships and supply chains as an independent challenger A practitioner’s account of running a founder-led business through a private equity consolidation

Why organisations work with Eloïne Barry She runs the infrastructure, not just the advice. African Media Agency’s wire service was the first of its kind built for the continent, and it gives any organisation she works with direct distribution into hundreds of African newsrooms rather than a slide deck about how to reach them. Her client record is the proof point buyers care about: campaigns delivered for the African Development Bank, IFC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard, Western Union and Merck, not a pitch deck of hypothetical case studies. She translates between the European and North American boardroom and the African newsroom. That crossover, learned at PR Newswire across France, Germany and the EMEA region before she moved the operation south, is rare at a senior level. She has been recognised by the industry on its own terms: SABRE Africa, ASCOM Grand Prix Excellence, New African Magazine’s 100 Most Influential, and Bizcommunity’s PR personalities to watch list for 2026. Biography highlights Founder and CEO, African Media Agency (AMA), Abidjan, with operations across 30+ African countries and hubs in Abidjan, Johannesburg and Durban. Built the first pan-African press-release wire distribution service. Clients include the African Development Bank, IFC, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard, Western Union and Merck. Winner, SABRE Africa Western Africa award 2026 (Bluemind Foundation “Heal by Hair” campaign); African SABRE Certificate of Excellence in Media Relations 2021; Grand Prix Excellence, ASCOM Abidjan 2019. Named in New African Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Africans 2022; recognised by MIPAD (Most Influential People of African Descent) in 2018. Tony Elumelu Foundation mentor; board member, Africa Communications Week and Africa No Filter. Biography Most multinationals that try to reach African audiences at scale run into the same problem. A campaign built for London or New York lands in Lagos, Nairobi or Abidjan and does not move. The media maps are different, the gatekeepers are different, and the ground truth changes by country. African Media Agency was built to close that gap, and Eloine Barry built African Media Agency. AMA is the Abidjan-headquartered firm behind the first pan-African press-release wire distribution service. It now reaches hundreds of newsrooms across more than 30 African countries, with operational hubs in Abidjan, Johannesburg and Durban. Clients include the African Development Bank, IFC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard, Western Union and Merck, alongside governments and African-founded organisations. The agency’s work sits across three arms: AMA Wire for distribution, AMA PR for campaigns and advisory, and AMA Academy for journalist and communications training. Her own route into the work matters. Born in Lyon to a Senegalese mother and a Guinea-Bissauan father, she began her career at PR Newswire, running media relations across France, Germany, and later the wider EMEA and India region. That trajectory is why she is effective with European and American boards and with African newsrooms in the same week; she has sat on both sides of the brief. The industry has recognised the operating record. AMA won a SABRE Africa Western Africa award in 2026 for its Bluemind Foundation “Heal by Hair” mental health campaign, which scaled a Cameroonian-founded initiative into a partnership network spanning health ministries in Togo and Cote d’Ivoire and research groups at Paris Saclay and Santa Clara. Barry herself sits on the boards of Africa Communications Week and Africa No Filter, mentors on the Tony Elumelu Foundation programme, and was named by Bizcommunity among the ten PR personalities to watch in 2026. Key speaking topics Growth strategy for African markets Pan-African media and communications Government and public-sector communications in Africa African diaspora and return-to-Africa strategy Cross-cultural leadership between European, North American and African organisations Building and scaling media infrastructure in emerging markets Ideal for CMOs and heads of corporate affairs at multinationals planning or expanding African operations. CEOs and country leads of development institutions, foundations and NGOs running continent-wide campaigns. Government communications directors and ministries engaging African diaspora audiences. Founders and boards of African-built companies preparing for international visibility. Audience outcomes A clear read on why standard global PR playbooks fail in African markets and what replaces them. A grounded view of the African media landscape across anglophone, francophone and lusophone regions. Practical starting points for building credibility with African newsrooms, diaspora audiences and local regulators. A sharper sense of how communications strategy sits inside a broader market-entry or growth plan for the continent.

Why organisations work with Aysha Turgut A practitioner’s view of wealth building drawn from running Grow Wealth Group, not theory borrowed from financial services marketing. A teaching style shaped by years as a university professor, which translates personal finance into something an audience can act on the next morning. A specific framework set out in her book “Earn It, Grow It, And Keep It!”, giving audiences a sequence rather than a list of tips. A real estate investing perspective grounded in her flagship “My First Deal or Million” program, useful for audiences interested in entrepreneurship and asset-based income. Biography highlights CEO and Founder of Grow Wealth Group LLC. Author of “Earn It, Grow It, And Keep It! A 7-Step Guide to Wealth Accumulation and Preservation.” Host of “The Grow Wealth Experience” podcast. Former university professor. Recognised as “Most Influential Investment Coaching Businesswoman 2023” by AI Global Media’s Influential Businesswoman Awards. International speaker with engagements cited at the City University of New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the residence of the US Ambassador to NATO in Brussels. Biography Most high earners are not wealthy. Income arrives, gets absorbed by lifestyle and tax, and the gap between what was earned and what is retained quietly widens over a career. Aysha Turgut works in that gap. As CEO and Founder of Grow Wealth Group, she coaches individuals and entrepreneurs to treat personal finance as a managed business with a strategy, a balance sheet, and a plan for compounding. Her method is set out in “Earn It, Grow It, And Keep It!”, a seven-step guide to wealth accumulation and preservation. The book pairs first-person practitioner experience with a sequence audiences can follow, from earning discipline through to long-term preservation. It is the basis for her keynotes and for the firm’s flagship program, “My First Deal or Million,” aimed at new real estate investors who want to treat each deal as a business rather than a transaction. Before entrepreneurship, she taught at a university. That background shapes the speaking style: structured, plain, and built around what an audience can do on Monday. She hosts “The Grow Wealth Experience” podcast, where she interviews investors and operators on how wealth is actually built and held. Her audiences are typically individuals, entrepreneurs, and women’s networks rather than corporate boards. The strongest brief is one where the organising question is personal financial agency, real estate as a wealth vehicle, or the move from professional income to investor income. Key speaking topics Wealth accumulation and preservation Real estate investing for new investors Entrepreneurship and small-business growth Personal finance strategy Investor mindset and money behaviours Women and wealth Ideal for Entrepreneur and small-business networks Women’s professional networks and wealth-focused events Real estate investor groups and programmes Financial wellness streams within wider corporate wellbeing programmes Audience outcomes A clear seven-step sequence for earning, growing, and preserving personal wealth. A practical view of how to evaluate a first real estate deal as a business decision. A reset on the personal money habits that quietly erode long-term net worth. A vocabulary for talking about wealth as an operating discipline, not a product purchase.

Why organisations work with Jenk Oz A live daily feed of Gen Z behaviour. Thred.com publishes in 17 languages across 220+ countries and territories, feeding his brand advice with first-party data instead of commissioned surveys. Consulting credibility built on named client work. Thred Media has advised Coca-Cola, Google, Ford, Dunkin’, Microsoft, Snapchat, and Ogilvy on Gen Z strategy, so executive audiences engage with a working commercial operator. Primary-source Gen Z insight. Thred’s editorial team is almost entirely Gen Z, which grounds brand strategy work in lived cohort behaviour. A structural edge in data. The combination of publishing arm, Change Maker Discord community, and consulting practice generates zero- and first-party signals on emerging youth culture that traditional agencies do not hold. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of Thred Media, the Gen Z publishing and consulting business headquartered in London. Thred.com publishes in 17 languages, reaches audiences in 220+ countries and territories, and generates approximately 350,000 monthly article reads alongside 200,000+ social followers. Consulting clients include Coca-Cola, Google, Ford, Dunkin’, Microsoft, Snapchat, Ogilvy, Hilton, Meta, Universal Music Group, and Epic Games. Named on Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe), winner of Digiday’s Future Leader Award and Greater Good Award, and recipient of a Webby/Anthem Young Leader Award in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Member of the Google Z-Council, Oracle for Startups, and the Microsoft Surface young entrepreneur programme. Delivered three TEDx talks and has spoken at 90+ international conferences, including Amazon AWS Summit London (where he interviewed Amazon CTO Werner Vogels), Forbes Summit Cincinnati, Vox YMS New York, Oxford University Model UN, and Brand Week Istanbul. Biography Most brand advice about Gen Z is produced from outside the generation it describes. Survey data and panel research reach brand teams after the fact, often long after the behaviour they track has moved on. Thred Media was built on the opposite principle. What became Thred Media began with a school show-and-tell by an eight-year-old Jenk Oz about the activities he was doing outside class. That project grew into iCoolKid, which was rebranded and repositioned as Thred Media in 2019. Today, Thred.com publishes in 17 languages and reaches audiences in 220+ countries, giving the business a live first-party read on what young consumers are actually doing and buying. The consulting arm applies that feed to commercial questions. Coca-Cola, Google, Ford, Dunkin’, Microsoft, Snapchat, Ogilvy, and Hilton have used Thred Media for Gen Z strategy work that draws on live behaviour from the Change Maker Discord community and the editorial desk. Recognition has followed: Forbes 30 Under 30 (Europe), the Digiday Future Leader Award, a Webby/Anthem Award in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts. The commercial distinction is straightforward. He runs a functioning Gen Z business that advises major consumer brands, and he belongs to the generation he is paid to interpret. He has delivered three TEDx talks, interviewed Amazon CTO Werner Vogels at AWS Summit London, and been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Fortune, and the Evening Standard. Key speaking topics Gen Z consumer behaviour Brand relevance and the Gen Z market Gen Z marketing strategy Youth culture and social change Digital activism and clicktivism Youth entrepreneurship The future of work through a Gen Z lens Ideal for Chief marketing officers, brand directors, and consumer strategy teams are trying to close the relevance gap with Gen Z consumers. Agencies and consultancies whose clients are asking sharper questions about youth audiences than internal research can answer. Corporate innovation and growth teams are building commercial plans that depend on reaching emerging consumer cohorts. Board and executive audiences wanting a primary source on Gen Z behaviour, not secondhand interpretation. Audience outcomes A live view of how Gen Z is actually behaving across purchase and media decisions, drawn from Thred.com’s daily publishing feed and Change Maker community. Recalibrated assumptions about the signals brands use to judge youth relevance, with examples from named client work. Specific examples of where established brands are winning and losing Gen Z attention, drawn from Thred Media’s advisory engagements. A direct read on how social change and purpose shape purchase decisions in the generation that now accounts for the largest share of emerging consumer spend.

Why organisations work with Roberta Lucca She has built a multi-million dollar VC-backed business from scratch and won a BAFTA doing it. Few speakers in the innovation category can show that operational record. As a Venture Partner at Octopus Ventures, she sees what an early-stage company that actually has traction looks like, and translates that pattern recognition into how corporates should evaluate their own internal bets. Her AI material is shaped by founding BOLDR, an AI-powered coaching product, not by commentary at a distance. She speaks about deployment, user behaviour and product reality. She works fluently across gaming, AI and consumer technology, which lets her unpack why game-industry mechanics (engagement loops, iteration speed, distributed teams) increasingly apply to non-games businesses. Visible UK platform credibility through BBC One’s The Apprentice and Amazon Prime’s Ready Set StartUP makes her recognisable to senior internal audiences and easy to position to a wider all-hands. Biography highlights Co-founder of Bossa Studios, the London games studio behind BAFTA-winning Monstermind, Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread BAFTA Games Award winner (Online-Browser category, 2012) Venture Partner at Octopus Ventures, the UK fund whose portfolio includes Zoopla, Cazoo and Depop Co-founder and CEO of BOLDR, an AI-powered virtual coaching product Judge and angel investor on BBC One’s The Apprentice; mentor on Amazon Prime’s Ready Set StartUP Forbes Top 50 Women in Tech; named London’s Most Influential in Creative Arts by the Evening Standard Biography Bossa Studios was a blank canvas in 2010. A decade later it was a VC-backed multi-million dollar games business with a BAFTA on the shelf for Monstermind and global hits in Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread. Roberta Lucca was the co-founder and CMO who shaped that arc, and the experience defines the perspective she brings to corporate audiences. She has since repeated the founder cycle. WonderLuk was an early move into on-demand 3D-printed consumer goods. BOLDR, her current company, is an AI-powered coaching product where she sits as co-founder and CEO. The pattern matters: she has built across gaming, consumer hardware-adjacent commerce and applied AI, which is unusual range for a speaker booked into innovation slots. As a Venture Partner at Octopus Ventures, she sees the deal flow from inside one of the UK’s most active early-stage funds. That vantage point sharpens her view of what genuine traction looks like and how corporates routinely misread it. It also gives her language that lands with executive teams trying to decide whether their innovation programmes are working. She is visible on the UK platforms that senior internal audiences recognise, BBC One’s The Apprentice as a judge and angel investor, and Amazon Prime’s Ready Set StartUP as a mentor. Forbes named her in its Top 50 Women in Tech list, and the Evening Standard named her among London’s Most Influential in Creative Arts. The recognition matters less than the operating record behind it: she is, demonstrably, someone who has built the kind of company most corporate innovation teams say they want to learn from. Key speaking topics Entrepreneurship and scale-up discipline Applied AI and emerging technology Innovation inside large organisations High-performance team building Creative industries and gamification Diversity in technology and venture Futurism, Web3 and the metaverse Ideal for Boards and ExCos shaping innovation portfolios and corporate venture programmes CMOs, CDOs and product leaders facing decisions on AI and emerging tech investment CHROs and talent leaders rethinking team composition and entrepreneurial capability Conferences and internal summits in technology, media, financial services and consumer goods Audience outcomes A working definition of what early traction looks like inside a new venture, drawn from venture capital deal flow A sharper view of which corporate innovation pilots are worth doubling down on and which are quietly stalling Specific examples of how gaming mechanics and AI products are built, taken from companies she has founded Language to use with boards about risk, capital allocation and team design for innovation bets A more confident point of view on where AI is genuinely changing product, and where it is hype

Why organisations work with Rafe Offer He has run brand portfolios at the scale most marketers only study, including a $1.2 billion Coca-Cola business and a Disney adult merchandise category that grew from $50m to $800m under his marketing leadership. He turned a single concert in a North London flat into Sofar Sounds, a venture-backed live music network operating in over 300 cities, with $40 million raised and partnerships with Airbnb and Uber. He works on the seam between brand and community, which is where most companies now have to compete and where most marketing leaders lack practical playbooks. His career spans the corporate brand machine and the founder seat, so the same talk holds up in front of a CMO at a listed business and a scale-up CEO with a board to convince. Biography highlights Founder and Founder-Chair of Sofar Sounds, the global live music community founded in London in 2009. Former Director of Global Marketing, Disney Consumer Products, leading worldwide marketing for a $12bn licensing business. Former Global Marketing Director, The Coca-Cola Company, with responsibility for $1.2bn in stores, attractions, events and licensed merchandise. Former Director of Innovation, Diageo. Founder of “this & that,” a community and tech start-up focused on the practice of dialogue. Sofar Sounds named “one of the top new brands in America” by New York Magazine and described as a “quiet revolution” by The Guardian. Biography A live concert in a North London flat in 2009, eight friends invited to listen to a single performer, became the seed of Sofar Sounds. From that evening, Rafe Offer built a global live music network now operating in more than 300 cities, with about $40 million raised across three funding rounds and partnerships with Airbnb and Uber. New York Magazine called it one of the top new brands in America. The unusual part of his career is the route in. Before Sofar, Offer ran the Mickey Unlimited adult merchandise programme at Disney, where the “having fun never goes out of style” campaign helped grow that category from $50m to $800m. He went on to lead worldwide marketing for Disney Consumer Products’ $12bn licensing business, then ran a $1.2bn Coca-Cola portfolio of stores, events and licensed merchandise as Global Marketing Director, before taking a Director of Innovation role at Diageo. That sequence, big-brand operator turned founder, is what gives his perspective its weight. He has built community-led growth from scratch and run brand P&Ls at industrial scale. He talks credibly to a CMO worried about declining ad efficiency and to a founder trying to convert a passionate audience into a fundable business. His more recent venture, this & that, is a community and tech start-up built around the practice of dialogue. It extends the through-line of his work: how organisations earn the right to people’s attention, and how that attention becomes commercial substance. Key speaking topics Brand building in the era of community Customer experience as a growth engine Scaling a start-up from idea to global brand Marketing and innovation inside large organisations Company culture in entrepreneurial businesses Fundraising and commercialising a community brand Ideal for CMOs and brand leaders rebuilding marketing for a low-trust, low-attention environment Founders and scale-up CEOs converting community traction into investable growth Customer experience and innovation leads inside large consumer businesses Boards reviewing brand and growth strategy in consumer-facing categories Audience outcomes A clearer view of why community has become the central question for consumer brands, with examples from Sofar, Disney and Coca-Cola Specific lessons on running a global brand portfolio at scale, drawn from leading $1.2bn at Coca-Cola and $12bn licensing at Disney A founder’s account of what investors actually fund in a community-led business Practical detail on how culture and customer experience interact in fast-growing companies

Why organisations work with Juan Verde Holds first-hand US trade policy experience across three administrations (Clinton, Obama, Biden), including as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia with commercial responsibility for 52 countries. Operates fluently on both sides of the Atlantic, giving executives a practical read on how US and European policy environments shape the same investment decision differently. Frames sustainability as a commercial question, showing boards how climate strategy connects to capital access, pricing power, regulatory positioning, and export competitiveness. Brings live board-level context from HISPASAT and the Airbus Foundation Board of Advisors, alongside advisory work with Google, Cisco, Banco Santander, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Currently serves on the President’s Export Council under President Biden, the White House advisory body whose members include the chief executives of Ford, Disney, Citibank, and Starbucks. Biography highlights Member of the President’s Export Council, the White House’s principal advisory committee on international trade and US competitiveness. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia at the US Department of Commerce, with commercial policy responsibility across 52 countries. Earlier international trade roles at the US Department of Commerce during the Clinton Administration. Founder and President of the Advanced Leadership Foundation, which has trained over 10,000 emerging green leaders across more than 10 countries. Board of Directors at HISPASAT, the satellite communications operator for Spain, Portugal, and Latin America; member of the Airbus Foundation Board of Advisors. Master’s in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; BA in Political Science and International Relations, Boston University. Biography Trade policy used to move slowly enough that executives could treat it as weather. That no longer holds. Tariff regimes, export controls, and climate-linked regulation now reshape commercial plans in quarters, not decades, and the decisions are made in rooms Juan Verde has spent three decades working in. Appointed by President Obama in 2009, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia at the US Department of Commerce, with commercial policy responsibility across 52 countries. Under the Clinton Administration he held earlier international trade roles at Commerce. In 2023 President Biden appointed him to the President’s Export Council, the White House’s principal advisory committee on trade competitiveness, alongside the chief executives of companies including Ford, Disney, Citibank, and Starbucks. The through-line in his commercial work is a specific argument about sustainability. He treats climate action as a commercial question, which is the organising idea of his Profit Meets Planet keynote series on corporate climate, geopolitical arbitrage, and leading through disruption. That thesis draws on co-founding Climate Reality Project chapters with Al Gore in Spain and Argentina, and on advisory engagements through Alamo Solutions with Google, Cisco, Banco Santander, and the Inter-American Development Bank. His doctoral research at Universidad Camilo José Cela, on green economy strategies for small island nations, gives the argument academic grounding. For senior leaders, this translates into a speaker who can move between a boardroom question about European market entry and a policy question about US trade posture without losing commercial specificity. He sits on the Board of Directors of HISPASAT, the satellite communications operator for Spain, Portugal and Latin America, and on the Airbus Foundation Board of Advisors. His keynote platforms include the World Economic Forum, Harvard Kennedy School, the World Bank, and successive UN Climate Conferences, most recently COP25 and COP26. Key speaking topics International trade policy and market access Transatlantic economic relations Sustainability as commercial advantage Foreign direct investment and green export strategy Geopolitical risk for global businesses Public-private collaboration in international markets Ideal for Boards and CEOs planning international expansion or transatlantic market entry Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leads connecting climate commitments to growth strategy Investment attraction agencies, trade bodies, and government ministers Corporate delegations at policy summits, sustainability events, and international conferences Audience outcomes How Washington and Brussels are reshaping what corporate sustainability commitments actually cost in commercial terms Why climate strategy should be treated as an export competitiveness question, with examples drawn from specific national markets Where the next flows of green foreign direct investment are likely to move, and what that means for growth planning Language that links trade policy shifts to board-level decisions on capital allocation and market entry

Why organisations work with JJ Delgado He runs a corporate venturing unit inside a century-old beverages group, so his AI and digital arguments are backed by current P&L responsibility, not consulting distance. His Amazon background gives him a working view of how the world’s most operationally disciplined digital company actually builds growth, which he translates for non-digital natives. He works across both EMEA and LATAM markets, useful for groups whose digital strategy has to land in mature and emerging consumer markets at once. He brings a named portfolio of work across Burger King, Pepsi, Ford, Bosch, Siemens, Vodafone, and Telefonica, which means his case material is recognisable to senior commercial audiences. Biography highlights General Manager, MOVE Estrella Galicia Digital, the open innovation and digital ventures unit of Hijos de Rivera. Former Head of Marketing, Southern Europe, at Amazon, where he led the company’s largest international sales day at the time. PhD Cum Laude in Digital Economy; MBA from London School of Business and Finance. Guest teaching at the London School of Economics and IE Business School on digital economy and consumer behaviour. Author of three books published on Amazon, including Smash It, an Amazon international bestseller in 2021. Named #1 Amazon LinkedIn profile in the UK across 2016 and early 2017 (self-reported ranking). Biography Amazon’s largest international sales day at the time was run out of Southern Europe by a marketing team led by JJ Delgado. That experience, three years inside the operational engine of the world’s most disciplined digital retailer, is the spine of his work today. He moved from running Amazon’s marketing in the region to running a digital ventures unit inside a legacy corporate, which is a more useful vantage point for the audiences he now speaks to. He is General Manager of MOVE Estrella Galicia Digital, the corporate venturing and open innovation arm of Hijos de Rivera, the Spanish beverages group behind Estrella Galicia. The remit is to build and scale new digital businesses for a company whose core is 100 years old, and to invest in startups that can accelerate that shift. The role gives him live operating responsibility for the questions he speaks on: AI deployment, Web3 commerce, and how a non-digital-native organisation actually generates new revenue from new technology. His commercial track record spans 15 years across EMEA and LATAM, with named work for Burger King, Pepsi, Hertz, Ford, Bosch, Siemens, Vodafone, Telefonica, and Estrella Galicia. He holds a PhD Cum Laude in Digital Economy and teaches as a guest at the London School of Economics and IE Business School. He has written three books on Amazon, the most recent being Smash It, an international bestseller on the platform in 2021, and runs an AI-focused newsletter with a large subscriber base. What makes him useful to boards is the angle of attack. He is not an academic on AI, nor a consultant pitching frameworks. He is an operator who has run digital growth inside Amazon and now runs new business creation inside a traditional corporate, and he speaks from that seat. Key speaking topics AI and ChatGPT in commercial operations Digital transformation in legacy corporates Web3 and new digital business models Consumer behaviour and the emotion behind the click Corporate venturing and open innovation Voice and conversational interfaces (Alexa as customer channel) Ideal for CMOs and chief digital officers in non-digital-native organisations Corporate venturing, innovation, and new business leads Senior commercial and growth leadership teams across EMEA and LATAM Boards weighing AI and Web3 investment decisions Audience outcomes A working view of how Amazon actually built growth from inside one of its regional marketing teams A concrete picture of what AI deployment looks like inside an operating business unit, not a pilot Recognisable case material from named global brands across consumer, automotive, and telecoms A clearer sense of where Web3 has commercial traction and where it does not

Why organisations work with Bernardo Hernandez Operator credibility on both sides of the Atlantic: a senior Google product role through the Zagat acquisition, then running Flickr at Yahoo, then founding and selling Verse to Block. Few European speakers have lived that arc. Investor pattern recognition across a portfolio that includes Wallapop, Glovo, Fever, Paack, Citibox and Stripe. He talks about scaling consumer tech from inside the cap table, not from the outside. A working view of what AI is doing to product organisations through Pensero AI, his current company, which applies AI to engineering performance and management. Direct experience of the moves that matter to corporates: M&A integration at Google, platform repositioning at Yahoo and fintech exit to a US strategic acquirer. Biography highlights Co-founder of Idealista, Spain’s leading real estate platform. Director of Product Management at Google, 2005 to 2013; led the Zagat acquisition and team. Head of Flickr and Senior Vice President of Product at Yahoo, 2013 to 2015. Founder and CEO of Verse, the European payments app acquired by Block (Square) in 2020. Co-founder and Co-CEO of Pensero AI in New York. Board of Directors, Mapfre USA; trustee, Fundacion Princesa de Girona; jury member, Princess of Asturias Awards for Science and Technology. Recipient of Spain’s National Innovation and Design Award (2023, Ministry of Science). Biography Idealista was a small Madrid property site when Bernardo Hernandez co-founded it in 2000. Today it is the dominant real estate platform in southern Europe. That first venture set the template for a career spent building consumer internet businesses, then teaching incumbents how to think about the same problem. After five years as a portfolio manager at Fidelity, BBVA and Putnam, he joined Google in 2005 as Director of Product Management. He spent eight years inside the company, including leading the Zagat acquisition and integration. He then ran Flickr at Yahoo as Senior Vice President of Product before founding Verse, the European payments app that Block acquired in 2020. The operator track is matched by an investor track. He has backed Wallapop, Glovo, Fever, Paack, Citibox and Stripe, among others, and was an early investor in Tuenti before its sale to Telefonica. He sits on the board of Mapfre USA and is a trustee of the Fundacion Princesa de Girona under the Spanish Royal House. In 2023 he received Spain’s National Innovation and Design Award from the Ministry of Science. His current company, Pensero AI, applies AI to engineering management, giving him a live operating view of what generative AI is doing to product organisations rather than a theorist’s view. For corporate audiences this matters: he is currently building inside the technology shift he is invited to speak about. Key speaking topics Entrepreneurship and the scale-up playbook Digital business models and platform economics Consumer fintech and mobile payments AI in product and engineering organisations Corporate venturing, M&A and integration Innovation portfolios and angel investing Building between Europe and the United States Ideal for CEOs and board directors weighing build, buy or back decisions on new digital businesses. Chief Strategy, Chief Innovation and Corporate Development leaders running venture and M&A activity. Banks, insurers and retailers facing fintech and platform challengers. Leadership groups at European corporates with US ambitions, or US groups expanding into Europe. Audience outcomes A clearer sense of how founders make speed and capital decisions that corporate processes typically slow down. A working framework for evaluating new business models against existing P&L economics. Concrete reference points from Idealista, Google, Flickr, Verse and the current Pensero AI build. A sharper read on where AI is creating leverage inside product and engineering teams right now.