pro-manchester Retail Lunch 2023

Adam is the CIO at fashion high street brand River Island, with 20+ years IT experience across a number of sectors. Adam has recently moved on from CIO at N Brown & prior to that had an extensive & successful career at AO.com

Adam’s a strong believer that innovation is never hampered by a lack of ideas, but rather a lack of detecting the significance and substance of ideas that already exist, therefore he is driven to leverage technology in smart and bold ways to benefit customers.

Lauren Somers is a UK Chartered Trade Mark and Designs Attorney. She helps businesses from multinationals to start-ups to identify, protect and enforce their intellectual property rights. Lauren is co-chair of the pro-manchester Retail & E-commence committee and has particular experience and expertise advising retailers.

Amna is a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. Amna contributes to the academic discipline of consumer behaviour and retailing, she teaches on undergraduate, postgraduate and commercial retail apprenticeship programs, and regularly publishes her work in leading academic journals.

Amna is an invited keynote speaker at international conferences and a panellist for corporate events.  She  conveys complex idea with simplicity that engage and inspire audiences. She uses her unique consumer and retailing knowledge to contribute to international, national and regional media outlets, and has provided comment for BBC, ITV, Channel 5, BBC Radio and The Conversation. She has featured on Channel 5 retailing documentaries on Supermarkets and leading retail brands, such as, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, Marks and Spencer. She present her insights on high-street and retailing issues through blog-posts and podcasts. She is an invited keynote speaker.

Linked in – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amna-k-6b639b1b/

Danielle King is the founder of up and coming slow fashion sportswear brand KIHT Collective – in less than two years they have grown a devoted following for their female focused gymwear and sweats. As well as being shortlisted in the Glamour Wellness awards for best activewear, Womens Health – Best British Activewear brands to know, featured in The Metro fitlist and Cosmopolitan to name a few. They have also worked with charities Refuge and TreeSisters in their pledge to plant a tree for every order placed.

Alongside this Danielle has been invited to speak at various events including the COP26 tour, BBC Bitesize, Natwest x MEN and The University of Manchester to share her knowledge on sustainability in business.

Nicola created Worn By Us following a breast cancer diagnosis and a desire to raise money and awareness for charity. Nicola began asking celebrities to donate fashion items they had worn to raise money for charity. Interest grew, and she started receiving donations of clothing from others who had heard her story.

Worn By Us evolved through the growing interest of individuals who approached Nicola asking her to sell unwanted clothing items on their behalf – sometimes for proceeds to be donated to charity and sometimes for individuals to receive the proceeds, earning some money back from the sale.

Nicola became very interested in the growing narrative of the impact of fashion on the environment and committed to a core purpose to help to keep clothing in use for longer.
Today, Worn By Us provides services for personal and charity resale, and services for brands and retailers for unwanted stock and resale schemes for their customers.

Lonya has 10+ years of working in operational leadership roles for eCommerce Supply Chain providers, across Europe, North America and MENA.

Poacher come gamekeeper; Lonya now supports eCommerce brands to optimise their eCommerce supply chain to deliver their commercial strategies.

eComplete is an eCommerce accelerator and capital investor. eComplete accelerate and transform eCommerce brands powered by data, talent, and eCommerce infrastructure. eComplete has talent in every eCommerce discipline which is powered by a rich & credible in-house data platform to enable smarter eCommerce decision-making. Brands can choose from a fully managed end-to-end solution or are able to select across the right blend of services, from supply chain to digital marketing.

Jacqui is a partner at RSM and is head of the firm’s retail sector group in the UK. As an audit Partner based in the North West, Jacqui has a breadth of expertise in retail, advising a number of national retailers together with independent stores. Whilst she specialises in the retail sector, Jacqui also has an interest in entrepreneurial, growing businesses, with extensive experience in advising private equity backed businesses, understanding the unique opportunities and challenges they face.

Jacqui works collaboratively with clients, providing sound commercial advice that enables them to achieve their objectives. Jacqui’s interest in retail goes beyond the office. She is a retailer herself – her womenswear store was shortlisted in the Best New Retailer category of the 2021 Drapers Independents Awards.

Jacqui was also recently appointed as Chair of the ICAEW’s Retail Advisory Group.