Speakers
Please find below the list of the confirmed speakers as per date, in alphabetical order:
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Mr Ajaz Ahmed Mr Ahmed founded AKQA at the age of 21 to help clients create the future. AKQA is the imaginative application of art and science to create beautiful ideas, products and services. The firm employs 1,600 people in 13 offices and won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation in 2014. A recognised pioneer, Mr Ahmed co-authored Velocity, the No. 1 best-selling book alongside Nike's head of digital sport Stefan Olander. All Mr Ahmed’s proceeds from Velocity are donated to youth homeless, education, global healthcare and environment causes. |
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Mr Stefano Beraldo Mr Beraldo was appointed Managing Director and CEO of Gruppo Coin in 2005. In just six years he has brought the company’s market capitalisation from some 320 million to more than 1,000 million Euros, having radically renewed the format of the company’s brands (Coin, OVS and Upim), thus enabling the Group to rank as the top Italian retailer. He is the mastermind behind the Excelsior Milano project, an exclusive luxury department store opened in 2011 in the heart of Milan. Mr Beraldo was previously in Benetton Group, GS, Euromercato and De Longhi. He has a degree in economics and business administration from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and earned a MBA in small business administration from Princeton University. |
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Mr Paul Bringmann Following his education at Maastricht Hotel Management School with several traineeships in Switzerland, Mr Bringmann started his career in 1971 at Makro as a restaurant manager. In 1974 he moved to Maxis Muiden to open the self service restaurant in a new store. He joined Maxis Trefcenter/Koninklijke Bijenkorf Beheer (KBB) in 1976 as head of self service-restaurants and bakeries, quickly in charge then and until 1987 of all restaurants and bakeries and fresh food department. Mr Bringmann joined V&D in 1987 to launch La Place concept and developed successfully all horeca-activities at V&D/La Place. Since 1997 Paul has been the Managing Director of La Place and he still leads all horeca- and food activitities at V&D/La Place. Under his leadership, La Place won several international recognitions and awards , such as the International Foodservice Award for the most innovative food concept in 1996 and the first price in the category ‘’Food on the Go’’ at the Best Retail-Chain in the Netherlands in 2006. In 2007 Mr Bringmann was named ‘’Elsevier Retail Personality’’ (Dutch retail recognition). Since 2008 he has been a Member of the Board of V&D. |
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Mr Marco Capello Mr Capello started his professional career in Investment Banking where he worked for over 18 years at Credit Suisse First Boston, Wasserstein Perella and, from 1994, at Merrill Lynch. During his career in Investment Banking he worked primarily in mergers and acquisitions both in New York and London. At the age of 30, whilst at Wasserstein Perella, he became a member of the European Executive Committee. At 34 he became Head of Investment Banking for Merrill Lynch in Italy. From 2002 to 2006 Mr Capello was a Managing Director of Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, executing transactions in Europe with a cumulative equity investment of approximately € 650 million and returns at the very top of the industry. Key deals include the sale of Alfa Romeo, the acquisition of the Selenia Elsag group, the privatisation of SME, the sale of Omnitel to Vodafone, the creation of Agusta Westland, the privatisation of Enel. While at Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity, Marco worked on the acquisition and sale of Spirit and Debenhams and the acquisition of Rexel and Necta Vending. He is the founder, Managing Partner, Member of the Board and Member of the Investment Committee of BlueGem Capital Partners. He is also Board Member of Olicar, The Private Clinic, Fintyre, Neomobile, Management Consulting Group, Liberty, Enotria, Mamas & Papas and Ufi Filters. Mr Capello holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York. He graduated at the age of 22 in Civil Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. |
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Mr Paolo De Cesare Mr De Cesare started his professional career in 1983 at Procter & Gamble where he held various management positions during his 24 years tenure in Italy, Belgium, England, Japan and Switzerland. In 2002, he was named President of Global Prestige Beauty and Skin Care, based in Switzerland. Since September 2007, Paolo De Cesare has been the CEO & Chairman of Printemps. Printemps is a luxury department store chain in France with turnover in excess of 1.5 Billion Euros. It employs about 4.000 staff and groups together 19 company-owned stores. Printemps belongs to Qatar investors, after a change of control in July 2013. Mr De Cesare is an independent Board member of Vistaprint Inc., USA. He graduated in Business & Economics cum laude at the University of Rome in 1983 |
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Mr Simone Dominici Mr Dominici joined Gruppo Coin in 2012 as Managing Director of Coin and in 2014 was promoted to Managing Director of Coin & Excelsior. Prior to joining Gruppo Coin, he was General Manager Home Care Europe of Bolton Group that he joined in 2008. Mr Dominici spent 15 at Unilever where he held various executive positions in Italy, Spain and the UK. During his tenure at Unilever, he was also Vice President Global Savoury Food and Vice President Food Business Italy. Mr Dominici started his professional career at Arthur Andersen that he joined following his graduation in Economics. In 2007 Mr Dominici published a book titled “The new Slaves“. |
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Mr Oscar Farinetti Mr Farinetti is a leading figure in the business world for the development of successful and innovative projects. Between 1978 and 2003 he transformed the family business into UniEuro, one of the biggest competitors on the Italian appliance market. In July 2008, he became the Managing Director of Fontanafredda, an Italian wine producer. Mr Farinetti attended the University of Turin, studying Economics and Business, leaving to immediately start a career in the family business |
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Mr Massimiliano Fuksas Mr Fuksas graduated in Architecture from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 1969. Since the eighties he has been one of the main protagonists of the contemporary architectural scene. He has been Visiting Professor at a number of universities such as: Columbia University in New York, the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Wien, the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart. From 1998 to 2000 he directed the “VII Mostra Internazionale di Architettura di Venezia”: “Less Aesthetics, More Ethics”. Since 2000 he has been the author of the architecture column - founded by Bruno Zevi - in the Italian news magazine “L'Espresso”. From the beginning of 2014 he is, with his wife, the author of the Design column in the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica". |
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Mr Nick Hayek Mr Hayek pursued two years’ study at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), then attended the Film Academy CLCF in Paris. President of the Executive Group Management Board since 2003, he has worked with the Swatch Group since 1994, firstly as Swatch Ltd Marketing Manager, then as Swatch Ltd President and finally as Delegate of the Board of Directors of Swatch Ltd. In the mid-eighties, he founded his own production company, Sesame Films in Paris, and worked in Switzerland and abroad. His involvement in a number of film productions (e. g. a series of documentaries for Swiss Television), then the production of a number of short films (e. g. 1st prize at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, an official contribution to the Cannes Film Festival, etc.) and his activity as producer and manager of two feature films, «Das Land von Wilhelm Tell» and «Family Express» with Peter Fonda (a film that earned him the prize for the best Swiss comedy at the Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival in Vevey) resulted in his being called upon to advise on various Swatch projects in the early ’90s and to assume responsibility for several Swatch exhibitions (such as that of Lingotto in Turin). |
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Mr Ian Moir Mr Moir is the CEO of Woolworths Holdings, one of South Africa’s leading retailers of quality food and clothing, with some 448 stores across sub-Saharan Africa. Woolworths also owns famous Australian department store chain David Jones and fashion retailer Country Road, which operates the iconic Country Road, Witchery, Trenery and Mimco fashion & accessories labels across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. Prior to joining Woolworths in 2010, Mr Moir has been the CEO of Country Road for 10 years, where he oversaw the modernization and expansion of the brand. Before joining Country Road, he spent 10 years as Operations Director at Woolmark, the world’s leading wool textile organization. Mr Moir has an MBA from the University of London and a Masters degree in Economics and Accounting. |
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Mr Hiroshi Ohnishi Mr Hiroshi Ohnishi has been serving as President & CEO of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. since April 2012, as well as President & CEO of Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd since April 2011. He joined Isetan in 1979 being graduated from the Faculty of Commerce of Keio Gijuku University and he started his career at Men’s Apparel and Sportswear Department. Mr Ohnishi served as a Branch Stores Manager and General Merchandising Manager for Men’s Apparel and Accessories Department of Merchandising Headquarters, Executive Officer, Strategic Planning of Corporate Planning Division, and Store Manager and General Merchandising Manager of Tachikawa store. He planned and committed the grand opening of Isetan Men’s building in 2003, becoming the architect of success. Mr Ohnishi also conducts a remodeling project of Isetan Shinjuku Store in 2013, which is the world’s largest department store in terms of sales and number of visitors and then established Shinjuku store as “the world greatest fashion museum” which related the sales growth accelerated to 10 %. Mr Ohnishi pursues absolute value through innovation; such as supply chain management reform, making sales skills viewable, and developing other growth business. |
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Mr Vittorio Radice Mr Radice studied agriculture at Milan University; he then joined Associated Merchandising Corporation, where he held different executive positions. In 1990 he joined Habitat International as Buying Director. He was appointed Managing Director of Habitat UK in 1992 and set about the transformation of an ailing business into a larger profitable company. He continued to build on success at Habitat until he was headhunted to join Selfridges as Chief Executive in 1996. In 1998 Mr Radice led the successful de-merger of Selfridges from the Sears conglomerate. On the back of continues increase in sales and profit, the Selfridges marked value doubled in 4 years. In 2003 he joined Mark and Spencer to set up a new chain of stores dedicated to home furnishings. The first store opened in Newcastle in February 2004. In early 2005, following the acquisition of La Rinascente by a consortium of Private Equity and Real Estate funds, he was appointed Chief Executive of department stores business. In 2011 La Rinascente was sold to Central Retail Corporation of Thailand and Mr Radice was confirmed CEO. In May 2012 he assumed the role of Vice Chairman of the Company, in addition he has been charged of the International Development of Luxury Department Stores under the umbrella of Central Retail Corporation. |
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Ms Nathalie Remy Ms Remy is a principal at McKinsey & Company, where she leads McKinsey’s work for fashion and luxury goods companies within Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She focuses on growth strategy, international expansion, brand positioning, merchandising, and sales in the fashion and luxury industry. Ms Remy contributed to various studies and co-authored several articles on the Fashion, Apparel and luxury sectors. She notably contributed to the research for Cityscope, a predictive tool for economic, socio-demographic, and consumption trends based on data for 2,000 major cities. Drawing on this work, she also helped to produce the McKinsey Global Institute report Urban world: Cities and the rise of the consuming class. Her articles include "Luxury shopping in the digital age "; "A multifaceted future: The jewelry industry in 2020"; "The glittering power of cities for luxury growth. Ms Remy graduated from the Solvay Business School in Brussels and holds an MBA from INSEAD. |
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Mr Wilbert Sanchez Mr Sanchez started his career at Merrill Lynch and occupied there during eight years executive roles of growing importance, first as an investment banker in New York, Hong Kong and India and then as a Director of Principal Investments, responsible for managing a proprietary book of US$ 450mm, investing in debt and equity of private companies in Latin America. He has been using his expertise to turn around companies: in 2013-2014, he was CEO of Grupo Leolar (white goods & appliances); in 2011-2012, CEO of Daslu (Luxury department store chain in Sao Paulo); in 2010, CEO of Minuano Alimentos (traditional poultry company in Rio Grande do Sul); in 2008-2009, CEO of Grupo Porcão (Brazilian BBQ restaurant chain). In 2012, he co-founded the company Plug.ae (tech start-up accelerator and co-working in São Paulo). Since 2014, Mr Sanchez has been a Board Member of Fortbrasil (largest independent credit card issuer in Northeast Brazil). He graduated with honors in Mathematics and Economics from UCLA (University of California – Los Angeles). |
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Mr Stephen Sealey Mr Sealey was appointed Managing Director in 2009. He lead the business out of one of the deepest recessions in recent history, driving increased sales and profits every year. He joined Brown Thomas as Buying Director in 2000, and was instrumental in positioning the business firmly in the luxury sector, overseeing the introduction of many of the world’s finest luxury brands. Between 2002 and 2004, over 60% of fashion brands were changed to facilitate this process, and this pace of innovation continues to this day. Mr Sealey also drove improvements in merchandising systems, range planning and buying, resulting in improved sell through and profitability. Prior to joining Brown Thomas, he worked for Primark in Ireland, Etam in London, and also Clarks shoes. He holds a BSc from Manchester University. |
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Mr John Talbott Mr Talbott has over 25 years of experience in retail, marketing, and product development, including CEO of the largest retailer in the western lifestyle space and VP of Marketing for Fossil Inc. (FOSL: NASDAQ). He is an award winning marketing educator, retail consultant, and noted researcher on marketing education. He holds an MBA from the University of Tennessee and an undergraduate Degree in Finance from Indiana University. |
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Mr Patrice Wagner Mr Wagner took the helm of the group which encompass the eponymous Parisian left bank department store le Bon Marché rive gauche, La Grande Epicerie de Paris and Franck et Fils. The group belongs to the LVMH group. Under his helm, the flagship department store has become the window of French Art de Vivre and Savoir Faire. He has also accelerated le Bon Marche's approach to culture and artistic events. Prior to joining Group Bon Marché, he led the Premium Division of Karstadt (Kadewe in Berlin, Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in Munich) as well as holding senior positions at Breuninger and les Galeries Lafayette. Between 2009 and 2010, he undertook several missions in China as a an independant consultant for Shangai Newworld group. |
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Mr Richard Walker Originally trained as a political scientist and economist, at Sussex University, and subsequently at St Antony's College, Oxford, UK and the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome, Italy, Mr Walker was active for many years in industrial research and development, primarily in the IT industry, where he worked first in Unisys and later in the Telecom Italia group. In 2000 he founded his own company, Xiwrite Srl, a research consultancy company which he managed till he joined the Blue Brain Project in 2009. He has been actively involved in research in Artificial Neuronal Networks, artificial intelligence and evolutionary robotics, focusing on the processes underlying the evolution of complex, intelligent systems. He sees himself first and foremost as a translator between different languages, cultures and disciplines. His current research focuses on computer models exploring the relationship between the brain, culture and human evolution. Mr Walker is a senior research associate and senior science writer for the Blue Brain Project and the Human Brain Project at EPFL, Switzerland. He led the writing of the HBP's winning research proposal to the EU's FET Flagship Program. He also teaches a Ph.D. course in neuroscience and philosophy at the EPFL's Brain Mind Institute. |
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Mr Harald Wester Mr Wester was appointed Chief Technology Officer and Head of Alfa Romeo, Abarth (until 2013) and Maserati and named a member of the Group Executive Council (GEC) in September 2011. He was appointed Chief Technology Officer for Fiat Group in September 2007. In addition to this role, in August 2008 he was appointed CEO of Maserati, in January 2009 CEO of Abarth & C and in January 2010 CEO of Alfa Romeo Automobiles. Mr Wester started his professional career at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, where he was General Manager of the Vehicle Research & New Concepts department from 1991 to 1995. Later that year, he joined Audi in Ingolstadt where he became Program Manager for the A2 models & Special Vehicles, a position that he held until January 1999. Subsequently, he joined Ferrari at Maranello as Director of Product Development, where he remained until January 2002. Mr Wester was then hired by Magna Steyr (Austria) as Group President Engineering and Chief Technical Officer (Research, Development and Technologies). In 2004 he joined the Fiat Group where he took on the role of Chief Technical Officer of Fiat Group Automobiles. Mr Wester holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Braunschweig University. |
