RETAIL TRUST - Key Persons


Adrian Wright

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of Brindisa Foods
Adrian is currently Chairman of Brindisa Foods, and a Director/ Shareholder of My Little Travel Bug and consultant to many leading UK companies. Adrian is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, and in 2004 was awarded a Fellowship of The Royal Society for the Arts, as well as holding long term membership of The Marketing Society and, the Institute of Directors where he is a member of The Policy Voice Committee; In 2009 Adrian became a Freeman of The Guild of Marketors. For the past 14 years Adrian has held the position of Retail Ambassador for The Retail Trust, where he has also served as a Trustee, the President of Fundraising and Chair of the Investment Committee.

Ali Athar - CEO, Founder

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • Founder
  • Chairman of Brindisa Foods, Director / Shareholder of My Little Travel Bug
  • Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Itim
Ali is the founder and CEO of itim and has spent over thirty years working in various capacities in the retail industry. Having graduated from Cambridge University he joined IBM where he spent five years as a database specialist; in 1982 he started Inforem, a systems design and integration company, which had a strong focus in retail. He subsequently spent two years as a director of CSC after its acquisition of Inforem. After leaving CSC, Ali started itim as a consulting company and worked as a business transformation specialist within the retail sector with companies such as Woolworths, Booker, Burger King, Marks & Spencer, Homebase and B&Q. In 1999, itim started its move into developing technology solutions and Ali then built the Company into what it is today.

Alistair McGeorge - Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman

Amanda Rajkumar

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Executive Board
Amanda Rajkumar has been the executive board member for human resources, people and culture at Adidas since January 2021. In her role, she is responsible for executing the people strategy and for ensuring a positive employee experience for adidas employees. In this capacity, Amanda also serves as ...

Andrew Jurd

Job Titles:
  • Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Itim
  • Head of Retail HR, Next and Pride at Next Chair
Andrew has worked in the retail sector for over thirty years, both in stores working for M&S, Next, Arcadia and Esprit from sales floor to store management positions, and the last seventeen years as a HR professional at Next. Andrew is currently the Head of HR for ...

Andy Moat

Job Titles:
  • People Director, B & Q

Anna Blackburn

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director of Beaverbrooks
Anna Blackburn is Managing Director of Beaverbrooks, a 103-year-old family-owned jewellers.

Anthony Fletcher

Job Titles:
  • Founder of Believe in Science

Anthony Houghton

Job Titles:
  • COO, Holland & Barrett

Avis Darzins

Avis is a long-standing supporter of the Retail Trust with experience working for and serving on the boards of high profile retailers.

Bridget Lea

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director of Commercial, BT Plc

Bruce Daisley

Bruce Daisley is one of the world's most influential voices on fixing work, published in the Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal and The Guardian. His latest book, Fortitude, was described by the Financial Times as the ‘best business book of the year' at the ...

Chris Brook-Carter - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer

Christopher Powell - Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman
  • Non Executive Chairman, Glenstone Property REIT

Cliff Lee - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Director of Wellbeing Services

Colin Temple

Job Titles:
  • CEO, Schuh

David Kaye - Secretary

Job Titles:
  • Company Secretary
  • Non Executive Chairman, Glenstone Property REIT

David Keens

Job Titles:
  • Non - Executive Roles Auto Trader and Moonpig

David McCorquodale

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Supported Living and Property Committee

David Robinson

Job Titles:
  • COO, Pets at Home

Ed Connolly

Job Titles:
  • Group CCO, Currys Plc

Emma Bridgewater

Job Titles:
  • Non - Exec Chairman

Erin Brookes

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal

Exley Hervey

Job Titles:
  • Specialist
Lesley established Exley Hervey, a specialist executive search company. Prior to 2003, her marketing expertise was focused on repositioning and profitably developing brands globally, holding board level marketing roles at Selfridges, Zales Jewellers and Tencel.

Fran Minogue

Job Titles:
  • Managing Partner, Clarity and Non - Exec Director at Portobello Business Centre

Fraser Brown

Job Titles:
  • Retail and Property Director, Heathrow Airport Limited

Gary Thatcher

Job Titles:
  • CEO & Co - Founder, the Retail Summit

George Clothing - VP

Job Titles:
  • Vice President

Gita North

Job Titles:
  • Independent Consultant
  • Member of the Risk Audit and Finance Committee

Hannah Ngakane

Job Titles:
  • Strategic Partner Manager for English Speaking Countries, Pinterest

Hannah Sargeant

Job Titles:
  • Senior HR Executive
Hannah is a senior HR executive who has worked for Sainsbury's for 29 years, initially joining as a part time student. Having spent 27 years in HR, Hannah has extensive experience of generalist HR as well as numerous HR specialisms, including ER and IR, reward, policy, change ...

Helen Connolly

Job Titles:
  • CEO, New Look

Helen Dickinson

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive, BRC

James Batham

Job Titles:
  • Client and Markets Partner, Dentons

James Gold

Job Titles:
  • Co - Founder, Skinnydip

James Hurrell

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director, Grocery & Consumer Wincanton

James Kelly

Job Titles:
  • Regional Director, UK, Oracle Retail

James Wilkie

Job Titles:
  • Retail Operations, Production and Development Director, Fiorrucci

Jamie Malcolm - Managing Director

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director
  • Director of Wellbeing Services

Jennifer Morrison

Job Titles:
  • Head of Enterprise Retail, Microsoft UK

JM Barry Gibson

Job Titles:
  • Life President
Former CEO of Littlewoods Plc, Retail Director of BAA and of Topshop, he raised over £7 million as President of Appeal and spent six years as the Chairman of Trustees. Barry is the Chairman of HomeServe Plc and sits on several private company boards.

Joanne Hall

An accomplished, experienced and highly effective senior retail leader, Joanne is a passionate advocate for colleague wellbeing, inclusion, equity and diversity in the workplace. Joanne is a customer focused and values led leader. She has recently joined bp, leading retail operations in the UK and is also ...

Joe Ryle

Job Titles:
  • Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign
Joe Ryle is director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, media and comms lead for the think tank Autonomy, a former Labour Party press officer and adviser to former Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP.

John Hutchinson

Job Titles:
  • Director, Retra and Trustee, ABC

Kash Ghedia

Job Titles:
  • CIO, Welcome Break

Kathy MacIntyre - Managing Director

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director
  • Director of Supported Living Services

Kevin Barrett

Job Titles:
  • Group CEO, Nestware Holdings Ltd

Lesley Exley

Job Titles:
  • Staff Member

Lina Chan

Job Titles:
  • General Manager Wellness Ventures at Holland & Barrett and CEO Co - Founder of Parla

Liz Bell

Job Titles:
  • HR Director, Screwfix

Lorraine Culligan

Job Titles:
  • Group Director of People and Culture, Primark

Louise Stonier

Job Titles:
  • Chief Operating Officer of the Vet Group, Pets at Home Ltd

Lucy Stainton

Job Titles:
  • Commercial Director, Local Data Company

Lucy Williams

Job Titles:
  • Head of Legal, the Vet Group

Mark Newtown-Jones

Job Titles:
  • Non - Executive Director, Mothercare

Mark Wright

Job Titles:
  • Global Operations Director, FatFace

Martin Newman

Job Titles:
  • Advisor
  • Trustee
  • Non - Executive Chairman of the Scout Store, Board

Meg Zeenat Wamithi

Job Titles:
  • People
Meg Zeenat Wamithi is the strategic programmes and innovation lead at Mind HFEH and founder and CEO of Mindmapper - a platform that provides young people with the suitable mental health support they require through workshops, programmes and one-to-one coaching sessions. She is an advocate for mental ...

Megan Dunsby

Job Titles:
  • Senior Commercial Content Editor. a Former Journalist and Features Editor
Megan Dunsby is Retail Week's senior commercial content editor. A former journalist and features editor, she joined Retail Week in January 2019 to help brands leverage content to reach the people that matter in retail. Megan leads Retail Week's flagship reports, the Retail 100 and Tech List, ...

Mike Butler

Job Titles:
  • Sales and Marketing Executive Director, Nutun
Non-Executive Chairman of the Scout Store, board advisor to Clearpay, board advisor to Marketplacer and Trustee of In Kind Direct

N Brown

Job Titles:
  • Retail CEO

Naz Dossa

Job Titles:
  • CEO, Peoplesafe

Nick Beighton

Job Titles:
  • CEO, Matchesfashion

Nick Burton

Job Titles:
  • Technology Director, Screwfix

Nikki Zamblera

Job Titles:
  • Executive Director HR, Watches of Switzerland Group

Paddy Earnshaw

Job Titles:
  • Customer and Digital Director, B & Q

Paddy Lillis

Job Titles:
  • General Secretary, Usdaw

Paul Armstrong

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director, Permira

Paul Martin

Job Titles:
  • Global Retail Lead & UK Head of Retail, KPMG

Paul Szumilewicz

Job Titles:
  • Chief Customer Officer, C. Hoare & Co

Pete Foster - CFO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Financial Officer

Peter Briffett

Job Titles:
  • CEO and Co - Founder, Wagestream

Philip Bell Brown

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Supported Living and Property Committee
  • Managing Director, Permira

Poppie Foakes - CFO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Director of Product and Innovation

Sach Kukadia

Job Titles:
  • Founder, CEO and Chairman of 7879

Sally Minto

Job Titles:
  • Digital Director, Revolution Beauty

Sarah Willett

Job Titles:
  • Chief People Officer, the Very Group

Simon Smith

Job Titles:
  • Retail Director, Beaverbrooks

Tom Charlick

Job Titles:
  • Non - Executive Director, Barclays, BT Group Plc and Chairman Menhaden Plc and Chair of Prince Wales 's Charitable Fund

Will Kernan

Job Titles:
  • CEO of Convenience Europe, BP