Opening Speakers

With a rich retailing heritage and brand building, my passion for Retail Media began at Argos, where I developed a new revenue stream in a relatively new area.

Fast forward to now, my experience spans both client and agency perspectives, giving me a deep understanding of the multifaceted challenges that retailers encounter.

Applying energy & experience to build unique retail media propositions from the ground up, leveraging my insights and expertise to navigate the complexities of Retail Media, enabling businesses to grow in this varied and ever-evolving media landscape.

Elaine is the Head of Digital & Social Media Marketing British American Tobacco North Asia.

Heading up the Digital & Social Media Marketing team, she has an overall responsibility for strategy creation and delivery. Her key focus is to drive business growth through transformation within the region. Additionally, Elaine is also seen as brand custodian of the digital spaces, thought leader and change driver of the digital domain within BAT country organization.
Her expanded responsibility includes coaching colleagues and reverse mentoring leadership team in areas of Digital, Social & Commerce.

Her work has enabled market teams and the country management team around the region to better understand the digital evolution and its impact on the business models.

With a background in Business, Marketing Communications, and Business IT Management, and, deep experiences in Global and Country organizations, Elaine is able to assess a situation from many perspectives to develop a holistic way forward. Adapting her strategy, plans, program management skill and communication styles to different stakeholders, i.e., from senior management to IT and agency teams.

Having lived and worked in Australia, China, Singapore, Netherlands, Korea, and Japan, Elaine brings about her experiences and insights from the East and West, bringing in an international and culture perspective in any situation.

Josh is currently Global Lead – Retail Media at Mars, owning Retail Media strategy, acceleration and integration within wider media planning for the world’s largest confectionery manufacturer. Previously Josh held roles in the US and UK with Lindt & Sprungli, overseeing D2C, Marketplaces, digital content and advertising, social and retail media. Josh has also worked in the UK for Kraft Heinz, Ferrero and Red Bull. When he isn’t discussing Media, Marketplaces and Marketing, he’s taking long walks with his dog Toby, and trying to keep up with the Kansas City Chiefs!

Jemma has over 15 years experience in Retail and Media and has held Commercial, Product, Proposition and Consulting roles at dunnhumby (working for Tesco and other retailers around the world) as well as time at Redwood working for Boots Media. She is currently at the John Lewis Partnership, helping to lead Retail Media transformation initiatives and Proposition strategy across their John Lewis and Waitrose retail brands.

A professional marketer and effective project manager proficient in working on multiple cross-stakeholder projects at any one time whilst planning and implementing effective marketing plans. Thrives on building strong collaborative relationships, learning new skills, listening to ideas and views. Committed to delivering quality outputs that educate, inspire and provoke debate.

Ian is Head of Retail Media at Publicis Media UK and can tap into 13 years of experience in e-commerce and performance marketing. As part of Publicis Commerce, the commerce engine of Publicis Groupe, Ian oversees one of the industry’s fastest growing disciplines for clients such as Samsung, Mondelez and Perrigo. In this role, Ian can lean on experience gained developing the performance marketing and retail media proposition for P&G, as well as past roles across a range of verticals including retail, financial services, automotive and fashion.

As AdTech & Data Partnerships Lead for Ocado Retail, Ben is responsible for managing the tech stack and data partnerships strategy for one of the fastest scaling and most disruptive Retail Media Network’s in the UK. Prior to joining Ocado Retail, Ben has had the opportunity to develop a number of propositions which leverage AdTech to connect advertisers with their shoppers outside of the retailer’s environment, whether physical or e-comm store. Having spent 5 years at Dunnhumby (part of the Tesco group), Ben has been in the unique position to observe and contribute as retail media evolved in line with the growing prominence of first-party data, something that still fascinates him to this day.

Octavie joined Mirakl in February 2021 as Chief of Staff to the CEO, and was appointed Vice President Mirakl Ads in January 2024. Prior to Mirakl, she worked for McKinsey & Company, notably as Senior Engagement Manager. Since 2021, Octavie Gosselin has contributed to Mirakl’s growth by participating in the advancement of its global strategy. She is now in charge of the development and management of Mirakl Ads, the only retail media solution optimized for both e-commerce and marketplaces that puts relevance and personalization at the heart of its strategy. Mirakl Ads maximizes monetization potential thanks to a flexible, intuitive platform that uses AI to enable advertisers to create automatic campaigns with all marketplace sellers becoming day-one advertisers.

I have over 20 years’ senior executive experience delivering value and improved business performance for demanding retailers, brands and investor clients from diverse geographies. The rapidly evolving opportunities from digital transformation and innovation are hugely exciting, and I enjoy helping organisations unlock value and drive growth.

With over 15 years of experience in the tech and online media industry, I am a seasoned partner who is passionate about working with scalable, strategic solutions. I lead the global team of retail media experts at Jellyfish, a digital partner to some of the world’s leading brands.

My role involves driving growth and scale across key marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and 3rd party enabled through solutions like Criteo and Citrus ads. I also develop and enable our retail media practice and partnerships with such marketplaces and our 3rd party tool provider ecosystem. I address technology challenges through global cross-team and multi-cultural collaboration, leveraging my analytical, CRM, and manufacturing process improvement skills.

In addition to my professional achievements, I am committed to mentoring and empowering young Latino professionals and University of Washington students, helping them achieve impactful personal and professional outcomes. I am a Guatemala-born coffee and music lover, avid traveler and father of two who is always looking to make a positive impact.

Abigail Byre is a retail expert with over 14 years of experience driving innovation for the UK’s high-street retailers through data and technology. She has a strong foundation in media and ad tech from her 12 years at Google UK, where she helped retailers enhance their Customer Experience, drive media effectiveness, establish a 1P Data Strategy and develop Retail Media Networks. Now leading Salesforce UKI’s Enterprise Retail team, Abigail and her team focus on transforming customer experiences using technology, data, and AI. She is also recognised as an expert in Retail Media, helping clients boost the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations.

Philip Raby has over 15 years experience in the media and technology industry, having worked for businesses like Microsoft, Criteo, Quill and TradeDoubler — in various leadership positions. He has predominantly worked with brands and ecommerce players in the enterprise space, including the likes of British Airways, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, TUI and more. Most recently, he leads the commercial organisation at mediarithmics, the market leading next-gen Data Platform (CDP, DMP and alliance capabilities), helping clients deliver a 360 degree view of their customer data and deploying advanced data marketing use cases including acquisition, retention, upsell, personalisation and more.

Katie Searles is Editor of InternetRetailing and DeliveryX and a B2B journalist who has covered topics including the last-mile, urban logistics, zero-emission trends and technology, as well as robotic innovations. Katie also worked as a broadcast journalist for radio stations covering the east coast of Scotland and BBC London. Additionally, she has chaired both in-person and virtual conferences.