Speakers

Victoria Cozens is the co-founder of Perky Blenders, an award-winning specialty coffee company based in East London. Launched in 2015 with her husband, Adam, the business began as a modest set-up roasting quality coffee from their home and serving and selling coffee at local events and markets in Waltham Forest. Their unwavering focus on quality and community quickly earned them a loyal following, which led to the move into a dedicated Roastery, the growth of their online coffee subscription service, supply to over 100 wholesale partners, and the opening of six retail stores — including two in collaboration with partner brands.

Before founding Perky Blenders, Victoria spent a year on the Isles of Scilly working for a family owned flower farm, picking, packing and sending floral gifts around the UK, while there she also helped launch an inter-lsland floristy service which including bouquets for special occasions and wedding flowers. On her return to the mainland she spent 10 years working IT Customer Service Delivery at two of the largest lawfirms in London. Her decision to transition into entrepreneurship was driven by a desire to find greater flexibility and better balance between her professional life and family commitments — a principle that has gone on to shape Perky Blenders’ inclusive, family-friendly company culture.

Perky Blenders is known for its down-to-earth approach to specialty coffee, aiming to make the experience accessible by offering personalised, jargon-free choices for all customers.

Victoria is also a passionate advocate for women in business and community collaboration. She plays an active role in local networking initiatives and supports projects that champion female entrepreneurship, particularly in the Walthamstow area. Her involvement with several community groups reflects her commitment to creating a supportive environment for emerging small businesses.

Through her work with Perky Blenders, Victoria Cozens showcases how purpose, community spirit, and a strong focus on quality can fuel the growth of a successful, independent, family-run business in the competitive world of coffee.

Bram Steijns is a Growth Product Manager at Cafeyn, specializing in driving product innovation, user engagement, and business growth. With expertise in product management and data-driven strategies, he focuses on optimizing user experiences and delivering impactful solutions.

Jen has over 15 years of experience building consumer brands from personal finance to luxury travel to flowers. She spent 11 years growing Secret Escapes from start-up to scale-up, expanding their luxury travel offering to over 20 markets and integrating 4 acquisitions. During that time she held a number of roles across marketing, strategy and general management culminating in the role of Chief Customer Officer where she was responsible for marketing, product and strategy across the group. Jen joined Freddie’s Flowers in 2023 as Chief Growth Officer to lead their marketing and product teams.

Dmitry Gurski is the Co-Founder and CEO of Flo Health, the leading women’s health app with over 75M monthly users. Under his leadership, Flo evolved from a period tracker to a comprehensive women’s health platform. Its pro-social initiative, the Pass it On Project, offers free Premium access to 1B women across 66 countries, in partnership with UNFPA. Dmitry is also a partner at Palta, co-founding startups like MSQRD (acquired by Facebook) and AIMatter (acquired by Google). He co-founded Edu4Future, a nonprofit fostering tech innovation, and previously founded Ideanomix, publishing 1,500+ educational titles. Dmitry holds an MBA from Kozminski University, a Bachelor’s in Pharmaceutics from Belarusian State University, and completed Stanford’s Executive Program in 2019.

Mark Scott is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and mentor with a track record of building and scaling businesses from the ground up. As the founder of Bella & Duke, he transformed the company into a £30M+ turnover brand, pioneering the raw pet food movement in the UK. His leadership helped redefine pet nutrition, focusing on health, longevity, and transparency.

With a deep passion for entrepreneurship, Mark has built and exited multiple businesses, leading sales teams and driving high-growth ventures. He has been recognised as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year and serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Edinburgh University, where he helps aspiring founders navigate the challenges of scaling a business.

Beyond business, Mark is focused on personal growth, energy work, and community-building. Through his latest venture, Torus Tree, he is creating a centre for holistic healing, personal transformation, and empowerment. He believes true wealth is measured not just in financial success but in the impact we have on others.

Mark is passionate about challenging the status quo, inspiring others to step outside their comfort zones, and proving that business can be a force for good.

Andy is the Customer Marketing Director for Virgin Wines looking after all direct-to-consumer marketing for the business focussing on customer acquisition and the lifetime value of the existing base of customers. With a strong focus on email and SMS marketing, Andy leads a team responsible for the biggest sales channel in the business. Having worked in the direct-to-consumer wine trade for over two decades, Andy has a passion for understanding what makes customers tick and what will encourage them to add to basket!

Carl McCartney is the Global Sales Enablement Director at Les Mills International, where he leads global initiatives to equip commercial teams with the tools, training, and mindset to deliver world-class customer experiences. Previously Customer Experience Director at Les Mills UK, Carl is passionate about creating cultures where people—not just processes—drive loyalty and growth. He believes that emotional connection, not just operational efficiency, sits at the heart of retention. With a background in both sales leadership and CX transformation, Carl blends strategy with empathy to help teams create meaningful, lasting relationships with customers. At CustomerX, Carl will speak on building loyalty through human-first engagement, gamification, and the power of feedback to drive connection at scale.

Marie is a marketer with over 20 years of experience in building commercially impactful, customer-centric marketing strategies and high-performing teams.

She is currently the Director of Customer Experience and Loyalty Marketing at the Financial Times, where she oversees customer experience, CRM marketing, and customer engagement, retention, and revenue growth for the FT’s global subscriber base.

Before joining the FT, Marie gained extensive experience both agency and client-side, including leading the customer marketing team for the consumer business at BT. With expertise spanning a broad range of marketing disciplines, she is passionate about building and empowering high-performing teams and leveraging data-driven insights with creativity to deliver exceptional, customer-focused marketing strategies.

With 20 years experience in the Retail, Subscription and Ecom space, Pierre has a successful track record in revenue growth, international expansion and business transformation. Pierre is currently Managing Director at De Agostini Collectibles, the global leader in the Retail, DTC, Publishing of the Collectibles industry with the largest subscription footprint worldwide.

Kris has been working in Technology and Business Change for over 25 years. In the 9 years since joining Specsavers he has been the Technology lead in the journey to transform Specsavers subscription service, used by our 1.2 million subscribers, from a 30 year old bespoke, in-house legacy platform to a modern cloud based SaaS solution. 

Away from work Kris and his family live on the south coast where he spends time with his young son, follows the (mis)fortunes of Southampton FC and drinks the occasional craft beer. 

Katie is the MD of microbz probiotics, a small family run business based in Wiltshire. She is an
advocate for a probiotic life and an expert for anyone looking to use probiotics in place of the
chemicals and antibacterial products. As the Founder’s daughter she grew up learning about
fermenting soil microbes and how to use them in various aspects of life. She has seen many
problems solved by the use of probiotics and beneficial microbes and now uses these in all aspects
of her life with her young children. 
 
Katie is passionate about the heart of the business – trusting nature, bringing nature back into our
lives and rewilding our guts and environments with the invisible microbial life that we rely on to
survive and thrive. 
 
Katie oversees the hand-brewing of all products in a small factory in Wiltshire with a brilliant team
of microbe enthusiasts.

I am a marketing leader with over 15 years of experience driving customer retention, loyalty, and business growth through innovative strategies and data-driven insights. As Head of Retention at Symprove, I’m proud to have led customer-centric initiatives that have significantly increased retention rates, reduced churn, and maximized revenue opportunities. Some of my key achievements include launching a successful subscription model, implementing a high-performing referral program, and enhancing customer journeys to deliver a 30% improvement in retention.

In my previous roles within travel and retail, I led digital transformation projects, optimized marketing processes, and delivered multimillion-pound revenue growth. I thrive on leveraging customer data, personalization, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver impactful results.

I hold a BA in Advertising & Brand Management and a CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing, and I’m passionate about creating meaningful customer experiences that drive business success.

Philippa has 7 years’ experience in payments, working with digital businesses and retailers operating across all channels to help them maximise revenue and improve internal operations through payments. Philippa collaborates with leading brands to implement innovative payment solutions that enhance customer experiences and drive growth. Her expertise spans various sectors, including retail, insurance, and financial services, where she focuses on streamlining payment processes and integrating advanced technologies. Philippa is a regular contributor to industry discussions, sharing insights on payment trends and strategies. She has participated in events like the Insurance Innovators Summit and NRF, highlighting the evolving landscape of digital payments.

With over 20 years of commercial, strategy, and operational leadership at Google, YouTube, and ITV, Nicola brings deep expertise in driving impact within fast-growth, complex organisations. She has led high-performing, multi-market teams and understands what it takes to deliver results in dynamic environments. Nicola partners with C-Level executives and leadership teams across sectors to accelerate strategy execution, increase clarity, and align teams around measurable goals — using proven frameworks that translate ambition into action. She also designs and delivers leadership development programs that build capability, foster accountability, and unlock high performance across the organisation. Nicola holds a Masters in Consulting in Organisations: Psychodynamic & Systemic Approaches and is a CTI Co-Active Coach (ICF Member).

Shaun joined Gousto in 2015 after working at Amazon Web Services where he led the UK retail practice, helping customers to adopt cloud technologies. In his role as Gousto’s CPTO, Shaun is responsible for overseeing all aspects of technology across the business, keeping a clear focus on the customer experience, whilst driving organisational growth and innovation.

With over two decades of leadership experience in the Microsoft ERP space with focus on
retail, distribution, professional services and finance, Bjorn Kuijt is a distinguished specialist in the Subscription Economy, driving the operational and financial transformation of recurring revenue businesses in Retail, Media & Publishing, SaaS and IT Services. His proven track record in aligning technology with customer needs no matter the size or scope has solidified his reputation as a respected industry figure in the subscription space. As the VP of Product at Bluefort, Bjorn has excelled in strategically advancing Bluefort’s best of breed subscription management product, LISA Enterprise, to empower recurring-revenue based enterprises to scale with ease, boost revenue, cut costs, and transform their customer journeys.

Daljit Bamford joined Bento in February 2022, having worked in the technology sector for over two decades. Her previous roles as Chief Customer Officer (In Salesforce UKI and Tenth Revolution Group) saw the Oxford graduate work with senior leaders across the business spectrum to help them transform their companies. Now, in Bento, she is helping subscription first, e-commerce businesses unbox success with Gousto’s tech.

Timo Boldt is the CEO and Founder of Gousto, the data-driven recipe box company with a vision to become the most-loved way to eat dinner. Since exchanging life in finance at the age of 26, to follow his passion for food, Timo’s leadership has taken Gousto on an incredible journey, creating an industry-leading customer proposition, all whilst being laser focused on the business’ purpose to have a positive impact on people and the planet. As a result, the recipe box became B Corp™ certified in 2021. Timo was named EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 for his innovative approach to technology, sustainability, and a people-first culture.

Kerin O’Connor is a leading figure in the media and consultancy world, known for his transformative subscription strategies. As CEO of The Week, he drove 35 consecutive circulation increases, making it the UK’s highest-selling quality weekly subscription magazine and the largest paid-for digital magazine. He pioneered digital subscriptions at Dennis Publishing, ensuring readers paid for content across platforms, and launched The Week Junior, the UK’s largest children’s magazine, later expanding it to the US. 

O’Connor now leads the innovative consultancy Atlas, advising media businesses like The Guardian, The New Scientist and the i paper on how to build robust, recurring subscription revenues through strategic insight.

Madhuri Narayana K is the Senior Director of Global Customer Success at Chargebee, where she leads cross-functional teams and initiatives to deliver impactful solutions in FinTech, Revenue Operations, and Revenue Growth for customers across the globe. With a background in software development, data analytics, business strategy, and a passion for customer-centric problem-solving, she has played a pivotal role in scaling Chargebee’s customer success and consulting functions globally. Her expertise lies in driving revenue growth and long-term value for both customers and the business through innovative frameworks, strategic thinking, and creative, out-of-the-box solutions.

CRM expert with 10+ years of experience in high growth subscription & non-subscription businesses across multiple industries. Proven track record in building and leading high-performance CRM teams, driving multimillion-euro CLV through periods of growth and transformation. Passionate about creating experiences that add value to the customers & the business by combining data, analytics, technology, and content. Have an affinity for having AI do its magic.

Ryan is a partnerships leader at Recharge, driving strategic growth and collaboration across the EMEA region. With expertise in subscriptions and e-commerce, Ryan has worked with hundreds of subscription focused brands and partners to help them scale and succeed in the fast-evolving digital commerce space. Specialising in building impactful partnerships, Ryan enables growth opportunities with Recharge and is committed to fostering innovation and delivering measurable success for partners and merchants alike. 

Abi Spooner is Strategy Partner at Atlas, specialising in customer behavioural data analysis, forecasting and strategic planning and pricing strategies, alongside delivering specialist subscriptions marketing training.

Abi worked as Customer Strategy Officer at Dennis and Future, and Chief Customer Officer at Dennis, where she created profitable customer-first strategies to drive acquisition, efficiency and yield across The Week globally and the launches of The Week Junior in the UK and US. At the recurring revenue growth consultancy Atlas, Abi has worked across media businesses like New Scientist, the London Review of Books and Fundstrat focusing on forecasting and LTV. 

A highly skilled data storyteller, Abi makes complex analysis accessible and understood, from the board room to marketing teams and the wider business. She is at her happiest creating LTV models and believes creativity really can (and probably should) start with a spreadsheet.

Julian Thorne is a co-founder of Atlas Advisory, a consultancy specialising in helping PE backed businesses optimise the value of their subscription revenues.

Prior to founding Atlas Advisory, Julian was the Chief Operations Officer of Sub(x), a start-up AI marketing technology provider to digital subscription businesses. Sub(x) exited to Zuora Inc, in 2024.

Julian has previously held various senior executive positions including, Chief Customer Officer of Future plc responsible for all direct customer revenues worldwide including subscription revenues, CCO of Dennis Publishing, CEO of Dovetail Services and Marketing Director at Saga.

Julian is a recognsed expert in B2C, B2B and SaaS recurring revenue models and a published author on subscription retention strategies.

Shakti Bharath is the Vice President of Solution Consulting at Chargebee, where she leads teams in delivering tailored solutions that empower businesses to optimize their subscription management and revenue operations. With a strong foundation in data analytics, business strategy, and customer-centric problem-solving, Shakti helps organizations navigate complex challenges and achieve scalable growth. Her expertise lies in aligning technology and business needs to drive impactful outcomes.