CORE IWD 2024 - Programme

Main keynote speaker

Dame Karen Jones DBE

Non-Executive Director – WHITBREAD PLC & MOWGLI

Senior Independent Director – DELIVEROO PLC

Chair – HAWKSMOOR RESTAURANT GROUP & FRONTIER PUBS

Commissioner – THE CROWN ESTATE

“FEMALE LEADERSHIPLIFE HACKS”

Emma Woods Chair | NED | Board Advisor

Tortilla, Huel, Ancient + Brave

Former CEO wagamama

Paula MacKenzie

Shereen Ritchie CEO Buns from Home

Keynote speakers

Helen Charlesworth

Managing Director

Stonegate Pub Company

Manju Malhotra

NED - Ex CEO Workspace Group, London & Partners, Harvey Nichols

Lisa Buckley CEO Leisure TV Rights

Real Estate Panel

HOST SPEAKERS

Sheila Ingram

Head of Real Estate Recruitment

COREcruitment

Head of Asset Services UK

Cushman & Wakefield

Boulevardiere Ltd

Tanya Travers

Director of Real Estate (EMEA)

Stephanie Hamilton Group Human Resources Director

phs Group

Omnicom

Andie Penman

Katie Miles Director

Panel discussion guests speakers

HOST SPEAKERS

ldiko Szabo Finance Director I CFO | Ex FD Retail, Leisure & Hospitality

mma Jones sDirector pany of Cooks

Caroline Bixby Group HR Director Christie Group

Trading Company

Olivia Immesi CEO Native Places

Panel discussion guests speakers

HOST

Zuleika Fennel CEO The Thinking Traveller

oy ctor

Shereen Ritchie

Sarah Miller Operations Director

Be At One Cocktail Bars

LGBTQIA+ Panel

Director of Operations & Event Planning

LGBTQ+ activist, cultural producer

Founder – Moonlight Experiences

Head of Community Engagement –UK Black Pride

Rebecca Paisis

Heidi Mallace

Member Board of Directors and Trustee

Diversity Role Models

Director of Operations & Event Planning Pride In London

Izzy Wagner

Founding & Director

Core Confidence Coaching

Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir

Biographies

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Dame Karen Jones

Dame Karen Jones DBE is a successful entrepreneur, CEO and non-executive, with wideranging experience in the food, retail, digital and leisure markets. In addition to her current roles listed below, Karen co-founded Cafe Rouge and the Pelican Group plc (sold to Whitbread in 1996) and subsequently Food and Fuel Ltd which was sold to The Restaurant Group in 2018. She was CEO of Punch Retail/Spirit Group from 2000 to 2006 before its sale to Punch Pubs in January 2006.

Karen has held non-executive roles at ASOS plc, Virgin Active and Booker Group plc (where she was Senior Independent Director). Between 2008 - 2017, she was a non-executive director for the global retail, real estate and investment company, COFRA Group, as well as serving on the Board of Firmenich ag between 2011 – 2023. Karen Chaired the Remuneration Committee at ASOS, Booker and Firmenich. Between 2018 and 2022, Karen was Executive Chair of Prezzo Ltd, completing a turnaround for TPG (who backed Spirit Group) and the subsequent sale of the business to Cain International.

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Karen is currently a non-executive director of both Whitbread Plc and Mowgli, a Commissioner of The Crown Estate and Senior Independent Director at Deliveroo Plc, Chair of Hawksmoor Restaurant Group and Frontier Pubs as well as advising Punch Pubs Ltd. Karen is also Chair of the Board of National Theatre Enterprises Ltd and co-Chairs the Hospitality Sector Council with the Minister for Hospitality.

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Karen was awarded a DBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2022 for Services to Business and Hospitality having received a CBE in 2006 for Services to Hospitality. Karen was also awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctorate of Civil Law) from the University of East Anglia in 2012.

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Emma is an experienced Board Director and business leader, working across a diverse portfolio of brands.

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Emma Woods

She currently sits as a Non-Exec on the Board of Huel and also Great Portland Estates, and Chairs Tortilla plc, the UK’s largest burrito brand and Ancient and Brave , the Piper PE backed fast growing wellness brand .

Emma’s career to date has seen a pattern of working on international brands and businesses with potential for positive health and societal impact.

After a solid consumer and marketing grounding at Unilever (17 years on both food and wellness brands), Emma went on to lead the marketing for major leisure and hospitality businesses Pizza Express, Merlin Entertainments and, latterly, Wagamama where she was also CEO.

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Emma is a committed champion of D+I (the development of women to the C-Suite is a particular passion) and of creating cultures where entrepreneurship can thrive and be sustained.

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2024

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Paula MacKenzie joined as CEO in 2022 to lead growth for the global PizzaExpress business. She has over 20 years’ experience in transforming food and beverage companies and is known for her proven ability to put emotion into brands both locally and internationally.

Prior to PizzaExpress, Paula was UK & Ireland MD at KFC from 2017 until 2022. She led KFC through a transformation, accelerating revenue growth and helping to define food innovation, restaurant design and category-led chicken welfare. Paula has also worked in strategic roles for global brands including Diageo, GSK, innocent and Ernst & Young.

Paula MacKenzie

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Paula has an MA Economics from Cambridge and holds an ACA from ICAEW. Not only is Paula recognised for inspiring innovation, operational excellence and bold creative thinking, but also for her spearheading efforts on diversity, equality & inclusion within the sector. Additionally, she is currently a Non-Executive Director for the FTSE 100 retailer B&M and an Advisory Board Member for Pennies, the UK's leading fintech charity.

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2024

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Shereen has 25 years of experience in everything hospitality, PR and construction and is a leader with a difference. She can give you a masterclass in how to lead by inspiration, she creates teams with the strength of lions, and her ‘Only Way is Essex’ upbringing taught her to add glitter and unicorns to everything.

She believes that business success involves balancing operational and commercial considerations with human ones. She has a proven track-record in building, leading and managing high-performing teams that have delivered outstanding revenue performance in exceptionally tough market conditions.

Her approach has helped her to turn around enterprise performance, routinely beat budgets, and create and launch a new digital business in just three weeks. She is known for agility, determination and a relentlessly positive attitude that motivates and inspires those around her. She does not back down from a challenge and her teams have made the impossible a reality.

As the former UK Managing Director of LEON she led the brand through its most successful, as well as its most challenging time. Prior to this and after a stint in PR and Construction she ‘returned home’ to hospitality and joined Las Iguanas where she grew the business and supported the sale of Las Iguanas to Casual Dining Group.

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Shereen is currently the Chief Executive Officer for the independent London bakery brand, buns from home. The brand that was born during the pandemic has taken the city and social feeds by storm. With ques around the block morning, noon and night, the rapidly growing brand is not only expanding its bakeries but launching into retail and cookbooks.

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Having started her journey in hospitality at 15 years old, she got an evening job cleaning tables at TGI Fridays. Little did she know at the time that this part time job would shape her future in the most significant way. She can still teach you the TGI Fridays trick of how to hold 6 glasses in one hand!

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Janene Pretorius

Janene was born and raised in South Africa where she developed a keen interest in the hospitality industry very early on. From the age of 16, she worked in a number of restaurants whilst studying, taking on a variety of roles, and eventually graduating with a degree in Graphic Design.

In 2001, she moved to the UK and embarked on a career in hotels and restaurants. Having spent five years honing her skills in operational roles, she decided to channel her passion for people into a purposeful career in Human Resources.

In February 2003, she joined Gaucho and eventually took the role of Head

of Staff Training and Development where she implemented The Gaucho Academy. 10 years later, Janene joined Prezzo as Training and HR Director, before moving to The Ivy Collection as Director of People in February 2017. Her role grew to encompass Caprice Holdings, Bill’s Restaurants as well as The Ivy Collection brasseries across the UK and internationally as Chief People Officer.

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In November 2022, she joined The Wolseley Hospitality Group as Director of People and Culture.

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Lisa Buckley

As an experienced Managing Director, Lisa has led two of the largest UK restaurant brands, driving hospitality excellence & visionary initiatives.

As CEO of Leisure TV Rights, an Imbiba-backed venture in partnership with ITV, Lisa is leading the launch of new socialising concepts opening in 2024.

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Lisa’s passion is to empower high-performing teams by driving the strategic vision with confidence and energy from the ground up.

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2024

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Caroline Bixby

Caroline is the Group HR Director for Christie Group Plc. Brands such as Christie & Co, Pinders Venners and Orridge might be familiar names amongst the group companies who work across care, hospitality, leisure, retail, medical and dental, amongst other related sectors. The group works in the UK and across Europe; Caroline joined Christie Group in May 2024 as their first group people leader to help create and support the collaborative and strategic people agenda.

Caroline has worked for Care UK, Greene King, and Veolia Water and has extensive experience in change management and M&A. She previously worked in financial services before joining Christie Group Plc as the leader of the People team; they were runners-up in the national CIPD awards for SME People Initiatives in 2023. She is a fellow of CIPD and is undertaking her Executive MBA with Henley Business School, which is due to be completed next year.

She advocates for inclusion and equity, with a personal diagnosis of ADHD. She strives to create inclusive workplaces and overcome cultural norms to enable equity of opportunity for all.

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Caroline has been the Chair of Trustees for Green Light Trust since June 2020, taking over as Chair of the board during Covid. Caroline stepped down as Chair in February 2024, but remains a passionate Trustee. This is a charity that works with the NHS, and other partners and has seen 250% growth over the past 3 years. Green Light Trust currently has woodland sites across the East of England in which they provide an inclusive environment open to all. Green Light Trust has empowered thousands of women and girls by providing them with the necessary support and guidance to build confidence and acquire valuable skills. They truly change lives.

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Caroline Ottoy brings a wealth of experience to WatchHouse since joining in January of 2023.

With more than 25 years of expertise in hospitality and retail, she has a remarkable track record in scaling high-street restaurants both within and beyond London.

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Her past successes include notable brands such as Zizzi, ASK Italian, and Tasty.

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Caroline Ottoy

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Katie Miles

A Chartered professional and workplace expert with over 20 years of experience in fast paced, customer-engaged and multitenanted environments.

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Loves engaging in transformational business change and growth; to create amazing, inclusive environments and foster a culture where businesses and individuals can do their best work

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2024

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Zuleika has a track record spanning 20 years of success in the luxury lifestyle sector both within founder led entrepreneurial businesses and larger corporate entities. After Graduating from Durham University in Politics, Zuleika enjoyed an early career in Operations with Hilton and Hyatt Hotels taking her around Australasia before returning to the UK to undertake a Masters Degree in Human Resources. To fund her study, she joined Chris Corbin and Jeremy King to open The Wolseley restaurant in 2003 and stayed with them for 19 years opening another 8 restaurants and a Mayfair hotel. She was their first ever HRD before being

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asked to move back into Operations as COO and shortly after becoming Managing Director. More recently she has moved into the world of luxury travel as the CEO of The Thinking Traveller. A specialist company which matchmakes clients with exclusive villas in the Mediterranean and curates personalised itineraries complimented by outstanding on the ground hospitality and service, earning its position as Conde Nast’s Best Villa Rental Company in the world for 8 years in a row.

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INTERNATIONALWOMEN’SDAY

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Olivia Immesi

Olivia Immesi is an accomplished luxury lifestyle hospitality leader with an international career spanning over 20 years. Immesi joined, Native Places, the UK’s leading lifestyle aparthotel brand, as Managing Directorin2021transforminganaparthotelofferingintothelifestylebranditistoday. Withinaveryshort timescaleofunderthreeyears,Olivia’ssuccessinleadingthestrategicdevelopmentofthegroupresulted inhermostrecentappointmentasChiefExecutiveOfficer.

Olivia’scareerstartedinhoteloperations,movingintoSales&MarketingintheUS,hertimeinAustinTexas madeherfallinlovewithhospitalityandbeingpartofanindustrythatisaboutgenuineempathyforothers.

OliviacontinuedhercareerinLondonwhereshesuccessfullylaunchedtheoriginalHoxtonastheDirectorof SalesandMarketingandwentontolaunchAceHotelLondon,thefirsthoteloftheAcehotelgroupoutside theUS,asSalesandMarketingDirector.ShewasthenpromotedtoGeneralManagertoruntheentirehotel operation. Olivia possesses an excellent track record with senior management positions in hotel managementandsalesandmarketing,priortojoiningNativeshewastheGeneralManagerofTheCurtain HotelandmembersclubinShoreditch(nowaMondrianHotel).InherroleasChiefExecutiveOfficeofNative Places, Olivia focuses on the development of the portfolio of Native aparthotels across the UK and into Europe. She is passionate about harnessing Native’s existing relationships with the local community, championing diversity within the team and continuing to provide guests with excellent experiences and service.

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Immesi is a fierce advocate of “conscious consumption” and is passionate about harnessing existing relationships with the local community and championing diversity within the team, as well as being a passionate advocate for flexible working and job share opportunities. She has ambitious plans for sustainabilityacrossthecompanywithNativesettobeanetzerocarbonoperationby2030.

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NativePlaceshasbecomeoneofthelargestoperatorsofaparthotelsintheUKandthecontinuedexpansion ofoperationswillseeNativePlacescontinuetoaddnewdestinationswithintheUKandbeyond,focusingon sustainablegrowthandofferingunique,design-ledaparthotelexperiences.

OlivialivesinMinsteronSeawithherhusbandandchildren.

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Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir is a social entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ activist, recognised as one of the 'Top 100 LGBTQ+ Trailblazers' changing the world.

She is the founder of Moonlight Experiences, an award-winning company dedicated to the celebration of diverse queer culture and travel by harnessing the economic power of tourism and nightlife.

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Aisha’s activism and community contributions also extend to her role as Manager at The Common Press, Head of Community Engagement for UK Black Pride, and as a Trustee for GiveOut.

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Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir