Meet our advisory boards.

James previously led the Group’s Toolstation UK business from 2017 to 2023, to accelerate the development of the business, enhance the digital offer and transform the trade customer proposition. During his tenure the branch network and turnover more than doubled and outperformed its peers. Prior to joining Toolstation, James served on the board of Screwfix and held a number of senior positions in Kingfisher and Sainsbury’s. He is a non-executive director of Nisbets Plc and is also the Group Leadership Team sponsor and champion of the Travis Perkins plc’s Ability network.

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Scott Murdoch is the Chairman of UK Retail and Leisure at CBRE, the largest Real Estate Advisory Firm in the world and was previously the Founder/Managing Partner of CWM prior to the merger of the two businesses in March 2022. Scott brings vast experience and considerable expertise from the Commercial Property Industry where he represents many UK and global retail brands on their store portfolio. He has also opened and worked from offices in New York, Paris and Hong Kong in his career whilst at CWM. Scott has sat on the advisory and NED board of several landlords and retailers during his career, is a trustee of the Childhood Trust Charity and has previously worked with MacMillan, Action for Children and to this day remains a Barker of Variety, the Children’s Charity.

Debbie is a passionate retailer with over 40 years’ experience working in the retail sector. She is a firm believer in Co-operative ethics and values and was appointed as Chief Executive of Central Co-op in April 2019, one of the largest Co-operatives in the UK. Debbie is also a Board member of the British Retail Consortium, Vice-President of Euro Coops and a member of the advisory board at Diversity in Retail and the Association of Convenience Stores. Prior to taking on the role at Central Co-op, Debbie was the UK Managing Director at SPAR. She has also worked at The Co-operative Group, Marks and Spencer and W H Smith. Debbie is a great advocate in all aspects of inclusion. She is also a champion of sustainability and a pioneer for Fairtrade. Debbie has developed higher standards of animal welfare in the food industry and has implemented improvements in diet and health including food pack nutritional information. She was heavily involved in recent campaigning resulting in a change to the law to better protect retail workers and instigated the launch of a Co-operative International Development Fund to help move global communities out of poverty. Debbie has taken part in charity bike rides in support of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) for the last nine years and has completed her twenty-first consecutive London Marathon, this time, in support of Oxfam. Debbie was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for her outstanding contribution to business by the University of Birmingham in July 2022 and received an outstanding achievement award at the Retail Industry Awards 2023.

Jerome is the Director of Co-op Growth at Co-op. Formerly Chief Executive Officer at Wilko, he first joined Wilko as the Transformation Director in 2018 transitioning to Managing Director of wilko.com before his tenure CEO. With 20+ years’ experience in retail across Europe, US and Asia from strategy definition to implementation and full business transformation. Jerome previously held roles at Tesco and Morrisons and was a senior principal at the Boston Consulting Group.

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Jonathon is the current Managing Director – Pubs at Shepherd Neame. Prior to this, roles include Managing Director – Venues at the Rank Group and Fuller, Smith and Turner PLC, where he was Managing Director of its premium pub and hotel arm. Having joined the company in 2005, he was appointed as Operations Director for Fuller’s Inns in 2007 and subsequently to the main Board in 2012. Jonathon has previously held positions at Carlton Communications PLC, Molson Coors and Bass Ltd. He graduated from The University of Leeds with a degree in Geography and holds a graduate master’s degree in marketing. He is an alumnus of both IMD and Columbia Business Schools.

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James joined BrewDog in 2014 as Retail Director when the company had 16 locations and now as CEO of their bar business leads over 2,300 staff globally across over 135 locations globally ranging from Australia and Japan to Europe and the US. In 2022 James was key to the opening of major new locations – the opening of iconic site BrewDog Waterloo, offering a multi-site experience and one of the largest bars in London and BrewDog Las Vegas, two floors of craft beer paradise, the rooftop overlooking the stunning view of the Vegas strip. James also founded TiPJAR the world’s first digital tipping platform which handles transparent and fair tip distribution for over 3000 hospitality venues and 50,000 tipped workers in the UK, US and EU.

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Jon is the CEO of Butlin’s, and with his team is on a mission to create the Home of Entertainment in the Resorts. He joined the business in 2018 whilst part of Bourne Leisure, and was part of the Group sale process to Blackstone in 2021, and led the buyout of Butlin’s in October 2022. He has a broad range of experience in retail and consumer businesses over the last 25 years, both in the UK and internationally. Before joining Bourne Leisure Ltd to lead Butlin’s, Jon spent two years as CEO for Prezzo, a private Equity-owned restaurant group with 300 locations and 5000 colleagues. Prior to this, Jon was Chief Operating Officer for Travelodge for six years, and during that time he supported the team to transform the guest journey and look and feel of the hotels, leading to a three-fold increase in profitability. Jon also worked in retail with Tesco, the world’s third largest food and general goods retailer. His time there was international and varied, having joined the UK Operations Development team, Tesco’s internal consulting function, followed by time in China, California, and Central Europe. His final role was as Operations Director in Czech Republic and Slovakia. He completed an MBA at Warwick Business School in 2002, having previously worked for Aldi Stores Ltd in the UK for seven years. He held a variety of multi-site operating roles, finishing his time with Aldi as Finance and Administration Director. Jon’s particular areas of interest are in strategic direction, building great teams and the challenges around improving customer experience in competitive environments. He lives in Leamington Spa with his wife Lindsey. He has two sons, Oscar and Hugo and a daughter, Carys. Jon’s interests include Tennis and Skiing, and occasionally ends up talking himself into charity-driven challenges, such as cycling to Paris.

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Colin is Group Sustainability Officer for Nando’s, the Afro-Portuguese fast casual PERi PERi chicken business, which now operates in 23 countries worldwide, with accountability for the development of the group net zero strategy and transition plan. Most recently Colin was Chief Executive Officer for Nando’s UK & Ireland and is recognised for transforming and digitising the business and creating sector leading innovation across customer, channel and sustainability. Prior to this Colin was Managing Director for All About Foods, a fast moving consumer goods business which licenced brands to bridge the restaurant and retail sectors with successful partnerships including Nando’s, Pizza Express, Costa Coffee and Wahaca. Colin has over 25 years retail, commercial, sourcing and transformation experience across food and general merchandise having held senior roles as Asda Walmart and Tesco and international experience, being based in Hong Kong for 6 years. Colin holds a number of other advisory roles with Leeds Beckett University Business School,  Zero Carbon Forum:  a non-profit organisation, empowering hospitality members to share knowledge and collaborate to reach sustainability targets, and Baneco: a start-up exploring circular economy solutions in agriculture.

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Richard is the Group Chief Executive Officer of RedCat Pub Company, a new PE backed business which operates over 100 pubs and hotels across RedCat and the Coaching Inn Group, he joined in October 2023. Prior to this Richard was the Chief Executive Officer UK and Ireland at SSP, leading F&B brands and franchises across UK and Ireland’s Airports and Railways, navigating their recovery and repositioning post Covid. Richard held a number of different leadership positions at Greene King over the eight years at the company from 2011, including COO, Group Property Director, and Group Integration Director, as well as various MD roles. Over this time the Group doubled in size and EBITDA. Richard also has significant international experience, having lived and worked for seven years in New Zealand. Richard was COO of the Warehouse, New Zealand’s largest non-food retail group, Before that, he held a variety of operational and commercial roles at both Sainsbury’s and Woolworths in the UK. Richard is married to Caroline, has three grown up children, he is a suffering Man Utd fan, supports the All Blacks in Rugby and loves travelling around the UK in his spare time.

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Paula is the Chief Executive Officer at PizzaExpress, a British multinational restaurant group with over 470 restaurants across the United Kingdom and 100 overseas. Her previous roles include Managing Director of KFC in the UK & Ireland, parent company YUM! brands incl. one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with over 50,000 restaurants in more than 145 countries. Paula lead the £1.5bn brand in the UK together with the c1000 restaurants, 35 Franchise Partners and 30,000 members that made up team KFC. Paula reported directly to the KFC Global CEO and was a member of the Global KFC Leadership Team. Paula has over 20 years in the experience of transforming Food & Drinks businesses by unlocking the power of brands- in both a left brained & right brained way- from Strategy, to Execution, from Brand Building to Spending Smartly. Paula has worked for some of the worlds most recognised & valued brands, at both global, regional and local levels within renowned companies like Diageo, GSK, innocent, Ernst & Young, before the last 10 years at KFC and most recently, PizzaExpress.

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Kate Nicholls OBE has been CEO of UKHospitality, the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector, since its inception in 2018. Kate previously worked as CEO and Strategic Affairs Director of the Association of Licenced Multiple Retailers (ALMR). Kate sits on the Government’s Tourism, Hospitality, and Food & Drink Sector Councils, where she represents the wider hospitality and tourism sector. As a passionate advocate for inclusivity in hospitality, Kate is also the Government’s first Disability Ambassador for hospitality. Kate is the Chair of the Institute of Licensing, a board member of Best Bar None, and a trustee of Hospitality Action and Springboard. She has previously chaired the Tourism Alliance, London Night-time Commission, and London Tourism Recovery Board. Kate initially worked as a researcher in the House of Commons and European Parliament on food, employment and environmental policy before joining Whitbread to work in Strategic Affairs. She has extensive experience as a political and strategic communications consultant and is a graduate of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Kings College London.

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Clair has extensive operational and commercial leadership gained in large scale businesses. After graduating, Clair’s early career was in retail with Boots in a variety of operational leadership roles. In 2003, she moved to Costa Coffee where she rose through a series of operational leadership roles in both the owned and franchised operation, culminating in the role of Chief Operating Officer for the UK where she was accountable for UK operations, property and business change across 1,100 stores. In 2016 she was appointed Managing Director for Costa in the Middle East and Asia, responsible for driving significant expansion and growth in the region. She renegotiated key franchise partnerships and launched both a new store proposition and digital loyalty schemes in market. Clair joined Greene King in 2020 as Managing Director for Greene King pubs where she manages 879 pubs split into 4 separate operating brands.

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Wilf is Chair of Cricket Scotland, Chair of The Racecourse Association and a Board Director of the British Horse Racing Authority. He was previously CEO of Carpetright plc before becoming Chair of the Group business, Nestware Holdings. Prior to that he was Chair of Fortuna Entertainment Group as well as being with the Gala Coral Group for fifteen years as Managing Director and a Non-Executive Director. He graduated in Law at the University of Leeds.

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Liz Williams is the Chief Operating Officer for Laser Clinics Group, the largest aesthetics clinic group globally. The franchised-based business has operations in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada, here she leads the strategic direction to drive clinic and sales growth She is the former Chief International Operating Officer of Papa John’s International operating across 48 countries. Liz was with Papa Johns for 4 years serving as SVP for Major Markets (23 Markets) after 18 months as the Managing Director for the UK business. With more than 20 years of experience in the food industry, Liz has worked with both start-up and established restaurant brands throughout her successful career. Before joining Papa John’s, Liz was a restaurant consultant focusing on brand development for casual dining brands. Liz‘s broad experience also includes spending six years as Director General Manager of Loch Fyne Restaurants after being the Managing Director of The Real Greek, along with 12 years at Pizza Hut UK.

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Peter’s last Non-Executive Director role was as Deputy Chair of the Coventry, the UK’s second largest Building Society. He has also been President of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), a Board Director of Investors In People (UK) and Chair of Monitise and truRating. His Executive career was spent almost entirely in Retail Banking and Payments. Peter was President & CEO of Visa Europe and prior to that was a Group Board Director of Lloyds TSB with responsibility for the Retail Bank.

A veteran of the payments Industry with over 40 years’ experience Roger is now active as a serial NED and Advisor to a variety of businesses across the Payments Value Chain. Roger spent over 30 years at Barclays Bank initially in the IT department and subsequently in Barclaycard where he drove a significant amount of innovation including the introduction of pos terminals in the UK in the mid 1980s. Since leaving Barclaycard he was CEO of Switch Card Services (the UK’s original Debit Card) and President/CEO of Elavon Merchant Services in Europe.

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Jon, CIO for Compass Group, the world’s largest catering company (FTSE20) is responsible for digital, data and technology change and operations across 5,000 operating units within the UK&I. Formally, he was at McDonald’s where he held the roles of Senior Director, Global Technology Delivery, responsible for implementing digital solutions in over 6,500 restaurants in McDonald’s International Lead Markets, and UK&I CIO responsible for the technology in over 1,400 restaurants. Prior to this, Jon spent four years as CIO at Gala Retail and Interactive and has over 20 years senior management experience in legal, media, financial services, government and consulting sectors.

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From cash and cards to alternative payment solutions, Gregor has always been driven by innovation and the desire to discover the next big thing. Gregor has a career spanning more than 25 years in payments, beginning his career at NCR, before joining De La Rue in 2005. In 2014 Gregor joined Vocalink, became UK Managing Director in 2017 and was appointed CEO in 2019. Gregor’s role was to ensure continued delivery of the payment services underpinning the UK economy as well as leading Mastercard growth of their Real Time Payments business globally. Gregor become CEO of TFPA in 2023 focussing on helping fintech companies succeed.

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Mark Gausden is a dynamic leader with over 25 years of experience blending technology innovation with a deep understanding of the hospitality industry. With a proven track record, Mark currently spearheads strategic initiatives for global mid-market restaurants, leveraging cutting-edge technology to drive growth and enhance customer experiences. Mark’s passion for hospitality led him to the industry, where he held various executive roles, overseeing operations, customer service, and business development for renowned hospitality brands. Combining his technical expertise with his intimate knowledge of the hospitality landscape, Mark has successfully implemented digital transformation strategies that have revolutionized the way restaurants and hotels operate and engage with their patrons on a global scale. In addition to his professional endeavours, Mark is deeply committed to giving back to the community. Over the past five years, he has dedicated his time and resources to philanthropic initiatives with Pennies.

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Michael brings more than 20+ years of IT experience in driving growth, building and developing teams, and nurturing some of Europe’s top brands to truly innovate and deliver success for both their customers and employees. Michael joined Databricks in 2022 as VP, Head of Northern Europe. Previously he spent 10 years at Salesforce where he lead the Retail, Consumer Goods and Travel, Transport and Hospitality sales teams to land transformative and industry game-changing projects across Sales, Service, Operations and Marketing.

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James has been working in the payments industry for over 25 years, gaining significant experience in payments and related activities across many diverse markets. James’ career in payments began at ACI Worldwide, working in roles covering the UK and Europe, as well as spending time living in Bahrain from where he managed ACI’s business across the Middle East and Africa. Following his time at ACI James worked at FIS and SAP prior to working at Verifone for 10 years as Managing Director responsible for its business in the UK and west of Europe. In his role as Managing Director & SVP at Castles Technology James is responsible for leading its business in Northern and Western Europe, where it provides leading payment technology solutions, helping payment providers and merchants to achieve their goals and deliver the very best consumer experiences.

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Jana is the Managing Director for Payments, Innovation and Resilience at UK Finance where she leads discussions on payments, fintech and digital agendas. Before joining UK Finance, she was head of the Worldpay (then FIS) Global Government Affairs team, shaped competition and regulatory policies at the Financial Conduct Authority and Payments Systems Regulator and prior to that supported companies across public and private sectors globally through her various roles. She has added commercial credentials delivering and implementing policies in practice, holds several board positions and works with a number of charities.

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In his role as General Manager Enterprise for EMEA, Pete is responsible for leading Worldpay’s work with some of the world’s largest and best-known brands, enabling them to take reliable and secure payments in store and online, whilst also helping them grow by entering new markets and innovate to serve their customers in new ways. Pete joined Worldpay in 2011 and has deep knowledge of the global payments landscape, with over 30 years of commercial experience within the finance and payments industry, having also held senior roles at Lloyds Cardnet and Barclaycard. He is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse team and is a valued coach and mentor in the industry, sitting on a number of Boards within the Worldpay group of companies.

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