Europe

Kathryn has over 15 years' experience shaping and managing brands across consumer and corporate environments. She specialises in brand architecture, positioning, and naming strategy, as well as brand identity development. Kathryn has led large-scale rebrands, including for BT and EE , and developed comprehensive brand frameworks and toolkits. She is skilled at aligning brand with business strategy and embedding it across the entire customer journey through cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder engagement. Kathryn is currently Head of Brand for OVO, leading a team of brand and creative strategists and brand managers.

René is a design leader and creative director specialising in purposeful, emotionally resonant brand experiences with a distinctive sense of refinement. He has held senior in-house roles at globally recognised Danish brands including Royal Copenhagen, Bang & Olufsen, and the LEGO Group, as well as creative director positions at design-driven agencies in London and Copenhagen.

Passionate about creating positive change through outstanding design, René combines strategic leadership with hands-on creativity. A mentor, team builder, and creative culture shaper, he works with a global perspective from his home in Denmark, which he shares with his husband, Kim, and two Cornish rex cats.

As Head of Creative at Ocado Retail, the UK's fastest-growing online retailer, Carol leads a dynamic team of 34 creatives across motion, copy, and design. The team is at the forefront of crafting the brand's voice and igniting customer connections through impactful work, including the 'Life Delivered' brand platform. Carol cultivates an environment where fresh thinking thrives and creative boundaries are consistently pushed. With a 15-year track record, Carol brings extensive experience from her five-year tenure as Global Head of Creative at innocent drinks. Here, she not only established their master brand platform, 'little drinks big dreams,' delivering impactful 360 campaigns across Europe , but also spearheaded a significant packaging redesign and built the creative team from 12 to 26, ensuring strategic alignment for future growth.

Prior to this, Carol honed her expertise over a decade agency side, collaborating with global entertainment giants including Disney, Nickelodeon, The Royal Ballet, Discovery Channel, and Warner Bros. defining creative direction across multiple platforms. A trained coach, Carol is a passionate advocate for inclusive creative leadership, committed to unlocking unexpected solutions and empowering teams to deliver work that truly gets noticed. Expect creative excellence with a distinctively rebellious edge.

Christie is Head of brand identity & design at Kimberly-Clark, where she leads the creative vision for iconic global brands including Kleenex and Andrex. With over a decade of experience spanning brand identity, packaging, advertising, and experiential design, Christie has shaped work for companies such as Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, and Clarks Shoes.

She has led award-winning creative across industries and markets, combining a sharp strategic lens with a passion for building brand worlds that connect emotionally and drive commercial impact. As a creative director, she champions human-first leadership, fostering psychological safety and collaboration to unlock bold ideas. Alongside her role, Christie writes Creative Leadership Unlocked, a Substack exploring the realities of modern creative leadership, recognition, and career growth.

Veera Kesänen is an Art Director and Illustrator known for bringing bold, visually striking ideas to life. Specializing in sports (with a particular interest in basketball), lifestyle, food, and events, Veera creates meaningful, standout visuals that engage and inspire. Her work is a unique blend of creativity and strategy, designed to spark joy in its audiences. Currently, she works as an Art Director at Moomin Characters.

Ilonka Ligteringen is an award-winning brand and creative leader with over 15 years’ experience shaping brands and bold campaigns, and championing inclusive identities across the charity and creative sectors. She guided Scope’s most recent brand refresh, developed a viral brand film, and led integrated campaigns that connect with diverse audiences and deliver meaningful impact. Passionate about accessible design, creative innovation and mentoring the next generation of talent, Ilonka brings both strategic vision and hands-on expertise to the judging panel.

Jamie is Group Brand Design Lead at HSBC, where they help lead the global design function, oversee HSBC’s design system, and support markets worldwide in delivering creative projects. A digitally focused Creative Director and Art Director, Jamie has worked at leading agencies including WCRS, Nitro, Razorfish, AnalogFolk, Sapient, and Wieden+Kennedy, developing a deep passion for design and human interaction both online and offline.

With a strong design background, Jamie believes every touchpoint should have purpose and meaning—for both the brand and its audiences. Throughout their career, they’ve thrived in and led multidisciplinary teams, always driving toward one shared goal: creating outstanding, memorable brand experiences

As a multidisciplinary creative, Angus partners with designers, writers, materials scientists, digital technology experts, sustainability specialists and business leaders from around the world to bring physical and digital experiences to life. A passionate brand storyteller and strategic thinker, he believes bold ideas crafted with business acumen and turned into impactful design experiences can inspire audiences, drive change and transform brands into powerful and valuable assets.

Simon is a Creative, Innovation, Design & AI; leader, director, strategist, innovator and entrepreneur - famous for and specialized in creating and developing unique creative expressions, experiences, business transformations, products, services and solutions for some of the world's most renowned and successful brands (Louis Vuitton, IBM, IKEA, AT&T, HBO), agencies (DDB, BBDO, Ogilvy, VICE Media) and companies, often using innovative technologies design methodology and a focus on sustainability. Simon is currently Creative and Innovation Leader at IKEA.

Gareth is a seasoned creative director with over 16 years of experience across both agency and client-side roles, working with some of the UK’s leading creative agencies, including Wolff Olins, Ragged Edge and Mother Design. Partnering with high-profile clients such as Virgin Media, BBC and GSK, delivering innovative and impactful creative brand strategies. His in-house works contributed to the growth of major brands like TikTok, Google and NewDay. He is now currently leading the brand team at Revolut, driving the brand’s vision on a global scale. Challenging traditional banking perceptions whilst forging a new more innovative and accessible one.

Xuan Pham has 20 years of experience in the advertising, entertainment and tech industry. He lived in France, Canada, Australia and China working for international advertising agencies like Isobar, Grey, Publicis, R/GA and Fred&Farid. In 2017 he joined Google to build and lead their creative team in North Asia. Now based in the UK, he operates as Executive Creative Director at Amazon Prime Video, creating campaigns to promote the platform and to launch movies and series across EMEA. Xuan Pham has earned over 150 recognitions including Cannes, Clios, D&AD, One Show, ADC, LIA, NY Festival and showcased some of his work at Ted, Sundance and SxSw. In his spare time, you’ll find him playing with his two children, cooking or making music.

Karen currently leads Grosvenor’s brand team which supports the organisation’s international activities spanning urban property, food and agtech, rural estate management and support for philanthropic initiatives and helps build Grosvenor’s reputation for lasting commercial, social and environmental benefit across all Grosvenor-branded touchpoints. With over 30 years of brand and communications experience in the professional services sector, she brings a blend of strategic insight and creativity to projects, working closely with clients and colleagues to understand their requirements and to align and achieve brand and business objectives. She is passionate about brand experiences that create connections and is a champion of authenticity and purpose in brand strategy and execution.

Dale Anne Scogings is a Creative lead at Canva with over a decade of experience spanning in-house and agency roles. She currently leads brand and creative at Flourish, a Canva-owned company, shaping the brand and ensuring alignment with Canva’s ecosystem.

Driving creative excellence for global brands including Canva, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and Vodacom, her performance-driven approach blends entrepreneurial thinking with a values-led mindset.

Dale Anne is driven by design for good and social impact; she actively mentors emerging talent, advocates for design-skills volunteering at Canva, supports NFPs with creative solutions, serves as an Industry Fellow at the University of East London, and champions neuro-inclusion initiatives.

Carol is a Brazilian creative with 20 years of experience helping brands tell stories that travel the world. Associate Creative Director at Peloton in London, she has also called Berlin, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai home—each city adding new colours to her creative palette. Over her career, she has collaborated with global brands such as Nespresso, Oppo, Lay’s, and, more recently, Liverpool FC. With roots in Brazil’s vibrant storytelling and a sharp eye for visual creativity, Carol brings a unique international flair to brand campaigns that are approachable, visually striking, and resonate across cultures.

Tapas is a seasoned design professional with over 14 years of global experience in print, digital, and rich media. Holding an MA in Communication Design from the University of Arts, London, he blends psychology with visual storytelling to create meaningful brand assets. Currently Digital Design Lead, Vice President at J.P. Morgan Chase, he leads creative strategy and provides direction for an expansive team. Previously, he rebranded WorldRemit and shaped its global design culture. He’s also worked with Harvard, Chime Specialist Group, and LycaGroup, earning multiple accolades through innovative design and customer focused experience design.

Bruno is a Brazilian design leader with over 15 years of experience, bringing deep expertise across sectors from Beauty to Food & Beverage. With a foundation in product design, his career has evolved to focus on branding, creative direction, and strategic design leadership. Over his eight years at Nestlé, Bruno helped iconic global brands reimagine their identities to regain relevance and played a critical role in disrupting established categories for local brands through bold design and a holistic branding approach. Now serving as Global Experience Design Director at Haleon, Bruno champions anthropology and human-centered innovation as the cornerstones of a stronger design culture and the creation of distinctive, lasting brands. Engaged with the unique challenges of the healthcare sector, he is dedicated to infusing greater humanity into everyday health experiences through the transformative power of design.

Jason is currently group head of brand at BT group. Leading on all elements of branding across 3 of the group’s biggest brands EE, BT and Plusnet, his remint covers brand creative, management and strategy. Having joined the group in 2020 he has overseen multiple rebrands, the creation of BT group and is now pushing the group’s consumer and business brands forward ensuring they are ready for the future. With over 19 years design and brand experience, working at both agency and client side he's worked on a vast variety of projects from rebrands, integrated campaigns, environment and spatial design.