Speaker Biographies

Speakers

Moderators

Jyrki Katainen

Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, European Commission

Jyrki Katainen is currently Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness. He joined the Commission in July 2014 as Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the euro. Before that he served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2011. From 1999 to 2014, he was a Member of Finnish Parliament for the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). Katainen was a Member of the Finnish Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly from 2003 to 2007, a Member of the Administrative Council of the Finnish Broadcasting Company from 2003 to 2005, a Member of the Finnish Delegation to the Western European Union Parliamentary Assembly from 2004 to 2005 and a Deputy Member of the Finnish Delegation to the Nordic Council from 2001 to 2003. Jyrki Katainen has an M.Sc. in Political Science from the University of Tampere, Finland and he did an Erasmus exchange year at the University of Leicester, UK.

Karmenu Vella

Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, European Commission **

Maltese nationality. Married with two children.

European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (2014-present)

- Minister for Tourism and Aviation (2013-2014)

- Chairman of the Orange Travel Group (2010-13)

- Group Coordinator for the Labour Party Parliamentary Group (2008-13)

- Executive Chairman of Corinthia's Mediterranean Construction Co (2008-10)

- Executive Chairman of Corinthia Hotels International (2001-07)

- Master's degree in Tourism Management (2000)

- Tourism Minister (1996-98)

- Industry Minister (1984-87)

- Minister for Public Works (1981-83)

- Member of the Maltese Parliament (1976-2014)

- Architect, Director in various companies (1973-81)

- Bachelor's degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering (1973)

** Indicates contribution by video message.

Anneleen Van Bossuyt

MEP and Chair, IMCO Committee, European Parliament

Anneleen Van Bossuyt was elected to become a Member of the European Parliament in the beginning of 2015, but she has long been engaged with and involved in European politics and policy. As a member of the European Parliament, she uses her expertise to help realise the necessary changes in the European Union.

Anneleen grew up in Ghent, Belgium. After finishing secondary school, she studied law at the University of Ghent (2003) and European law at the University of Rennes in France (2004). Following her studies in France, she began work as an assistant at the European Institute of the Faculty of Law at Ghent University. In 2010, she moved to the N-VA’s research department, where she was responsible for European affairs. In this role Anneleen was very closely involved in the federal government negotiations in 2014.

Since her election to the European Parliament, Anneleen has served as a member of the committee for Internal Market and Consumer Protection and of the committee for Industry, Research and Energy. Anneleen’s focus has been on better regulation, encouraging entrepreneurship, the digital single market, supporting innovation and energy policy. Earlier this year, an analysis conducted by VoteWatch (an independent non-profit organisation), showed that Anneleen is the most influential Belgian MEP as regards European digital and telecoms policy. In June 2017, Anneleen was elected as chair of the IMCO-committee.

Hans Carpels

President, Euronics International

Hans Carpels has pursued a strong entrepreneurial career in the retail sector throughout his professional career, becoming the president of an international retail group and the CEO of a large national chain of retail outlets.
He has been involved in retail management for almost 30 years, heading up and then growing, via merger as well as through organic growth, a national Belgian chain of electronics retailers.

In 1990 he became involved in the wider European sphere co-founding a cooperative of independent retailers currently numbering 6,000. His long involvement, and later appointment as Vice President and further as President, provides him with a unique viewpoint of the retail sector within Europe, and beyond.

Veronika Pountcheva

Global Director Corporate Responsibility and Senior Vice President, METRO AG

Veronika Pountcheva, Global Director Corporate Responsibility & Senior Vice President of METRO AG, was born in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia.

Veronika studied at the Technical University and the National School of Economics, receiving a Master of Science and Master of Business Economics. Pursuing her academic career, she went to INSEAD (London Business School) and Cambridge University where she completed various postgraduate programmes.

Veronika started her professional career in engineering in 1988 at Vitosha Textile Company. After gaining experience in the textile industry, she changed to the chemical industry working for BASF Bulgaria in different representative positions from 1992 to 1998.

Since 1998 Veronika has worked for METRO and has experience in various management positions in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Serbia and Germany in Buying, Operations, Supply Chain and General Management. Thereby she gained experience in expansion, turnarounds and restructuring.

In 2015 she returned to her home country Bulgaria, where she worked as Managing Director of METRO Cash & Carry Bulgaria before taking over her current position as Global Director Corporate Responsibility & Senior Vice President.

In addition, Veronika is a passionate start up Mentor and Advocate for Diversity in her role as LEAD Advisory Board Member.

Markus Tkotz

Managing Director, MARKANT

Markus Tkotz was born in 1966 in Munich. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Augsburg and a BA/MA in Economics from The Hopkins University, Baltimore.

Markus started his career at Procter & Gamble in Customer Business Development and later joined Roland Berger Strategy Consultants as a Senior Project Manager: Consumer Goods&Retail Competence Center.

Markus joined MARKANT Handels und Service GmbH in 2002 as their Managing Director, Central Settlement, Personal, Logistics. Since 2011, Markus is the Managing Director of MARKANT Handels und Industriewaren Vermittlungs AG.

Frans Muller

President, European Retail Round Table

Frans Muller has served as Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Integration Officer of Ahold Delhaize since July 2016. Since October 2016, Delhaize America, including the Food Lion and Hannaford brands, have reported to him on an ad interim basis. Prior to the merger between Ahold and Delhaize, he served as President and CEO of Delhaize Group from 2013.

Prior to joining Delhaize Group, Frans had been with the German retailer Metro AG for more than 15 years. From 2006 until 2013 he was a member of the Metro AG Management Board and in 2008 he was appointed as CEO of Metro Cash & Carry, where he served until 2013. He first joined Metro AG in 1997 as operations director, and then as managing director of its Dutch subsidiary, Makro. In 2002, Frans served as a board member of Metro Cash & Carry International and was appointed regional director for Eastern Europe and Russia. From 2004 to 2005, he served as president for Asia Pacific and Russia/Ukraine. In 2005, Frans was appointed CEO of Metro Group Buying.

Frans joined KLM Cargo in 1988 where he served in various management and executive positions in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Vienna and Singapore.

Frans is the President of the European Retail Round Table (ERRT and serves on the board of directors at the Food Marketing Institute Inc.

Ian Jindal

Founder and Editor in Chief, Internet Retailing

Ian Jindal is a consultant, publisher and advisor in eCommerce and multichannel retail. Ian cofounded and is Editor in Chief of InternetRetailing, providing insight and research for Europe’s etailers and multichannel retailers.

Ian co-founded RetailX, researching performance in multichannel retail, brands and vendors. In 2015 InternetRetailing launched the UK Top500 ranking of retailers (IRUK) and in 2016 the first performance-based ranking of European’s retailers.

Ian’s retail clients include Selfridges, House of Fraser, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Asda, Couturelab, Waitrose, De Bijenkorf, Kering, Disney, IKEA and Walgreens Boots Alliance. Previously Ian was Group eCommerce Director at Littlewoods Shop Direct, and Head of Online Operations at the BBC. Ian founded the European eCommerce Forum, is an Advisor to eCommerce Europe and authored the UK’s first MSc in Internet Retailing.

www.linkedin.com/in/ianjindal
@ianjindal

Claire Bury

Deputy Director General, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Claire Bury is currently Deputy Director General in DG CONNECT with responsibility for regulatory aspects of the Digital Single Market.

She was previously Director of Modernisation of the Single Market in Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

Before that, she was Head of Unit for Company Law, Corporate Governance and Financial Crime in Directorate General Internal Market and Services, and Deputy Head of Cabinet to Internal Market Commissioners Charlie McCreevy and Frits Bolkestein.

An English barrister by training, she worked in the Commission's Legal Service and, before coming to Brussels, in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Kenneth Bengtsson

President, EuroCommerce

Non-Executive President of EuroCommerce since March 2015, Kenneth Bengtsson began his retail career as a store manager of a local ICA supermarket in the south of Sweden. In 1995, he ran two larger stores in the Stockholm area. After successfully turning the stores into profitable units, he became the head of the hypermarket division of ICA in 1999. The following year, he was promoted to become CEO of ICA Sweden and in 2001, President and CEO of the entire ICA Group.

Apart from this successful career within the ICA Group, Kenneth Bengtsson has held numerous chairmanships. From 2005 to 2010, Kenneth Bengtsson was Chairman of the Board of Svensk Handel. From 2010-2013, he was Chairman of the Board of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. Today he is Chairman of the Board of Systembolaget, The World Childhood Foundation, Ersta Diakoni, Clas Ohlson, Ahlsell AB and Mekonomen AB.

His passion for raising awareness and creating possibilities for young entrepreneurs is evident in his membership of King Carl XVI Foundation for Young Leadership, and Prince Daniel’s Fellowship and Entrepreneurial Programmes, as well as his Chairmanship of Young Enterprise Sweden.

Irmfried Schwimann

Deputy Director General, DG GROW, European Commission

Since March 2016, Ms Irmfried Schwimann has been Deputy Director General in the European Commission's Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. She is responsible for the Modernisation of the Single Market, the Single Market for Public Administration and the COSME Programme.

Since July 2015 Ms Schwimann is member of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) steering board.

Previously, Ms Schwimann was Director in the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition; she was responsible for antitrust, merger and state aid control in the financial services sector.

Beforehand, Ms Schwimann was head of DG Competition's financial services antitrust unit (2006-2008) and head of DG Internal Market's Financial Services Policy unit (2003- 2006). Ms Schwimann also worked on retail financial services and payment issues within DG Markt (1999-2002) and was a member of Commissioner Bolkestein's Cabinet (2002- 2003).

Ms Schwimann studied law at the University of Linz/Austria as well as political science at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. Before joining the Commission, Ms Schwimann worked for the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1984-1989) as well as for an Austrian Insurance group (1989-1999).

Ms Schwimann is married and has 3 children.

Colin Macleod

Vice-President, Euro Coop

Colin commenced his career on the shop floor 26 years ago and has been CEO of The Channel Islands Co-operative Society since 2010. He is also a Director of FRTS and is currently Vice President of Euro Coop.

Named IoD Director of the Year 2015 in the UK Finals, he has consistently demonstrated an ability to push performance improvement in competitive markets. Colin also has a history of delivering innovation and diversification, capitalising on trust he and his board have cemented in their Society’s brand.

A deep believer in the potential in people and a devoted father, Colin has also recently published his first Children’s book, which he wrote with the help of his two boys. ‘Meet HammerHead & Captain StinkyPants.’

Kerstin Lindvall

Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, ICA Gruppen

Kerstin Lindvall is Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer within ICA Gruppen, with a strategic responsibility for the company strategy on sustainability as well as an operational responsibility for the area in ICA Sweden. She has been in this position since 2008, but has over 20 years experience within ICA. Since 2016, Kerstin is a part of the ICA Gruppen Management Team as well as the ICA Sweden Management Team. She has a Master of Science in Agriculture with a focus on environment, and has previously worked at the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Kerstin is a board member of the organic organisation KRAV as well as the advisory council to the Swedish Chemical Agency.

Ralf Gerking

President, Independent Retail Europe

Ralf Gerking is the Executive Chairman (Vorstand) of EDEKA Verband e.V. He has been in this position since 2009. In May 2013, he was elected as the President of Independent Retail Europe (then UGAL).


He first came to the Edeka Verband e.V in 1998 as Advisor to the Managing Board (Vorstandsreferent). From 2004 to 2006, he was the Head of the Tax Department at the EDEKA Verband e.V. and was appointed in 2006 as the General Manager (Geschäftsführer) of the EDEKA foundation (Stiftung). From 2007 to 2009, he was the Divisional Head (Taxation and Duties) of the EDEKA Verband e.V.


Ralf Gerking is a qualified lawyer, accountant and auditor.

Sylvia Vana

Deputy Head of Department, Economic Policy and European Internal Market, Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, Austria

Sylvia Vana is Deputy Head of Department "Economic Policy and European Internal Market" in the Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy. Sylvia Vana graduated in Commercial Sciences at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. She started her career in the Ministry of Economy in the Department for Economic Policy, responsible for OECD and IWF Country reviews.

After moving to the Department for Economic Policy and European Internal Market, she served as National Start-up Coordinator at national and European level. She is coordinating the Austrian Chair Team of the High Level Expert Group on Competitiveness and Growth and is Head of SOLVIT Austria. During the Austrian Presidency she will be chairing the Council Working Group (CompCro) on Industry.

Kestutis Sadauskas

Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth, DG ENV, European Commission

Kęstutis Sadauskas was born in 1969 in Lithuania. In 1994 he graduated from Vilnius University with a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Institute of Political Science and International Relations, and a Master’s Degree in Geography from the Faculty of Natural Science.

He started his professional career in September 1993 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius, in the sector of Government's foreign relations, dealing with Lithuanian policies on the Council of Europe, Human Rights, UN, OSCE, NATO. In 1996, Kęstutis Sadauskas joined the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations, New York, as Deputy Permanent Representative-Counselor responsible for general political affairs, UN Security Council activities and reform, and international security.

In 2000, he went back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania as the Head of Unit of the EU Department, and later as a Director, responsible for Lithuanian policy towards the EU, EU accession negotiations of Lithuania, and Convention of Future of EU.

In August 2002, he joined the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU, Brussels, as Minister-counsellor responsible for the coordination of EU accession negotiations of Lithuania, general coordination of activities in the COREPER, and negotiations of Financial Perspectives 2007-2013.

In September 2006, Kęstutis Sadauskas was appointed Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Vilnius, Lithuania. In February 2010, he joined the European Commission as a member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Šemeta and in April of the same year he became the Head of the Cabinet. 

From 1st November 2014 he assumed his role as the Director for Circular Economy and Green Growth.

Richard Wilson

Sustainability Matrix Manager, IKEA

Richard is the Retail Sustainability Manager for Central Europe, with thirteen years sustainability and environmental management experience. His role is to help guide those countries to deliver the home furnishing retailer’s objectives to become a more sustainable company and retailer.

IKEA has been committed to sustainability for many years and through its ‘People and Planet Positive’ strategy using sustainability to drive innovation, transform its business and shape its investments. At the centre of the strategy is the goal to inspire and enable millions of people to live a more sustainable and healthier life at home, become resource and energy independent and create a better life for the many people and communities across the IKEA business.

Richard has a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science & Mapping Science.

Jolanda Girzl

Director, ECC Sweden / Swedish Consumer Agency

Jolanda Girzl has 20 years of experience in Consumer Affairs and is active in both research and policy making in this area. Since December 2007, she is the Director of the European Consumer Centre (ECC) in Sweden. ECC Sweden is based at the Swedish Consumer Agency, the national authority with responsibility for consumer protection. Jolanda has been involved in many ECC-joint projects, for example on chargeback within the EU/EEA, counterfeit goods, and services directive, and she has led the projects on air passenger rights, e-commerce, trust marks and subscription traps.

Prior to her current position, she built up the local consumer advice centre in the Municipality of Karlstad, which is very successful and serves several municipalities.

Jolanda has studied Law at Uppsala University, specialising in commercial contract law. She is very interested in promoting a safe and responsible use of the Internet and mobile devices. She was awarded for her commitment and involvement in the Surf Calm campaign in Sweden for promoting safety and security on the web.

Jolanda participates in the User Advisory Board for the European H2020 innovation action CREDENTIAL, which is dedicated to developing a secure and privacy-preserving cloud-based identity provisioning and data sharing platform, enabling end-to-end security and authenticity in such systems. She is also participating in the ALERT project advisory group. ALERT assesses end-user awareness about how modern ICT consumes personal data. The project goal is the development of educative learning materials that increase awareness of consumers.

Signe D. Frese

CSR Director, Coop Denmark

Signe D. Frese is the CSR Director of Coop Denmark. Previous to this role she was Head of CSR at Irma, a high-end supermarket chain based in Denmark. Other former experience she has includes being nominated Head of Environmental and Climate Change Programme, FDB and Head of Section Climate and energy Ministry.

Signe D. Frese has a Bachelor in international Relations and development studies which she obtained at Sussex University. She was also a candidate in Environmental Planning at RUC.

Anna Verga

Head of Export Division, Coop Italian Food

Since 2015, Anna Verga is Head of Export Division at Coop Italian Food - a company fully owned by Coop Italy, entrusted to operate internationally exporting the best of Italian food production worldwide.

Previously, Anna worked in the Private Label Strategic Marketing Department of Coop Italy as Head of Premium Brands and OTC and Food Supplements. She has also worked as Brand Manager at Bayer Consumer Products Division and at Procter & Gamble.

Helen Dickinson

Chief Executive, British Retail Consortium

Helen leads the team and sets the strategic direction of the BRC. She joined in January 2013 and has been working with retailers for over 25 years. She is also a judge of the Everywoman Retail Ambassadors Programme and was previously Chair of Working Chance, a charity helping women offenders find employment between 2012 and 2016. Helen was previously UK Head of Retail at KPMG, driving and developing the retail practice and leading relationships and audits for many clients. Helen was awarded the OBE in 2016 for Services to Retail.

Tobias Kindler

Vice President Multichannel Concepts, MediaMarktSaturn Retail Concepts

Tobias Kindler, Vice President Multichannel, is responsible for the conceptual design as well as the implementation of digital sales concepts and the combination with the retail stores of the brands Media Markt and Saturn in Europe. Before he joined the Media-Saturn Group in 2009, he has been employed as a strategy and management consultant for 7 years, nationally as well as internationally. He advised companies in Germany, Great Britain, Australia and in the USA.
He studied Foreign Trade and International Management in Hamburg and Cape Town.

Richard Swannell

Development Director, WRAP

Dr Richard Swannell, Development Director at WRAP, has spent his career working on ways of reducing our impact on the environment. Richard’s first degree was in Biochemistry and he has a Doctorate in Environmental Engineering.

During his career at WRAP, his teams have focused on delivering a more sustainable, resource efficient and more circular economy, particularly in food and drink. This includes:

- Improving the environmental performance of food and drink products through for example the Product Sustainability Forum and more recently Courtauld 2025.
- Reducing waste across the supply chain and in the home through initiatives like the Courtauld Commitment, the Hospitality and Food Service Agreement and Love Food Hate Waste
- Closing the loop through increasing the recycling of food and drink waste through Anaerobic Digestion and composting.

Richard has worked on environmental issues for more than 25 years, covering a broad range of topics from resource efficiency to sustainability. For example he has developed biotechnology solutions to treat air pollution and investigated novel approaches to cleaning soil and groundwater. His previous roles include leading an international team developing novel ways of treating oil pollution, heading product development for an environmental consultancy business and Deputy Director of Envirowise, driving resource efficiency in business. More recently, he has led teams that build successful business partnerships that reduce waste, particularly food and packaging, recycle more and deliver more sustainable supply chains. Richard joined WRAP in 2004 and became a Director in 2006.

As Development Director, Richard leads on developing and delivering WRAP’s international and new product development strategies. This includes WRAP’s new work on helping people eat more healthily and sustainably and on seeking new partnerships to achieve impact internationally. A particular focus is on delivering the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals e.g. 12.3 on halving food waste reduction. Richard also leads WRAP’s Research, Evaluation and Economics teams.

Joe Lynam

Business Presenter and Correspondent, BBC

Joe Lynam joined the BBC as a junior 'meet ‘n greet' in 2001 but has risen to become one of the most respected correspondents for business and economics news across all the BBC’s national and global outlets. Joe features regularly on the main One, Six and Ten O’clock TV news bulletins, BBC World News, Radio Five Live as well as regularly presenting the business news on Radio 4’s flagship Today programme.

Joe covered the financial and Eurozone crises first hand from Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Italy and Ireland for the BBC TV's key news programme Newsnight.
 He was also the BBC’s Europe correspondent in Brussels and is familiar with the workings and machinations of the EU institutions. He has sources at the very highest level of government and commerce and has the ability to explain complex issues in a digestible and sometimes witty way.

Joe has had a number of scoops including plans to sell RBS to Abu Dhabi, the news that Ireland was to get an IMF bailout in 2010 and the sale of Harrods by Mohammed Al Fayed. He was also the first to broadcast an Vishing phone call (voice phishing) as it happened on the BBC’s Moneybox programme.

Joe was awarded the prestigious ‘Wincott Prize’ for journalism in 2016. He was shortlisted for the ‘Journalist of the Year’ award by the Royal Statistical Society as well as ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ at the Headline Money Awards. He also lectures post graduate students in journalism at City University London.

Malcolm Harbour, CBE

Senior Adviser, Teneo Cabinet DN

Malcolm Harbour was elected as Conservative MEP for the UK West Midlands in 1999, and served 3 mandates. In 2009 he became Chairman of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee. He was a key player in shaping policies and legislation for the single market, manufacturing industry, the digital economy, research and consumer protection. He did not seek re-election in 2014, and is now a Council Member at the University of Birmingham, Director of the Digital Policy Alliance, Senior Adviser to the European Policy Centre and to the EU policy consultants Cabinet DN. From 1967 to 1999, after graduating in Engineering from Cambridge, Malcolm worked in the motor industry, holding senior roles in new model development, marketing and sales, before launching his own research consultancy.

Sandrine Dixson-Declève

Senior Associate, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve has over 28 years of European and international policy and strategic experience with a particular focus on EU and international climate change, environmental, sustainability, green growth and energy policy and strategic programme development. She has built from scratch, fundraised and run EU offices and platforms bringing together business leaders, policy makers, academia and NGOs. Until recently, Sandrine was Chief Partnership Officer for UN Agency Sustainable Energy for All and prior to that the Director of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group and the EU office of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (2009-2016). During that period she was also appointed Executive Director of the Green Growth Platform bringing together EU Ministers and CEOs. She is a respected facilitator and professor on climate change, green growth, conventional and sustainable energy solutions and innovative ideas as well as has been the personal advisor to HRH The Prince of Wales, several MEPs, European Commission Presidents, Commissioners and officials, Governments in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, international organisations including OPEC, ADB, OECD, UNEP, USAID, UNFCCC, IEA and business leaders of large international, European and African companies.

Sandrine was recognised by GreenBiz as one of the 30 most influential women across the globe driving change in the low carbon economy and promoting green business. She is a distinguished member of The Club of Rome; a Senior Associate and faculty member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL); Chair of the INKEMIA Scientific Advisory Board; Member of The Guardian’s Sustainable Business Advisory Board; Member of the European Aluminium’s Sustainability Advisory Board; Member of the Climate KIC Advisory Board. She was Vice Chair, European Biofuels Technology Platform 2008-2016; Board member, We Mean Business 2014-2016 and on the Advisory Board of the Oil and Gas major Sasol from 2007-2010. She recently spoke on TEDx: The Sustainable Future series and has published numerous articles, book chapters and given presentations on green growth and competitiveness, energy, climate change, sustainable development, transport, conventional and alternative fuel quality legislation as well as on trade & environment.