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LONDON FEATURED SPEAKERS

a welcome from our chairs

V Wilkes

Global Head of Security, Primark

I am delighted to be chairing Retail Risk – London 2023. This is a great opportunity to spend time with peers and industry experts in retail security. The current contexts of challenging economic times and the spotlight being on identity and belonging, combine to create an interesting set of hurdles for the industry in the coming years. I’m looking forward to hearing about new innovations and solutions, and to being at the forefront of driving the security agenda for retail security. Roll on Retail Risk 2023!

Ali Hannon

Diversity & Inclusion Consultant

I am delighted to be co-chairing Retail Risk – London. As a Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, I work globally with clients from a wide range of sectors and events like this give organisations a unique opportunity to gain insight into the issues at the cutting edge of their industry. Right now, diversity is a hot topic and one that is met with a lot of trepidation. I’m excited to help open up conversations about why inclusion matters so much for the future of the sector, and what we do to overcome our fear of getting things wrong. See you there!

Andy Wainwright
Head of Online Loss Prevention
Next

The evolution of fraud – survival of the fittest

How has the fraud landscape changed in response to the changed global economy?

Andy considers why previously honest customers are ‘evolving’ into fraudsters and what can be done to tackle this trend.

Andy has worked in the fraud industry for the past seventeen years and has significant experience in leading the investigation and prevention of internal and external crime within the financial, insurance, telecommunication and retail sectors. He has implemented new fraud strategies within financial organisations across multiple delivery channels for both cash and credit, leading to considerable cost savings.

He is a regular speaker at industry events and a member of the editorial board of Loss Prevention Magazine in the UK. His team at Next have won multiple awards at the Fraud Awards for their success in Online Profit Protection. 

Adam Oberdick
Lead Director Asset Protection
CVS Health

Total Retail Loss and the strategies needed to execute it

Adam’s global omnichannel experience has given him the vantage point he needs for TRL

In his career to date Adam has taken a deep dive into both store loss and .com fraud at Nike and US pharmacy/newsagent/convenience store giant CVS Health. This omnichannel perspective gives him the edge when it comes to understanding and strategising for Total Retail Loss, rolling out innovation across CVS Health’s 9,000 stores. Here he shares insights into creating winning strategies that are recognised as a win/win for the whole business.

Following his presentation Adam will host a round table discussion that will explore his ‘innovation hubs’ initiative at CVS, a key part of the TRL strategy.

Hannah Wadey
Chief Executive
Safer Business Network

Iona Blake
Security & Incident Manager
Boots

Joe Rutlidge
UK Guarding & External Partnership Manager
Tesco

Michael Jones
European Investigations Manager
TJX Europe

Hannah Wadey

Iona Blake

Joe Rutlidge

Michael Jones

Demystifying information sharing for meaningful outcomes

Join Hannah, alongside UK retailers and leaders in the field, to discuss practical ways to overcome barriers to information-sharing

National retailers are seeing huge loss figures, with violence and aggression towards staff at an all-time high, double that of per-Covid figures and still rising. Staff are scared to come to work. This demonstrates more than ever the need for partnership working to support the retail sector and the police to unlock the challenges of information sharing so we can target high harm offenders. We need to be open and honest about the barriers to information sharing and together decide practical ways to overcome these which suits everyone.

Hannah Wadey is Chief Executive for Safer Business Network, a Community Interest Company which brings businesses together with the police to promote safety and security through partnership working, intelligence sharing and training. Working across 35 town centres in London and with 2 national projects, Safer Business Network has placed itself at the forefront of tackling the priorities of national retailers.    

After studying Criminology at University, Hannah started her career in local government, but it was moving to the New West End Company that sparked her interest in business crime and its impact on our town and city centres. She feels passionately about ensuring the business community gets the attention it deserves particularly at a time when its impact is so greatly felt with the cost-of-living crisis, and the increase in losses, violence and harm.

Duncan Fielding
Director Enterprise Sales, UK 
DTiQ 

Are remote audits the future of Loss Prevention? 

A discussion on how the benefits of coupling video and data-mining can be extended to new areas of retail

Tightly coupling video and data-mining has proven to be an effective way for Loss Prevention teams to deliver significant value to their organisations. Now we are seeing global businesses including Subway use the same technology for conducting Remote Audits to improve Employee Productivity, Store Compliance and Customer Experience. 

Are we likely to see Remote Audits becoming an industry standard over the coming years? 

Duncan Fielding has a long career working with many innovative Retail Technology solutions and brings 30+ years of industry experience across QSR, C-Store, Forecourt and brick and mortar retail.

Dr David Rubens
Executive Director 
Institute of Strategic Risk Management

Risk Management 2023-25: how are extreme changes shaping Retail’s future?

Modelling and how you can prepare for change in your business

Retail security management is not immune from the extreme changes that we are experiencing across every level of our society: from climate change and extreme weather conditions to global supply chain fragility and the possibility of cyber-attack, and down to the impacts of social changes that are visible on every high street in the country.

This session will look at some of the issues associated with modelling and preparing for those changes within the context of the ever-changing risk environment that we are all operating in. It will be followed by an in-depth round table session for those interested in exploring the topic further.

The round table discussion will explore options for creating effective policies, procedures, and frameworks at every level of the organisation that can help support the development of a security and risk management capability that will allow the greatest possibility for effective pre-event planning and management, and post-event response and recovery.

About David

Dr David Rubens established his first security and risk management consultancy in London in 1992. He is Executive Director of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management MD of Deltar Consultancy, is a Chartered Security Professional (CSyP) and is currently a member of the UK National Preparedness Commission.

Having delivered executive training programmes in 17 countries between 2016 and 2019, following the impacts of Covid-19 in March 2020, David established an on-line training framework for security and risk management in partnership with Emirates Group Security, that until today has had 10,000+ registrants from around the world. 

David established the Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) in October 2018. Since then, it has become recognised as a major institute in the sector, with International Chapters in over 30 countries across SE Asia, Middle East, US, Australasia and Eastern Europe. 

Dave Pardoe
Head of Profit Protection
The Works

Leaders and the first 100 days of appointment

When you take up a new leadership role it’s a chance to set the tone for the remainder of your tenure

According to Forbes magazine, your first 100 days require “a delicate balance of confidence and action with listening and learning”. Join Dave to share experiences and hear the insights of others on this topic!

Discussion will include:

  • Ready for action – the importance of the first impression – who do you want / need to be?
  • Building traction with stakeholders
  • The importance of the 100-day plan

Nermina Webster
Managing Director 
Business Loss Prevention

Internal theft and fraud – what are the best legal routes to recovery?

How embedding Civil Recovery into your business can help your company’s financial performance

After qualifying as a Solicitor in 2009 Nermina’ s career path led her to helping companies with cases of fraud and theft within their businesses.  Join Nermina as she talks about a number of interesting cases brought to her by her clients, along with how these progressed through the civil law route, from settlement outside of court through to County Court action and the various enforcement strategies taken by her clients. The session will cover:

  • Different types of fraud, theft and negligence situations that other companies have come across in their business
  • How to successfully gather evidence to prove your civil case ‘on the balance of probabilities’
  • Criminal Law v Civil Law and whether to report the crime to the Police
  • Benefits of using County Court
  • Different types of enforcement
  • County Court judgments and how they affect individuals
  • Does civil recovery work as a deterrent?
  • How embedding civil recovery into your business can really help company financial performance and benefit your shareholders

Nermina serves as Managing Director and an In-house Solicitor for Business Loss Prevention Ltd and is totally committed to achieving justice and financial loss recovery for her clients. Nermina has over 15 years post-qualified experience as an SRA registered Solicitor and has built a reputation for her simple and clear approach to civil recovery. She prides herself on being a friendly and approachable MD.

Previously holding valuable positions within NBM Solicitors and Freeths, along with working as an In-house Solicitor for a number of nationally recognised brands, she became MD of Business Loss Prevention in 2009. During this time, Nermina has been invited as a guest speaker at a number of retail fraud, loss prevention and cross-industry related events – as the industry recognises her specialism and results achieved.

Patrick Holdaway
Superintendent
National Business Crime Centre, City of London Police

Darren Conway
Group Managing Director
Lodge Service

Patrick Holdaway

Darren Conway

Safer Business Action Days – collaboration hurdles, successes, and the future

Join Patrick and Darren for this round table discussion

Chris Cobb
CIT Consultant

Extreme cash handling

How do you protect cash in one of the harshest environments in retail…

Frankly, the contents of this presentation will see jaws hitting the floor in disbelief!

Chris Cobb of iZi Cash Holdings will demonstrate how cash handling works in South Africa, with a focus on violent crime aimed at merchants’ brick and mortar stores, cross-pavement and in transit challenges. He will also discuss how this may be a sign of things to come in Europe.

Chris’ presentation will include:

  • How does cash handling work in SA?
  • How can lessons learnt from this extreme environment be applied to the UK?
  • What ORC trends are we likely to see arriving in the UK from overseas?
  • How can we deal with the new threats as they emerge?
  • War stories to inspire you and build on…

Ali Hannon
Diversity & Inclusion Consultant

It’s just banter – yes?

When does banter at work tip over into bullying and what can you do about it?

If you recognise banter is a challenge in your workplace and you’d like to get a grip on it before it takes too much hold (and without being accused of being the humour-police), join this discussion! It’s not about eliminating humour from the workplace, quite the opposite. It’s about empowering people with knowledge, understanding and empathy so that they can use it as they intend to, rather than cause unintended negative consequences for themselves and those around them.

Ali Hannon

A Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, Ali works globally with clients from a wide range of sectors. D&I is a hot topic right now and one that is met with a lot of trepidation. Ali is excited to open up conversations about why inclusion matters for the future of retail – and what we can do to overcome our fear of getting things wrong.

Jason Trigg
CEO
Argenbright Security Europe

Is Chinese-manufactured CCTV a cybersecurity threat for retailers?

A discussion around the ethical and security concerns that have led Tesco to remove this technology from its estates

Following on from the Government moving more forcefully against Chinese technology due to security concerns on ‘sensitive sites’, the UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, will remove equipment of Chinese manufacture after warnings over security and ethical risks. Tesco’s decision sets an important precedent. Other retailers, and the Police, are being encouraged to follow suit and remove these allegedly rights-abusive surveillance devices from their estates.

Jason Trigg

Jason is CEO of Argenbright Security Europe Ltd (ASEL), a company that comprises Amberstone Security, The Protector Group, and TFS, providing security monitoring services and IoT-enabled integrated security solutions across retail, logistics, distribution, construction, and critical national infrastructure sectors.

Gareth Lewis
Loss Prevention and Security Services Manager
The Southern Co-operative

Simon Gordon
Founder
Facewatch

Nick Fisher
Chairman
Facewatch

Benjamin Rudd
Loss Prevention Manager
Frasers Group

Liam Ardern
Operations Manager
Lawrence Hunt & Co.

Dave Sumner
Data Protection Officer
Facewatch

Gareth Lewis

Simon Gordon

Nick Fisher

Benjamin Rudd

Liam Ardern

Dave Sumner

Facial recognition technology – protecting customers, staff and goods from criminal acts

A discussion around the latest developments and proven success of using facial recognition to deter crime in retail

Gareth Lewis

As well as being the Head of Loss Prevention & Security Services for Southern Co-op, Gareth is also founder and Chairman of UK Partners Against Crime and a member of and contributor to numerous local, regional and national organisations, all of which are focused on reducing business crime. 

He believes passionately that effective business crime reduction and the delivery of a safer retail environment for retail workers and customers, can only be achieved by working collaboratively on such issues with other businesses, the police, local authorities and other organisations and that technology has an important part to play in supporting this strategic approach.

His current focus is on raising awareness of the very real increase in violent retail crime, youth anti-social behaviour and those localised prolific offenders whose criminality is driven by substance abuse.

Simon Gordon

Simon Gordon founded Facewatch in April 2010. After 13 years of hard work, Facewatch has now achieved his goal of being the UK’s leading crime  prevention system using facial recognition and has been cleared by the data protection regulator (the ICO) as being fully compliant with GDPR. Simon is also proprietor of Gordon’s Wine Bar in London. Simon is a qualified Chartered Accountant, formerly Finance Director of the Skandia UK group, managing £10bn of assets. 

Nick Fisher

With a background of over 30 years in retail, including COO of Phones 4U overseeing 700 stores, twice winner of mobile retailer of the year, European Services Director at Dixons Retail and at the same was part of the team that successfully launched Freeserve. Nick always demonstrated a passion for retail and has a comprehensive understanding of the impact that retail crime has on both staff and the bottom line.

Nick is now Chairman of Facewatch, a secure cloud based platform that uses Facial Recognition technology to proactively deter and protect businesses against low level crime. Business of all sizes are now paying a high price for rising petty criminal activity and its time to self-help. Nicks mission is to commoditize facial recognition for all business and launch the greatest advance in security since the introduction of CCTV.

Benjamin Rudd

Ben has been with Frasers Group for almost 20 years, working his way up from part-time Sales Assistant to their Head of Luxury Loss Prevention. He now manages all their UK sites, including sports, premium and luxury brands such as Sports Direct, Flannels and Cruise Fashion.

Liam Ardern

Liam has worked for award-winning SPAR Retailer Lawrence Hunt & Co Ltd for 13 years. He manages operations across their portfolio of SPAR stores, Post Offices and Fast-Food outlets in the North West.

Dave Sumner

David is a subject matter expert in global data protection law and serves clients as consultant and data protection officer in the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

David’s sector specific work includes supporting clients operating in the fields of artificial intelligence, facial recognition, healthcare, insurance, eLearning & training, debt recovery and retail.

David’s experience includes being subject of a successful audit and assessment by the Information Commissioner’s Office (the UK supervisory authority for data protection). As Data Protection Officer for Facewatch he took the lead in their response to the lengthy ICO audit and assessment. His client emerged with a successful assessment and outcome despite the legal and regulatory complexity of this area of law as a result of the personal information management system David designed and implemented.

Further experience includes achieving the UK Biometrics & Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s Surveillance Camera Code certification for Facewatch on data protection issues relating to CCTV & Automated Facial Recognition, as well as designing and delivering data protection training.

David is a former Police Chief Superintendent. His notable director level policing roles included Head of Criminal Justice, Director of Intelligence, NATO’s Chief Advisor to Afghanistan’s Minister of Interior and Director General for domestic intelligence. He also served as Head of Security for City of London Police.

On completing 31 years police service David founded Bishopsgate Kinsman Ltd, a global data protection consultancy.

His professional qualifications include Certified Data Protection Officer and Certified Security Management Professional. David scored in the top 20% of global results in the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) examination.

David’s management experience, knowledge of data protection law, technical security, human factors and physical security means that he brings a strategic and practical holistic approach to enable clients to build trust, resilience and reliability for their customers and regulatory authorities.

Gary Tattersall
Managing Director, Europe
Chainlane

The risky business of retail: what are the ‘blind spots’ in your business?

How to prepare, plan, and execute for better results and growth

What makes retail such a risky business, how to alleviate such risks, and what are the potential benefits? Gary considers the risks of blind spots within retail operations, how it leaves money on the table, and how you can turn your business around to prepare, plan, and execute for better results and growth. 

Gary Tattersall 

Gary is the Managing Director Europe for Chainlane, with former retail leadership positions including Director of Asset Protection and Risk Management at Jack Wills. 

With Chainlane’s supply chain transparency platform, Gary helps companies eliminate blind spots in retail, food & beverage, manufacturing, and logistics. 

He brings a wealth of retail experience having led the Loss-Prevention, Brand Protection, Inventory Control, and Health & Safety teams at Jack Wills while also introducing and providing solutions to reduce loss and mitigate risk globally across the business. Gary’s strategic vision and pragmatic approach to risk management was key in driving improvements and efficiencies throughout the company. 

Mark Gleeson
Regional Director UK
Auror

Ruby Arden
Director of Global Customer Success
Auror

Andrew Kouimanis

Global Vice President of Partnerships & Innovation
Auror


Mark Gleeson

Ruby Arden

Andrew Kouimanis

Inside Auror: how the world’s largest retail partners are combating ORC

Working together to reduce crime, loss, violence and aggression within their stores

As Organised Retail Crime (ORC) continues to impact communities around the world, a movement is growing to face this threat. Discover how the world’s largest retail brands are combatting ORC to reduce crime, loss, violence & aggression within their stores.

Edward Woodall
Campaign Co-ordinator
ShopKind

Paddy Lillis
General Secretary
USDAW

Edward Woodall

Paddy Lillis

ShopKind: combating abuse against shopworkers

The Shopkind campaign is backed by the Home Office and open to all retail businesses

This session will provide insight into the ShopKind campaign that is backed by the UK Home Office and open to all retail businesses to support. ShopKind aims to raise awareness of abuse towards shopworkers and encourage positive behaviours in stores. Find out how you can get involved in the campaign and join the 130 other retail businesses already supporting it.

Ed Woodall is Government Relations Director at ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) and co-ordinates the ShopKind campaign on behalf of the Home Office. ShopKind was launched in April 2021 and aims to encourage positive behaviours in shops, acknowledge the important work of shopworkers and raise the issue of abuse and violence towards shopworkers. For ACS, Ed is responsible for communicating policy positions across Westminster, Whitehall and the devolved nations with civil servants, parliamentarians and external stakeholders. Ed has given evidence to numerous parliamentary committees in Westminster and devolved nations and contributes to policy developments across a range of government working groups including the Department for Business and Trade, Department for Levelling Up and the Home Office. Ed has an MBA from Surrey Business School.

Paddy Lillis became Usdaw’s General Secretary in July 2018 following overwhelming support from the Union’s branches across the UK for his nomination. He was re-elected to serve a further five year term in November 2022.

Jerry Boersma
Senior Solution Architect
Appriss Retail

How to secure omni-channel retail

A discussion of the threats to omni-channel, counter-tactics, and technology to reduce exposure

Many retailers have built successful businesses that incorporate an in-store and online shopping experience. With that success, comes additional risk in the form of fraud and abuse. This round table provides an opportunity for participants to discuss the threats retailers are experiencing across omni-channel, which counter tactics are effective and how technology can help reduce exposure. Jerry will share his thoughts and experience of these risks and how Appriss are helping major global retailers combat them.

Chris Etherington
Senior Product Manager, Payments
Marks & Spencer

Ronan Le Mestre
Client Success EMEA
Accertify

Chris Etherington

Ronan Le Mestre

Payment optimisation through SCA Exemption Management

A discussion about the implementation of Accertify’s solution at Marks & Spencer

The SCA RTS brought upon authentication obligations that needed to be met by Payment Service Providers (PSPs), along with several scenarios when SCA must be applied unless an exemption is in place. This use of exemptions is important but exposes merchants to the risk of fraud chargeback liability, so it’s crucial to mitigate fraud risk at the same time.

During this session, Ronan will discuss Accertify’s SCA Optimisation solution with Chris who will share the results of implementing Accertify’s pre-authentication capability at Marks & Spencer – a 55% reduction in fraud rates along with a frictionless customer journey for 99.98% of its customers.

Stephen Smith
Director of Strategic Accounts
Forter

Risk vs Reward

How can loss prevention use its own expertise to drive revenue and improve customer experience?

Join Stephen for this round table discussion. Stephen is Director – Strategic Accounts at Forter. After studying law and qualifying as an accountant, Stephen became a sales professional in 2003 working for both startup organisations and big tech companies like Cisco. 

Preferring the energy of earlier stage, high growth businesses, Stephen has worked for several pre-IPO vendors helping them to develop through funding and IPO events driving new business and strategic account sales at both individual contributor and management levels. 

He believes in the power of curiosity and seeking to understand what motivates action, so he can better partner with his clients on existing initiatives or challenge the status quo through the identification, quantification and delivery of value. 

In his spare time, he can be found out walking with his dog Bishop and girlfriend Lisa, boxing, or clay pigeon shooting.

Steve Middleton
Global Head of Profit Protection & Risk
The Body Shop

Evolution of the Profit Protection Manager

Adapting to an ever changing retail environment

Emmeline Taylor
Professor of Criminology, City
University of London

Can Loss Prevention programs prevent in-store violence and abuse?

Join this discussion about the interconnection between retail theft and in-store violence

SEKURA Global are excited to invite Emmeline Taylor – Professor of Criminology and Sociology, to run a Round Table Session to discuss the interconnection between retail theft and in-store violence.

The discussion will include:

  • How big an issue is violence and abuse in your company?
  • How involved are LP in tackling violence / abuse?
  • What are the main deterrents / best practice?

We look forward to you joining our session and sharing your knowledge and insights.

Emmeline has substantial expertise across a number of areas including retail risk and security, offender behaviours, surveillance technologies, armed robbery, and residential burglary. She is currently working on several projects to improve retail security, tackle violence towards staff, loss of goods and criminal damage. Professor Taylor has published extensively across these topics, including six books. The most recent is Armed Robbers: Identity and Cultural Mythscapes in the Lucky Country (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Darren Conway
Group Managing Director
Lodge Service

Judy Atkinson
Group Sales Director
Lodge Service

Smoke and Mirrors

Building a better future for the security industry

Is the security industry really changing for the better or are we manipulating perceptions by creating false narratives or exaggerating reality?  As professional leaders we must be able to identify the need for change, develop a clear vision of the desired outcome, and build buy-in from all stakeholders involved.  Darren and Judy will spend a few minutes taking you through how we need to ‘create’!

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