Archives: Speakers

As a passionate digital marketer with a fascination for everything e-commerce, Chris currently leads the digital team at Best Western Hotels GB. Chris and his team have delivered strong performance in an ever-changing digital landscape. Originally joining Best Western GB as a website executive, Chris has progressed through a variety of roles that have allowed Chris to put passion into action. Whether this is CRO, project management or digital strategy Chris has consistently delivered business objectives. Chris is passionate about motivating his team to deliver exceptional results, be this by helping them as they grow there skillset or allowing them to take on new projects, Chris aims to create a team that works together in synergy.

His medical training as a specialist in orthopaedics and trauma surgery laid the foundation for his current entrepreneurship. The accuracy and the knowledge of how to acquire new knowledge helped him daily in the challenges as an entrepreneur. Since 2012, he has been dedicated to developing vegan cheese alternatives. Mudar started Happy Cheeze as a Limited back in 2016. In the meantime, they have grown as a team of 40 employees based in Cuxhaven – the passion has remained with them, and demand has continued to grow. 2017 they opened a new production facility in Cuxhaven – where they are able to produce more than 300,000 products monthly and ship them to foodies from all over the world. Although they have expanded, they still rely on traditional production methods and loving craftsmanship in their manufacturing – you can taste it in every bite! Due to the growing demand, Happy Cheeze is already looking forward to expanding again in the near future.

Anita is the founder and CEO of a Manchester/Ibiza based beverage start-up Crave Drinks. Prior to that she was the Category Manager, Vegan and Organic for a leading sport nutrition company Myprotein. She is a passionate and engaged leader with advanced degrees from Stockholm University and Peking University, Guanghua School of Management.

Casey Kappenman an Administrative Director who works with physicians, scientists and visionary leaders who push the boundaries of medicine through clinical research. Today’s clinical trials are more complex, making efficient research operations essential. To run an efficient research enterprise, interactions between the people, processes, and technologies are key, as operational transformation cannot be achieved through technology alone. It takes a holistic approach to ensure technology improves the processes employees depend on to get work done. With 15+ years of clinical research operations experience, Casey strategically addresses today’s research business challenges by applying methods such as workflow analysis and change management to new operational research technologies (CTMS, eRegulatory, ePayments, databases, etc). Casey holds a B.S. in Applied Health and a M.S. in Applied Biomedical Informatics from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. He is certified by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals and is a member of the American Medical Informatics Association.

A communication/marketing professional with several years experience working within retail and for a global brand company delivering internal/external communication projects and driving corporate branding. Maria started her career in the drinks industry working with premium drink brands including Absolut, Malibu and Kahlua at The Absolut Company in Stockholm, Sweden. Since leaving Pernod Ricard in 2015 she has worked with expansion communication and PR For IKEA and with several entrepreneurial projects. Early 2017, Maria (Swedish) and her husband Craig (South African) discovered a magical valley, home to many intriguing botanicals, in the Cederberg mountains, just north of Cape Town. The valley, which they now co-own, inspired them to distil rare Cape & classic gin botanicals, and then blend with pristine Swedish water. The result is CEDER’S, a distilled non-alcoholic alt-gin, your Everyday Escape.

Flemming Morth is Head of Center of Innovation at Royal Swinkels Family Brewers, known for its iconic brands like Bavaria 0.0, PALM, 8.6, Cornet and Habesha. He is responsible for building a strong innovation pipeline, improving time to market, fostering and commercializing new growth opportunities. He graduated from Aalborg University in Denmark with a Master’s degree in International Business. Flemming has successfully developed and launched innovations, new brands and new business models in various industries. He is passionate about rethinking marketing and innovation to help customers better achieve their goals.