Sue has worked in the drinks industry for over 25 years in NPD, Manufacturing and Technical roles. Having worked for Global manufacturer, Cott Beverages, for many years she has encountered many of the challenges that CSD manufacturers face today including re-formulating using natural ingredients, sugar reduction and CO2 shortages.
As the Technical Manager for CO2 Sustain she is working to provide an industry revolutionizing ingredient to help overcome these challenges and dramatically improve the consumer experience by making a drink stay fizzy for longer.
Ian is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Skinny Drinks Group.
Aged just 18, he set up his first business, as a self-taught photographer. After a hugely successful 2 years, reaching a turnover of £1.5m, Ian was ready to start his next venture and went on to establish his own property development firm. Fast forward a few years, Ian found himself running all North-West franchises of Britain’s favourite pizza chain, contributing to the company’s major expansion in the UK.
By then, this self-made man had mastered many disciplines, from sales to marketing and kitchen management.
But at a more personal level, Ian was faced with a problem. He’d been diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes and, as a big G&T fan, this meant that even low sugar tonics could spike his blood sugar. Faced with sugar crashes or quiet nights in, Ian set about addressing the need for a zero sugar, zero calorie and 100% natural mixer that didn’t compromise on taste. A few months later, Skinny Tonic – SDG’s flagship mixer brand – was born.
Today, SDG is on its way to becoming a brand powerhouse and one of the fastest growing and most agile drink manufacturers in Europe.
Marine has over 9 years of experience in building and executing marketing strategies for leading retail and grocery brands, across premium, organic and plant-based categories. In her last role, Marine was Head of Brand for Tesco Finest, the U.K. largest premium own brand. Prior to that, she was in charge of the leading yogurt brand, Muller Corner.
Marine is responsible for brand direction, strategy and execution across SDG’s portfolio, from Skinny Tonic to Emoji DRNK, bringing a fresh and innovative thinking to our business and driving our brands forward on this truly exciting journey
Chris has over a decade of sales and account management experience across the food and beverage space, and loves the challenges that come from working with both established market leaders and category disruptors. At PureCircle, Chris currently leads the UK & Irish market, as well as a number of global customers in the region. In addition, Chris also leads the Sports Nutrition category within Ingredion EMEA.
Matt Flury is a business psychologist who has worked in occupational psychology roles for nearly fifteen years, either leading large teams or operating as an internal consultant. He has extensive experience of building business capability through leadership, team development and operational management.
He has a first-class honours degree in Psychology and a Masters’ degree in Occupational Psychology from the University of Hertfordshire and is a Principal Practitioner member of the Association for Business Psychology.
Matt now manages a portfolio career, advising leaders on capability, culture, and change. He has recently worked with a well-known behavioural science practitioner and author to launch a learning/change management product to help leadership teams better understand and apply behavioural science.
Bostjan Skalar is a Slovenian citizen born in Ljubljana, Slovenia and is currently serving as an Executive Director – CEO of World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies. WAIPA is the umbrella organization of worldwide investment promotion agencies established in 1995 in Geneva under auspices of UNCTAD. Previously he served as a Director of new Slovenian Public Agency for Promotion of Investment, Internationalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism (SPIRIT). He also served as a Consul for Economic Affairs of Slovenia in Istanbul, Turkey. He has also effectively performed his international business activities and managing roles in different sectors in many foreign countries. He has over 20 years of management experience and is one of the global leaders in investment promotion area with a private-sector focus. His vast experiences in different fields from private to public sector give him a global overview on current business and geopolitical trends that influences the flows of FDI.
Three decades of passion for cross-border business and location strategies, over 650 companies served, advisory engagements for more than 150 EDOs/IPAs, visiting university professor on International Business Strategies, called-for speaker on business trends in Central/South Eastern Europe, and still grateful for every new client, each local site visit.
Early 2020 Elias established Locationperspectives, a specialty location strategy consultancy that emphasized delivering practical recommendations and working with clients to implement these. From 2003 through 2019, Elias built-out Deloitte’s Brussels-based site selection practice to Global Location Strategies. He joined Deloitte from Andersen where he led the European Business Location Services team. As Chicago-based Vice-Consul for the Netherlands from 1998 to 2000, he was responsible for the US Midwest operations of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency. Through the 1990s he worked with Price Waterhouse – Plant Location International.
Gregg Wassmansdorf is a Senior Managing Director in Newmark’s Global Corporate Services division, market leader for Global Corporate Services in Canada, and shares responsibility for platform development, sales, engagement management, and client service delivery at Newmark Global Strategy, the company’s consulting practice.
As a commercial real estate outsourcing advisor, Mr. Wassmansdorf helps mid-sized and large organizations evaluate the best means to access and implement service solutions for their global facilities. He facilitates engagements for strategic consulting, CRE/FM technology and data management, account and transaction management, workplace strategies & implementation, facilities services, and project management.
In his management consulting capacity, he works with his corporate clients to address challenges in global portfolio strategy, location strategy and site selection, supply chain planning, economic incentives, workplace strategy, property transaction execution, ESG initiatives, and capital project implementation. His experience spans many asset types including head offices, shared services & call centers, data centers, manufacturing plants, and distribution facilities.
