Archives: Speakers

Global Commercial Director / Managing Director with 30 years’ experience in UK and international markets. Predominantly world-class branded drinks businesses but also start-ups and B2B. Specialities include, Sales, Marketing, Leadership, Operations and Growth. Responsible for Brothers Cider UK and international markets through an excellent team across sales, marketing and finance. Brothers Drinks is one of the UK’s leading drinks manufacturers and a major cider producer. Our leading brand, Brothers, is the fastest growing cider brand in the UK at November 2019 and rapidly extending its presence around the world, currently in more than 20 markets.

Ryan Burk is the Head Cider Maker at Angry Orchard, leading innovation.  He is a thought leader world-wide for Cider and passionate pioneer of reviving the Cider industry in the United States.  Ryan is a Board Member of US Association of Cider Makers (USACM), and a founding board member of Cider Institute of North America (CINA).  He has been named among the ‘Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers’ by Wine Enthusiast (2017) and ‘People to Watch’ by Imbibe75 (2018), drink innovators poised to make an impact.

Karl has extensive experience across multiple industry sectors that have equipped him with a unique ability to accomplish commercial results in a leadership capacity. Karl takes a strong focus on future orientated and innovative service environments that make a real customer impact and a significant difference to the organisation.

Having spent his whole working life in drinks, across retail, buying, distribution and sales, David Peek founded Angioletti Italian cider in early 2016.  Creating, sourcing, developing and selling a cider brand from a country which has an almost non-existent cider market and bringing it to the world’s biggest cider-consuming country (UK) and other markets has been “the challenge of a lifetime”.  Today, Angioletti Italian cider is widely distributed across UK Off-Trade (eg: Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsburys, etc) and On-Trade (eg: Carluccio’s, Bella Italia, Matthew Clark, LWC, etc), as well as the US, Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Lithuania.

Tom Bell, Managing Director of Skinny Brands, was named Young Achiever of the Year in the Drinks Business Awards 2018. Tom Bell launched his business in 2015 aged just 26, and since then the brand has gone from strength to strength. Noticing a huge gap in the market for a brand that specialised in low-calorie alcoholic drinks which didn’t compromise on taste, he joined forces with Gary Conway and formed Skinny Brands. Tom wants to encourage more innovation in the drinks industry. Skinny Brands provide products that tick all the boxes – they are not only low-calorie, but also vegan-friendly, gluten free and kosher certified whilst keeping their great taste. Consumers no longer have to pay the price in excess calories when they enjoy a drink. Having successfully completed the first year of trading, Skinny Brands have entered into 5 international markets, 4 of the top 5 major retailers in the UK, 2500+ on-trade venues and their products are widely available through major wholesalers across the country.