Speakers

Prem has 20 years of financial experience across international, multi-site operators, and is recognised as an inspiring people leader and trusted business partner. He also has a passion for influencing business strategy, driving transformational change and developing leading teams. He started his career with Grant Thornton working across multiple divisions including M&A, Renewable Energy & Infrastructure Advisory, Audit (UK and India) and Special Projects. He also completed the ACA and Corporate Finance qualifications. He has spent the last decade working at divisional board level within FTSE 100, Fortune 500 and Private Equity backed businesses, and across multiple sectors including Real Estate (Residential, Commercial), Hospitality and Leisure. Prem enjoys travelling, hiking, scuba diving and learning about wildlife. Join my session >

Laura Bryant is the GB Finance Director at Britvic, the largest supplier of branded still soft drinks in Great Britain and the number two supplier of branded carbonated soft drinks in Great Britain. The company combines its own leading brand portfolio including Robinsons, Fruit Shoot, Tango, J2O, London Essence, Aqua Libra and Jimmy’s Iced Coffee with PepsiCo brands such as Pepsi, 7UP and Lipton Ice Tea. Laura achieved a degree in Biomedical Material Science at Birmingham University, before training as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young in London. She then joined the Commercial Finance team at Britvic and from there progressed through many different finance roles within the company covering most finance disciplines, including GB Financial Control and Tax, Group Financial Control & FP&A, Director of Audit & Risk and Director of Commercial Finance for GB. As such, she has been involved in the Britvic growth journey through it's major events, including IPO, acquisitions and integrations, and risk events. She became Finance Director in October 2017. Laura has been responsible for ensuring the Britvic GB Finance team has the capability and expertise required in a fast-paced FMCG business. She has been at the forefront of setting and challenging the strategy and the culture to drive financial growth and transformation at Britvic in recent years. She is a passionate supporter of equity, diversity & inclusion believing that a truly open culture coupled with a diversity of thinking, backgrounds and style really can drive outstanding business performance. Laura is sponsor of the gender equality B.Empowered network group at Britvic, she is a mentor to four individuals across the business and a key member of both the Finance Leadership Exec and GB Executive team. Join my session >

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Shamik Dhar has 36 years’ experience as an economist. Starting in H.M. Treasury as an economic assistant in the mid-1980s, he moved to Oxford Economic Forecasting and then spent most of the 1990s as a senior economist in the Bank of England, where he worked on the UK economic forecast in the early days of inflation targeting and on monetary policy analysis in the early days of the Monetary Policy Committee. Shamik moved to Aviva Investors (formerly Morley Fund Management) in 2000 and spent the next 14 years in the City of London, ending up as a Head of Investment Strategy. In 2014, he became Chief Economist at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in a period of rapid geopolitical and economic change, advising ministers and senior officials on the economics of Brexit. Shamik joined BNY Mellon as Global Chief Economist in October 2018. Shamik has a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a Masters in Economics from Queen Mary College, University of London. He also spent a year as a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-1990’s. Join my session >

Konstantin is the Co-founder of Payhawk. He has developed Payhawks spend management; with their solution offering an integrated tool for managing business credit and debit card payments, expenses, and cash. Businesses from 32 countries actively use Payhawk debit and credit cards and AP management solutions to save time and money managing their company expenses. Konstantin is a seasoned finance and investment professional with a strong tech industry and management consulting background, Konstantin was recently recognised as CFO of the Year in EY’s annual business awards. During his session, he will demonstrate how to take advantage of opportunities, delve into the realm of automation, and showcase finance projects that will shape the future of the finance department. Join my session >

Dr. Alexander Schmidt is Head of Science and Climate Research at Normative, the world’s first carbon accounting engine, which enables enterprises to calculate their full carbon footprints and reduce their emissions to net zero. Before joining Normative, Alexander worked as a consultant and entrepreneur in the field of data science and artificial intelligence. Alexander holds a PhD in Economics (Dr. oec.), Econometrics and Quantitative Economics, from the University of Hohenheim, obtained after completing his studies in international business and East Asian studies in Germany, China, and Japan. Alexander has spoken at conferences organized by the UN – including COP – and at institutions such as Oxford University and Deloitte. Join my session >

After graduating in Natural Sciences from Durham University, Hermione took a finance role at United Biscuits (now Pladis). This led her across manufacturing, logistics and core finance. Following this she joined Jaguar Land Rover’s and spent 5 years based in China leading the FP&A function before moving to head up the purchasing & engineering finance department. On return to the UK in 2022, Hermione started the sustainability finance function in JLR bringing sustainability to life within the business & driving ESG into decision making. Away from work she's a keen sportswoman & you'll often find in the sea or on a court of some kind!

Penélope Villarin is the Finance Discipline Leader for the strategic IT companies in BBVA, a Spanish multinational financial services company. She started working for HP and then joined BBVA to pursue a career in Venture Capital and M&A. During her years in BBVA she has invested in multiple start-ups and technology companies that have contributed to the digital transformation of the financial group. She has also served on various Corporate Boards using her expertise and influence to ensure sound financial management and effective governance practices. Penelope has spent the last 5 years leading the finance divisions of some of the biggest IT companies belonging to BBVA, focusing on transformation, advanced analytics, agile resource allocation and cost efficiency. Penelope has  a degree in Law and Economics from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE) and is a CFA Charterholder.

As a Commercial Director with over ten years of experience in the b2b industry, Guy Sear is responsible for developing and executing strategic GTM strategies for Payhawk across the UK&I sales teams.

Seasoned Finance Executive with 20 years of working experience in financial processes, audit, tax, controlling, financial compliance and business support at large listed US multinationals. Career start at Deloitte in (Inter)national audit and continued with broad finance responsibilities at Staples, JLG, Viacom and Bose. Bringing a high level of energy and structure to the organization that motivates and stimulates multi location teams to get the best out of themselves and becoming supportive and qualitative business partners. Proven track record of establishing and developing multi-location finance teams, identifying business risks and opportunities and realization of major business and process improvements.  Key success factors for these accomplishments are the creation of a diverse international internal and external network, clear stake holder management and focus on creating a team development environment. Key technical experience areas are financial process management and simplification, audit management, SOX, transfer pricing, BEPS and CBC reporting, US GAAP, multiple local GAAP’s, SAP implementation, Lean thinking and team management. As a person enjoy a complex and changing business environment, with a lot of interaction and partnering with teams in the organization. 

Nicholas (Nick) trained as an accountant and has a unique 25+ year background in audit & accounting, finance and back office software applications selling to many of the world’s largest companies. Nick previously held both a pre-sales role and then an alliance & channel manager role at Infor Sunsystems before being recruited into the French CPM vendor Cartesis (Now part of SAP).  Nick was UK lead pre-sales on financial close for Cartesis before being headhunted into Hyperion.  Nick joined Oracle with the acquisition of Hyperion has gained significant experience working in CPM pre-sales, product marketing, business development and go to market strategy.   Nick is a focused business development leader with vast experience generating and executing demand generation campaigns, creating compelling content and leading teams. Nick joined OneStream after a long career at Oracle, where his most recent role was Head of EMEA ERP, EPM & Supply Chain strategy. Nick is known for his finance background; CPM solutions experience and strong affinity with customers and partners.  Nick lives in Malaga, Spain with his wife and two children.

Atif Hafeez is a seasoned CFO with additional credentials as an all-round business administrator and board member. His wide-ranging international experience, which spans over two decades within private and public equity spheres, has enabled him to develop global acumen in finance, business and governance. Hafeez is currently serving as a Group Chief Financial Officer of Quantanite, a Customer Experience and Digital Outsourcing solutions provider for the world's fastest growing companies. Previously, Hafeez held multiple leadership and management positions at Ibex, global CX outsourcer for the world’s leading brands. Hafeez also held senior roles at Toyota Group (Hino Motors) and The Resource Group (TRG) after starting his career at PwC. In his non-executive capacity, Hafeez serves on multiple third sector boards.