Chair/Panellist biographies

Chair:

Eileen Connolly, Director, DTZ

Eileen Connolly joined Donaldsons in 1982, now DTZ and has over 27 years experience in the shopping centre industry. Eileen heads the DTZ Retail Marketing in the UK and EMEA region and has been involved in over 90 retail and leisure destinations. Her expertise covers all elements of the marketing mix including strategic planning, branding and positioning, budgets, performance audits and research, award submissions and business to business marketing during planning, construction and leasing phases.
 
Eileen has a wide knowledge of the industry as a regular contributor to events, journals and conferences serving as an International Council of Shopping Centres( ICSC) Europe (2002-2008) and British Council of Shopping Centres( BCSC) Advisory Board member; judge and Taskforce member for the BCSC Purple Apple Marketing Awards from 1998-2006 ; as the ICSC Solal Marketing Awards Chair and judge from 1998-2005; ICSC Maxi Awards Chair in 2005 and current Jury member for the ICSC Foundation Community Awards.

Panellists:

Mary Portas, Creative Director, Yellowdoor

Retail marketing guru Mary Portas is probably the United Kingdoms foremost authority on retail and brand communication. As Creative Director at London’s most respected retail branding and communications agency, Yellowdoor, Mary is recognised throughout the trade as the “Queen of Shops”. Previously Creative Director of Harvey Nichols, Mary repositioned the Harvey Nichols brand into the world renowned store and restaurant group it is today.

In 2005 Mary was commissioned to write a weekly feature in the Saturday Telegraph Magazine reviewing the state of the nation’s shops. Mary now sits on the panel judging the annual national Telegraph Best and Worst shops in Britain awards. Mary is now perceived as a national spokesperson for the retail and fashion industry appearing and talking regularly on the Today programme on Radio 4, Panorama and all national lifestyle TV shows.

Mary’s name is respected globally by designers and business leaders alike. Yet her priorities are always her children, Mylo and Verity.

Simon Brown, Managing Director, Joe Browns

Simon Brown is managing director of Joe Browns. Simon founded Joe Browns in 1999 after leaving his family manufacturing business. In the beginning sales were driven purely by catalogues, but the company quickly adapted to the opportunities of the internet, which now accounts for more than 80% of sales. Joe Browns also designs and creates successful pages for other large mail order businesses both in the UK and overseas. Their in-house designers and buyers travel extensively for inspiration, so as to create unique ranges that clearly differentiate the business from the High Street. Joe Browns is now one of the most profitable home shopping companies in the UK.

Gerald Jennings, Retail Portfolio Director for the North and Scotland, Land Securities

Gerald Jennings is Land Securities’ Retail Portfolio Director for the North and Scotland and heads the company’s Leeds office, located in the heart of the city’s retail core.

The portfolio managed by Gerald and his team includes the flagship White Rose Shopping Centre in South Leeds and is set to expand with the Trinity Leeds development - the city centre’s first one million square foot regional shopping and leisure destination, targeted for opening in autumn 2012.

In addition to the Leeds-based assets, he and his colleagues have responsibility for retail assets in Liverpool, Sunderland, Glasgow, Livingston and Aberdeen.

Gerald has worked in the retail property sector for more than 20 years and prior to joining Land Securities in 1999 managed Arcadia Group’s property portfolio.

Jane Rexworthy, Head of the National Skills Academy for Retail

As Head of the National Skills Academy for Retail, Jane is responsible for establishing a network of up to 70 retail skills shops offering world class training for the retail sector. Before moving over to the NSA, Jane worked for Skillsmart Retail for just under five years as National Manager for England and was involved in developing partnerships in the English regions and developing the concept for the National Skills Academy for Retail. Jane has worked in and around the retail sector for more than 25 years in store management, training and HR.

Tim Whitworth, CEO, Republic

Tim is Chief Executive of Republic. During his time with the business he has held positions in more or less every department…having joined the business in 1989 as a Saturday boy. He has an un-paralleled breadth of knowledge within Republic and the wider ‘branded’ apparel market.
 
The appointment of Tim to the newly created position of CEO led to some dramatic changes within the business. The store estate increased from 18 ‘northern’ stores to more than 100 nationwide. Sales are set to top £200m this year…a far cry from the £25m he acquired in 2001. The once breakeven clothes store chain is now the UK’s number one multi-brand fashion retailer with profits representing 15% of turnover and some of the best industry leading statistics.
 
The UK still represents a huge growth opportunity, with a further 100 stores planned and a threefold sales target to realise. However, international and additional multi-channel opportunities are in the pipeline…possibly, cementing Republic as a worldwide fashion success story.
 
A combination of brands and looks (some owned and designed by the business and some selected from around the world) combine with a unique store environment and great teams to deliver a world-class shopping experience.