Speakers

Sharlene John, Head of Recruitment and Induction, Selfridges 

Sharlene is an award-winning business leader with over 20 years’ experience in HR and recruitment. Since joining Selfridges in 2021, Sharlene has been instrumental in making progress towards Selfridges goal of building an inclusive retail culture. She is focused on engaging and educating Selfridges leadership and management, raising awareness around DE&I, inclusive hiring and HR best practices. Her work has supported closing the gender pay gap and has increased representation at different levels across the business. 

Sharlene is a recognised business leader who was awarded a British Diversity Award in 2023 and has been recognised by Diversity in Retail as a Woman to Watch in Retail and a Retail Role Model. Her passion for DE&I extends beyond the workplace. She is an active member of her community, supporting local authorities providing career advice to young people and mentoring women to promote empowerment and self-belief. As a woman of colour in business, Sharlene knows first-hand how critical representation is. 

Sonia Astill, Chief People Officer, Wickes 

Sonia joined the Wickes Group as Chief People Officer in February 2019 having previously been an HR Director within the Travis Perkins Group. She previously held several senior HR roles in Kingfisher and Home Retail Group over 18 years, latterly as HR and Organisational Design director of Argos leading the people and organisation aspects of the digital transformation. 

Sonia is passionate about building engaging workplaces where everyone can feel at home and have experiences beyond the everyday. She firmly believes that an inclusive culture where diverse teams thrive drives better performance outcomes for the business and customers as well as benefiting communities and society. Her focus has been on embedding a colleague-fed-leader-led approach to inclusion and diversity at Wickes, ensuring that the conditions for change are in place through increased levels of education, awareness and data insight alongside the development of relevant policies and practices. 

Sarah Willett, Chief People Officer, The Very Group 

Having joined the executive board in 2019, Sarah oversees The Very Group’s people agenda and led work to establish the company's digital operating model and inclusive culture. She has been at The Very Group since 2009, playing an instrumental and wide-ranging role. As People Director, she delivered the organisational change that moved Very from a catalogue to pure play retailer and embedded the purpose and values that have supported The Very Group’s rapid digital transformation. Sarah was previously head of HR at Marks & Spencer. 

Tolulope Oke, Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity, Diageo 

Tolu has led large-scale national DE&I programmes across the charity sector, UK construction industry, higher education, retail and most recently tech. In 2020, Tolu joined AWS to lead DE&I programmes across EMEA and made Amazon history by launching the first Autism at Work programme. She served as a Global ID&E Customer Engagement Leader where she collaborated with AWS customers through community impact partnerships, collaborative events, and executive engagements. She is now the Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity at Diageo, partnering with senior stakeholders across multiple markets, geographies and business functions to deliver an exciting and progressive D&I ambition for Diageo colleagues, customers, and consumers worldwide. 

Sue Tunmore, VP People Operations, Asda

Sue Tunmore joined Asda as VP People Operations in January 2023. Sue is responsible for all areas of people business partnering across the business, as well as Asda’s People Services and Future programme team. 

Sue has extensive experience in both retail and HR. Before joining Asda, Sue spent seven years as People Director for Co-op in their food and support centre leadership teams. After supporting Co-op with its Retail Business Transformation programme, Sue also led Co-op business services for the group. 

Sue previously held director roles at Britvic Soft Drinks, Deloitte and Andersen Consulting on large-scale transformation programmes. Since 2021, Sue has been on the board of trustees for Community Integrated Care, one of the UK’s leading social care charities. 

Matt Ingram-Smith, Senior Sales Manager, Tribepad 

After 10 years working in software sales and then recruitment, Matt managed to combine both worlds by joining Tribepad six years ago. He's passionate about helping recruiters hire better, fairer and faster, and empowering them to do what they do best. Tribepad is used by more than 27 million people across the globe in 16 languages. Clients include Greggs, Tesco, Subway, Home Bargains, Carpetright and Selfridges. 

Ellis Hawthorne, Features Editor, Retail Week

Ellis Hawthorne is Features Editor at Retail Week. She was previously Digital and Social Editor at The Grocer.

Rebecca Taylor, Commercial Content Manager, Retail Week

Rebecca Taylor is Retail Week Connect’s Commercial Content Manager, and is responsible for helping to grow and deliver Retail Week’s bespoke sponsored reports and events, across themes from stores and the consumer to supply chains and tech.

With more than seven years' experience in content-focused roles, Rebecca specialises in across-the-board brand interactions and storytelling; engaging audiences at all stages of their brand lifecycle through authentic, vibrant and quality content.