Al Duffield is the founder of VITAL Drinks, a fast-growing UK functional drinks brand launched in 2024, following commercial roles at Propercorn, Merchant Gourmet and Deliciously Ella.

On a mission to simplify functional drinks and put health over trend, VITAL has four ranges spanning Gut Health, Hydration, Clean Energy and Vitamins, and is proudly backed by Harry Kane.

Alex Pey is a Consulting Manager at IWSR. She leads bespoke projects for drinks producers, turning market data and consumer trends into clear category strategies and growth opportunities across spirits, wine, beer, RTDs and no/low. Alex holds an MBA from London Business School, where she focused on luxury.

IWSR is the global leader in data, analytics and insights for the beverage alcohol industry. Founded over 50 years ago, IWSR has evolved into a global technology-driven business with offices in London, New York and Singapore, covering 160 countries. IWSR uniquely combines the best of data science, leveraging the latest AI-enabled analytics technologies with human intelligence and in-depth local market knowledge. Since June 2025, it has been part of WGSN, the global consumer trend forecaster, combining detailed market data with long-range forecasting of how consumers live, shop and drink.

Andy Bagnall is the Director General of the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA), representing UK producers of soft drinks, from carbonated beverages and juices to bottled waters. In this role, he leads the industry’s engagement with governments across the UK to ensure policy proposals are practical and evidence-based.

Andy’s career spans politics, public affairs, and trade associations. He worked as a special adviser in the Cabinet Office and Ministry of Defence and later held senior roles at the CBI and KPMG before joining the Rail Delivery Group, where he became Director General and later Chief Executive of Rail Partners.

At the BSDA, Andy leads a team working on environmental initiatives such as the UK-wide deposit return scheme and extended producer responsibility, as well as government public health priorities, helping to highlight the sector’s progress on sugar reduction and its wide range of products, catering to all tastes and preferences.

Ashley Read is CEO of SNEAK Energy, the UK functional drinks brand combining simple benefits, clean formulas and awesome flavours to prove that function doesn’t need to be boring. With almost two decades’ experience across drinks and sports nutrition, Ash’s career has spanned commercial, brand, marketing and executive leadership roles at Science in Sport, Britvic and AB InBev.

Since joining SNEAK in 2022, Ash has led the brand through its next stage of growth, taking its distinctive approach to energy, hydration and nutrition to a much wider retail audience while protecting the identity and highly engaged community that made it different in the first place.

Caroline is Head of BWS & Drinks at M&S, making decisions not just on their award-winning range but also on store design, customer communications and operational process.

Caroline has over two decades of experience in the drinks industry – spanning Europe and America and also Global roles, across wine and spirits. Caroline has extensive supplier side experience from before M&S, from companies such as Accolade Wines, Treasury Wine Estates & Diageo.

With a marketing and commercial background, innovation has always been a passion and priority for her.

Charlie Gilkes is the co-founder of Inception Group, a fast growing collection of 16 highly innovative and experiential London bars, pubs and clubs under brands such as Mr Fogg's, Cahoots and Bunga 90. Charlie started the business with London's first speakeasy bar, Barts and now employs over 600 people with annual sales in excess of £35m with no external investment.

Dave Knowles is Founder and Managing Director of Alpine Online, a specialist consumer goods data analytics and insights consultancy. Dave helps drinks manufacturers, retailers and investors turn complex market and shopper data into practical commercial strategies that drive growth.

With over 20 years' experience across retail, supplier and consultancy environments, he works with businesses ranging from challenger brands to major FMCG companies, translating category, consumer and pricing data into clear actions and opportunities.

Dave is passionate about making data more accessible and actionable, combining industry datasets, emerging AI technologies and commercial insight to help businesses make better decisions.

At Drink Tank's Beer Breakout Session, Dave will share the latest data-led perspectives on the UK beer market, exploring where growth is emerging, how consumer behaviour is evolving, what innovations are gaining traction, and what the future may hold for brewers, suppliers and retailers navigating an increasingly competitive category.

David Gell is Head of External Affairs at Exchange for Change, the organisation responsible for delivering the UK’s Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers.

Prior to joining Exchange for Change, David held senior policy roles at Defra, where he led the development of the DRS policy and delivery planning, working closely with governments across the UK and the drinks, retail and wider packaging sectors.

David has over a decade of experience across government and consulting, with particular expertise in circular economy, packaging regulation, sustainability and the development and delivery of major public policy reforms. Before joining government, he worked at PwC advising public sector organisations on strategic and operational change.

At EfC, David now leads the organisation’s external affairs activity, working across government and industry as preparations for the introduction of DRS progress.

Grace is Head of Group Innovation at Fever-Tree, responsible for shaping the future growth pipeline across the brand’s global portfolio.

Her work spans product innovation, strategy and brand design, turning emerging opportunities into premium products and experiences that give people more reasons to choose Fever-Tree.

Working across global markets and functions, Grace leads innovation from the early stages of identifying an opportunity through to developing the product, proposition and experience that brings it to life. Her focus is on building a pipeline that balances what consumers want next with what makes sense for the brand and has the potential to drive meaningful commercial growth.

She is particularly interested in how the drinks landscape is evolving as the boundaries between traditional categories continue to blur. From new flavours and formats to moderation, functionality and changing social occasions, Grace is passionate about creating drinks that feel relevant to how people want to drink today, without simply chasing the latest trend.

Ultimately, she believes the best innovation has a clear reason to exist, tastes great and, ideally, gives people something new to talk about over a drink.

Founder and CEO at JUBEL, the brand that pioneered the fast-growing and strongly emerging Fruit Lager category. From sleeping on the warehouse floor 8yrs ago, to a team of 60 and 18m litres of volume annually now.

Jourdan is the Buyer for Beer & Cider at Waitrose & Partners, where he leads the sourcing, range development, and category strategy for one of the UK's leading premium supermarket beer and cider portfolios.

He is a CertifiedCicerone Beer Server, Beer Judge and SIBA Business Award recipient for his work supporting the Indie Beer campaign, where he has championed innovative breweries, sustainability initiatives, and independent producers, helping to introduce distinctive beers and ciders that balance exceptional quality with strong consumer appeal.

Laura Willoughby MBE is a changemaker using social business to shift culture and one of the UK’s leading voices on inclusive drinking. She is co-founder of Club Soda, a social impact business working to make alcohol-free, low and mid-strength drinks more available, visible and celebrated.

What began as a grassroots consumer movement is now driving systems change across policy, trade education, research, festivals, global industry summits and curated retail ranges that actually sell. For more than a decade, Laura has worked at the crossroads of culture, commerce and public health, helping individuals, businesses and institutions rethink their relationship with alcohol by expanding choice and building markets that make healthier options easier and commercially smart.

She advises governments, retailers, producers and venues in the UK and internationally, and is known for connecting people, ideas and opportunities to move the no, low and mid-strength sector forward.

Lucy Busk is the Co-founder of Nice, the modern wine company built to liberate drinkers from traditional wine headaches. Alongside co-founder Jeremy May, Lucy launched Nice in 2019 after realising how poorly 187ml PET bottles fit real life wine moments like traveling, festivals, or when you just want one. By introducing high-quality wine in beautifully designed cans, Nice prioritizes breathing new life into wine, putting the consume first, occasion, simplicity, and portion control over rigid industry rules. Nice have since introduced boxes, kegs and glass bottles.

Nice has become one of the UK’s fastest-growing multi format wine brands, solving customer pain points around wine confusion, high ABVs, waste, and packaging flexibility. Today, Nice is stocked in over 8,000 distribution points across top retailers, travel hubs, and venues, including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Co-op, Ocado, WHSmith, and Virgin Atlantic, where it serves as the exclusive Economy and Premium wine partner reaching millions of consumers annually.

Having long spoken of his ambition to one day setup a business, Luke realised that two things were incredibly important to him - tangible products and delightful customer experiences.

Noticing the growth in the variety and quality of alcohol free beers and spirits some time ago, and the way that wine drinkers were correspondingly underserved, he set out to create a great tasting, beautifully branded alcohol free wine, tackling a space that felt both largely untouched and very much unloved.

Having grown Wednesday's Domaine into one of the most recognisable brands in the space over the last four years, noted for its distinct visual identity and unique tone of voice, Luke and the team made the decision to expand into the low alcohol space, making the brand one of the few "No and Low" independent wine brands on the global stage.

Whilst this is Luke’s first foray into the drinks industry, he has a long history in startups and the twists and turns that come with building one.

Naomi Brandon-Bravo leads on supply chain and sustainability policy at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), representing the UK's retail industry on some of the most significant environmental and operational challenges facing businesses today. Naomi works closely with retailers, government departments, regulators and industry partners to develop practical policy solutions that support sustainability ambitions while recognising the realities of complex supply chains and retail operations.

Her work spans a wide range of sustainability issues, including packaging and recycling policy, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), Deposit Return Schemes (DRS), Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), resource efficiency and the transition to a more circular economy. She has significant experience helping retailers prepare for major regulatory change and advocating for efficient, evidence-based approaches that deliver environmental outcomes while minimising unnecessary cost and complexity.

She is particularly passionate about collaboration across the value chain and the role retailers can play in driving innovation, reducing environmental impact and building more resilient, sustainable supply chains.

Nick Buckle is Operations Manager at Blind Tiger Inns, an independent pub company operating across the North West of England. He leads operations across an estate of community pubs and busy town and city centre venues.

His role covers commercial performance, finding and supporting great operators, developing teams and delivering refurbishments. He brings a practical, hands-on approach to growing sales, protecting profitability and creating pubs customers want to come back to.

Nick believes successful pubs understand their customers and give people good reasons to visit. At Blind Tiger Inns, that means regular investment, great entertainment and making sure each pub feels part of its local community.

For Nick, it’s the people running the pubs who make the biggest difference. His approach is straightforward: back good people, give them the support and tools they need, and get the basics right.

Rachel Weller leads NIQ’s commercial strategy for Beer, Wine, Spirits and Soft Drinks in the UK, partnering with brands to unlock growth through data‑driven insight and a deep understanding of consumer behaviour across On Trade, Off Trade and online. With 17 years of Beverage Alcohol expertise, Rachel works closely with drinks manufacturers to translate market trends into clear commercial opportunities and stronger brand performance.

Rob Wallis is co-founder of MOTH, the UK’s #1 cocktail brand in grocery. After studying music at the University of York, he co-founded and built MOTH into a category-defining brand focused on making bar-quality cocktails as easy as a can of beer. Today sold in over 5,200 stores across the UK and a MOTH sold in every 5 seconds, Rob is leading the brands international expansion across the US with key retailers such as Whole Foods and Target. He is passionate about building an exceptional company and culture, with an uncompromising focus on quality, excellence, and people.

Tim Bird has been in the hospitality industry all his working life, working his way up through the ranks to being MD at Greenall’s, Morrells of Oxford, Eldridge Pope and Brunning and Price before setting up Cheshire Cat Pubs and Bars Ltd with wife and business partner Mary McLaughlin 16 years ago.

Together they have built an award-winning Boutique Country and Village Pub business in Cheshire and Staffordshire. Tim has led the way in drinks development winning recognition recently at the Drinks Buyers Awards for the development of their pubs ‘No and Low’ Drinks category. Tim shares his other passion on Instagram every week as ‘Wineman’ talking through wines that he enjoys matching with food, show casing wines he really enjoys.

Tim says, “I am very proud of what we have achieved in our pubs drinks wise, we have shone a light on what is possible, and our business continues to succeed on the back of the effort we are putting in, with another record year on the horizon again this year”.

A former advertising executive turned food and drink consultant, Tim Warrillow founded Fever-Tree in 2005 alongside Charles Rolls. Now its sole CEO, Warrillow has successfully steered the business for over two decades, taking it from challenger brand to market leader in mixers in both the UK and US.

Publicly listed for more than a decade, annual sales at Fever-Tree last year totalled £375m. Meanwhile, the brand’s drinks are now sold in more than 100 countries around the world.

Tom Smith is Marketing Director West at Vinarchy where he leads the regional marketing organisation across brand marketing, category and insights, omnichannel, creative and content, and brand experiences.

He is passionate about putting consumers and shoppers at the heart of growth, connecting insight, creativity and commercial thinking to build brands and grow the wine category. Most recently, Tom has been closely involved in Vinarchy’s Vintelligence category growth strategy, which brings consumer insight, brand thinking, and innovation together to identify new opportunities for the future of wine.