Meet Our Panelists

Kate Stubbs | Director of Business Development at Interwaste | South Africa

Kate Stubbs is the current Group Business Development and Marketing Director for the Interwaste Group which forms part Séché Environnement, a leading international environmental solutions business. She has held various executive positions in marketing, sales, strategy and communications over the last 20 years, predominantly working for Supply Chain, Logistics and Waste Management companies serving a broad range of industries. Her experience has enabled her to work with diverse local and international teams and she thrives in complex, intellectually stimulating environments. Some of her successes have been in creating and building new brands, achieving growth strategies and assisting with the integration of many acquisitions. She is passionate about developing sustainable solutions for businesses that are not only economically viable but which are socially conscious and protect our environment for future generations. Kate holds a BCom Business Management degree and has completed Leadership and Executive Development programmes through the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Paul Clarke | Chief Marketing & Growth Officer | UK

Board level Business change leader and enabler across a range of categories and global markets. Paul leads business transformation with clear vision, passion and a focus on commercial business drivers whilst ensuring cohesion and stakeholder alignment across Brand, Data and Technology; Marketing, Sales and Operations to drive customer experience across the prospect/customer journey and drive funnel metrics and conversion full funnel. A natural team player and collaborator adept at leading, inspiring & managing diverse multi-site dispersed teams in pursuit of digital transformation & commercial growth often on a global stage. He creates positive can-do data-driven commercially astute business environments to enable & facilitate a culture of innovation & results orientation where energetic, accountable & skilled teams can drive business success. Paul's working style is positive, upbeat, open and collaborative always looking for opportunity to drive commercial value and ideally to the greater good.

Olly Forrester | Content Director at Cognition | UK

Olly Forrester is Content Director at Cognition. He has 15 years of agency experience across a diverse range of sectors, spanning construction, manufacturing, technology, engineering, financial services and an electric mix of consumer markets. Olly is passionate about creating rich, authentic and strategic content and revels in the challenge of complex brands and hard-to-reach audiences. He started his career as a copywriter, but has developed his creative capabilities to include a deep understanding of brand, CX, SEO, social and digital strategy.He holds a first-class degree in History, a diploma in internal communication and has previously presented at events including B2B Online and Episerver Ascend.

Darren Leishman | Founder & MD at Spitfire Inbound | South Africa

Darren has been in advertising for the last 20 years, and ran an integrated advertising agency - Penquin - for 16 of them. He got the idea to start Spitfire Inbound after seeing the need of clients for focused, results driven marketing. With a start in Interior Design, Darren learned an important lesson early in his career - design happens in front of the client.

Christian Neff | Founder & CEO at Markentive | France

Founder and manager of Markentive since 2013, Christian was around when inbound marketing, Growth or marketing automation were only words and he wanted to provide a pragmatic response to the complexity of digital transformation. Markentive have designed the REBEL approach (RE-solve, B-uild, E-xecute, Learn) to empower businesses to lead their revolution and get on the path towards growth (for good). They position between an agency, an integrator and a consulting firm. They are dedicated to the digitalisation of marketing and sales, and their team of T-shaped consultants, developers, and designers has been able to support more than 250 clients from all sectors.

Peter Hughes | Co-Founder at Cognition | UK (Session Facilitator)

As an entrepreneur Peter co-founded Cognition, a leading UK digital agency with a strong global footprint. His core commercial expertise is blending decision science and behavioural psychology with marketing, sales and automation technology with two aims: to change the way organisations think, feel and act and to drive growth in international markets. He has strong expertise in cultural and behavioural change, sales psychology and the psychology of inclusion, diversity and sustainability. Peter is a member of British Psychological Society and has helped high-performing people overcome anxiety, addiction and self-destructive behaviours.