Hybrid Working and The 4 Day Work Week – Smart Strategy or Fantasy Fix?
The way we work has transformed. What began as a temporary measure during the pandemic has evolved into a lasting and strategic way of operating. For many organisations, hybrid working has become a key part of their long-term workforce model. The debate over remote work has resurfaced, with some arguing that working from home isn’t ‘proper work’ and has set the UK’s productivity back by 20 years.
CHAIR
Clare Durnin, Chief People and Excellence Officer, Platform Housing Group Limited
SPEAKERS
Alan Keers, CEO, Red Kite Housing | Brendan Burchell, Professor in the Social Sciences, University of Cambridge and four-day week qualitative research lead, University of Cambridge
Operational Resilience & Cyber Risk | Embedding a Security Culture
Hackers aren’t breaking in, they’re logging in. When speed of getting things done is crucial, even for companies with the strongest controls the weakest link in the chain is always human. IBM says cyber attacks have a long tail: on average 200 days of disruption before even considering ongoing reputational damage.
CHAIR
Christopher Burt, Co-Founder and Exec Chair, Risk Coalition
SPEAKERS
Sunaina Aytan, Senior Cyber Security Consultant, Airbus Protect
Owning the Customer: Reimagining Marketplaces for Growth
Most companies treat marketplaces as a necessary evil or a bolt-on revenue stream. Elena sees them as strategic launchpads — when done right. In this session, she breaks down how leading brands are building “owned” marketplace ecosystems that blend reach with control, using customer-centricity as their north star.
SPEAKERS
Elena Cardellini, Director of Trade & Marketplace, expondo
As AI moves from concept to reality, many organisations are struggling less with the technology itself and more with its impact on people and culture. This session focuses on the practical and human challenges of AI adoption: anxiety about job security, confusion over future skills, and a growing divide between “AI insiders” and the wider workforce. We will consider how poorly managed implementation can erode trust, disengage employees, and undermine organisational values and what we can do to avoid that eventuality.
CHAIR
Jeff Uden, Global Head of Performance & Attraction, Aventum Group
SPEAKERS
Jamie Nevshehir, VP, HR Operations and People Analytics, NBCUniversal | James Gilding, Chief Strategy Officer, Knights Technologies
Modern Succession Planning involves collaborating with other departments in identifying and developing potential leadership successors, ensuring a seamless transition of power and resilience in adapting to a faster-changing workforce.
SPEAKERS
Sue Whalley, Chief People & Performance Officer, Associated British Foods | Peter Jackson, Former CEO, Hill Dickinson LLP
Uniting the Generational Gap: A Culture Framework for High-Performance Marketing
Join Matt Field, CMO of Aventum Group, for a critical session tackling the dual talent crisis facing modern marketing: a retiring workforce converging with an acute shortage of emerging talent. As AI accelerates change and widens the generational gap, the solution isn’t more tools, it’s building the right culture first.
SPEAKERS
Matt Field, Chief Marketing Officer, Aventum Group
“The Skills Gap”: Bridging the Divide Between Education and Industry
The UK faces a growing misalignment between the skills graduates leave university with and the capabilities businesses urgently need. With automation, AI, and demographic shifts reshaping entry-level roles, organisations are struggling to source talent equipped with both technical expertise and the human skills of resilience, empathy, and curiosity.
CHAIR
Alastair Procter, SVP, Strategic Human Resource Operations, The Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG)
SPEAKERS
Phil Beach CBE, Chairman, Energy & Utility Skills | Ruchika Karakoti, Founder and Principal Consultant, Karakoti Consulting Limited | Steve Saville, VP, People, BAE Systems Digital Intelligence
