Warren Hutchinson

Chair of the Board of Directors and Founder & Chief Experience Officer, ELSE

Warren Hutchinson is the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of ELSE, a London-based experience design consultancy, where he helps businesses unlock opportunities and accelerate innovation across product and service development. With over 25 years of experience in digital design, Warren has led transformative work for global brands like UBS, Kodak, Nivea, Bupa, British Airways, London 2012, and The Rolling Stones, as well as for dynamic start-ups such as WeFarm. His career spans work in client-side, agency, and consultancy environments including roles at Yell, Universal Music, LBi, and PA Consulting before founding ELSE in 2010.

Under his leadership, ELSE has become a trusted partner for organisations navigating the complex intersection of people, brands, and technology. Warren’s approach is rooted in a deep understanding of human behaviour, technology trends, and a passion for designing future-ready solutions. ELSE has worked on over 300 projects with 70 clients in diverse markets, including North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, with Warren at the helm guiding both the strategic direction and day-to-day operations.

Known for fostering a progressive and inclusive work culture, Warren implemented a four-day work week and fully remote work practices long before they became mainstream, underscoring his belief in future-focused business models. His leadership extends beyond ELSE, with his current role as Chair of the Design Business Association, and previously as a judge for the Taiwan Excellence Awards and Design Week Awards. Recognised as one of the BIMA100, Warren continues to champion innovation and design effectiveness across the industry.

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Deborah Dawton

Chief Executive, Design Business Association

Deborah began her career with the RSA working on their Student Design Awards and she set up her own business delivering design events, competitions and conferences all over Europe for leading organisations.

In 2003 Deborah joined the Design Business Association as CEO. Funded entirely by the design industry with a remit to drive up their professionalism and the profile of design’s value in business, the DBA’s membership has more than doubled along with the association’s turnover to nearly £1million.

She was President of the Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA) for two years until March 2013. Deborah is a member the European Design Leadership Board, an expert group of design advisors to the Commission and in this capacity is often asked to address policy makers on the role of design in policy.

Her experience of the design sector in the UK, this European-level insight and her work with BEDA, has resulted in her being consulted on the potential structure and strategy for design support in various countries.

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Tim Duncan

Founder & Managing Director, TDC PR

Tim Duncan is the founder and managing director of TDC PR, an international communications consultancy working with clients across design, creative, technology and innovation.

Tim is a communications professional with over 15 years’ experience of working both in-house and for market-leading PR agencies. Prior to establishing TDC in 2013, Tim worked agency side at Grayling and 3 Monkeys Communications and then as Head of PR for leading design and innovation company Seymourpowell.

With broad experience working across a wide variety of B2B and B2C clients, issues and content, Tim is well versed in devising, developing and delivering comprehensive, strategic and tactical plans for external communications in support of business development, marketing, and reputation management.

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Louise French

Global Operations Director, forpeople

Louise brings over 20 years of experience in the design industry, having begun her career in communication roles at renowned consultancies such as Wolf Olins, The Clearing, and Venture Three. She then transitioned into operational leadership positions at Pentagram, Fruit, and forpeople. As Studio Operations Director at forpeople, Louise oversees all operations including people development, recruitment, IT infrastructure, building management, marketing, and communications. A member of the global leadership team, she implements company-wide strategies to support board ambitions, providing leadership to a 120-person team across London and Amsterdam.

Louise has led initiatives to increase diversity and spearheaded the firm’s first reputation and outreach-building programme. Since joining forpeople in 2016, she has been key in growing the team from 70 to 115 members and achieving BCorp certification in 2023.

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John Gleason

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, A Better View Strategic Consulting

John is Founder of A Better View Strategic Consulting, which helps brands and client organisations elevate and leverage design as a strategic business competence. It helps agencies become more relevant, create better value, and become better businesses, and helps enhance client/agency relationships. John has advised more than 1,600 agencies and his clients have included 120+ corporate/ brand organisations. He is also a member of the DBA’s Expert Register.

Prior to launching A Better View in 2007, John enjoyed a 20+ year career at Procter & Gamble.  Notably he was head of design, innovation, and production sourcing at Procter & Gamble, and responsible for all external agency relationships in these areas and was known for seeking mutual value, and advocating for agencies to improve client processes & actions.

John serves on a number of advisory boards for a wide range of companies, agencies, industry association groups, start-ups and not-for-profit organisations.  John also teaches an experiential Design Thinking course in the MBA programme at the University of Notre Dame in the U.S. 

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Jos Harrison

Global Head of Brand Experience and Design, Reckitt

Jos trained as an industrial product designer at Loughborough University. He has since worked in many facets of the design industry. During the early parts of Jos’ career, he worked in commercial interior design and wayfinding. He then moved into confectionary from there, leading the nascent “Presence” design and marketing team at Cadbury Schweppes for several years – gradually building a team that spanned all parts of Cadbury’s internal design studio offering, including products, packaging, POS, retail interiors, attraction design and more.

From Cadbury Schweppes, Jos moved to Reckitt (then Reckitt Benckiser) where Jos has been building brands for nearly 15 years. Jos joined as a Design Manager, leading a small team of people and agency partners across the company’s home care and healthcare portfolio. Jos now leads one of Reckitt’s business units in the function he created; brand experience and design. This newly created function creates and monitors brand equity frameworks, providing content and guidance to marketers across the globe.

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Matt Round

Chief Creative Officer, tangerine

Matt drives strategic and tactical design initiatives that elevate product, service, and experience quality, leading to commercial success at tangerine, a strategic design consultancy known for its outstanding work with international clients across various sectors. His career began in 1991 with bespoke furniture design for Harvey Nichols and luxury galleries, before moving into consultancy. Early in his tenure at tangerine, Matt contributed to the award-winning Club World seat for British Airways, which won the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards Grand Prix.

As a leader, he has played a crucial role in tangerine’s evolution into a globally acclaimed design studio, fostering relationships with top brands such as British Airways, Nikon, and Toyota. A respected industry figure, Matt has judged the D&AD Awards and delivered keynote speeches worldwide, including an address at the UK Parliament’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

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Andy Sexton

Partner and Executive Creative Director, 2LK

Driven by a commitment for effective design (and with seven DBA Design Effectiveness Awards under his belt to prove it), Andy oversees 2LK’s ‘Effective Experiential’ approach to creativity.

Trained in product design and marketing, Andy joined 2LK in 2007, initially as a 3D designer. Moving quickly through various leadership roles, he became Executive Creative Director and a significant shareholder in the business when he was just 28. Since then, 2LK has more than doubled in size, becoming a globally recognised leader in brand experience design. From one-off activations to multi-format experiential campaigns and permanent installations, he leads the strategy and creative direction for the likes of Intel, TikTok, Canon and HSBC.

With his fingers firmly on the pulse of what’s happening now and next, Andy regularly contributes articles and speaking engagements, judges awards programmes, mentors for the DBA and actively supports the design faculties at both Southampton Solent University and University for the Creative Arts.

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Nicola Tiffany

Managing Director, HMA

Nicola started her career 20 years ago as an Internal Account Executive at HMA – the agency she now owns and runs. As part of HMA’s planned succession strategy, Nicola returned from maternity leave after her second child in 2015 to take the role of Managing Director before leading a management buyout of the agency in 2016.

Following the MBO, Nicola and the management team pivoted the agency’s focus to a sector specialism in Health & Life Sciences – working with the NHS, NHS-commissioned services, third sector organisations and businesses from start-up innovators to global pharmaceuticals as well as partnering with academia on digital health research projects.

Passionate about inspiring the next generation of talent and shining a light on the career opportunities in the creative and digital industries, Nicola dedicates time to working with local schools and colleges; weaving digital components into traditional design courses, setting live briefs, carrying out mock interviews, and participating in careers events and panel discussions.

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Stephanie Verschoor

Head of Design & New Digital Solutions, NatWest Group

Stephanie is a marketing specialist and business leader in brand & innovation strategy and creative development. As Head of New Digital Solutions & Design at NatWest Group she is responsible for customer experience design across the full user journeys in Commercial, Institutional, and international markets, across the NatWest Group’s portfolio of brands.

Prior to joining NatWest Group Stephanie led Reckitt’s design and brand communication across consumer touch points, design led innovation (new products and business models) and delivering world class customer experiences for a wide range of well known global brands (e.g. Dettol, Durex, Enfamil). Stephanie was also the business owner for RB’s global artwork management process & system. She was instrumental in building a global strategic design management team in Reckitt’s global headquarters.

Before Reckitt, in 2008, she worked as a lead designer and creative strategist for The Walt Disney Company creating branding, packaging, point-of-sale and digital solutions covering consumer products in fashion, food, stationary, home & toy categories for both the Disney & Pixar group of brands. Based in Los Angeles GHQ with subsequent moves to Munich and London.

Stephanie holds an MFA in Graphic and Interactive Design from the California Institute of Arts (Fulbright Scholar) and a BFA in Graphic Design, Video & 3D from the Arnhem Institute of Arts in the Netherlands. She has been the recipient of many global industry awards such as the Red Dot Product Design Award, the DBA Design Effectiveness Award, IF Gold Packaging Award and Dutch Best Book Design award. Stephanie is a driver of diversity and female leadership.