UKHospitality Summer Conference 2024

Katie acts as the Brand and Strategy Director for Good Hotel, a social impact business that reinvests its profit into people. At Good Hotel London they work with Newham Council to train unemployed locals into hospitality careers. Each year they train 50 people who go on to work at Good or across other businesses in their network.

Katie is also the founder of Hotel Hussy, a brand strategy and experience consultancy. Experts in hotels, collaborating with owners and operators to create category-defining concepts, innovative and memorable guest experiences, and empowering team cultures.

Following a pre-university gap year stint as an officer in the British Army, Matt attended the University of Manchester to study political science. Finding the college schedule a little relaxed after such an active year out, he spotted an opportunity to practice his entrepreneurial skills alongside his studies and started organising club nights for his fellow college students. As the business grew to other college cities, Matt met Jeremy Simmonds, who was at the University of Leeds. They became business partners (started a partnership that has lasted over 20 years) and launched Rough Hill, a business that by 2010 had grown to over 15 UK cities, running up to 25 events per week and selling tickets to a million college students a year.

Rough Hill was built on highly organised college student networks in each city, who sold the event tickets to their peers. Before long Rough Hill was helping brands to reach the college demographic through their grass roots marketing channel, and this brought them to the attention of Chime Plc, who in 2012 acquired the business and placed it into VCCP, the international advertising agency. There Matt and Jeremy continued to run their core business as well as taking on youth and experiential marketing contracts for the agency clients, working for blue chip brands such as Telefonica, McDonalds, Coca-Cola and McLaren.

In 2014, Matt and Jeremy completed their earn-out at VCCP and with their unique perspective of both the nightlife and experiential industries, they formed Competitive Socialising. They tested their concept ‘Swingers – the crazy golf club’ with a pop-up in east London that ran from September 2014 to February 2015. It was an instant, viral success and sold out in days, convincing them that the concept had enormous potential.

The first permanent Swingers location followed in 2016 in London’s Financial District and again it was a runaway success, offering mini golf, cocktails and street food in a totally original and unique environment. A second location followed in London’s West End in 2018. In 2019 plans for international expansion got underway but were temporarily halted in 2020 when the world shut down. Fortunately guests rushed back to Swingers venues whenever the venues reopened and in June 2021 the first Swingers venue in the US opened its doors in Washington, DC. A second US venue followed in 2022 in Manhattan, New York. In late 2024 Swingers will open its flagship venue at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas as well as a venue on Bluewaters Island in Dubai.

Swingers has been backed by Cain International since 2018, joined by a number of other family offices and institutional investors in 2023. In 2024 the business expects to turnover in excess of US$70m globally, still led by Matt and Jeremy as co-CEOs.

Sophy Ridge is Sky's lead politics presenter, fronting Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge at 7pm.
She was previously the first woman to present a Sunday morning political show - anchoring Sophy Ridge on Sunday from 2017 to 2023.
Sophy has interviewed Prime Ministers past and present, including Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. She has anchored coverage from Washington and Brussels and was in Downing Street to witness the first and last days in office for Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
Before presenting, she was senior political correspondent, where she was first to break the news that Jeremy Corbyn had won the Labour leadership contest and that Ed Miliband would resign as leader of the party.
In 2017 Sophy published The Women Who Shaped Politics, a book on the history of women in Westminster.
Before joining Sky News in 2011 she worked for the News of the World focusing on political, business and consumer stories.

Yael is Vice Chair and Chief Economist at KPMG in the UK. She advises clients on the global economic outlook and its impact on their strategy.
Her experience spans private sector clients across a wide range of industries and geographies, as well as public sector bodies. Her research looks at the impact major shocks, as well as new technologies, could have on the economy and on individual businesses. She has also written about productivity disparities across regions and ways to support weaker regions.
Yael is a regular commentator on economic issues in the media. She won City A.M. Analyst of the Year award in 2016 for the research she published on the outlook for interest rates, global trade and equity markets and was named one of the City’s 100 most influential women, as well as named one of Cranfield School of Management’s Women to Watch in 2022.
She is a Fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, member of the Council of Management of SUERF and a Board member of NABE.
Prior to joining KPMG in 2014, she worked at PwC for 15 years where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant and built a macroeconomics consulting business, and at two boutique consultancies. She studied Economics at UCL and LSE in London.

Content creators and filmmakers Will and Jesse are the award-winning creative production duo behind TOPJAW the UK’s go-to travel resource. Travelling the world documenting the best places to eat and drink, Will and Jesse create cinematic and engaging visual content. Their viral vox pop series ‘Best of London’ features the industry’s top chefs and restaurant owners. The quick-fire formats gives the audience the top places to eat, drink and avoid in London. The only rule – no self-nominations! Since its launch, the series has hit headlines (Sunday Times Style, The Times, The Independent) for its comedic and controversial responses, swiftly becoming one of TOPJAW’s top performing content series. In 2022, Will and Jesse put their worldwide research to use and created their own craft beer, collaborating with the multi-award-winning family run brewery on the south coast of England, Arundel Brewery. More recently, TOPJAW have partnered with the likes of Google, Open Table, Harrods and Stella on a variety of long-term campaigns and projects.

Hamish has over 30 years of experience working in the hospitality industry, 14 of which have been with Jamie Oliver. He comes from a background of operations across all areas of hospitality and has opened over 50 restaurants throughout his career. With experience in both the franchise and owned & operated space, Hamish leads all new business development for Jamie Oliver Restaurants.

Kate was appointed CEO of UKHospitality, the powerful voice representing the broad hospitality sector, in April 2018, having previously worked as CEO and Strategic Affairs Director of the ALMR.

After gaining a degree in English and a post-graduate diploma in competition law, Kate worked as a researcher in the House of Commons and European Parliament before joining Whitbread as Government Relations Manager, starting her careers in hospitality in 1993. Kate was Director at one of the largest independent public affairs companies, working with a number of hospitality, retail and leisure accounts before establishing her own strategic communications consultancy in 2000.

She is a graduate of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Kings College London.

Andy O’Sullivan has been Chief Executive Officer at Olympia London since the start of 2024. Andy is a highly experienced and respected industry leader across venues, events, hospitality, sports and entertainment.

His previous role was Venue Director of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. There he successfully oversaw the delivery of the new stadium and guest experience across the whole site. Andy was instrumental in the design, development and commercialisation of a stadium now recognised as the new world-class standard.

Driven by a passion for creating unforgettable customer experiences and a commitment to delivering exceptional service, Andy will lead Olympia London as it becomes the foundation stone of the new Olympia destination that launches in 2025. Olympia will be a destination for culture, creativity and entertainment, bringing new life to one of the UK's most iconic venues in the heart of London.

Karin Sheppard has worked for InterContinental Hotels Group for 21 years. She is currently IHG’s Managing Director for Europe, responsible for driving the performance, sustainable growth and reputation of IHG’s European business. Karin oversees more than 750 franchised and managed hotels across several IHG brands in 39 countries, including over 350 hotels in the UK.

Karin is also a member of IHG's Regional Senior Leadership Team for Europe, Middle East, Asia & Africa, and sits on IHG’s global Diversity & Inclusion Board.

In her previous role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Australasia & Japan based in Sydney, Australia, Karin led the operations and performance of close to 70 hotels in the region across IHG’s brands. In her three years as COO, Karin oversaw the market debut of the Holiday Inn Express® brand, the signings of the first Hotel Indigo hotels in the region, and the launch of IHG’s Rise programme for aspiring female General Managers, now a global initiative. She was also appointed a board member of both Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA) and the Tourism & Transport Forum (TTF).

Over the course of her more than 21 years with IHG, Karin has held several senior roles in Europe, Australasia and the Middle East, spanning commercial, operations and brand development. Previous appointments include Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA) based in Singapore, and Vice President, Brand Management for the Europe, Middle East & Africa region.

Karin has more than 25 years of international experience in commercial functions across a variety of industries, including technology, telecommunications and hospitality.

She is Co-Chair of the UK Government’s Tourism Industry Council, a role she holds alongside the Tourism Minister, a Board Member of the British Tourist Authority (Visit Britain) and holds a Master Degree in International Business Administration with Modern Languages, from Aarhus University, Denmark.

Karin is driven by unlocking the potential of her team, inspiring them to be at their very best so they can grow as individuals and win as a team.

In May 2022, Simon Champion was appointed CEO of BOXPARK, the award-winning dining, retail and leisure development after Founder Roger Wade stepped into a non-Executive role. Having joined BOXPARK at the start of 2018 as Chief Financial Officer, Simon ran the sales and finance teams, and led the management buyout of BOXPARK in September 2021, moving at that time to the role of Managing Director.

With over 30 years’ experience in various industries, Simon has worked for brands such as Deutsche Bank, easyHotel and Propercorn. Before his position at BOXPARK, Simon was CFO at premium popcorn brand Propercorn where he oversaw the group’s first major equity raise with Piper Private Equity and JamJar investments, as well as helping advise the two founders on all aspects of strategy.

Prior to Propercorn, Simon was CEO of easyHotel plc working directly with the founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, for a year as a private company, before the group’s IPO on the UK Stock Exchange in June 2014. Simon qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and went on to work for Deutsche Bank for 14 years, where he was a Managing Director, heading up Consumer Equity Research.

Best known as creator of the world’s most famous bagpipe band The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Stuart Cassells has had a remarkable career which has involved overcoming adversity on several occasions. He is passionate about growing Scottish brands and promoting The Best of Scotland globally.

Stuart’s musical career was dramatically cut short when he developed the condition Focal Hand Dystonia which ultimately forced him in to retirefrom playing bagpipes in 2011 and find a new career.

Stuart became one of the first students on the Saltire Fellowship, an experiential MBA programme delivered by a partnership between Entrepreneurial Scotland and Babson College in Boston to inspire Scottish entrepreneurs. This led to him entering the whisky industry when he joined Edrington in April 2013

As General Manager, Stuart was instrumental in the development of The Famous Grouse Experience which was awarded ‘ASVA Best Visitor Experience’ and ‘Icons of Whisky UK Visitor Attraction of the Year in 2015. Stuart was then named ‘Icons of Whisky Global Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year’ in 2016. Stuart relaunched The Glenturret brand in 2015.

In February 2019 Stuart joined The Macallan Estate where, as General Manager, he has repositioned The Macallan Estate as a luxury hospitality destination and incomparable experience for The Macallan’s highest value consumers.

At the height of his career, In November 2022, Stuart suffered a serious stroke which severely impacted his speech, memory and cognition and requiring open heart surgery and a year of rebuilding.

Stuart has thankfully made a great recovery and is now focused on inspiring others to THINK BIGGER to lead a happier and more impactful life.

Karen Bosher is a NED and Business Strategy Advisor to the hospitality and broader industry - working with Livelyhood Pub Group, Arc Inspirations, Foodservices Wales to name a few.

Prior to this she was Managing Director at Greene King for 10 years where she led over time multiple businesses including Urban Pubs, Metropolitan Pub Company (Gastro Division), Locals and Venture Brands. Prior to this she was a Retail Director - and worked with multiple brands including M&S, Kingfisher, Mothercare and JJB Sports. Karen is a DEI Ally having won European Diversity Champion in 2022 for her work with women and the LGBTQI+ Community for the hospitality sector.

She had also been named as Guardian Pride Powerlist Ally in 2021 and 2022.