Barbara Martin Coppola is a CEO, board member, public speaker, and humanitarian who believes deeply in business as a force for good. She brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience across three continents and five industries, with a strong track record in technology, digital transformation, and consumer businesses.

Barbara served as CEO of Decathlon, the world’s largest sports retailer, guiding the company’s evolution with a focus on purpose, sustainability, and innovation. Prior to that, she was Chief Digital Officer at IKEA and held major leadership roles at global companies including Google, Samsung, Texas Instruments and Grubhub. Barbara currently serves on the board of Patagonia and on the board of INSEAD, the business school for the world.

Barbara holds a Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, a Master’s in Mobile Engineering from ENST Paris, an MBA from INSEAD and followed an Advanced Management program at Harvard Business School.
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Key topics

Moving from wholesale to a unified Store + Online model, putting the customer and digital channels at the centre of growth.

Balancing long-term strategy with short-term results in a volatile market.

Empowering local teams and store leaders to act quickly while staying aligned with global purpose.

Keeping people at the core as technology and e-commerce drive change.

Doug Stephens has been called ‘the futurist that futurists follow’. He is an author and an advisor who helps organisations navigate the forces reshaping commerce in an era of unprecedented disruption. With over two decades of experience working with global brands, Doug combines deep insights into consumer behaviour, technology, and market trends to guide companies toward strategic advantage and growth.

As the founder and CEO of Retail Prophet, Stephens advises leading companies including IKEA, Nike, Coca-Cola, and Louis Vuitton, helping them reimagine business models, customer experiences, and the role of retail in a digital-first world. He is the internationally bestselling author of three books on the future of consumerism, including Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World, and is working on his fourth book, The Future of Competitive Advantage, to be released in June 2026.
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Stephens has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, the BBC, and CBC, and serves on multiple corporate and academic advisory boards, including the David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retail at St. Mary’s University.

Key topics

Understanding the forces reshaping commerce and turning disruption into opportunity.

Designing seamless, meaningful experiences across digital and physical channels.

Leveraging trends in technology, economics, and society to stay ahead.

Guiding companies to adapt and thrive in rapidly evolving markets.

Bjørn Højgaard is Chief Executive Officer of Anglo-Eastern Univan Group, the world’s largest third-party ship management company, with a global presence across Asia, Europe, and the Americas and around 750 ships under its fleet today.

A Master Mariner by training, Bjørn brings a rare blend of sea going command experience and board-level leadership, having progressed from naval service and ship command to senior executive roles across the maritime industry.

Following the merger of Anglo-Eastern and Univan Ship Management in 2015, Bjørn has focused on building a resilient, purpose-driven organisation that balances operational excellence with long-term sustainability. His leadership perspective is shaped by first-hand experience at sea, large-scale organisational transformation, and active engagement with global maritime governance.

Beyond Anglo-Eastern, Bjørn is actively engaged in shaping industry standards through BIMCO and other international forums. He is a frequent speaker on leadership, safety culture, decarbonisation, and the future of ship management.

Key topics

The paradoxes of true leadership and mastery of the tension that lies in between.

A need to shift mindsets away from binary thinking to build organisations that embody balance.

Hard-won insights into what it really takes to lead with integrity, nuance, and purpose in an uncertain world.

Nathan Furr is Professor of Strategy at INSEAD in Paris and a recognised voice in the fields of innovation, AI, and technology. He earned his PhD from Stanford University, where he studied how innovators successfully bring new ideas to market.  

Through his research, books, and advisory work, Nathan explores how companies navigate uncertainty, respond to technological disruption, and build the capabilities needed to innovate consistently. He is the author of five books, including The Upside of Uncertainty, The Innovator’s Method, and Leading Transformation. His work has been published in leading academic journals as well as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Forbes.

Nathan works closely with global companies such as Google, Microsoft, Ferrari, and Coca-Cola, helping leaders rethink strategy, strengthen innovation capabilities, and lead change with confidence.
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In his session, ‘Leading through Change and Uncertainty’, Nathan draws on extensive research and interviews to provide practical tools for navigating uncertainty with clarity and resilience.
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Key topics

Reframing uncertainty as a source of opportunity.

Understanding your personal strengths and blind spots in uncertain situations.

Applying proven innovation tools to learn and adapt.

Sustaining momentum when outcomes differ from expectations.

Dr. Els van der Helm is a sleep neuroscientist and former McKinsey consultant who helps organisations boost performance by improving the sleep of leaders and teams. Her clients include McKinsey, BCG, PwC, Facebook, and AWS. Her programmes have been shown to improve sleep quality by up to 50%, enhance performance by 21%, and reduce stress by 30%.

She began her career in neuroscience, studying how sleep affects cognitive performance (Netherlands Institute of Neurosciences) and emotional processing (Harvard Medical School). She earned her PhD in Psychology at UC Berkeley, then worked at McKinsey and served as Adjunct Professor at IE University in Madrid.

Her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Inc. Magazine, McKinsey Quarterly, and more.

Dr. van der Helm is currently writing her upcoming book, ‘Sleep Intelligence: The High-Performance Blueprint for Sharper Thinking and Leadership’, to be published globally by Penguin.

Key topics

The impact of sleep on brain function, emotional balance, and performance

Sleep leadership – what neuroscience reveals about clarity, decision-making, and authentic leadership

High quality science-backed sessions with practical strategies for organisations

Women’s Sleep – unlocking resilience, clarity and high performance

Emma is the youngest Danish woman to summit Mount Everest and the first Dane to climb Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain. Her experience comes from leading and performing in extreme, high-risk environments where clear decisions, trust, and accountability are critical.  

Emma is currently undertaking Beyond the Clouds, a five-year project to climb the world’s five highest mountains. The project explores leadership and performance when conditions are uncertain, resources are limited, and the margin for error is minimal.

Through her expeditions and keynote work, Emma translates insights from the mountains into practical perspectives on resilience, decision-making, and teamwork – helping leaders perform with clarity under pressure. ‍

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Key topics

Balancing ambition, risk, and long-term performance.

Mental and physical preparation for complex conditions and long-term goals.

Performance and acceptance in uncertain environments.

Trust in yourself and your team.