2026 Judging Panel

David Allen is Head of Digital at Purely Diamonds, with 15 years of experience in luxury jewellery e-commerce. He has held senior digital roles at leading brands including Dinny Hall and 77 Diamonds, specialising in online growth, customer experience and performance marketing across premium retail and direct-to-consumer jewellery businesses.. David believes luxury shopping extends beyond physical stores and works to ensure a seamless, high-quality experience when purchasing fine jewellery online.

Sarah leads Consumer Experience for UGG, Hoka, and Teva in EMEA, driving customer satisfaction and brand excellence. With 18 years in retail, she creates seamless experiences, fosters collaboration, and balances customer, employee, and commercial success. A passionate retail leader, she also supports community initiatives through a sustainability charity.

Ben is the owner of French Bedroom, an online, direct-to-consumer retailer specialising in exquisite bedroom furniture and furnishings.

Passionate about ecommerce, he leads a successful team that achieved 25% growth in the last year, with further expansion ahead. This year marks the company’s 20th anniversary, and Ben brings the experience and expertise of transforming a kitchen-table start-up into a multimillion-pound business.

Mark has worked within eCommerce & digital marketing for over 20+ years, growing multiple retail ecommerce brands. He has held senior roles at a number of premium brands including L’Occitane en Provence, Links of London, Dune and is currently leading the DTC business at homewares brand Joseph Joseph.

With over 20 years of experience in tech, telecoms and ecommerce, Steve has worked with and for some of the biggest consumer brands in the UK. He is passionate about customer experience, innovation and delivering the commercial goals they underpin. None of this is possible without building great teams which is something he is proud to have achieved whilst looking after the multi-award winning www.o2.co.uk platform.

Lee is leading the digital transformation at Assa Abloy group within EMEIA. AA is a Swedish conglomerate who are the Global leader in access solutions. Made up of over 190 different brands with household favorites like Yale, August and Union. Their product offerings cover locks, doors, gates, entrance automation and includes controlling identities with keys, cards, tags, mobile and bio-metric identity systems.

A veteran of retail & ecommerce with over 20+ years of leading some of the UK’s brands online. Where he has driven significant technology change and revenue growth.

Before ASSA ABLOY, Lee has held Ecommerce Director roles at Evans Cycles, Wickes and spent many years at Schuh leading their online charge.

Andy is Senior Ecommerce Trading Manager at Primark, having been part of the team that developed, launched and scaled their Ecommerce proposition over the last few years. He now leads the trading function; responsible for commercial trading, range strategy, availability, CRO and Forecasting.

With a passion for retail, Andy has 20 years’ experience in commercial roles, having previously worked in Merchandising roles for Primark, Tesco and Matalan.

Experienced E-commerce Director with a track record of delivering strategy and growth. Specialist within Interiors and Decor market. Passionate about retail in all its formats and excited about what’s yet to come.

CEO of the UK’s third largest steel stockholder, leading a £150m turnover business and driving transformation across supply chain and customer experience. With 22 years in steel, including major UK Defence shipbuilding programmes for Babcock and BAE Systems. An E-COMMERCE Award winner (2025) and National Business Award winner for Learning & Development (2026).

Mark has worked in the Digital space for over 20 years, currently heading up Ecommerce at Heal’s. It’s his role to lead development and optimisation across all digital customer touchpoints and striving to ensure the luxury furniture retailer continues to innovate online, as it has done offline throughout its 214-year existence.

With a previous life as a database developer and analyst, Mark is passionate about data and how it can be captured and used to improve the customer experience online, across all platforms.

Vikki is an Ecommerce Category Manager at Harrods; the home of luxury with a mission to make anything possible.
A retail expert and enthusiast, Vikki has 12 years of experience in the sector across a broad spectrum of brands and product areas from high street to luxury.

Branwell Johnson is Group Director of Content at Propeller Group, an agency that provides PR, Content and Business Development for companies in retail, marketing and related technologies.

In the past 12 months he has driven content projects that have sparked business conversations for clients on topics including B2B Commerce Marketing, Conversion Rate Optimisation and AI’s role in modern marketing.

He is a frequent chair of panels at Ecommerce Expo, Technology for Marketing and other events tackling topics such as D2C brands and Retail Media.

Miya Knights has over 25 years’ experience as a retail technology analyst, editor, author and consultant. She is the owner and publisher of Retail Technology magazine and has co-authored two best-selling books about Amazon and Omnichannel Retail. Miya serves as a consultant and advisor to a number of technology companies, judges a number of industry awards, and is also a member of the Retail Influencer Network, Customer Strategy Network and the KPMG Retail Think Tank.

Miya regularly appears as a retail technology expert on news and current affairs television programmes, and is quoted in the press, as well as moderating or speaking at industry events. She was also recognised as 2021 Arts & Media Senior Leader by the Black British Business Awards, and has been named one of top retail influencers in 2023 by RETHINK Retail and the Retail Technology Innovation Hub.

Meghan Lewis is Head of Ecommerce at Skinnydip London, with over 10 years’ experience in ecommerce and marketing. With a passion for digital innovation and brand growth, she offers a keen eye for standout strategies and customer-focused excellence in the ecommerce space.

A seasoned judge, UK eCommerce SAAS pioneer, Shiran Liyanage, has been synonymous with ‘best practice’ – generating exceptional customer loyalty and sustainable growth by joining the dots across the ecommerce stream, from pre-purchase, to final doorstep delivery and beyond.

A media spokesman and innovator since the very early days of the internet, Shiran has helped found and grow 9 tech innovators, devised and launched over 50 products, both as a serial entrepreneur (he sold his first start-up in his mid-twenties), and in senior roles at brands such as Virgin, Thompson Reuters, Reply and MetaPack. Shiran was the publisher of the UK’s bestselling Internet Shoppers’ Guides series and also instrumental in the setup of IDIS, the industry’s good practice charter for internet shopping delivery introduced by the IMRG, which was based on an award-winning initiative he launched for Virgin (and a trailblazer of today’s platforms such as Shopify and BigCommerce) which helped over 12,000 businesses trade online. Shiran is also a Digital Investment Strategist for Endava plc, Luminii Consulting, GPMIP and Namaste Management.

Shaun is a seasoned ecommerce expert and former Ecommerce Awards winner with 20 years ofhands-on experience across all facets of the industry. Throughout his career, he’s honed his
expertise in marketing, user experience, logistics, cross-border retail,technology, datamanagement, and analytics. He has a particular passion for scaling early-stage ecommercebrands internationally, a subject he has even spoken about at 10 Downing Street. Most recently, Shaun has helped the UK’s leading equestrian brand LeMieux achieve a remarkable 200% ecommerce growth in just under three years.

Andy has worked at the heart of the online retail industry since 2010 – researching and producing reports on trends and developments affecting the sector. During that time, Andy has developed strong knowledge in multiple areas of online retail, with particular expertise in Black Friday. Andy is also a frequent conference speaker and media commentator.

Brand , Storytelling and Marketing Leading brands locally and globally through customer experiences and journeys across all ominichannel platforms , Ntola is also a Podcaster , Founder and Advisor in the Tech and Retail Sector .

Aynsley has worked in the online & digital sector for over 20 years and has worked on Hybris/SAP, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Magento E-commerce platforms across a number of retailers to drive online sales and improve website customer experience.

After seven years at Cox & Cox as eCommerce Director, Aynsley joined The Pixel as Head of Growth where he consults retailers on eCommerce, CRO initiatives, helping drive online sales and helping improve UX.

After years of working in events and the equestrian industry Catherine was lucky enough to find herself at Numatic International, the home of the UK’s Best Selling Vacuum, Henry. She has led the development of B2C and B2B eCommerce growth since its launch in 2018, developing into 6 thriving channels. 

Esther Rogers is Head of Ecommerce at The Cotswold Company, overseeing ecommerce and performance marketing. With 20 years’ experience in ecommerce, including senior roles at Joules, The White Company and Boden, she has a particular interest in balancing commercial performance with customer experience to drive profitable growth.

Leading multichannel, Ecommerce and marketing professional at senior leadership level across numerous verticals. Previously CEO for WoolOvers, Omnichannel Director for Moss Bros, Marketing and Ecommerce Director for M & M Direct, Ecommerce Director for Otto Group and Shop Direct.

Named in the top 50 Ecommerce professionals, 2016 movers and shakers and winner of numerous Ecommerce and marketing awards including Drapers overall gold award.

Janis is an expert in marketing, ecommerce and customer experience. She’s grown diverse ecommerce and subscription businesses from Birchbox to Playboy. She has held senior roles across ecommerce, digital media and entertainment. She is now CMO at Clothes Doctor, a fast-growing UK laundry brand designed to help people make their clothes last longer by washing less and caring for them better.

Alex is Managing Director International at Moonpig and part of the Group’s Executive Leadership Team. Alex has extensive experience launching and growing international markets and revenue streams, having previously held roles such as Head of International Expansion at LEGO. Before that, Alex worked in corporate finance and strategy consulting at EY. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and B.A. in Economics from Trinity College Dublin.

Direct responsibility for all aspects of the digital customer experience and driving sales digitally through all channels – eCommerce, Retail and Wholesale. Responsible for the EMEA E-Commerce business unit P&L.

Providing strategy and direction for developing and implementing omni-channel initiatives, striving to create seamless cross-channel experiences for consumers within EMEA utilising CRM tools and digital products.

Kayla has over 10 years experience working in eCommerce, focused mainly on the furniture market. Now the Marketing Director at FurnitureboxUK and responsible for the marketing, ecommerce and marketplace teams.

Gill is Head of E-commerce at Heineken, with 25 years of FMCG experience across retail, commercial leadership, and customer experience transformation. She leads an award-winning e-commerce team, driving growth through experimentation, customer-first strategy, and high-impact through-the-line campaigns that deliver measurable commercial results.

Senior UX researcher focused on how user insight shapes product and commercial decisions. Works at the intersection of research, design, and delivery, with particular interest in how evidence is interpreted, simplified, or lost under pressure. Experienced across non-profit, luxury, and retail contexts. Actively exploring how AI-powered systems affect usability, trust, and decision-making.