Over 65 Industry Experts to Speak at Annual Event Organised by The Consumer Goods Forum Hosted in London from 6-8th November 2013 
 
PARIS, 11th September 2013 – The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) today announced the complete line-up of speakers presenting at the Operational Excellence Conference. Held at the Novotel West London from 6-8th November 2013, the global event brings together experts from three key workstreams – marketing, IT and supply chain – to discuss the future of the industry and to share best practices and experiences. 
 
The impressive line-up of speakers includes heavyweights from the world of retail and manufacturing, and from the service and education sectors. This includes:
 
  • Dick Boer, President & CEO of Royal Ahold and Co-Chair of the CGF; 
  • Stefano Zenezini, Vice President Product Supply, Procter & Gamble; 
  • Terry Murphy, Director of National Distribution Centre Operations, John Lewis Partnership; 
  • Cenk Gurol, Chief SCM Officer, Aeon; 
  • Stephen Taylor, European Vice President of Brand at Samsung Electronics; 
  • Truls Fjeldsatd, Market and Analytics Director, NorgesGruppen ASA; 
  • Fiona Lambert, George and GM Softlines Brand Director, Asda; 
  • Carl Graziani, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, Safeway; 
  • Kjell Nordström, Associate Professor at the Stockholm School of Economics Institute of International Business; 
  • Sean Gourley, Physicist, Political Advisor, TED Fellow and Founder & CTO of Quid; 
  • Danny Perekalsky, Chief Marketing Officer of DIXY; and 
  • Anne Bordier, Director of Academy at IGD. 
 
August Harder, Chief Information Officer, Coop, Switzerland and Co-Chair of the CGF’s IT Committee, said, “We’re delighted with the line-up of speakers that has been put together. There’s a great mix of industry experts and thought leaders, and the marketing, IT and supply chain programmes are packed with interesting topics and real-life case studies. The team behind the event is confident that this will be the biggest and best yet”. 
  
The Operational Excellence Conference is an annual event organised by the CGF. Designed by members of the CGF specifically for their industry peers, the event is a global forum for top-evel executives from the consumer goods industry. 
 
John Phillips, Senior Vice President, Customer Supply Chain & Go-To-Market, PepsiCo Global Operations and Co-Chair of the CGF’s Supply Chain Committee, said, “With a fine balance between shared plenary sessions, individual streams for marketing, IT and supply chain, working sessions and store tours, this hands-on event has everything consumer goods executives need, providing both retailers and manufacturers with excellent opportunities to meet with each other, debate and find better ways of working together”. 
 
Additionally, with the three streams working alongside each other, delegates can customise which stream they attend and when. If a delegate is interested in focusing on the supply chain programmes, but wants to catch a specific IT or marketing presentation, no problem. Delegates are encouraged to create their own conference and be where they want to be when they want to be there. 
 
It’s your conference, your options, your choice. Register online today at tcgfoperationalexcellence.com. 
 
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About The Consumer Goods Forum 
The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is a global, parity-based industry network, driven by its members. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of over 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers and other stakeholders across 70 countries and reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Forum member companies have combined sales of EUR 2.5 trillion. Their retailer and manufacturer members directly employ nearly 10 million people with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. 
 
The Consumer Goods Forum is governed by its Board of Directors, which includes 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs and Chairpersons. 
 
The Forum provides a unique global platform for knowledge exchange and initiatives around five strategic priorities – Emerging Trends, Sustainability, Safety & Health, Operational Excellence and Knowledge Sharing & People Development – which are central to the advancement of today’s consumer goods industry.  The Forum’s vision is: “Better lives through better business”. To fulfil this, its members have given the Forum a mandate to develop common positions on key strategic and operational issues affecting the consumer goods business, with a strong focus on non-competitively sensitive process improvement. 
 
The Forum’s success is driven by the active participation of the key players in the sector, who together develop and lead the implementation of best practices along the value chain. 
 
With its headquarters in Paris and its regional offices in Washington DC, and Tokyo, the CGF serves its members throughout the world. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com
 
For more information on the event, please contact: 
Sharon Jeske 
Director, Operational Excellence 
The Consumer Goods Forum 
Tel: (+33) 1 82 00 95 65 
s.jeske@theconsumergoodsforum.com 
 
Sophie Appell 
Manager, Operational Excellence 
The Consumer Goods Forum 
Tel: (+33) 1 82 00 95 56 
s.appell@theconsumergoodsforum.com 
 
For media enquiries, please contact: 
Lee Green 
Communications Manager 
The Consumer Goods Forum 
Tel: (+33) 1 82 00 95 70 
l.green@theconsumergoodsforum.com