Margaret ThatcherConference 2026

Alex has been CEO of Currys, the UK and European market-leading technology retailer, since 2018, leading an ambitious transformation that has driven big increases in colleague engagement, customer satisfaction and financial performance. He was previously CEO of Shop Direct, now the Very Group (2012–18), where he led the business's digital transformation from a catalogue retailer to the UK's second largest e-commerce pureplay. Before that, he was managing director of Lombard, leading the turnaround of Europe's leading asset finance company (2008–12), and commercial director at Barclays. He began his career in strategy and operations consulting with Kalchas and Bain & Company. He is a scholar of Worcester College, Oxford, a leadership council member of Business in the Community and a non-executive director of RS Group plc.

Annabel Denham is a Columnist and Senior Political Commentator at The Telegraph, where she previously edited the Comment and Opinion pages. Before this, she worked at the Institute of Economic Affairs, City AM, and as a Parliamentary researcher for Lord (Peter) Lilley.

Ben Francis MBE is the co-founder and CEO of Gymshark, one of the world's most recognised fitness brands. In 2020 Gymshark secured a deal with General Atlantic that valued the company at over £1bn, making it one of the few British businesses to achieve unicorn status since 2001. Ben started Gymshark at 19 while studying at Aston University, famously juggling his studies with working as a pizza delivery driver to fund the venture. In 2018 he was named in Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Retail and E-commerce, the same year Gymshark's revenue reached $120 million. In December 2020 he was named EY's UK Entrepreneur of the Year, and in 2022 received an honorary degree from Aston University. In January 2023 he was appointed MBE for services to commerce and the economy.

Helen Gordon is Chief Executive of Grainger plc, the UK's largest listed residential landlord. She was appointed in January 2016 from RBS, where she had been Global Head of Real Estate Asset Management since 2011. Prior to that she was Director of Legal and General Property, Group Property Director of Railtrack and Managing Director of John Laing Developments. Helen is Senior Independent Director on the Board of Derwent London, a Non-Executive Director of Business LDN, Vice Chair and Board Director of the European Public Real Estate Association, and a Board member of the British Property Federation. She is Past President of the British Property Federation, was a member of the Government's New Towns Taskforce and Urban Centre Recovery Taskforce, and chaired the London Growth Commission.

Sir John Griffin founded Addison Lee in 1975, building it into the largest private hire business of its kind in Europe, with more than 5,000 drivers. In 2013 the American private equity firm Carlyle Group bought the business for £350 million. His interest in supporting young people into meaningful careers led him to become Chairman of the Advisory Board of Finito Education. He donated over £12 million to open The Griffin Institute at Northwick Park Hospital, the UK's largest robotics medical centre. He is also a Co-Operation Ireland Ambassador, working on grassroots peace-building efforts across the island.

Barney Hussey-Yeo is the founder and CEO of Cleo, an AI financial assistant serving millions of users globally. Under his leadership, Cleo has raised $137 million and reached a valuation of over $1bn. A former data scientist with a master's in machine learning from the University of Bristol, he built Cleo to bring financial guidance previously reserved for the elite to everyone.

Greg Jackson CBE is the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, the UK's largest energy supplier. Octopus now serves 11 million customers globally, including 7.8 million in the UK, and operates across 27 countries. The Group manages a £7 billion renewables portfolio and leads businesses in EV leasing, heat pumps and solar, attracting over $3 billion in funding from international investors. Greg is a serial tech unicorn founder, having built both Octopus Energy and Kraken to multi-billion dollar valuations. In 2024 he was appointed CBE and named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders. He was appointed a Non-Executive Member of the Cabinet Office Board in 2025.

Luke Johnson is chairman and co-owner of Gail's Bakeries, which has grown 15-fold since he first invested 15 years ago and now makes profits in excess of £50m. He recently took control of Inspecs Group PLC, a global eyewear business with £200m revenues. Previously he was chairman of PizzaExpress PLC, Channel 4 Television and The Institute of Cancer Research, among other companies and charities. He wrote a weekly business column in The Sunday Times, the FT and The Sunday Telegraph for a combined total of 20 years, and began his career as an investment analyst at a stockbroker.

Emma Jones CBE is the Small Business Commissioner, a role she took up in June 2025. She previously founded Enterprise Nation in 2005, which grew into an active small business membership community reaching more than 800,000 businesses each year. Before that she founded Techlocate in 2000, which was sold to Tenon plc when Emma was 27. She began her career at Arthur Andersen, where she set up the firm's Inward Investment practice. In 2011 she co-founded StartUp Britain. She served as SME Representative for Crown Commercial Service from July 2016. Emma was awarded an MBE in 2012 for Services to Enterprise and appointed CBE in 2021.

Jimmy McLoughlin OBE is the host of Jimmy's Jobs of the Future and a former special adviser to the Prime Minister on business, technology and entrepreneurship, serving in Downing Street from 2016 to 2019. During a period of momentous political change, Jimmy helped shape the British government's relationship with domestic and international businesses. Jimmy's Jobs of the Future interviews entrepreneurs and business leaders about the jobs they are creating and what the future of our economy looks like. Guests include Rishi Sunak, Andrew Bailey, Ben Francis, Tony Blair and Alex Depledge. He is also an adviser to the King's Awards for Enterprise.

Tom Westgarth is Head of Growth at Fractile, a UK company building chips, systems and software to radically improve the speed and cost of running inference on the largest AI models. Their hardware will be produced at TSMC this year and available for commercial deployment in 2027. Previously, Tom worked on Science and Technology Policy at the Tony Blair Institute, and spent a year on secondment in the Sovereign AI Unit working on the implementation of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, focusing on AI for science and supporting the development of the AI for science strategy.

Lord Wolfson graduated with a degree in Law from Trinity College, Cambridge. He began his career at Next in 1991 as a Sales Assistant, joined the Board as Sales and Marketing Director in 1997, was made Managing Director in 1999 and appointed Chief Executive in August 2001. Since he became Chief Executive, Next shares have outperformed the FTSE 100 index by more than 500%. He has always had an active interest in economics, history and politics and was created a Life Peer in May 2010.