From Brand Strategy to Business Reality

Mark Smith is a strategic brand consultant, executive coach and experienced lecturer who helps directors understand the true commercial value of marketing. As founder of award winning consultancy, Direction, he works with leadership teams to align brand, customer experience and sustainability as levers for long-term business growth.
Mark brings over 20 years’ cross-sector experience, partnering with boards to transform marketing from a support function into a strategic driver. Alongside his consultancy work, Mark lectures in brand strategy and marketing at Nottingham Business School, where he bridges theory and practice for emerging business leaders. He is currently completing a PhD on how marketing is understood and used inside the boardroom, giving him a unique, research backed perspective on the disconnect between marketers and directors.

Helen is a senior communications leader with more than 20 years’ experience shaping some of the UK’s best-known brands. She is the founder of Reframe, an independent consultancy advising senior leaders on corporate communications, reputation and brand.
Helen’s previous experience included Global Head of Communications at HSBC and Director of External Communications at Barclaycard, where she built new functions and led award-winning campaigns in highly regulated, complex markets. Earlier in her career she held senior roles at Which? and Debenhams, and worked agency side across technology and entertainment, with clients including major film distributors.
Through her experience of different industries and in-house and agency roles, Helen brings a view of brand change from every seat: the leaders commissioning it, the people delivering it and the audiences judging it.

Jeremy is a Partner and Brand Strategy Director at Reggie London, an award-winning independent brand and communications consultancy. He has worked in communications for over 30 years, firstly on the advertising and marketing fronts within the publishing sector for Reed and Condé Nast.
He built and ran a leading design consultancy, advised agencies and businesses as an independent consultant and was involved in a digital PR start-up before joining Reggie London in 2014. Jeremy has extensive experience of working in most industry sectors, having led major branding projects for many household names in the UK and internationally.

Jo partners with leadership teams to design brand transformation strategies that are
ambitious, commercially grounded and effective in practice - helping organisations get it right first time. With a deep passion for brand, an entrepreneurial mindset and a calm, positive style, she helps navigate complexity, build alignment and turn strategic intent into meaningful action. Jo enjoys bringing fresh perspective, clear thinking and energy to every challenge, always with a focus on outcomes that work in the real world. Jo has worked with organisations including Logitech, Hitachi, Standard Life, Lloyd’s of London, Philips, Star Alliance, United Airlines, HEAD, The Rolling Stones, De Beers Group, Swiss Re, Formula 1, KPMG and Anglo American.

Ucheora Obi-Wheeler is an award-winning brand and marketing leader, recognised for bringing a deeply human perspective to complex strategic and commercial challenges. She is currently Associate Director, Brand Strategy & Insights at Fidelity International, helping shape the organisation's global brand strategy and strengthen its competitive positioning.
Previously Ucheora led the evolution of HSBC’s global brand strategy, working with its ExCo to translate strategic ambition into business reality. Her international career spans brand strategy, customer insight, experience design and global campaign leadership, with a track record of delivering high-performing campaigns, transforming operating models and securing C-suite investment in long-term brand building.
Ucheora is passionate about bridging the gap between brand strategy and execution, believing that meaningful commercial impact comes from aligning people, purpose and customer understanding.