Nick spent eight years as Head of Commercial and Procurement at the Department for International Development. Following over 25 years within the private sector specialising in procurement, commercial and project management in roles across the UK, USA, Australia, and Spain, Nick joined the public sector as part of HMG’s Commercial Functional Leadership Group. Nick is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. Previously a CIPS Regional Chair and regular keynote speaker at conferences, Nick is also an active mentor for Procurement and Commercial professionals.

John Fitzgerald Coyne, nicknamed ‘Fitzy’, is an expert at developing commercial strategy and skills for the modern business. Named after the 35th President of the United States he had the privilege of working closely with his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver a long-time advocate for children's health and disability issues who founded the movement that became Special Olympics. John began his career in the Irish tourism sector and in 1991 became the first ever Commercial Director at Liverpool FC where he was tasked with broadening the financial, commercial and business development aspects of the club. After leaving Liverpool FC, John spent some time at Sports Wales before moving to the health sector where he has largely remained since. John was most recently the Managing Director an NHS owned Teckal Company, SWFT Clinical Services Ltd. Here he managed a turnover of approximately £50m a year and 280 staff. He’s appeared on ‘This is your Life’ and ‘Question Time’ and interviewed Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Cecelia Ahern and Colin Farrell for cover stories for the Irish Post newspaper, and once even presented to a President! John is a keen runner and lives with his wife Lisa and daughter Darcy. He became the Director Commercial and Procurement for the Welsh Government in September 2021.

Linda O’Hare is Assistant Director – Procurement, at Business Services Organisation (BSO), Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS), in Northern Ireland (NI). PaLS is the sole provider of professional procurement and logistics services to all Health and Social Care (HSC) organisations in NI. BSO PaLS manages £1.3bn of expenditure per annum, has circa 420 staff, with procurement offices and warehouses situated across NI. BSO PaLS manages procurements and contracts across all categories of goods and services - clinical, non-clinical, social care and ICT. Linda has 23 years Public Procurement experience, in the Health Services in both Ireland and NI. Prior to this she headed up the purchasing department in the 5-star Merrion Hotel in Dublin, and in her early career held a number of management roles in the hospitality industry. In her spare time, Linda takes long walks in the countryside, spends time with family and friends and likes to travel extensively.

Gareth Rhys Williams was appointed Government Chief Commercial Officer at the Cabinet Office in 2016, having previously served as Chief Executive Officer of PHS Group, a leading provider of outsourced workplace services in the UK. Gareth is an experienced CEO and Non Executive Director, with a consistent record of reinvigorating and reinventing listed and private equity backed companies through creative growth strategies. He has a strong record of driving transformational change in large, complex and federated organisations. Before joining PHS, Gareth was CEO of Charter International, the FTSE 250 engineering group, until its successful sale to Colfax Corporation in 2012. Prior to that, he was CEO of Capital Safety Group Ltd, since sold to KKR, and CEO of Vitec Group plc, the supplier of broadcast and photographic equipment and services.

A strategic and hands-on commercial/procurement leader, Philip has a proven track record of achievements across multiple categories (Business Process Outsourcing, Technology and Digital Systems and Solutions, Financial Systems, Logistics and Record Storage, Travel Management, Professional Services, Contact and Service Centres). He has had a robust Commercial career across the Public Sector, Finance, Automotive, Rail, Road and Construction Industries. Philip has responsibility for Common Goods and Services across Technology and Digital Categories of spend and manages £7.2bn across several categories including Cloud and Digital, Networks, Software Cyber and AI, Digital Futures, and Technology Products and Services across central government, public and third sector (charities and social enterprises) organisations across the UK. Prior to joining Crown Commercial Service Philip headed up the Information and Technology Commercial and Procurement Group at Highways England as the Commercial and Procurement Director. Prior to this he was the head of the Digital Platforms, Programmes and Applications Category at the Department for Work and Pensions where he was also the Commercial Director for the Universal Credit Programme. Before joining the UK Public Service, Philip worked for Siemens where he had responsibilities for a multi-site and multi business commercial activities spanning the UK, Germany and elsewhere in Europe, South and North America across several industry sectors including: Automotive, Transportation (Rail, Civils, Communications, Electrification and Signalling) and Financial/Business Services.

The HCSA promotes the work of procurement and supply chain staff at all levels in healthcare. The Association provides training events and educational seminars, sponsors awards and hosts two high-profile annual conferences. The governance of the Association rests with the board of Trustees. The Executive runs the day to day business of the Association supported by a National Council of Regional Coordinators, Specialist Area Coordinators and National representatives from across the U.K. HCSA is a registered charity in the UK, is entirely self-financed through a combination of income from conferences, seminars, other training events and advertising.

Professor Jo Meehan is a Professor of Responsible Procurement and the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Business at the University of Liverpool Management School, and a visiting professor at Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology in Finland. Jo’s research centres on modern slavery in supply chains, social value in public procurement, and power. It explores commercial practices that allow social inequalities and environmental harm to persist, and crucially, what might be done to enable systemic change. Her work has won numerous international awards, and she is a regular public speaker committed to challenging business responsibilities and delivering impactful research. Prior to joining academia, Jo had extensive procurement experience in the private sector working for a global blue-chip company and she has been described as “one of the UK’s most influential procurement academics."

Laura is a EMCC accredited Executive and Leadership coach, with 10+ years' experience in leadership and management roles in Procurement & Supply Chain businesses, supporting Procurement teams to deliver value through employee engagement and change management initiatives. Laura has broad experience of working across global organisations in both the private and public sector, both in the UK and in Europe, gaining invaluable business, cultural and multilingual experience across large teams. Laura delivers bespoke coaching & leadership development programmes for Procurement leaders & their teams, blending 1:1 and team approaches to support them in driving a greater strategic impact within their organisation. In her work, Laura holds a judgement-free and confidential space for CPOs and Procurement Leaders, partnering with them & their Procurement teams to increase their self-awareness, soft skills and confidence, so that they can increase their impact within their organisation in a way that supports their wellbeing.

Grahame joined BiP Solutions in 2003 as Production Director with responsibility for the multi-disciplined media and production department, including Content, Research and Distribution. Prior to that, he worked in various senior editorial and publishing roles for the media company EMAP plc. Grahame was appointed Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the BI Division in May 2012 and became Sales & Marketing Director in May 2016 with overall responsibility for driving revenues through private and public sector sales, marketing and events teams. In January 2017, Grahame was appointed Managing Director of the Media and Marketing Solutions division of the BiP Group. In this role he assumed overall responsibility for two of BiP Group’s recent acquisitions – Pro Mark Media and Ingenium – as well as BiP Solutions’ events and training portfolio. Following a restructure of BiP Group in April 2018, Grahame was appointed Sales and Marketing Director for the Business Intelligence and Public Sector business units, before subsequently being appointed Director of Public Policy, Research and Communications in 2023.