Meet the team
Simon Iddon • Founder & CEO
Simon’s motivation, enthusiasm and energy has always been focussed on identifying missed opportunities while problems – the why, where and how of various sectors – and not just solving but going beyond to deliver true innovation and incremental value.
His career spans start-ups to multi-national supplier PLCs as well as start-up, FTSE 250 and international consumer executive boards. He has invested in several early stage businesses and advised the boards of many well known mid-growth consumer brands. Simon has amassed many T-shirts and learnings along the way on both sides of the fence.
Simon’s experience covers the end-to-end of business, from commercial and business consulting to strategy advisor; leading innovation and recognised for successful technology transformations, and creating global products featured in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. Simon has also acted as chair, keynote speaker and panellist at multiple global events and conferences.
Victoria Harding (Baxter) • Merchandising Director
Victoria has in-depth knowledge in the retail and wholesale industry, working across various roles over the past 15 years, most recently as Head of Buying and Merchandising at ASOS, and previously Arcadia.
Having been responsible for developing tactical strategies targeting consumers and product assortments to drive significant sales growth, she has vast experience forming strong partnerships with iconic international brands such as Ralph Lauren, PVH Corp, Inditex among many others. Working alongside these brands, Victoria has implemented creative strategies based on robust data analysis to maximize profitability and is passionate about creativity and innovation in the industry.
Ian Clay • Business Development Director
A former tech journalist, who owned a marketing communications agency before selling it to a PLC in 2018, Ian has over 20 years of experience in the B2B tech sector. Working more recently as a Chief Growth Officer Ian’s experience covers demand generation, lead generation, content marketing, media relations and marketing automation. He has extensive international experience across Europe, Asia-Pac and the USA.
Beth McDonald • Marketing Director
With 15 years’ experience in Fashion, Retail and Hospitality businesses Beth is passionate when it comes to leading a customer-centric approach. As a Brand and Marketing Director, she has been responsible for delivering transformative digital change for many brands and driving personalised customer engagement through digital channels.
“I was compelled not only by the proposition itself and the need for it – particularly its focus on inclusivity – but also by the quality and diversity of the team who bring a whole range of incredible skills and experience to the be Retail Social mix”
Shareholder and Chief Commercial Officer, leading global brand
Amber Smith • Marketing Executive
Having graduated from University in 2017 Amber’s first experience of integrated marketing communications came with Technical Publicity Asia which was based in Singapore. She joined the parent company upon her return to the UK and has extensive experience of representing brands digitally, with particular expertise in the social space.
Erika Eliasson-Norris • Governance
As well as advising be Retail Social, Erika is the founder and CEO of Beyond Governance Ltd. She was the youngest FTSE 250 board governance adviser at the age of 32 and is a regular speaker at governance-themed and Institute of Director events. Erika is Group Company Secretary at multiple FTSE250 and FTSE100 organisations.
Sally Hayes • Finance
A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Sally is a former PWC consultant who now works with early and mid-growth businesses. Sally has achieved success in scaling businesses in the UK, USA, Canada and Asia and has multi-sector experience including FinTech; Retail and creative.
Our Investors include
Alphabetically
Zoe Bolt
Zoe began her career in the Royal Corps of Signals where she became the first female soldier to be awarded Top Recruit in her Troop. She later moved into the hospitality sector, working through many roles including the support office of a FTSE business, leading several key consumer digital projects; later as a Customer Success Manager in a leading supplier within the sector, before moving to Pharma and a now a key member of the Optimum Team.
Simon Cloke
With a background as a property developer and 30 years of investment banking experience behind him, Simon is one of be Retail Social’s early backers. Simon now divides his time between advising and investing in a variety of early stage businesses, and was a main Board Director of a FTSE 250 listed business for 10 years.
Lynn Clay
Lynn is a Senior Commercial Director with 20 years experience across consumer healthcare and BioPharma. She has an MBA from Imperial College London and international experience in both developed and emerging markets. She is a proven leader with an innovative mindset as well as strong people and stakeholder management skills.
Carl Johnson
Carl has 25 years of experience in Telecoms & Information Technology and has worked in a number of early stage, growing to large and PLC Network Service providers. Carl currently owns and manages a UK Managed Networking company based in London.
Martin Landless
Martin has 12 years Sales & Channel leadership and 20 years experience in Cyber Security from technical practitioner to leader. He is motivated and versatile at working with the largest organisations down to the smallest. Martin has extensive experience of building pre-IPO startups to successful exit.
Steve Rothwell
Steve is the founder of one of the UK’s technology success stories Eagle Eye Solutions. A software engineer by trade he has built Eagle Eye into a £150m business trading around the world supplying technology solutions to retailers. He has a passion for solving problems that directly impact and improve the consumer experience.
Ivan Schofield
Ivan is a former CEO and experience Chairman and NED, also working as a senior leadership coach. He assists be Retail Social on finance, governance and strategy. Ivan previously ran several large consumer facing business holding positions such as CEO of Itsu and Managing Director of KFC Europe.
Rob Smith
Rob has been a technology advisor for innovative digital solutions for 20+ years with clients ranging from start-ups to FTSE 250 and global names, helping businesses utilize technology creatively to give competitive edge. Rob’s experience covers Retail, Hospitality, Accountancy and other sectors and has helped advised the business since ealy days.