Ben Branson

Ben is the Founder of Seedlip and Æcorn Aperitifs, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits and aperitifs. His mission is two fold: Solve the dilemma of ‘what to drink when you’re not drinking’ and continue his family’s 300 years of farming heritage.

With offices in the Chilterns, Los Angeles and Sydney, Seedlip is now available in 25x cities including New York, Barcelona, Shanghai & Singapore and served in many of the world’s most awarded bars, restaurants and hotels including 350x Michelin * Restaurants & 9/10 of the world’s best cocktail bars.

Ben was named as one of the Top 50 most influential people in food and drink by The Telegraph and awarded Young Achiever of The Year by The Drinks Business. He continues to pioneer the non-alcoholic category forward with the launch of Æcorn Aperitifs in Selfridges and The Savoy in May 2019.

Craig Hutchison

Bill Gamelli

As an innovator in the No/Lo alcohol adult beverage industry, Bill and his family are proud to be exporting their premium drinks, made in the U.K., to 3 Continents. Bill brings his 15 years of finance experience at the global investment banks where his practice focused on post IPO and M&A liquidity for Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Start-up Company clients. Bill earned his undergraduate degree with double majors in economics and political science from Boston University, where he met his roommate, friend, and co-founder, Jim Dowla and, lucky for him, his wife Tracy. She turned out to be the inspiration for creating Mocktails,  along with other family members among the Founders, Jim Dowla ad Mark Guthrie. Once Bill discovered that Mark and Jim were also starting a No/Lo alcohol beverage company, and they realized that 3 of 6 adults in their families were non-drinkers, it was an easy decision to pool their resources, and Mocktails was born. 

David Begg

Stephen Dillon

Stephen Dillon is the founder of Dublin based drinks innovation company RTM Beverages  - The RTM portfolio is  heavily focused on the No-Lo categories - Noki & Co. The Alcohol Free Gin & Tonic flavoured drink was launched in November 2018 and Loki & Co. Europe's first 'Hard Seltzer' was launched in 2017. A serial entrepreneur in the drinks industry Stephen has previously established a number of brands and businesses, he most recently worked as European Sales Director for the craft & speciality division of Ab-InBev. Stephen is a qualified beer sommelier and holds a WSET diploma in wines & spirits - he specialises in spotting trends in the drinks industry and bring innovative products to market at pace.

Eric Dimter

From the conservative shipping industry into troubled waters of the Start-Up world. JoyBräu – the world’s first non-alcoholic Protein Beer was founded by Erik Dimter and Tristan Brümmer in 2016. 

It took two years of research until JoyBräu was introduced to the market in 2018 – with a remarkable success. JoyBräu, the substitute of a protein shake, is now available in 12 countries.

James Grundy

Ad van Etten

Ad is senior manager commercial development in Chr. Hansen’s food culture and enzyme division. He has a strong commercial background and a track record of working successfully with clients all over the world. With a marketing degree and educated at a.o. INSEAD and Cranfield University he specialises in managing complex commercial projects with large account and distributors. He now turned his focus to the world of fermented beverages where he uses his extensive business experience to develop and manage Chr. Hansen’s Smartbev brand, a range of innovative fermentation concepts.

Ellie Webb

Ellie is the creator and founder of Caleño, a tropical non-alcoholic free spirit. On a night out dancing a couple of years ago, she became frustrated with the lack of adventurous non-alcoholic options. After talking with friends, she realised there was an opportunity to make those options more joyful. She flew to Colombia where she visited family and was inspired by the vibrant, colourful culture, and tropical flavours. Two months after launching, Ellie landed a listing with major UK retailer, Sainsbury’s and Caleño is now stocked in around 500 of their stores. 

 Before launching Caleño, Ellie had a background in drinks, working for the UK’s largest drinks distributor. This taught her about the spirits making process and the hospitality industry where she was able to work closely with pubs, bars and restaurants. She also spent time at a Shopper Marketing agency, where she worked on exciting activations for brands such as Nestlé, GSK, and Estee Lauder. 

Rebekah Hall

Renowned for its cold-pressed Performance Juices, non-dairy Grown Up Milkshakes, first-to-market adaptogenic Hotshots and the UK’s first Cannabidiol (CBD) soft drink Dutch Courage, Botanic Lab products are unapologetically taking over the shelves of Waitrose, Selfridges, Holland & Barrett, Ocado, Co-Op and EAT.

Since 2014, Rebekah’s strategic vision and business acumen have been the driving force behind Botanic Lab, rewriting the rulebook on stereotypical ‘health drinks’ and catapulting the business to success in a very competitive landscape.

Rebekah followed her studies in economics with a successful 10-year career as a city corporate financier. She has a tough and pragmatic approach to business, developed and fine tuned in a challenging and sometimes ruthless environment. She is a firm believer that one of the key personality traits required in a successful entrepreneur is an abundance of resilience, preferably accompanied by a sense of humour. Rebekah is a regular speaker at female focused and entrepreneurship events, providing an honest and refreshing insight into the process of launching and building a brand. Like her drinks, what you see is what you get.

As a somewhat unexpected counter to this, Rebekah is also an experienced yoga teacher, having practiced traditional ashtanga yoga for many years. She knows the health and wellbeing sector inside
out, both as a consumer and also a business owner, but is unashamedly cynical about it. 

She says, “I’m no health pin up. Our products were developed for someone just like me. Yes, I’m health aware, but with the best will in the world I drink, never restrict what I eat and don’t have time to devote
my existence to food prep and gym selfies. I won’t feel guilty about that. I am also a stickler for quality. I want the best that my money can buy and I want it to be convenient, taste good and if it looks great
as well, that’s a bonus. Life is too short for bad drinks, whatever your lifestyle choices. That’s why we create drinks that use ancient botanicals in a new way. Drinks that look to the future. Drinks that do
something.”

Tom Elliott

Tom is a founding member of the Future Brands Team at Sainsbury’s, tasked with spearheading the growth of new & distinctive brands across food and drink. He has been responsible for some of the biggest NPD launches in Sainsbury’s this year. Prior to this, he led Sainsbury’s expansion into Hong Kong & Singapore, the first time in its 150-year history, as well as holding a number of commercial and strategic roles, with a background in Strategy Consulting.

Gerry Stopps

Gerry Stopps, Sales and Marketing Director at Omega Ingredients is a self-motivated sales professional with a solid technical background with 30 years’ experience with international flavour companies. His clients includes some of the world’s best known blue-chip companies along with some of the fastest growing young ventures in the Food and Beverage sector.

Fiona Davies

Fiona previously worked in the wine industry within Aldi’s award-winning buying team. She moved into category management at Holland & Barrett in October 2018 and spearheaded the alcohol free proposition, sourcing new and innovative suppliers with the intention of offering customers an exciting mix of quality alcohol free options on the high street. The range launched in July 2019 and is growing in success, accounting for 50% of the total ‘free from’ category sales.