Caroline Rush, CEO, British Fashion Council

Caroline Rush has worked with the British Fashion Council since 1998 and in PR and marketing for 17 years. Caroline is committed to British Fashion. She has been responsible for numerous initiatives and creating more opportunities for talented British designers to showcase, develop and grow.

Professor Louise Wilson, Central Saint Martins

She taught Alexander McQueen, Giles Deacon and a host of other star designers. Louise Wilson, professor at Central Saint Martins is one of the most influential - and fearsome - forces in fashion. Wilson was herself a student at what was Saint Martin's School of Art. She had little to no fashion influence apart from a Vogue-loving mother but arrived at the college in the mid 1980s and was taught by Ossie Clarke. Her dream, however, wasn't to become a fashion designer but 'to be Marie Helvin'. On graduating in 1986, she worked as a designer and consultant for labels in Hong Kong, before returning to Central Saint Martins in 1992 as course director of womenswear. She was headhunted by Donna Karan in 1997, and worked for the label in New York. Donna Karan has said of working with her: 'It was like going back to school myself. Louise trains and develops the best.'

Marc Worth, Founder, Stylus

Worth, the founder of fashion trend and analysis website the Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), is one of those true entrepreneurs. For him every morning is an opportunity to make the coming day the one when the next big idea comes along. He joined the family children's wear business straight from school and for 20 years or so worked in and eventually ran it. Marc sold WGSN to global media giant EMAP in 2005, at which time he had built an empire employing 172 staff and profits of £4m on an annual turnover of £15m.

Gail Raymonde, Proprietor, Diary Directory

Gail Raymonde started her fashion career as a house model at Hardy Amies in the sixties. Following a 10 year stint as buyer for Crocodile, the upmarket group of designer shops, she launched Women's Wear Resources in 1983, later selling it to ITB, now EMAP. Since 1987, Gail has been the proprietor of media information service DIARY - providing fashion, beauty and lifestyle press and PRs with industry news, a directory of contacts and event dates. DIARY was founded in 1968 and has since provided a vital link between busy journalists, editors, public relations consultants, publishers, advertising agencies, exhibition organisers, model agencies, photographers, hair and make-up artists and cosmetic & fragrance houses. DIARY is ideally positioned to support FPW with industry contacts.

Fergus Lawlor, Director, Purple PR

Fergus Lawlor attended Middlesex University in which he completed a BA Hons EBA Business from 1982 – 1986. In 1997 he founded Purple PR with a high-powered team of three: Gillian McVey, head of Paul Smith press for 10 years; Caroline Lynch, head of press & marketing for Club 21 UK; and Fergus Lawlor, a partner in Select Music & Video Distribution. The company has quickly built an impressive and very sought after luxury client list with an international flavour. Purple prides itself on its close involvement in all its clients' activities.

Simon Kimble, CEO, Clarion Events

An exhibitionist since 1989, having previously served in the RAF Simon has worked for such luminaries as Tim Etchells, Richard Copley-Smith, Peter Osborne and Andrew Morris. In 2004 he led the management buy out of Clarion Events from Earls Court and Olympia, backed by Hg Capital. Clarion Events has grown into a highly successful business. In 2008 alone, over 600,000 carefully targeted people visited 100 of Clarion's exhibitions, conferences and seated events across Britain, Europe, North and South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia.

Daniel Ritterband, Director of Marketing for the London Mayor

Daniel spent the first six years of his career at Saatchi & Saatchi, producing communications for brands such as the NSPCC, Sony, Visa, Lexus and Proctor & Gamble. In 2005, he moved into politics – working on the 2005 general election; then for David Cameron as head of communications. Daniel was campaign director of Boris Johnson's election campaign for mayor of London

Mike Shearwood, CEO, Aurora Fashions

Aurora Fashions is a group that owns high street fashion brands Karen Millen, Coast, Warehouse and Oasis. Mosaic Fashions Group, appointed Mike Shearwood, former Deputy Chief Executive Officer, as Group Chief Executive. Mike Shearwood, who joined Mosaic in September 2007 from Inditex (Zara) where he was the UK Managing Director, is in charge the day to day running of the group. He is instrumental in the creation of Aurora Fashions.

Bonnie Rakhit- Merchandising and Marketing Editor, Elle Magazine

Bonnie began working as a Fashion Assistant at Cosmopolitan quickly progressing to Fashion Editor at Elle Magazine and then Market Editor. She is now the Merchandising and Marketing Editor of ELLE UK. With a circulation of 195,455, ELLE is the number one stop for daily fashion, shopping, beauty and celebrity style news.

Sairey Stemp - Fashion Editor, Cosmopolitan UK

Cosmopolitan is one of the best selling women's consumer magazines in the world, selling over 460,000 copies each month. Sairey Stemp is one of the most respected Fashion Editors in the magazine industry - she has a strict 'no-fur' policy within the fashion department of Cosmo. Her approach to fashion is to provide accessible, fun, feisty editorial coverage to readers on a monthly basis.

Courtney Blackman, Co-Founder, Fashion Business Club

Courtney Blackman is the co-founder and co-chairman of Fashion Business Club. As well as co-founding the Fashion Business Club forum, where industry players network and do business with each other, Courtney is a board member of the Ethical Fashion Forum and runs Forward PR, where she represents Sapphires Model Management, Magenta 8, S.C. Vizcarra, Rebekah Roy, Fashion.Music.Style and the Global Fashion Awards. A maven and expert navigator of social media, Courtney is an absolute powerhouse on the London PR scene, and a well-loved pioneer of new talent in the fashion industry. A year ago Courtney and partner Alison Whelan launched FBCtv where they both act as executive producers.

Henrik Madsen, Managing Director, McArthurGlen

Henrik Madsen is McArthurGlen's Managing Director for UK & Northern Europe. In this role, Mr. Madsen holds responsibility for the performance of McArthurGlen's seven UK outlet centre's, as well as the company's designer outlet villages in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Mr. Madsen joined McArthurGlen in September 2007 as Regional Director - UK. He came to the company from his role as Senior Vice President at Kenneth Cole Productions. He has an extensive background in the international fashion arena and understands how to maximise the leverage of brand strengths. His previous positions have included Brand Director at IPI SpA for the global launch of Miu Miu, Senior Executive at French Connection Group Ltd and Divisional Chief Executive at Kasper Europe Ltd (Jones Apparel Group).

Graham Painter, Managing Director, Cream

Having worked at agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and Young & Rubicam, Graham founded Cream in 2003 with the purpose of building a specialist media agency that would bring together the best experience of senior media players specialising in the premium and luxury sector. Graham works across the portfolio of Cream's client base while recruiting the very best talent to allow the agency to grow without ever compromising the service and delivery the premium sector deserves and expects.

Elliot Moss, Director of Business Development

Elliot joined leading international business law firm, Mishcon de Reya after spending 15 years in advertising, having started his career at Leo Burnett as a management trainee. He worked in London, Mumbai and Mexico City over a 12 year period.

His clients included Procter and Gamble, Kellogg's, Express Newspapers, Mercedes-Benz and Oxfam. He ran local, international and global client business, and was on the Management Board of the London Office, with roles including Head of Client Service, Head of Graduate Recruitment and P&G Operations Director. He became Managing Director of Leagas Delaney London in 2005.

Over the next four years he helped the business to grow by 40%, developed a digital offering and led successful pitches for clients including Timberland, The Body Shop, Stannah and Dyson. He remains a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Leagas Delaney. He has worked for a number of years in broadcasting, including presenting on LBC. He is also a member of the National Youth Theatre Development Board and on the Board of the London Chamber of Commerce.

The FPW advisory panel is made up of leading industry influencers who offer their advice and expertise in their respective fields both to the event and the business. Together the panel members ensure Fashion Press Week is offering the very best service to benefit the industry, the exhibitors and the press.
FPW would like to extend thanks to the panel for their on-going support and commitment