Katrina Burchell is IP Director at PPR, the luxury and lifestyle parent company of many major brands including Gucci, YSL, Puma, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen, Sergio Rossi, Sowind, Boucheron, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Volcom and Brioni.  Katrina is responsible for strategic management of IP throughout the PPR Group and overseeing the protection and defence of valuable IP assets.

Prior to this Katrina was Head of Trade Marks managing Unilever’s global trade mark and domain name portfolio, one of the largest portfolios of IP in the world.  Katrina was instrumental in moving Unilever’s trade mark function to a world class support team widely recognised as innovative and responsive.  In addition to Head of Trade Marks, Katrina was also General Category Counsel to the skin care brands providing general legal and marketing law advice to the global brand teams. In her trade mark role, Katrina led a team of 20 based in London and Rotterdam who provided trade mark services to the global brand development and brand building teams including trade mark clearance, registration and enforcement work.  In her Category Counsel role Katrina managed the legal aspects of bringing Unilever’s skin category products to market and raising and defending challenges to product and advertising claims.

Katrina has been involved in the trade mark profession for more than 20 years and prior to joining Unilever in 1997 worked in other in house trade mark departments including ICI (now AstraZeneca) and Allied Lyons (now Allied Domecq). Katrina has also held various positions on committees of numerous associations including Chair of Anti-Counterfeiting Group (A-CG) (UK) and was a council member of ITMA for 10 years and is a Fellow of that organisation. She is currently a Board member of A-CG and of INTA, the International Trademark Association.

Katrina also regularly lectures and writes articles on topical trade mark issues and has a specific interest in management of legal and trade mark functions and the use of IP in modern day commerce.

Gabriel de Kock joined Morgan Stanley as the Head of US FX Strategy in November 2010, focusing on G10 macro strategy. Before joining Morgan Stanley, he worked as a Senior FX Strategist at JP Morgan and as Chief Currency Economist and Senior International Economist at Citigroup. He started his career as a Research Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he had primary responsibility for covering Western Europe and published research on monetary policy and exchange rate regimes. Mr de Kock earned a PhD in Economics at Yale University, an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BComm in Economics and Statistics from the University of Stellenbosch.

Susan Gilchrist is Group Chief Executive of Brunswick Group, based in New York, where she leads the firm’s operations across 20 offices in 12 countries and remains actively involved advising clients on critical communications strategies and issues. Her work reflects the international scope and breadth of the firm’s offering and has included counseling clients on market-specific and cross-border transactions, crises and ongoing corporate reputation building efforts. She has also held senior leadership positions with the firm in Europe and the United States, having served previously as U.S. Managing Partner, Senior Partner for Brunswick’s London office and as head of the firm’s Consumer Industries practice. 

Prior to joining Brunswick in 1995, Susan was the retail correspondent at London’s The Times and worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company. She is a Governor of London’s Southbank Centre, the UK’s largest arts center, and also on the board of the American Associates of The Old Vic Theatre.

Mario Grauso is a seasoned fashion executive with over 20 years of experience in the fashion industry having worked with some of the world's most iconic and renowned designers. Mario has been President of the Vera Wang Group since 2009. He has been instrumental in the worldwide retail expansion of the brand. He has also worked with Vera on launching White by Vera Wang at David's Bridal, Love by Vera Wang at Zales, Princess by Vera Wang at Kohls, and Black by Vera Wang at Men's Warehouse. He continues to oversee the company's web presence and the development of all advertising images. Prior to his position at Vera Wang, Mario served as President of Puig Fashion (parent company to Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci, and Paco Rabanne) since 2001. Mario has also served in various executive positions at Celine, Giorgio Armani, Escada, and Calvin Klein.

Robin Harding is US Economics Editor for the Financial Times, covering the US Federal Reserve and the US Treasury.  Based in Washington, his beat includes US economics, financial markets and business. 

Previously, Harding served as Tokyo correspondent for the FT, where he covered the Bank of Japan and the country's technology sector. Prior to this, he served as a London-based economics leader writer.

Before entering journalism, Harding worked in asset management and as a public policy researcher at the Social Market Foundation. He studied economics at Cambridge and also holds a master’s degree in economics from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. 

Lisa Jacobson is a Partner and Head of United Talent Agency’s Branding, Licensing &Endorsements Department. During her 18 years at the agency, Jacobson has negotiated some of the largest deals ever made in the beauty and luxury space. She has negotiated endorsement deals for world renowned talent with a wide range of luxury brands that include Christian Dior, Chanel, L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Bvlgari, Versace, YSL, Donna Karan, Chloe, Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany and Co., Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta, Calvin Klein, Chopard, Roberto Coin, Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Hugo Boss, Ermenegildo Zegna, Belstaff, Vera Wang, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Range Rover, Jaguar, BMW, Maserati, Maybach, IWC, Omega, Gulfstream Jets, American Express, Apple, Microsoft, Puma, Nike, Adidas, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sun Resorts and Starwood, amongst many others.

Jacobson has also put together a number of highly successful branded lifestyle businesses and entrepreneurial ventures for a number of world-renowned clients.  Jacobson’s clients’ branded lines are unique in that they have become viable and respected fashion and lifestyle brands as opposed to exploitative "licensed" celebrity product. Ms. Jacobson’s clients' brands have fashion credibility amongst the retailers, the consumers and the fashion press, and they all provide a uniquely attractive fashion/value quotient across multiple tiers of distribution. 

Jacobson received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her B.A. Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University. Prior to attending Harvard Business School, Jacobson worked as a strategic management consultant.

United Talent Agency is a premier global talent and literary agency representing many of the world's most widely-known figures in every current and emerging area of entertainment, including motion pictures, television, digital media, video games, books, music, and live  entertainment.  The agency is also globally recognized in the areas of film finance, film packaging, corporate consulting, branding, licensing, endorsements and the representation of production talent.  UTA operates the brand strategy agency The Brand Studio at UTA as well as New York and Los Angeles-based United Entertainment Group, a joint venture firm focusing on branded entertainment for Fortune 500 companies.

Barney Jopson is the US retail correspondent for the Financial Times, based in New York.  He reports on the largest and most dynamic retail and consumer market in the world as it undergoes rapid changes driven by a challenging domestic economy, demographic shifts and online commerce. He also provides close-up coverage of the performance, strategies and impact of some of the largest and most influential global businesses, including Walmart, Procter & Gamble and Amazon.

Jopson was previously the FT’s assistant emerging markets editor, based in London, where he helped to run beyondbrics, FT.com’s dedicated emerging markets blog. Prior to that he worked as East Africa correspondent, covering regional politics, development and conflict from a base in Nairobi, Kenya.

He began his career with the FT as journalist in Tokyo, where he covered the Japanese economy and capital markets. He has also written about financial regulation and accounting as the newspaper’s financial correspondent, based in London.

Jopson is a British national and speaks Japanese, Spanish and French. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and holds a degree in geography.

Find him on Twitter at @barneyjopson.

Harley Lewin is a Partner in the IP/IT Group of McCarter & English, LLP.  Regularly travelling around the World, especially to China, since 1982, he is able to bring unique personal knowledge to the protection of trademarks, designs, secrets and businesses regardless of the client’s home country or the country where the issues arise.

Mr Lewin develops and implements global brand protection strategies for his clients, helping them work with governments, law enforcement, courts and customs to track and stop the flow of fake or infringing goods. He has devised and implemented groundbreaking new methods to protect his clients’ most valued assets. Mr. Lewin engages in trademark, trade dress, copyright, unfair competition, anti-counterfeiting, and infringement litigation in the United States, including Federal and state courts and courts of appeals. He also advises companies on domestic and international licensing programs. 

He is renowned worldwide for his IP protection work. He has helped several governments write and develop their own IP and related laws and works closely with international customs and law enforcement on global investigations. 

Mr Lewin has represented a wide range of luxury brands including; Richemont SA brands including Cartier, Montblanc, Baume et Mercier; A. Langhe and Son, and Dunhill – fighting counterfeiting and brand protection. He also enforces the IP rights of major designers such as Diane von Furstenberg, Ted Baker, Alexander Wang, and LVMH Holding’s brands: Dior, Givenchy, Hublot, Tag Heuer, Benefit Cosmetics, Zenith, Make Up Forever, and others, primarily on internet issues in Asia. Mr. Lewin recently won a most significant IP case for Christian Louboutin against Yves St Laurent, based on a one-color trademark (Louboutin’s famous red outsole). 

Mr Lewin is a World Trademark Review 1000, World’s Leading Trademark Professional for 2013, where he is recognized nationally for Anti-Counterfeiting and in New York for Enforcement and regularly receives an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell.

He is a regular figure national and international media for his global anti-counterfeiting expertise. He has been featured numerous times on Good Morning America, CNBC, CBS 60 Minutes, MSNBC and CNN International. He was the first non-celebrity featured in the biography section of The New Yorker Magazine, Fashion Edition. Mr Lewin received his BA and LLB from the University of Wisconsin.

Nathan Sheets joined Citigroup as global head of international economics in September 2011.  In that role, he helps lead the firm’s team of economists around the world.  His own research focuses on global themes, with a particular emphasis on the position of the United States in the world economy.  

Previously, Mr Sheets worked at the Federal Reserve Board for 18 years in a variety of positions.  From September 2007 to August 2011, he served as director of the board’s division of international finance and one of three economists to the Federal Open Market Committee.  He advised the Committee on macroeconomic and financial developments in foreign economies, as well as on the outlook for US trade, the dollar, and global commodity prices.  He also played a key role in developing the Fed’s swap line program with other central banks.  From 2006-07, while on leave from the board, he served as a senior advisor to the US executive director at the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Sheets received his BA from Brigham Young University in 1989 and his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993.  He has published research in an array of academic journals.  Mr. Sheets is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Laura D’Andrea Tyson is the S.K. and Angela Chan Professor of Global Management at the Haas School of Business, at the University of California Berkeley. She served as Dean of London Business School from 2002-2006, and as Dean of the Berkeley Haas School of Business from 1998-2001.

Tyson is a member of President Barack Obama’s Council of Jobs and Competitiveness and a member of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. From 2009 – 2011, she was member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. She served in the Clinton Administration and was the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (1993-1995) and the President’s National Economic Adviser (1995 – 1996). 

Tyson is a Senior Advisor at the McKinsey Global Institute, Credit Suisse Research Institute, and The Rock Creek Group. She is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and is on the Advisory Council of the Brookings Institution Hamilton Project. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Newman’s Own, Generation Investment Management, H&Q Asia Pacific and Tykoon. Tyson is the chair of the Board of Trustees for the Blum Center for Development Economies and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. She is an Advisor to Samsung SDS and a Special Advisor at the Berkeley Research Group. She is a Commissioner at the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget and is a member of The MIT Corporation, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, Henry Jackson Initiative Task Force, Jacobs Foundation Board of Trustees, Think Long Committee for California and 21st Century Council. She is a member of the National Academies’ Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy and a co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Women’s Empowerment. Tyson serves on the Boards of Directors of Morgan Stanley, AT&T, Silver Spring Networks, CBRE Group Inc., and the Peter G. Peterson Institute of International Economics. 

Tyson has written books and articles on industrial competitiveness and trade. She has also written opinion columns for many publications including BusinessWeek, The New York Times and the Financial Times and she has made numerous television appearances on economic issues. She is an Economics Editor of Current TV and is on the editorial board of the International Economy. She contributes to the New York Times Economix blog, Project Syndicate and the Financial Times A-list.

Diane von Furstenberg first entered the fashion world in 1972 with a suitcase full of jersey dresses. Two years later, she created the wrap dress, which came to symbolize power and independence for an entire generation of women. By 1976, she had sold over a million of the dresses and was featured on the cover of Newsweek. In 1997, after a hiatus from fashion, Ms von Furstenberg relaunched the iconic dress that started it all, reestablishing her company as the global luxury lifestyle brand that it is today. DVF now offers four complete collections a year with an extensive range of accessories including shoes, handbags, scarves, eyewear, fine jewelry, luggage, and fragrance. DVF is sold in over 70 countries and 85 shops worldwide.

In 2005, Ms von Furstenberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for her impact on fashion, and one year later was elected the CFDA’s president, an office she continues to hold. In this significant role, she has dedicated herself to fostering emerging talent and helping to establish the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, which protects designers from counterfeit reproductions of their work.

Her commitment to empowering women is expressed not only through fashion but also philanthropy and mentorship. She sits on the board of Vital Voices, a non-governmental organization that supports female leaders and entrepreneurs around the world. In 2010, with the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, she established the DVF Awards to honor and provide grants to women who have displayed leadership, strength and courage in their commitment to their causes.

As a longtime resident of New York’s Meatpacking District, Ms von Furstenberg is a vocal member of the local community and was actively involved in the campaign to save the historic High Line railway. In 2012, shye was named the most powerful woman in fashion by Forbes Magazine, coming in at #33 on their list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

In 2002, Marcus Wainwright founded rag & bone in New York and David Neville joined the brand shortly thereafter. Today rag & bone has become synonymous with innately wearable clothing that innovatively melds classic tailoring with an edgy yet understated New York aesthetic.

In 2007, rag & bone won the Swarovski Award for emerging talent in Menswear and in 2010, Mr Wainwright and Mr Neville were bestowed the industry’s most prestigious honor when named Menswear Designers of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

rag & bone operates 12 stores worldwide, five of which are in New York City. Stores are also located in Washington D.C., Boston, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Seoul and Tokyo. rag & bone is also available in luxury boutiques and department stores in over 39 countries worldwide and operates an e-commerce store at www.rag-bone.com.

Mr Wainwright has a degree in Physical Geography from Newcastle University.