Superintendent Pharmacist at Tesco Stores for almost 12 years and has worked in the community pharmacy market as both a community pharmacist and a business leader for almost 30 years.

Amy has worked in comms and marketing for nearly twenty years, with the majority of those focusing on consumer health and wellness. She recently joined Stirred to launch Stirred Well, a creative comms proposition designed for a time when staying well matters, the team help brands empower and enable better everyday health choices.

Creative Director with over 30 years experience in consumer and healthcare professional communications, turning sound strategy into ideas that get people thinking. His job is to make it wonderfully easy for health audiences to say “I get it."

Andrew’s passion is for ideas that challenge, educate and inspire. He has been responsible for many high-profile, award-winning campaigns and was delighted to be asked to judge the OTC Marketing Awards again this year.

Anna is a senior, independent communications practitioner, with 25 years’ PR experience working with OTC and prescription medicines as well as with healthcare providers.

Anna is passionate about communicating effectively on health and wellbeing. Anna started her career in nursing, before heading into PR, initially working on consumer brands including Eucerin and Sudocrem. She now works across prescription and OTC medicines and is also a qualified nutritional therapist and health coach.

I am Director of the Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) at Imperial College London, Director & Trustee of the International Self-Care Foundation & Trustee of the Self-Care Forum. I am a fellow of WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education & Training, the primary care theme lead for NIHR Diagnostic Evidence Co-operative London & General Manager of the Directorate of Public Health at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. As of April 2024, I also assumed the role of Advanced Research Fellow in Social Care one day a week.

My principal aim is to help accelerate the widespread adoption & diffusion of evidence-based self-care & self-driven healthcare interventions to promote health & wellbeing.

I sit on various expert groups & panels, including the WHO Expert Review Group on Self-Care Interventions for Health & the Digital Health London Expert Panel on Evidence Generation for Digital Health Technologies. I am also Chair of the Research Trailblazers Group & the Research Pathfinders Group dedicated to spearheading research in NHS & non-NHS settings, including research on social care. I am Principal Investigator of various national studies on NIHR portfolio, including the Measuring Loneliness in the UK (INTERACT) study, which is the largest study in the world on loneliness.

Beverley is an accomplished brand communications expert with a diverse portfolio of work that spans chocolate to cognac and Tupperware to Tarmac, but for over three decades she has given her greatest attention to the health and wellness sector. She has worked for some of the most respected, top-tier branding and design firms, and she established WPPs first dedicated healthcare branding department following a business acquisition.

Beverley now spearheads ALL Creative, a hybrid branding / medical communications agency working with CHC, FMCG, pharma and life sciences clients. She also recently launched ALL Strategic Branding, offering research, training and insight that enhances the creative process. Her team support international corporations and business startups alike on brand rejuvenation, transformation, innovation, and campaign programmes.

Beverley has worked with prominent global health clients such as Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Mitsubishi Pharma, Nelsons, Perrigo, Pfizer, and Procter & Gamble, managing global stakeholder initiatives as well as local marketing projects. She is valued for her no-nonsense approach and promotes a flexible, value-driven way of working that aims to simplify her clients' professional lives.

Beverley's agency is also enthusiastic about integrating the concept of wellness into other sectors. They are actively collaborating with historical and cultural institutions like The National Trust, The Tower of London, and Hillsborough Castle to foster deeper audience engagement.

After developing a passion for marketing, Cheryl has spent more than 15 years working across a range of roles and marketing disciplines including Avios and Kew Gardens. She joined Brand Champions two years ago and works on a number of OTC brands including the recent POM to P switch Gina.

Daniel is a creative professional with over 15 years of global industry experience in both the consumer and healthcare sectors. He has worked with several high-profile international clients, guiding them from creative concept development through to execution.

At Wordbird, Daniel takes flight with a unique perspective, rising above the ordinary to craft campaigns that are clear, educational, and compelling. With a passion for creating memorable experiences that people flock to, his work consistently soars, leaving a lasting impression.

I was employed by Johnson & Johnson for over 40 years until my retirement in December 2015. I worked in various roles in their pharmaceuticals and consumer healthcare businesses including National Sales Manager and Group Product Manager at Janssen. Commercial Director at McNeil Products, a consumer healthcare joint venture between J&J and MSD focused on POM to P switches. Over the last 8 years of my career, Head of Pharmacy at J&J Consumer.

I was for several years a Trustee Director of the J&J UK Pension Plan, a multi-billion business where I gained valuable experience in a complex, highly regulated environment. I was for many years a director of The Proprietary Association of Great Britain and I am currently Chairman of the Health & Beauty Association.

I have now established my own healthcare consulting business providing high quality health and wellness advice and support to manufacturers and pharmacy owners.

Deirdre has over twenty years’ brand communications experience across a broad spectrum of sectors including Technology, Home & Interiors, Consumer Health, FMCG and Luxury, and a track record of innovative brand building and growth as well as foraging outstanding reputations for corporates on the global stage. She has a customer-centric approach to global and local audiences in multiple channels, combining business acumen and analytical skills with a sensitivity for impactful narrative development.

During her five-year tenure as Managing Director of Ketchum’s Brand Practice, Deirdre significantly grew the London consumer offer, expanding into new areas such as Food & Nutrition, Travel and Entertainment, embedding new techniques and specialist skills. For four years, Deirdre led the expansion of Ketchum’s Creative Services from a team of five to a stand-alone community with expertise in planning, creative, research & analytics and design & production.

Deirdre has held senior consulting roles on Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Signify and Royal Philips focusing on global strategic work for brands, trend research, global activations and multi-format content development from TVCs to social campaign assets. She has extensive operational experience of network management and multi-centre engagement, leading large diverse teams across multiple cultures and countries.

Deirdre’s expertise lies in brand building (brand vision, strategy, equity definition, narrative development, storytelling, integrated communications and influencer marketing), reputation building (stakeholder influence and brand protection) and business strategy. Prior to Ketchum, on the agency side, Deirdre worked at Hill & Knowlton Strategies and at Charles Barker (acquired by Weber Shandwick). Deirdre started her career on the client side at Warner Music. Deirdre holds a Finance degree and a MBS from University College Dublin.

Edwina is a marketing trainer, facilitator and consultant with 20 years’ experience delivering digital marketing strategies. She is the co-owner and CEO of digital marketing agency SocialB and oversees the execution of their client portfolio. Edwina is proud to also be a judge for the OTC Marketing Awards, Content Marketing Awards and the Independent Agency Awards. In addition to SocialB, Edwina is Director of Turtle Dove, a CIC that empowers young women at risk through work experience opportunities.

Ed currently leads the OTC business hub for STADA’s UK organisation, incorporating Thornton & Ross, where his 20+ years of cross-category healthcare experience are put to good use with their wide portfolio - which includes the Covonia, Hedrin, Savlon and Care brands.

During his career, he and his team were responsible for more than tripling the size of Covonia brand, growing Hedrin to become the Number 1 Headlice brand in Europe and evolving Care to become the number 1 selling brand in UK pharmacies - picking up several OTC Marketing Awards along the way. Creative cut-through, insight-led activation of brands and ROI are his passions.

His wider commercial role as Director of Business Development involves identifying opportunities for future growth through licensing, innovation and M&A across the company’s entire UK Consumer Health Business.

Emma has worked in healthcare communications for 25 years both in leading creative communications agencies for many household OTC brands and pharmacy retailers, and in house. Emma was previously Director and Head of Consumer Healthcare Communications UK at GSK, covering all OTC brands and oral care brands. Most recently Emma was Head of Communications, Europe at Bristol-Myers Squibb leading a team of 45 covering 23 countries and a business of $9bn.

With over two decades of professional experience, Fiona has cultivated a wealth of expertise collaborating with renowned household brands such as British Airways, Nestle and Pfizer. Recognized as a 'Rising Star' by Marketing Week early in her career, Fiona has been honored with multiple innovation awards.

In 2018 Fiona identified a unique opportunity to leverage her skills and knowledge to establish an agency that could seamlessly support both agencies and clients. This vision materialized into Brand Champions, a dynamic business specializing in Strategy, SOS and Skills. Brand Champions is dedicated to assisting clients with significant strategic initiatives, addressing short-term resource challenges, and fostering in-house learning and development. In her current role, Fiona is committed to helping others to build champion brands through the comprehensive services offered by Brand Champions.

Harriet has over 25 years’ experience in OTC medical affairs. She spent 10 years at Wyeth Consumer as medical director and since then has been running Scorer Health. She supports companies in achieving their desired outcomes using her medical and scientific knowledge whilst navigating regulatory requirements. Recent projects include a major POM to P switch and bringing new medicines to the OTC space.

James is a pharmaceutical physician with 25 years industry experience in medical affairs and advertising copy review within the consumer healthcare sector.

After working at Boots The Chemists, James served as UK Medical Director for both Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Johnson and Johnson, leading the team responsible for copy review.

James has specialist experience interpreting clinical data and serves as a medical consultant for both Clearcast and Radiocentre. He’s passionate about helping companies develop compelling evidence-based claims and has significant and longstanding experience helping companies switch medicines from prescription to OTC.

Together with Lucy Rochford, James launched AdverCheck in 2022, to provide specialist outsourced copy review and related services to the consumer healthcare sector.

Janet is the Associate Director of Regulatory at JensonR+ Limited, based in the Nottingham office. Prior to this she ran her own consultancy business, consult2deliver limited, based in BioCity Nottingham and collaborated with OTC Experts. She began crafting her regulatory skills at Thomas Kerfoot and Medeva in Ashton under Lyne, before moving to 3M as the global regulatory lead for Qvar, the first CFC-free beclomethasone inhaler.

Her first role in OTC medicines began at Boots the Chemist, gaining approval of new consumer medicines for the new Republic of Ireland stores, before transferring to senior roles within Boots Healthcare International, supporting Strepsils globally.

Operational roles combined with global regulatory responsibilities saw a return to dry powder inhaled drug development with Vectura. Latterly at Boots Pharmaceuticals she was the head of innovative regulatory affairs, assessing solutions for consumers in healthcare, covering medical devices, food supplements through to reclassification strategies. Janet co founded a networking group for food supplements in the midlands, which meets 2-3 a year, through this is she is able to maintain her awareness of the innovation through borderline products.

Joanna Stephenson is Managing Director of Think B2B Marketing Ltd., a UK-headquartered marketing agency working with several OTC medical and pharmaceutical brands on an international basis. She is also a packaging expert having spent over 30 years of her career in plastics, inks, and coatings in various R&D and Marketing roles and today works with clients both at a B2B and B2C level. She has extensive knowledge of today’s sustainability legislation and is frequently asked to talk at key industry events, webinars, and podcasts on how evolving regulations are affecting the pharma sector. www.thinkb2bmarketing.com

Louise has over 25 years’ healthcare communications experience spanning consumer healthcare and Rx medicines in both agency and in-house roles. Strategic work for brands has included: building compelling narratives that translate into multi-format content; global activation; advocacy and thought leadership. Louise has overseen several award-winning campaigns and is honoured to be involved in recognising this year’s best new brand stories.

Lucy has worked in advertising review for over 20 years, helping advertisers of healthcare products and services to maintain high standards and to avoid complaints. In 2022, she co-founded AdverCheck with James Walmsley, to offer specialised outsourced copy review and related services to the consumer healthcare sector.

As a former Head of Copy Clearance at PAGB, Lucy is well-recognised within the consumer healthcare industry. Since leaving PAGB, she has worked as a consultant for consumer healthcare companies, communications agencies, and online pharmacies. Lucy is particularly skilled in mentoring staff new to copy review and streamlining in-house copy review processes for greater efficiency. Additionally, she serves as a nutrition consultant for Clearcast.

Michelle Riddalls is Chief Executive of PAGB, the consumer healthcare association, which represents the manufacturers of branded over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, self-care medical devices and food supplements in the UK.

Michelle is the leading spokesperson for the OTC sector on issues such as Brexit, self-care, reclassification and regulatory challenges. As part of this, Michelle has provided evidence to the House of Lords, and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Department of Health and Social Care, Office of Life Sciences and Number 10.

Michelle is an expert in consumer healthcare regulation having worked in the sector for over two decades and has driven a number of successful product switches. She has received awards from TOPRA for her work in POM to OTC reclassifications and she was recognised by the Women in Trade Associations Power list in 2023 and 2024.

Prior to joining PAGB, Michelle was Director of Regulatory Affairs for the Northern European Cluster at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, where she was integral in the highly successful POM to GSL reclassification of Nexium Control and the Viagra Connect POM to P switch.

Nick Burgoyne has 20+ years of healthcare experience in both agency and client-side roles, most recently as Head of Commercial and Operations at HH Global (formerly Purple Agency). Nick’s current role encompasses both Pharma and Consumer Health markets. He has a deep understanding of prescription medicines, over-the-counter and consumer markets at local, European and global levels. As well as being committed to client satisfaction and agency growth, Nick is driven by a desire to elevate brand performance through targeted strategy and insightful, behaviour-changing messaging. Although he is passionate about digital marketing, he highly values traditional client relationships and brand-building techniques.

Nicky Smith, Owner, Founder & Director. Trained as a journalist, Nicky has worked in PR, communications and marketing for the last 30 years with her career spanning health – over the counter and RX - plus consumer health sectors - as well as fast moving consumer goods. Nicky is the founder and owner of Jungle Cat Solutions which help brands and organisations stand out from the crowd. Working across health, beauty and wellbeing sectors, evidence is at the heart of Jungle Cat Solutions, with everything steeped in insight, planning, science and proof.

Penny set up Brilliant Basics in 2011, however her award-winning career in OTC brand marketing started on Canesten at Bayer Plc more than 20 years ago and continued at Boehringer Ingelheim. More recently she has held roles at HRA Pharma (now part of Perrigo) alongside contracts with family-owned SMEs and international start-ups.
A specialist in Women’s Health, Dermatologicals, Food Supplements, Pain Management and Digestive Health, Penny has significant strategic and tactical experience. Her knowledge of OTC retail and e-commerce is deep, as is her understanding of digital and traditional communications channels to promote OTC brands.

Chief operating officer at Right Medicine Pharmacy Ltd, Richard Stephenson leads 34 pharmacies across Scotland, whilst looking after over 250 employees. Richard is also the Managing Director at Edinpharm Ltd who have over 250 members across the UK.

Rhea Patten is an Associate Partner in PA’s Consumer, Retail and Manufacturing business. Rhea is a strategy expert focused on helping consumer, health and wellness brands deliver innovative products and solutions to drive the growth of their business. Rhea has over 20 years’ experience in developing and accelerating must-have new products and ventures. At the forefront of customer-centricity and innovation, Rhea leads PA’s global Beauty, Cosmetic and Luxury business.

Simon is one of the founders of Punktuate! (an award winning ad agency who help clients in the health, beauty and wellbeing space plan, create and sell their brands and products). Prior to Punktuate! Simon led healthcare advertising at Ogilvy in the UK and other agencies. He started his career as a formulation scientist at Boots on brands like Nurofen and has been a convenor of the Changing face of Medicine project at the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. In his spare time he is a senior visiting fellow at the University of Lincoln and is exploring the future of all things healthcare and marketing.

Sonia leads the Consumer Health UK team and has 20 years of experience within Lifesciences and Consumer Health. She supports clients in addressing the myriad of commercial challenges facing the industry.

Dr. Stephen Mann is a consultant physician to the pharmaceutical industry and Founder Editor of the journal ‘SelfCare’. He was Vice President of European Research and Development at Mc Neil Europe from 1993 – 2005. During that period and as a consultant since, he has been the clinical lead on many innovative switches including several global firsts. Dr Mann has over 30 years of experience in consumer pharmaceuticals and is an opinion leader in the European consumer pharmaceutical industry on new indications for self-medication. He has published extensively on the role of self - medication in modern healthcare.

Steve has worked with Nelsons for more than 20 years and is the Director of External Regulatory Affairs. He has 25 years experience in the field of Global Regulation covering cosmetic, pharmaceutical, botanical and nutritional products as well as Medical Devices.
During his career Steve has worked on and managed regulatory & compliance projects in North, Central and South America, Europe, North & East Africa, Asia and Australasia.
Steve currently holds board positions with various industry trade bodies in Europe, where he represents the UK industry and their interests, and is a Member of various Pharmacopoeial Committees in the United States.
Steve is currently Chairman of the Health Food Manufacturers Association (HFMA), the UK’s leading trade body representing the Natural Healthcare and Food Supplement industry.
Steve has Joint Hons Bsc in Applied Biology, and is Nelsons Qualified Person in Pharmacovigilance (QPPV).

Stuart is a communications professional with over 25 years of undimmed curiosity about health and science. As Head of the Creative Difference at The Difference Collective, he uses evidence-based creativity to tackle society’s greatest health challenges, and help businesses succeed. His insights, innovation and ideas have opened up opportunities for hundreds of clients and been recognised with multiple awards, including a Cannes Lion. He is a Communiqué Awards judge and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster.

Having begun my career in the world of beauty with L’Oreal, I made the transition into Healthcare a decade ago when I joined Omega Pharma as Head of Sales. Over a period of 5 years we grew the organisation through acquisition and commercial initiatives to become a Top 5 OTC Healthcare Information Classification: Generalcompany. As well as the Head of Sales role, I spent 18 months as Head of Commercial Strategy & Implementation. In 2016, following acquisition by Perrigo, I was made Sales Director of both the branded and store brand businesses, a role I still occupy today. We have continued to grow the combined business, with Perrigo today the largest OTC Healthcare company by volume and second largest by value in the UK.

Tim runs Muzeable a consultancy helping health/wellness businesses unlock growth through strategy and innovation.

He spent 11 years at GSK in Global/UK roles including as UK Marketing Director Healthcare. Prior to GSK he worked in FMCG brand consultancy & since he managed a 45-person international market research agency.

He has several Board Advisory roles. Sign Salad, a consultancy helping brands leverage cultural insight; Brand Champions a healthcare marketing consultancy; Four Engage, a social media marketing agency and The British Brands Group a membership body for brand owners. He is a member of the Marketing Group of GB.