Welcome to our committee
They come from different backgrounds, including retail, retail banking, consultancy and academic industries as well as a member of staff from each of our sponsors, CACI and Geolytix. They all volunteer their time and meet throughout the year to help plan our events, source venues and speakers and champion site location, helping us to ensure the SLA offers useful events and benefits and stays up-to-date and relevant..
 Contact Jonathan | Jonathan Reynolds, (Chairman) Deputy Dean & Associate Professor in Retail Marketing at Oxford University’s Said Business School and Academic Director, Oxford Institute of Retail Management. Saïd Business School | Jonathan Reynolds is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading academics in this field. He took over as Chairman in 2014 from Peter Sleight who retired from the position. His hard work, connections and tireless dedication to the group keeps it fresh, current and forward thinking. |
 Contact Dhiresh | Dhiresh Bhardwa Associate Partner – Head of International CACI (SPONSORS) | Dhiresh has spent the last 15 years supporting retailers, leisure operators, brands, FMCG companies and automotive manufacturers to develop winning location strategies. He has worked with organisations to optimise locations, drive sales, increase customer loyalty and embed insight and analytics in 60+ countries world-wide. |
 Contact Alissa | Alissa Twinning Location Planning Analyst Halfords | Alissa Twinning has worked at a Location Planning Analyst at Halfords for three years and before this at Homebase and Argos. She has always had a passion for location analytics and joined the committee at the SLA to help promote the field to the next generation of location planning analysts |
 Contact Andy | Andrew Metherell Head of Retail Consultancy at Harper Dennis Hobbs | Andy has worked in retail property for over 15 years and heads HDH’s Retail Consultancy team. He advises occupiers, public sector bodies, landlords, etailers and investors on the optimal strategy for their brands and centres, using data and analytics to enable informed decision-making. He has worked for a wide range of clients – at different stages of their evolution and in various sectors – across many markets around the world. |
| Contact Antony | Antony Hunt Business Optimisation Directorate Lloyds Banking Group | Antony is a business analytics specialist and professional strategist with 15 years’ experience. Having worked on transformation programmes directly within the financial service, retail and leisure industries, his strength exists in forming business cases for investment decisions; covering location planning and estate strategy, operations and service delivery and multi-channel alignment. Antony is an advocate for applied spatial data science, aiming to promote understanding and active use of spatially-oriented business analytics to deliver positive real World change. |
| Contact Kate | Kate Broad Location Planning Lead TUI | |
 Contact Kerry | Kerry Smith Portfolio Strategy and Insight Manager The Cooperative Group | Kerry’s passion for location analysis has seen her work across a variety of retailers and around the world. She’s tried to escape a few times, dipping her toe into wider customer insight roles, but her love for location stuff means she just keeps coming back! She’s currently on maternity leave from her much loved role with the Coop after welcoming her baby daughter in November 2020. |
 Contact Luke | Luke Burns Associate Professor in Quantitative Human Geography University of Leeds Luke’s bio | Luke Burns has taught at Leeds University as a professor in GIS and Human Geography for over 11 years. He joined the SLA to help promote Location Planning to students and universities and helps to organise, promote and judge the SLA Student Awards. |
 Contact Sarah | Sarah Hitchcock Chief Operating Officer Geolytix (SPONSORS) | Sarah Hitchcock represents one of our three main sponsors, Geolytix, where she has worked for over 9 years. Sarah also has experience working at Sainsbury’s for over 10 years as Head of Network & Investment Planning and prior to that Location Planning at Boots. |
 Contact Ruth | Ruth Holroyd Marketing and Admin The Society for Location Analysis Ruth’s Blog (Whatallergy.com) | Ruth has worked as the marketing and administrative support for the SLA since its inception when she was Marketing Manager at GeoBusiness Solutions. She now works as an author, blogger and copywriter and also advocates and blogs about allergies and eczema. |
If you are interested in helping as a volunteer on the SLA committee, please email info@thesla.org.