Samson Dimitrijevic, CPF, is Warehouse and Supply Chain Manager at International Luxury Group of Switzerland. He has over a decade of experience in biotech and pharmaceuticals, leading supply chain and finance analytics initiatives. His expertise includes operational planning, supply chain analytics, and enterprise transformation. Samson holds an MSc in Supply Chain Management, an MBA, an MSc in Finance and Investments, and is an IBF Certified Professional Forecaster (CPF).

Ana Martinho de Freitas leads the Global Demand Forecasting Centre of Excellence at British American Tobacco, where she also serves as Global Product Owner and Subject Matter Expert. She brings extensive experience in demand forecasting, with a focus on process, capability development, and digital functionality. Ana has led and supported global forecasting transformations, combining functional, strategic, and commercial expertise. Her focus is on advancing demand forecasting as a value-driving business capability.

Michalis Vardakis is Data Science Lead within CBI Global Analytics at Kenvue, where he leads a team applying data science to commercial challenges including category and new product forecasting, e-commerce performance, and revenue growth management. He focuses on embedding data science directly into business processes to improve decision-making and business outcomes. Michalis has eight years of CPG experience, with prior roles at the BBC and in academia, and specializes in forecasting, propensity modeling, and GenAI pipelines.

Khadidja Francis is a seasoned Demand and S&OP/IBP professional with over 15 years of global experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. She currently serves as Global Demand Manager at Guerbet, where she leads a demand team spanning more than 30 countries. Prior to this role, she held positions as Demand and S&OP Manager at Abbott and as a Forecaster at Hydra Pharm. Khadidja holds an MBA in Supply Chain Management from Sorbonne Business School, a Master’s in Economics and Business Administration from University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a degree in Biochemistry from USTHB, Algeria. She is also APICS CPIM certified.

Eric Wilson is Director of Thought Leadership at the Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning, bringing over 20 years of experience in demand planning and predictive analytics. He previously led forecasting at Escalade Sports, Berry Plastics, and Tempur Sealy. Eric is an IBF Advanced Certified Professional Forecaster (ACPF) and recipient of IBF’s Excellence in Business Forecasting & Planning Award. He is a frequent speaker, published author, and contributor to The Journal of Business Forecasting.

Bogusz Dworak, CPF, is S&OP/IBP Manager at Optegra Eye Health Care, where he leads the S&OP process for Optegra UK.
He brings over 20 years of experience as a functional leader and supply chain planning consultant across retail, manufacturing, and service organizations.
Bogusz specializes in forecasting, demand planning, S&OP, and IBP, with experience across automotive, life sciences, FMCG, construction, packaging, beverages, and home appliances.
He holds an MSc in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Warsaw, as well as IBF CPF and ASCM CPIM certifications.

Matthew Brown is a Digital Transformation and Supply Chain professional who has led global Demand Forecasting transformation initiatives at British American Tobacco. His work focuses on deploying world-class process, capability, and technology solutions to enhance forecasting performance and business decision-making. Drawing on experience across Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Marketing, Matthew is passionate about leveraging process excellence, agile ways of working, and digital innovation to unlock value and drive sustainable business outcomes.

After starting his career at Unilever where he worked in various production and planning roles, Chris joined Beiersdorf’s South African Affiliate in 2011 as a Demand Planner. In 2015, he moved to Procurement for 2 years, after which he returned to the Planning world in a combined Demand and Supply Planning role. In 2019, he took a short-term contract as a Demand Planner for BDF in the USA before transferring to the company headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. Here he works as Global Demand Planning Lead. Chris holds a degree in Business Logistics & Purchasing from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Dalila Brini is a Business Intelligence, Analytics, and AI transformation leader in the pharmaceutical industry, specializing in forecasting, risk management, analytics, and AI adoption. She has led global initiatives including advanced risk management frameworks and the adoption of Microsoft Power BI to strengthen data-driven decision-making. Dalila has presented risk management, forecasting, and Generative AI use cases at the A3P International Congress and IBF conferences in New Orleans and Amsterdam. She also founded the Prompting Academy to build AI literacy and support emerging technology adoption. Dalila holds an MBA and MSc and is a Certified Professional Forecaster (CPF) and PMI-CPMAI.

Paul Metherell is Group Head of S&OP at Optegra, responsible for driving productivity and the rollout of S&OP across multiple European markets. He previously led the implementation and development of S&OP across Optegra’s UK business, supporting significant growth and planning maturity. Paul specializes in end-to-end supply chain planning, including demand planning, supply planning, resource planning, and detailed scheduling. He brings extensive experience across FMCG and manufacturing environments.

Dr. Sven F. Crone is the Founder & CEO of iqast, a pioneer in supply chain forecasting with artificial intelligence. He is also an Assistant Professor in Management Science at Lancaster University and Director of the Lancaster Centre for Forecasting. With over 20 years of experience in forecasting theory and practice, he has published more than 40 scientific papers and developed award-winning forecasting algorithms. He has trained over 500 demand planners and consults with global organizations on forecasting methods, systems, and processes. Dr. Crone received IBF’s Dr. Chaman L. Jain Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.

Raul Jurado is Principal and Planning Intelligence Lead at Cloverpop, where he focuses on forecasting, decision analytics, and planning capabilities that help CPG and consumer health organizations turn models, drivers, and scenarios into practical business decisions. He has more than 15 years of international experience in forecasting, revenue growth management, and large-scale planning transformation. Prior to Cloverpop, Raul held forecasting and analytics roles at Fortune 500 companies, Fractal, and 4i, with experience spanning North America, Europe, and Latin America.

Amy Wheeler is Technical Demand Planning Manager at Carnival UK, where she is implementing a demand planning function for technical spare parts across a fleet of 11 P&O Cruises and Cunard ships. Previously, she led demand forecasting for the UK Ministry of Defence Chinook program at Boeing Defence UK. Amy holds a postgraduate degree in International Shipping and Logistics from Southampton Solent University and a degree in Business Administration and Management from Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, where her dissertation focused on forecasting.

Abdelrahman Oraby is Senior Demand & Supply Planning Specialist at Virgin Megastore MENA, where he leads demand planning, forecasting, inventory optimization, and planning governance across a multi-country retail business spanning 10 product categories. He is also helping lead implementation of the organization’s S&OP process to strengthen collaboration across Commercial, Finance, Merchandising, and Supply Chain. Previously, Abdelrahman worked in demand planning at MAGRABi Retail and began his career at Procter & Gamble in process engineering and operational improvement.