Denise Lewis OBE is a retired Team GB track and field athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.Lewis first competed at the heptathlon in 1989 and achieved a best of 5277, two years before finishing fifth at the European Juniors in Thessaloniki.

Within the space of five years she was named the Commonwealth Champion after winning gold in Victoria, Canada, defeating her opponent by just eight points. This was arguably the breakthrough moment in Lewis’ career.

Two years later, she was the only British woman to win a medal from athletics at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Her performances went from strength-to-strength and led her to a dramatic Olympic victory in Sydney in 2000.

Lewis is one of the ‘golden girls’ of British athletics having been inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011 and twice been runner-up in BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Awards in 1998 and 2000.

Lewis was honoured as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours. Since retiring from athletics, she plays an active role in key areas including television and media work and is now a regular athletics pundit for BBC Television, including during London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Giles studied History at Trinity College in Dublin and joined Aldi Ireland as an Area Manager in 2000. Giles was promoted to Trading Director for Aldi, Ireland in 2002.

Giles was further promoted to Group Buying Director, Ireland in 2007. He transferred to Aldi UK as Regional Managing Director in 2010 for the North West Region before returning back to Ireland in 2013 as Regional Managing Director of Southern Ireland.

Giles took up the position of Managing Director of Corporate Buying – UK & Ireland in 2014 and commenced the role of Group Managing Director in September 2015.

Giles Hurley began his current position of Chief Executive Officer, Aldi UK and Ireland in May 2018.

Niall has held the role of Group Managing Director of Aldi UK and Ireland for three years, after taking up the position in late 2019. Niall has been a senior executive with Aldi for over 22 years and has held several roles across the business.

A native of Cork in Ireland, he was appointed Group Buying Director of Aldi Ireland in 2010, and prior to his current role, Niall worked as Managing Director of the Mitchelstown Region in Ireland.

Dan joined Aldi as an Area Manager in 1998 and was promoted to Store Operations Director in 2002.

He then became Managing Director for the Neston Region in 2006, before moving to Managing Director of the Swindon Region in 2010. Dan took up his current role as Group Managing Director in 2015.

Julie studied Psychology at Sheffield Hallam university and joined Aldi in January 1999 as an Area Manager.

She was promoted to the Buying Department in January 2003 as a Buying Director before progressing to the role of Group Buying Director role in April 2008. Julie began her current role as Managing Director of Corporate Buying in January 2017.

Jonathan studied Accounting and Finance at the University of Warwick before joining Aldi as an Area Manager in January 2002.

He was promoted to the role of Property Director in February 2006, before joining the Buying Department as a Group Buying Director in February 2012.

Jonathan was the Managing Director of the Yorkshire Region between November 2014 and June 2015 before becoming Managing Director of Corporate Buying, which is his current position.

Belinda studied History at the University of Exeter and joined ALDI as an Area Manager in 2008.

She was promoted to Store Operations Director for the Swindon Region in 2012 before progressing to the role of Group Buying Director of Corporate Buying UK in March 2016.

Belinda expatriated to the ALDI SÜD Holding in Salzburg as Group Buying Director of Global Sourcing in June 2019 and commenced her current position as Managing Director of Global Sourcing in December 2019.

Dan has been a shopper insight manager at IGD for five years, focusing on big trends affecting shoppers as well as large format stores.

Prior to that, Dan held insight roles at dunnhumby and at a soft drinks manufacturer, having started out as a graduate buyer at Tesco in the Central European Hardlines team.

James’ role at IGD is to help businesses anticipate and cope with strategic events, including: economic pressures, geo-political change, social developments and environmental stress.

James has worked with clients across the entire grocery industry as well as with non-industry groups such as government departments, financial businesses and NGOs. James is well known for speaking at both UK and international events and provides interviews for TV, radio and the press.

He also creates original reports and articles for IGD. James joined IGD in April 1999 and has served in several roles, becoming Chief Economist in 2004. Prior to joining IGD, he worked for Hillsdown Holdings, Northern Foods and Rank-Xerox.