Keynote speakers

Professor Charlie Bamforth has been part of the brewing industry since 1978. Formerly with the Brewing Research Foundation and Bass in the UK, he was lead professor of brewing at UC Davis for 20 years from 1999. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at UC Davis and Honorary Professor with the University of Nottingham in England. He was President of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling from 2014 to 2016. Charlie is Senior Quality Advisor to Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. He is the author of numerous articles, papers, and books on beer. Charlie has received many awards for his contributions to the industry and has featured extensively in the media. He has also written for 40 years on football (soccer).

Charlie will discuss the approach taken by Ken Grossman’s Sierra Nevada Brewing Company to brew high quality beers with sustainability as a core tenet from the very outset. He will discuss the brewery's energy generation and storage, recycling ethos and integration with local agriculture.

Kristin Hughes is currently the Global Head of Sustainability at Diageo, joining in 2023 having previously held the position of Head of Resource Circularity at The World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Kristin's background means that she has a unique perspective on sustainability at the interface between business, government and non-government organisations which has allowed her to increase the impact of sustainability in the consumer goods, retail and technology sectors. Kristin's presentation will cover the approaches taken by Diageo to embed sustainability in brewing and spirits, globally.

Mike Barry is a leader in sustainable change. One of the pioneers of green business in the corporate world he helped to develop, launch and implement Marks and Spencer’s ground-breaking sustainability programme, Plan A (because there is no Plan B for the one world we have). In ten years, Plan A delivered £750m of net business benefit and over the years won 230 awards. Mike will provide a keynote presentation at the conference where he will outline examples of current best practice outside of our sector and challenge and inspire delegates to make positive changes in their organisations. 

Thomas Brewer is currently the Global Energy Technology Specialist with AB InBev and Honorary Associate Professor at The University of Nottingham. He has a passion for sustainability and has spent 27 years working in relevant roles, 13 of which have been in brewing. He established the concept of a financially attractive net zero brewery. His main objective is to encourage a reduction in energy consumption and hence fossil fuel dependency, by embedding good practices and new technologies to reduce energy consumption. Thomas' presentation will cover some of the novel approaches taken by AB InBev with respect to sustainable brewing and packaging.