The Friction Sessions

Passionate and hands-on banking & retail innovator, Director Collaboration at Visa’s Berlin Innovation Center. Rouven is dedicated to developing new innovation formats for Visa to engage with merchants, acquirers and banks in close collaboration with business accelerators, start-up’s and the innovation eco-system. A recent example of his work is the Visa Retail Experience Lab in Berlin, an open innovation platform for the future of retail.

Rouven has a proven track record as financial services and management consulting practitioner, establishing and growing Visa’s consulting business and presence in Switzerland and Austria as well as in the BeNeLux markets.

Michelle is an analyst serving digital business strategy professionals. Her research focuses on how digital technology and changing consumer behaviour and expectations are impacting retail organisations and transforming business models. Her current research themes include omnichannel commerce, the future of the store, digital trends and forecasting, and digital commerce strategies for consumer-facing brands, including luxury. During her eight years at Forrester, as a consultant and an analyst, Michelle has worked with a wide range of clients to help develop their digital business strategies. Michelle is based in the UK and has global coverage.

Studying Mathematics and Computer Science opened Salah's eyes to the world of beautiful structures, powerful theorems and elegant solutions.

He is enthusiastic about customer- and value-oriented product development in cross-functional, scaled, agile environments. His motivation lies in discovering and learning new things beyond his comfort zone, pushing boundaries and serving as a bridge-builder.

Salah has worked for companies from different industries and in various roles to develop digital strategies, organizations and software products - including eCommerce, Fulfillment and Big Data Platforms.

David is a qualified accountant and risk professional with over twenty years’ experience in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, including positions within stock exchange listed companies, the accounting profession and Public Sector entities. He moved to the UK in 2008.

Currently David is the Payment Operations & Assurance Manager at Transport for London (TfL). Ultimately, he is accountable for ensuring TfL receives the £2.5 billion annual revenue that is collected via card payments.

Kathryn is responsible for shaping the experience across Halfords stores, garages and mobile services, using data and insight to drive customer strategy and deliver positive change for our customers. Kathryn previously worked for Hammerson Plc, working across their portfolio of shopping centres and retail parks to help create destinations that excited shoppers and attracted brands. During her time at Hammerson she led a number of innovative projects, including the launch of 'Style Seeker' which used AI visual search technology to help shoppers find products easily. Kathryn also worked for Home Retail Group where she successfully delivered a number of large scale multi-channel transformation projects, including the implementation of click & collect for Homebase.com.