We are delighted to announce the speakers & panellists who will be taking part in the Silver Marketing Summit & Awards 2026. All are experts in their field and will share marketing insights and information with the audience.
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox - Keynote speaker – Intergenerational Marketing
Avivah is a prolific, writer, speaker, thinker and podcast host. She is a global expert on 21st century leadership, with a particular focus on gender and generational balance, longevity and the future of work and careers. Avivah is a Harvard 2022 Advanced Leadership Fellow and focuses on longevity, gender differences in ageing and how to manage individuals and teams through the 3rd and 4th Quarters of 100-year lives. Themes summarised in her latest graphic book Thriving to 100 and covered in her podcast, 4 Quarter Lives. Avivah tracks lessons on longevity from her 60s in a weekly newsletter called elderberries.
Jacynth Bassett - Keynote speaker – Intergenerational Marketing
Jacynth Bassett is the award-winning expert, consultant, and keynote speaker on age and intergenerational inclusivity. She is the Founder and CEO of Ageism Is Never In Style®, and the visionary pioneer leading the global movement for age inclusion reshaping how organisations, sectors and societies engage with ageing, generations and life stages
Tim Greatrex - Chair - Sound & Vision
From farming to media/martech and on to business management Tim is a commercially driven leader with 30+ years’ experience scaling businesses, driving revenue, EBITDA growth, and preparing companies for funding or exit. A pragmatic, energetic operator, he builds high-performing teams, challenges strategy, and works confidently with boards, investors, and stakeholders. He has successfully repositioned and grown numerous businesses, including a gold mining business (!), to create successful exits for all stakeholders, the latest being Passion Digital.
David Lloyd - Speaker - Sound & Vision
David is co-founder of Boom Radio – the UK DAB station aimed at baby-boomers which has attracted a significant audience since its 2021 launch, with a familiar mix of well-targeted music introduced by familiar voices. David’s career in radio stretches back more than 40 years – as an award-winning presenter and radio station manager, having run such stations as LBC and Virgin. A fellow of the Radio Academy, a doctor of Radio, author of several books on the topic and a radio historian, he’s hugely enthusiastic about the response his latest venture at Boom Radio has attracted. David's also the station's mid morning presenter.
Louise Robinson - Panellist - Sound & Vision
Louise started her career on the Express and Echo in Exeter and then moved to Fleet Street working on the news and features desks of The Daily and Sunday Express, before being appointed Editor of S Magazine, the Sunday Express colour supplement. She is now at the helm of Saga Magazine as Editorial Director, and the interaction she enjoys with her wonderfully engaged readers, who are all over 50, has made it the most enjoyable role of her career so far.
Rachel Hall - Panellist - Sound & Vision
Rachel Hall is the co founder of Be Addressable, a media agency that helps brands use data, insight and smarter targeting to make their advertising work harder. Her agency is one of the few in the UK to gain IPA Effectiveness Accreditation for 2025–27, recognising its commitment to measuring and improving real commercial impact. A specialist in addressable TV, Rachel has built a unique platform for planning and measuring the effect of TV and has won planning awards for campaigns across Sky AdSmart, ITVX and Prime Video. With a career spanning network agencies, independents and a decade inside start ups, she brings deep experience in helping brands understand audiences and make smarter marketing decisions. At Be Addressable, she works with clients including La Vieille Ferme (The Chicken Wine), Knight Frank, Airband and Optibac, offering a clear, practical view of how effectiveness and intelligent targeting drive better results.
Quentin Boyes - Speaker - Let's Meet "Ozzy"
Quentin has spent 40 years helping brands persuade consumers to part with cash. Started in advertising above the Nags Head in Covent Garden, passed through various alleys of Soho and the West End before going solo with his 1st agency Liquorice, which he took to several continents, and Birmingham. Spent the last 20 years exploring smart use of data to deliver consumer insights for impactful and effective comms, helping clients like Genting Casino win Marketing Society CRM Gold. Swansong? Launched Humbug, a marketing consultancy offering unique consumer insights and innovative creative ideas to businesses seeking to transform connections with silverbacks.
James Cobb - Chair - Paper Bricks & Mortar
James is the Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Retirement Living and has spent 20 years specialising in the Retirement Village sector both here in the UK and overseas. Following 10 years in the Armed Forces he started his own Retirement Village business overseas before returning to the UK in 2007 and becoming a leading figure in the expansion of the industry here. He has extensive knowledge of all aspects of Retirement Village development and operations and, with this background, has specialised in understanding our customers and ensuring that we deliver what people want.
Penny Worthy - Panellist - Paper Bricks & Mortar
Penny is the Managing Director of Silver Travel Advisor and has enjoyed over 40 years in the travel industry. With considerable experience in the Leisure, Business and Corporate Travel arenas, Penny brings a passion for travel, customer experience and strategic leadership. Penny’s career progression is marked by notable roles, including Head of UK Business Travel at Avis Budget Group, where she spent 17 years, Area Sales Manager at Going Places and Branch Manager at Thomas Cook, where she began her career. Penny’s areas of expertise include sales strategy, building strong partner relationships, team motivation and development.
Clair Atkins - Panellist - Paper, Bricks & Mortar
As Managing Director of Our Media, Clair has been developing media brands and building customer loyalty for over 25 years. Her work spans the commercial development of 25 proprietary media brands at Our Media, including a portfolio of BBC titles. She also works with external clients to help them to develop their audiences. With experience across both commercial and non-profit sectors in which she has worked with the likes of Virgin Holidays, Odeon cinemas, RSPB and English Heritage. As a multi-channel strategist she has a working understanding of the important role that print plays in building trust and ensuring that customers stay engaged and loyal.
Susie Idle, Panellist - Paper, Bricks & Mortar
Susie Idle, Development Director at Whistl, with over 20 years in print media, she brings deep expertise in helping brands maximise the impact of physical communication. Known for her practical, audience focused approach, Susie provides clear insight into why print remains a powerful channel for building lasting connections. Her ability to translate consumer behaviour into effective, real world marketing makes her a highly credible voice. Her work spans national retailers, charities, government bodies, giving her a detailed understanding of how physical formats continue to outperform in key sectors. This is especially true among Silver consumers, who value clarity, trust, and tangible communication.
Rob Newton - Panellist - Paper, Bricks & Mortar
As co-founder of PSE, Rob has lived and breathed every aspect of the print and direct mail industry for over 30 years. Together with his brother Phil, their client-first ethos and unwavering belief in the power of print has seen their agency launch and manage direct mail channels for such household names as HelloFresh, Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea and Karen Millen. Rob’s proprietary DM Success Cycle is a proven framework that turns direct mail into a high performance growth engine for some of the UK’s most ambitious brands. Thanks to Rob’s obsession with smart strategy, world class print and delivering results that actually matter, PSE is recognised for innovation, customer care excellence and as one of the UK’s leading lights in direct mail.
Debbie Benjamin - Speaker - Clicks not Bricks
Debbie Benjamin is a Client Solutions Manager at Tiktok, having worked across the business on Finance, FMCG, Fashion and Retail she now has been on the Travel vertical for the last 2 years. Debbie works with both clients directly and their media agencies to help them achieve their business goals effectively on Tiktok.
Merson Lewis - Speaker - Clicks not Bricks
Merson Lewis is a Senior Client Partner at Reddit, focusing on Entertainment and Travel & Tourism partnerships. He partners with brands to show up authentically in culture and conversations, using Reddit’s communities to drive engagement, influence and performance.
Frank Leyhausen - Speaker - AI - Discrimination, danger or opportunity
As the Founder and CEO of Reifegrad4, Frank has been advising companies, public authorities and non-profit organizations on the opportunities and challenges of an ageing society since 2000 having gained his first experience at Deutsche Bank in the 1990s. Frank’s specialist areas are innovation and communication as well as the effects of ageing on the labour market and he has led a large number of projects in various sectors as well as research. In his talk he will share "worst practices" and user tips on how AI can become a partner in creation without discriminating.
Amanda Forsyth - Speaker - AI - Discrimination, danger or opportunity
Amanda Forsyth is the CEO and Co-Founder of LivOn, a platform helping people rediscover purpose, connection and opportunity after retirement. LivOn combines behavioural science, community and AI to support retirees as they navigate one of life’s biggest transitions. Amanda has spent over a decade working in technology and product leadership, with a particular focus on ageing and digital wellbeing. Before founding LivOn, she served as Director of Product at a deep-tech company where she led the launch of an award-winning eldercare solution. Her work explores how AI can be designed responsibly to support older adults, balancing innovation with trust, safety and meaningful human outcomes.
Mark Hughes -Speaker - How to market to 1 million over 50s
As part of the founding team at Rest Less, Mark has been through the entire journey of building Rest Less from a basement with 0 members, to now being one of the largest closed audiences of over 50s in the UK, outside the likes of Meta and Google. Once described by his boss as an “agency in a box”, he is responsible for acquisition, engagement and retention, and the success of Rest Less client campaigns. Prior to Rest Less, Mark led a digital marketing agency in London, before moving into the start-up world at a leading UK venture builder.
Sue Benson - Chair - Marketing Clothing & Accessories
Sue is an experienced retail and brand strategist and a leading authority on applying behavioural science creatively to solve business problems across sectors including health, nutrition and wellbeing. A midlifer herself, Sue has led The Behaviours Agency’s initiative to gain a better understanding and representation of midlife women and is particularly interested in how we can support women's health and wellbeing, given Midlife is such a period of significant change, as well as the importance of a balanced and healthy diet at all ages and stages of life.