Rita Clifton

Rita Clifton CBE has been called ‘Brand guru’ by the Financial Times and ‘The doyenne of branding’ by Campaign magazine. Retail Week commented that she is ‘A fabulous ambassador for business’. Alongside her board chairing and non-executive roles, Rita is a writer, keynote speaker, conference chair & practitioner on all aspects of brands, branding and business leadership.

Rita is in demand as a speaker all over the world, both as a brand practitioner and as a business leader. She regularly speaks and runs workshops on a wide variety of topics including leadership, innovation and disruption, corporate reputation, women in business and sustainability. She covers all aspects of branding, including personal and nation branding, branding in the digital age and how to build a world class brand. Recent speeches and workshops on how to overcome imposter syndrome, building on her award-winning book ‘Love Your Imposter’, have also had many fantastic reviews.

Rita shares her vision and insights on how organisations can use their brand as a key wealth generator, and make it their most important single asset, making up the most valuable part of modern business. Her style is informal and relaxed yet dynamic and challenging. She will guide audiences through the forces at work and stimulate discussion on brands and customer experience. Her presentations are inspirational and highly motivating.

Her career has included being a Vice Chair and Strategy Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, as London CEO and Chair at the global brand consultancy Interbrand and as co-founder of BrandCap. She is now a portfolio chair and non-executive director on the board of businesses including John Lewis Partnership, Nationwide Building Society and Ascential plc. Previous boards have included ASOS, Dixons Retail plc, Emap, Bupa and Populus Group. Her non-profit boards have included WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature), the UK Sustainable Development Commission and Green Alliance. She was recently appointed Chair at Forum for the Future, the leading international sustainability organisation.

Rita is a regular columnist and media commentator, as well as author of ‘The Future of Brands’ and two editions of The Economist book ‘Brands and Branding’. Her new book on leadership ‘Love your imposter’ was launched by Kogan Page in September 2020.