Stage set for the high flyers

High-calibre is probably the best term to describe the programme of the 6th Global DIY Summit. Or perhaps even record, because so many delegates from the global  home improvement and gardening industry are coming this year to the summit, which brings the entire sector together in Barcelona over two days (13 and 14 June 2018) plus store tour and get together on the eve of the event.
This is because the organisers, the international retailers' and manufacturers' associations Edra/Ghin and Fediyma, understand how to attract companies not normally seen on conference platforms to deliver presentations. In consequence, following the welcome address by the association heads - John Herbert and Ralf Rahmede - and their presidents - Obi boss Sergio Giroldi and Wolfcraft boss Reinhard Wolff - and a global economic and political overview from a Spanish viewpoint (by Alejandro Gonzalez de Aguilar of Deloitte Spain), there will be a keynote speech by the world market leader. The speaker, Matt Schweickert, is chief strategy officer of Home Depot, and he will speak about "The Age of Retail Disruption".
Top-notch figures will also be present on stage for the ensuing panel discussion. Sylvain Prud'homme, president of Lowe's, the global number two, and Kingfisher CEO Véronique Laury will talk about "a new kind of cooperation between retailers and suppliers" with the heads of 3M, Bosch, Ostendorf and Storch-Ciret.
Damien Deleplanque has appeared on the platform at the Global DIY Summit just once, in Rome back in 2013. Now the former CEO of Groupe Adeo is returning as the recipient of the Global DIY Lifetime Award 2018. The award will be presented on 13 June 2018 as part of the Summit.

Deleplanque began his career in 1979 working as a department manager in a store of the French DIY chain Leroy Merlin, from which Adeo emerged. A year later he became store manager of a 1 500 m² store in Granges Les Valence in southern France, later taking over a 6 000 m² store in St. Genevieve des Bois, near Paris. In 1993, he was appointed CEO of Leroy Merlin and in 2005 CEO of Groupe Adeo, which was founded following the addition of various subsidiaries in France and abroad.
Damien Deleplanque mainly focuses on the subject of human resources. He created and launched the so-called…