Marcus East is a dynamic business executive with over 20 years of experience of working with major brands around the world, helping them to harness the power of consumer-facing technology.

His extensive experience includes time in both startups and corporations, including six years at IBM and four years at Apple, much of which was spent in Silicon Valley. At Apple he led eCommerce solutions delivery for their worldwide on-line business, and also drove the adoption of Agile.

He returned to the UK at the start of 2016 to work for major retailer Marks and Spencer as Global Digital Director, and is responsible for running the M&S.com online business, and also for driving the company’s digital transformation.

East combines vision and passion with real hands-on experience of having delivered major transformation programmes and initiatives – he brings real world experience from a successful career built on three continents, whilst also having one on the future and the potential that comes from developments in consumer technology and the Internet.

He is well-connected in Silicon Valley and is involved in a number of startups as an adviser and investor, which helps to give him a unique perspective on developments in the Digital Age – allowing him to draw on his experiences both as a leader in large organisations and as an active member of the tech startup community.

In addition to his expertise in delivering value for commercial organisations, he also has a passion for the use of technology to drive positive social change, and spent two years building and leading Comic Relief’s technology function, during which time he drove the delivery of award-winning technology and digital products, including the record-setting donations platform that supports Red Nose Day.

He is also heavily involved in ‘Social Tech’, and was a director and trustee of Nominet Trust, and has sat on the board of several charities and social enterprises and actively seeks to help charities and social tech organisations to embrace the digital age.

Having lived and worked in the UK, Asia and America, he has a truly international perspective on the challenges facing organisations and societies today, and how technology affects them – he has strong views on social exclusion, diversity in technology, managing technology talent and how large corporations should react to the challenges and opportunities that the advent of the digital age brings.

Speaker Categories :​

• Business & Management

• Facilitators & Moderators

• Future & Technology