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SAVE THE DATE IA23 –
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 28TH!

Welcome to the Incentive Awards

The 2023 Incentive Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 28 September at the stunning Church House, Westminster London – we anticipate over 200+ guests will be celebrating all the many achievements from across the incentive, recognition and reward sector.

The event will provide the perfect chance to toast the industry’s finest achievements, whilst also offering the chance to celebrate with friends old and new.

The deadline to submit your nominations for IA23 is Friday 9 June.

Congratulations to all the 2022 Incentive Award Winners & Nominees!

Pictures of the Winners can be viewed here

Pictures of the guests and table pictures viewed here.

View the 2022 Event Programme

Sign up for news about the 2023 event.

The 2022 Award programme can be view here

ANNOUNCEMENT – Shard Financial Media, owner of Reward Strategy, has added the Incentive Awards to its roster of industry events.

Wendy Carter, who founded the awards in 2015, announced last night at the annual ceremony in Westminster that the move “would not only future-proof the event, but enable it to grow in a way I always hoped.”

She said the partnership with the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) will continue to be the heart of the awards.

Read more 

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Meet the Judges

Our Partners

Book to Attend

Thank you the 2022 Partners, Sponsors and Supporters

If you are interested in Partnering with us for IA22
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Introducing our 2022 judging panel

Head of Corporate Affairs, Appreciate Group

Andy Hammerton

Andy is Group Head of Corporate Affairs for Liverpool-based, Appreciate Group, the home of the UK’s most well-known multi-redemption product, Love2shop. As an expert in corporate communications, PR and stakeholder engagement, he’s helped some of the UK’s biggest customer brands engage their stakeholders and navigate significant reputational challenges.
Co-Founder & Chief Partnerships Officer, Prizeout

Holly Glowaty

Holly Glowaty is the Chief Partnership Officer and a Co-Founder of Prizeout. Holly is a serial entrepreneur (founder of both K+H Connection Consulting and Flourish Conference and Media) who has spent the last decade working with merchants to create profitable partnerships in FinTech, Paymentech, loyalty and rewards; with a special expertise in closed-loop payments and gift cards.
She is the Chief Partnerships Officer and a Co-Founder of Prizeout, and ad-tech company that utilizes gift cards to drive customer acquisition. Prior to Prizeout, Holly co-founded K+H Connection: a branded currency consulting firm, Flourish Conference & Media: a conference and media network focused on branded currency, and FinFoundHer: an initiative aimed at helping female-led businesses grow and gain access to funding.

Holly is passionate about moving the branded currency industry forward in new and interesting ways. She was named one of the 25 Most Influential People in Incentives by Incentive Magazine. She serves as an Advisor to LiftUp Enterprises, is a Founder of the Women in Incentives Network, a member of Chief and an active member of the Incentive Marketing Association and the Incentive Gift Card Council.

CEO UK Diggecard | IMA Europe President

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson is a highly regarded gift card expert who wears many hats (and floral shirts) within the industry. He is the current President of the IMA Europe, Diggecard’s UK CEO as well as the former Director General of the GCVA - he also takes part frequently in expert panels.
Andrew has been committed to the gift card industry for the past 20 years, developing a reputation as a ‘go to’ for gift card consultancy and knowledge. There really isn’t much that he doesn’t know about gift cards!
His career history is varied, working within retail and leisure operations and managing his own gift card consultancy, which became part of a global gift card company and now continues as Diggecard.
Diggecard delivers gift card expertise and technology to the heart of businesses of all kinds. As UK CEO, Andrew holds key positions within the Diggecard executive management team and board of directors, helping to define and guide the strategic vision and goals. He also leads the UK team to deliver the best consultancy services and programme implementation for clients in retail, leisure and hospitality. He is also focused on providing gift card solutions and services for businesses and agencies who want to capitalise on the power of gift cards to deliver their commercial goals.
As President of the IMA (and former Vice President) Andrew continues to strengthen hisknowledge and experience, as well as to develop a strong global network of industry partnerships. He described his role as a real honour to represent the industry with some great media experiences and opportunities to work with legislators and the government.
We think you will agree that this breadth of experience and knowledge makes him an ideal member of this year's judging panel for the Incentive Awards. Thank you for joining us Andrew!
Chairman & Founder - Motivforce Marketing & Incentives Ltd

Dr David Cox

David Cox is the Chairman and Founder of Motivforce Marketing & Incentives (MMI), an organization with offices in Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, New Delhi, Nicosia, Santo Domingo, London, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Vancouver, Sofia, Managua and Annapolis. David’s expertise provides specialised incentive, performance improvement and customer loyalty-marketing solutions to organisations developing and implementing customer loyalty programs. Additionally, David has in-depth experience in developing and implementing marketing strategy and associated tactical marketing campaigns as well as conducting market research. Currently David operates customer and employee incentive programs in over 130 countries.

David has been designing and operating loyalty and incentives programs for many Fortune 500 corporations during the past 30 years and during that time has won over 70 awards for his loyalty programs.

David academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts (Sydney University), Master of Commerce (University of NSW), Master of Business Administration (University of Technology, Sydney) and PhD in Marketing (University of Technology, Sydney).

Entrepreneur, former Chairman of Sodexo Engage UK

John Sylvester

His industry career started fresh out of university in 1985 initially with Grass Roots before moving to Page & Moy Motivation in 1989 (later to become p&mm Ltd). Following two MBOs and an AiM float John was one of the founders of Motivcom plc which was established in 2004 and grown to be one of the leading UK businesses in this field before it was acquired by Sodexo in 2014. John remained on the UK board for five years until his retirement at the end of August 2019.

An early advocate of using technology as the enabler of innovation, John and his team were responsible for the first UK on line rewards platform, the first UK open loop incentive prepaid card and more recently for developing international programmes using a cloud-based SaaS platform. With a strong belief that it is the quality of programme design that fundamentally drives the effectiveness of incentive and motivation solutions, John was also responsible for establishing the Diploma in Incentives and Motivation with the IPM to drive professional standards and provide an industry qualification that all can benefit from.

John was awarded ‘Trailblazer of the year’ by the UKGCVA and recognised for his ‘Outstanding contribution to the Industry’ by the Incentive Marketing Association.

HR DIrector, Oakman Group

Jill Scatchard-Bolton

Jill has been with the Oakman Group since 2012 successfully delivering their regular entry and placing with the Best Companies to Work Listings. She has gained two Princess Royal Training Awards for the implementation of the Oakmanology Training Brand. Prior to joining the Oakman Group Jill had extensive experience working within the hospitality industry in both hotels and contract catering; and not just within the HR role. Jill has front line experience before she moved into the supportive role of people management. Jill has also been Partner to more unusual enterprises including being the Chef Partner on a pair of floating Hotel Narrow Boats and a three-year experience in Austria running a small hotel.

Jill is passionate about Team Engagement and drives the Oakman SPEED Values through the growing number of sites at Oakman; now standing at 37 with more due in the forth coming months. Her reward and recognition programme at Oakman, a spearhead gifting initiative, continues to delight team members as they gain recognition for those ‘moments of truth’ during service to our guests or supporting their colleagues.

Founder & Managing Partner, Related Inc

Rabih Farhat

Prior to founding Related, Rabih was leading the Loyalty practice at Peppers & Rogers, within the MEA region. There he played an essential role in building the largest loyalty program in the region, Saudi Telecom’s Qitaf.

Rabih is an adamant believer in a more humane and compassionate “alliance” between brands and customers, and that any rewards program should play an active role in achieving a higher purpose than the commercial benefits for both brands and consumers.

In 2020, his company, Related, was awarded the Best Industry Service Provider and Best Technology Solution as part of the international Incentive Awards, London. Rabih has also received acknowledgements from top-executives in the region for his dedication and thought leadership.

Chief Technology Officer - Collection Pot

Robert Haynes

Roberts background is as an advisory to many organisations across many sectors to address the opportunities that emerging technologies present. Having worked in both public and private sectors across several countries and industries Robert is able to apply his vast experience to exploit opportunities in data and technology to extract the maximum value from its application.

Recently, Robert has been helping fintech companies transform their existing platforms to enable them to be more effective and make better use of cloud and serverless solutions.

Robert has now joined Collection Pot as their Chief Technology Officer and will actively oversea the development of its platform as the company embarks into the next exciting phase of its growth.

Corporate Psychologist, Client Partner, Growth, Digitals

Jane Viljoen

Jane Viljoen is a Multi Award Winning Corporate Psychologist who specialises in the fields of Emotional Intelligence, leadership and building trust. Jane supports organisations with team and leadership development programmes and leverages a combination of neuroscience and positive psychology for improved self-management, communication, and engagement. As well as speaking at conferences and events, she works with teams and delivers 1-1 coaching for clients across the world.
Being a psychologist in business, Jane brings the science of human behaviour ‘to life’ and enables organisations to consider how they can positively influence behaviour change. Some companies need help engaging their own employees, others face the challenge of influencing public health or opinion. Insights into what motivates and engages people vs what creates disconnect and apathy is critical in navigating a post-pandemic era where consumers and employees are more discerning than ever before!
Jane loves helping people to thrive and reach their potential and with a foot in the world of business and the other firmly standing in science-based development, she is well placed to help people see the world through a different lens.
General Manager, Microsoft Solutions

Mark Smith

Mark has been in IT Sales, Service and Management for 22 years covering all sectors and multiple solution areas from Software & Service providers including SAP, KPMG Consulting, webMethods joining Microsoft in 2004.
Mark is a member of the Microsoft UK Leadership Team and runs Microsoft Solutions comprising of 325 diversely skilled people covering the three Microsoft Clouds. The teams comprise of Solution Specialist Sales and Technical Specialists in a shared service model serving over 800 business customers. (Global, Enterprise and Partner and Public Sector). Mark has previously held a variety of leadership roles at Microsoft most recently running the Microsoft Intelligent Cloud Business including Azure and AI. Mark is also the executive sponsor for the Microsoft UK AI Country Plan. Other leadership roles include Western Europe Dynamics Partner Channel, Healthcare and Corporate Accounts.
Group CEO, The Inspire Group

Peter Pantelides

Peter Pantelides has had a long and varied career in the incentive marketing sector, both as an observer and a business-owner that operates in the loyalty, sales promotion and reward and recognition spaces.
As Group CEO and founder of the Inspire Group – a global travel and marketing agency - Inspire has enjoyed unprecedented success in the area of in-house gift card production and sales, international points-based loyalty programmes and fixed fee sales promotions and continues to find ways to innovate the sector as a whole.
With an entrepreneurial mindset and a wealth of experience in growth and development, Peter has successfully expanded Inspire across the globe operating in over 50 countries with businesses in the UK, Germany, Brazil, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and more.
Peter is constantly looking at ways to grow and develop the reach of the company’s incentive and marketing portfolio.
Prior to founding Inspire, Peter held senior positions in several respected marketing agencies, leading successful sales and marketing teams, again focussing primarily on the reward and recognition, sales promotion and loyalty industries.
Inspire’s global travel loyalty solution has resulted in the Group being the only agency in the world integrated into Mastercard, running just under 40 international loyalty programmes.
Following Inspire’s launch of the travel industry’s first physical and digital travel card across Europe in 2012, the company’s gift card is today marketed through multiple channels, B2B, B2C and B2B2B, in five currencies and six languages, with recipients and clients fully supported by Inspire’s in-house, fourteen language, award winning call centre.
Peter is also an adviser and shareholder of GoVida, a tech start-up employee wellbeing platform.
Group Editor, Shard Financial Media

Michal Lodej

Michal Lodej is an experienced B2B editor with over 10 years of experiencing in editing magazines. Michal’s previous roles have been pushing progressive editorial practices at magazines with a global reach. He now leads the editorial team at Shard Financial Media, furthering the progression of the agendas at all Shard’s brands including; Credit Strategy, Reward Strategy, TRI Strategy and FSE.
FCMA, FIH, CPIM, MBA, Fellow IMA Managing Director, Giftcard Consulting

Brian Dunne

Brian is known in the sector as ‘Mr Gift Card’ – an industry expert in the field of gift cards, payments and incentives. As MD of Gift Card Consulting, Brian works as an expert and trusted advisor to some of the biggest brand names in retail in the UK and Europe specialising in helping retail clients to understand the benefits of gift cars as ‘branded currency’ and how to maximise their gift card programmes. With accolades including the winner of The UKGCVA Lifetime Achievement Award and Fellow and President of IMA Europe Brian is a trusted advisor for anything gift card related.
As the past president of IMA Europe and now a member on the board of directors, Brian is also working to build a greater understanding of incentive marketing and the power of gift cards in incentives in Europe and the rest of the world via its umbrella organization, IMA – US. Often seen speaking at a variety of European and International trade shows, Brian is well known for his compelling speeches on the power of gift cards and has been a judge and speaker at PayExpo, Marketing Week Live, Fintec Live, Prepaid Expo and many more events.

Brian has previously held a variety of Managing Director roles, including at the National Post Office/ Royal Mail Group and Whitbread PLC, the largest hospitality retailer in the UK, where he gained a passion for gift cards. Brian was also Managing Director of SVM Global Ltd, serving the incentive industry gift cards, a position where he brought expertise in setting up and maintaining successful gift card programmes for many of the UK’s leading online and high street retailers.

He has also held positions with a variety of companies specializing in gift card and gifting solutions including Whitbread Leisure Vouchers and The Post Office, Target Corporation, B&Q, Toys R Us and Best Western Hotels.

Brian is a Master of Business Administration (MBA), a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and a Fellow of the Hotel & Catering Institute, alongside various different qualifications in the retail and hospitality space.

Managing Director of Kirros Consulting & Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster

Matthew Critchlow

As a management consultant and facilitator, Matthew brings over 18 years’ experience in running programmes to enhance individual, team, and organisational performance. He offers expertise in leadership development, personal and team resilience and employee wellbeing programmes.
Matthew previously worked for twelve years in the pharmaceutical industry, including at Eli Lilly & Company, where he held positions in sales management, marketing, and market research.

In recent years, Matthew has designed employee wellbeing programmes for organisations including the Home Office, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Nationwide Building Society, Microsoft UK, and Lend Lease. Between 2014 – 2016, he codesigned a ground-breaking psychometric test for resilience, the Resilience Quotient Inventory™ (RQi™) in collaboration with Dr Julian Edwards (Open University) and a team of experts at the Westminster Centre of Resilience. The RQi™ is used along performance coaching in some of the most successful organisations in the world, including Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, McDonalds, BAE Systems, and Imperial College London.

Matthew holds a BSc (hons) in Zoology, a PhD in Developmental Biology and completed a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in the University of London. He also holds qualifications in psychotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and has trained extensively in performance coaching. He is an accredited practitioner of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), the EQ-i 360, Facet5, and is a Master Trainer for the Resilience Quotient Inventory (RQi™).

Payments and Digital Executive

Kevin Coles

Kevin currently works as a consultant and senior executive in the payments, mobile and digital arenas, often leading or supporting the innovation and strategic agendas in direct board or advisory roles as well as supporting complex projects and programs.
Kevin takes responsibility for M&A activity, strategy, proposition development and marketing. He has been involved in the cards and payments industry for many years and is highly respected and regarded having been involved in a number of high profile developments and industry deals. Recently he has supported the UK Payments Regulator (PSR) and the FCA. He continues to be a leading innovator and contributor in the space and has completed recent initiatives in the US and Europe.

His previous roles have resulted in him operating in diverse environments including USA, Europe, Africa, Caribbean and Asia.

Take a peak at our 2020 event video

2021 Gallery