HELEN THOMPSON
MANAGING DIRECTOR EMEA, TOMS
Helen Thompson joined TOMS in 2016 as Managing Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), leading the business from the EMEA headquarters in Amsterdam. She continues to build the TOMS brand, spreading its mission to improve lives through business and taking a stand for a better tomorrow across the EMEA region.

Helen is an inspirational leader, drawing upon a successful career working at leading footwear companies in Europe. She has made a name for herself not only for building businesses and brands across multiple markets, cultures and channels, but building strong teams and championing the future leaders around her.

“It’s an honor to lead a unique business like TOMS that balances profits with a deeply engrained purpose. Since day one, TOMS has been committed to improving lives. As we continue to grow and evolve, we have been able to have an even greater impact, not only with our One for One® Giving Programs but with local projects in Europe and around the globe. We believe that business can be done differently, and it’s my goal to continue to prove and redefine what that means.”

Before her role at TOMS, Helen was previously the Managing Director for ECCO EMEA and prior to this, spent 12 years at Clarks where she had great success serving in various leadership roles, including International Franchise, Head of the Southern Hemisphere Distributor Markets and Europe Region Director.

Helen has also expanded the giving back philosophy to support some NGO’s with her professional skills and sits as a Board Director for ChildFund International based in Richmond, Virginia, supporting their mission to help deprived, excluded and vulnerable children have the capacity to improve their lives.

Helen will be at the Summit as one of our Business Surgeons. In this session, participants can have personal conversations in which they describe the symptoms of their business challenges to the Business Surgeons who help to diagnose, and discuss possible treatments for long term business solutions.