Dann Allen is a Customer Experience (CE) leader with a passion for shaping how organizations interact with their customers. For over 15 years, he has led cross-functional programs both as a practitioner and consultant to deliver dramatic improvements in loyalty, satisfaction, revenue, and cost reduction.
Dann is currently Head of Experience Design & Improvement for the Automobile Association of America’s 2nd largest club based in San Francisco. By developing CE strategies and using Voice of the Customer data, he and his team lead cross-functional efforts to improve multi-channel experiences.
Prior to AAA, Dann was Head of Customer Experience for Sprint’s Prepaid Division for almost 3 years. During that time, Dann won Sprint’s “Circle of Excellence” for his outstanding contribution to CE. The Prepaid division progressed in JD Powers’ survey rankings and achieved #1 in 2010.
Prior to Sprint, Dann held various senior leadership roles at Beyond Philosophy, a Customer Experience Consulting firm with offices in London and Atlanta. He led teams that worked with clients to develop CE strategies, conduct journey mapping, and customer research to improve multi-channel experiences. A few clients included IBM, Capital One, and InterContinental Hotel Group.
Graduated from the University of Utah with BA in Speech Communication.
Cassie started with Mrs. Fields in the summer of 1999 while she finished her last semester of college as an administrative Assistant. From there she began the affiliate marketing program for the newly launched Mrsfields.com. The rest, as we say at Mrs. Fields, is history in the baking.
During her tenure, Cassie has held various rolls in Sales, Marketing & Merchandising.
In her current role as Vice President of Sales & Marketing she oversees the production and distribution of the catalog, other direct mail, mrsfields.com, all on-line & digital marketing, on-line partnerships as well as the inbound call center and the outbound Business to Business Sales efforts.
About Mrs. Fields Gifts
Started in 1990 to support shipping product to areas of the country without retail store locations. In 1994 we began producing and mailing our first catalogs with unique product offerings and mailing gift tins, baskets and boxes.
Today we circulate nearly 15 Million catalogs annually.
We offer gift for every occasion and can ship that gift nearly anywhere in the world.
You can customize almost any of our gifts your logo or corporate message.
Rahel is the Director of the Zumba® Instructor Network (ZINTM), a global community of Zumba Instructors who touch the lives of 14 million Zumba class participants every week. Zumba Fitness is a latin-inspired dance-fitness program, the largest branded fitness program in the world, and was named Inc. magazine’s 2012 Company of the Year. Her team drives the Company’s goal to make ZIN members successful. It’s about attaining and sustaining members' success by developing the program, fostering a healthy community, and enabling an exceptional experience throughout the membership lifecycle. Rahel started her career as an Industrial Engineer, and later transitioned into Customer Service when she began working at Bank of America. Shortly after she joined Zumba Fitness and has been instrumental in growing the Zumba instructor community grow ten-fold.
Kerry is a vice president and principal analyst in Forrester‘s customer experience research practice and the creative force behind the customer experience ecosystem, a framework that helps companies diagnose and fix customer problems at their roots. She is the co-author of Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business.
Kerry's research, analysis, and opinions appear frequently on sites such as Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and AdAge and she blogs for Forrester and 1to1 Media. She contributes a regular column and sits on the advisory board for Touchpoint, the journal published by the Service Design Network. Kerry has keynoted major conferences on customer experience and marketing in Barcelona, London, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco, and Tokyo.
Kerry holds a master's degree in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon University and an undergraduate degree in cognitive science and psychology from Indiana University.
Fred Brown is the Founder and CEO of Next IT Corporation - a company changing the way technology interacts with the world. Prior to Next IT, Fred was Founder, President and CEO of LineSoft Corporation. At LineSoft, the calf-roper turned entrepreneur broke new ground in the energy industry with the development of software systems that are now considered industry standard worldwide. With Next IT, Fred continues to revolutionize technology's impact on business with his newest vision - personalizing and humanizing user interactions with technology. Fred is also actively involved in organizations serving the northwest educational and scientific communities, including serving on the Board of Trustees at Gonzaga University as well as founding WIN Partners LLC, a private investment fund for aspiring technology entrepreneurs in Spokane, Washington.
Linda Brown brings more than 20 years of direct-to-consumer marketing and analysis experience serving the Footwear, Apparel, Athletic Clubs, Sporting Goods, Education, Telecommunications, Broadcast and Tourism industries.
Linda is the Manager of Consumer Insights & Database Services for Wolverine World Wide, the third largest manufacturer of footwear in the world. She is responsible for providing data-driven insights to the portfolio of brands for both wholesale and retail purposes. The WWW family of brands include: Merrell, Hush Puppies, Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, Keds, Bates, Wolverine, Sebago, Cushe, Chaco, Soft Style, Hytest, StrideRite Children’s Group, Harley-Davidson, and CAT Footwear. Her role focuses on forward-thinking initiatives in consumer data management, direct marketing, syndicated data analysis and multimodal research and analysis to build brand loyalty and profitability.
Prior to joining WWW, Linda was the sole proprietor of Sibylic Consulting for a dozen years, where she served hands-on with clients in a variety of industries. She built robust views of consumer’s lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors to evaluate her clients’ market positioning and elevate their direct marketing strategies to create real business results. Linda also spent 9 years at Colorado-based Eagle Marketing Services, Inc. There she served as Vice President of Research and was instrumental in leading their broadcast clients into a progressive strategic direct marketing approach that combined syndicated data, lifestyle segmentation and response analysis to build ratings and revenue.
Since 2000, Linda has resided in Rockford, Michigan with her husband, two (nearly grown) children and two German Shepherds. She enjoys adventures on the water, biking, and yoga, as well as wine and microbrew tasting.
MS from Colorado State University, BS from Hillsdale College, MI.
Nancy Camarota serves as the Director of Customer Experience at La-Z-Boy Incorporated. Before joining La-Z-Boy, Nancy worked in high tech companies such as HP, Covad and Time Warner Telecom in roles including sales, service, marketing and operations. She has worked across industries including service and consumer goods. Nancy began specializing in customer transformation as more companies indicated a desire to leverage their customer base as an asset. Transformation experience includes applying process methodology to service organizations, as well as engaging teams in the difficult work of changing behaviors and creating new possibilities. Her education and training is in science and engineering.
Kim is currently employed at Lexmark International leading the corporate Customer Experience Management agenda. In the last 4.5 years she has advanced customer experience from a VoC initiative, focused on diagnosing and attacking detractors, to a strategic corporate program attacking top priority interactions and designing differentiated experiences. When Kim isn’t working you can find her at the lake enjoying sun, swimming, boating, bonfires, and the mountains with her family.
Elisabeth Charles joined Petco in February, 2009. In her role as Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, she oversees the branding, marketing, advertising, and market research activities for Petco, a pet specialty retailer with more than 1,200 stores across the United States.
Prior to joining the Petco team, Elisabeth served as the Executive Vice President of Marketing for Victoria’s Secret Stores, where she directed a team of 35 associates in creating marketing initiatives for the $3.5 billion, 1,000-store retailer.
Previously, she was Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Marketing for Herbalife International, and also held senior marketing roles at Ideaforest.com, YUM! Brands, and PEPSICO, Inc. She began her career as an associate consultant with Bain & Company.
Elisabeth earned a bachelor’s degree in political economy from the University of California-Berkeley and a master’s degree from Harvard Business School. She enjoys living in San Diego with her husband, two children and golden retriever.
Michelle Adorjan Chila has headed the Marketing & Publicity department and acted as Fashion Director for TACORI for more than six years. A lifelong jewelry lover, Michelle has been involved with celebrity and style for almost a decade, and has appeared as an expert commentator on a variety of television shows and networks including – the E! Red Carpet at the Oscars Show, The Dr. Phil Show, Extra!, The Style Network, The TV Guide Network, CNN and more.
Today, as Senior Vice President of Marketing & PR for TACORI, Michelle oversees more than $5M in all media advertising, manages all partner marketing efforts, the publicity department, branded events, as well as supervising new and developing media opportunities such as digital, social and online marketing.
Acting as the head of corporate communication, Michelle’s formative training as a publicist and copywriter have instructed the TACORI consumer experience across all platforms, especially the critically transformative and ever-evolving Social Media landscape; such as launching the “Tacori Concierge” program, growing TACORI’s Facebook presence to almost 250,000 in under two years, and Twitter fanbase to more than 15,000 in less than a year.
Prior to her tenure at TACORI, Michelle was Director of Publicity for Norm Marshall & Associates, overseeing projects such as the Cadillac trendsetter program. Previously, she hailed from the Publicity department for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Michelle is originally from Illinois, where she graduated from Murphysboro High School in an accelerated program, and, in her final semester as a Senior, moved to Springfield, IL (the state Capital) to become an intern for the Governor of Illinois as part of the prestigious “Illinois Governmental Internship Program.”
At the University of Illinois at Chicago, Michelle earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, with a minor in French. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Honors College, and was inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa society.
As Managing Director, Jason is responsible for Siegel+Gale’s operations on the West Coast, which include a full-service office in Los Angeles and Siegel+Gale’s Global Naming office based in San Francisco. In his role, Jason oversees all client relationships and programs for Siegel+Gale across the Western United States. In his previous role of Executive Director, Interactive Media, Jason led Siegel+Gale’s Interactive Media practice worldwide, which provides strategy and design services to clients looking to leverage the power of their brands in emerging digital mediums. Since joining the firm in 1996, Jason’s clients have included a wide range of leading multi-national companies such as Adobe, ARM, Demand Media, HP, Lexus, Microsoft, Nestle, Qualcomm, Sony PlayStation and Yahoo!.
With more than 16 years of executive leadership experience in the Internet, E-commerce, and Software industries, David Collyer now serves as Senior Director, Global Customer Advocacy for McAfee. Prior to his current role, he worked as Vice President, Client Services for GSI Commerce which is the largest end-to-end E-commerce provider in the United States. In addition, David held a Vice President role for Client Services and Customer Care Services for SpeedFC, another E-Commerce industry leader. He also has served in customer management executive leadership roles at ReachLocal, Sun Microsystems, AOL/Time Warner and Netscape Communications. David brings extensive customer thought leadership, and has been recognized in the industry for creating, growing, and cultivating innovative and mutually successful client and partner relationships across the globe.
Jeanne Connon is a start-up veteran and proven marketing entrepreneur. She has been building groundbreaking, disruptive consumer and business brands for nearly 20 years, drawing on her passion for creating simply amazing customer experiences. She comes to FashionPlaytes on the heels of her role as Chief Marketing Officer at Daily Grommet where she led acquisition, community, content and brand development to help forge an innovative business model merging the power of video, ecommerce and product discovery.
Jeanne launched her career in Internet marketing as the leader of the founding creative/development team at Monster.com. She was also a core member of the team that launched Family Education Network(acquired by Pearson Education), managing all marketing initiatives as well as partnerships with such brands as AT&T, Yahoo, and AOL.
As a girl, Jeanne demonstrated an early flair for fashion, dress-up and drama, and now spends most of her free time attending her 10-year-old fashionista’s ad hoc runway shows and cheering her teens’ goals from the sidelines.
Jeff is the Director of Customer Contact Centers at Highlights for Children, a leading publisher of educational products for children. He has led a “service and culture revolution” focused on providing “World Class” customer service that generates over $1M in annual sales. Jeff has transformed a traditional “cost center” to a revenue generating center, providing leadership and operational management for all B2B, B2C, internal and third party customer contact centers for Highlights for Children, Highlights International and Boyds Mills Press while providing operational support for new business development, licensing and e-commerce. Jeff’s experience spans 27 years across the publishing, financial, waste and printing industries. He has “in the trenches” experience in Sales, Customer Service, Collections and Call Center Management. Jeff’s team has been recognized as three time 1st place recipients of CCNG’s(Call Center Networking Group) Best Contact Center Incentive Contest for sales and customer service. He is a member of the American Society of Quality(ASQ), The Call Center Networking Group and proud alumnus of Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio. Jeff resides in Ohio with his wife, six children and golden retriever Hemi-Lou. He is active within his local community serving both school and church family. He believes strongly in servant leadership, developing others and is passionate about serving God, family and neighbor .
Nancy Deck serves as Hilton Worldwide’s vice president for full service brand marketing. In addition to leading all marketing for the company’s Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton and Embassy Suites full service brands, Nancy also has responsibility for Hilton Worldwide’s multi-brand portfolio marketing strategy. This includes driving the Hilton HHonors brand strategy and developing global marketing strategies that create awareness, preference and market share for HHonors and the ten distinct hotel brands in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio.
Nancy has over 25 years of experience in multi-channel consumer and business marketing, brand strategy and management, customer loyalty and satisfaction, ecommerce and CRM solutions, market research, and consumer segmentation and analysis. Prior to joining Hilton Worldwide in 2009, Nancy was senior vice president of corporate marketing at Sallie Mae, where she managed corporate brand strategy, consumer and business marketing, customer intelligence, customer loyalty and retention, and website strategy and development. Earlier in her career, Nancy served as president of Claritas Inc, a leading provider of consumer segmentation and marketing solutions; managed consumer marketing strategies and programs at MCI Telecommunications; and worked as a management consultant for Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Nancy holds a BA from Bucknell University and a master’s degree from Syracuse University.
Maritza DiSciullo is Vice President of Member Research & Intelligence at Navy Federal Credit Union. Maritza is a seasoned insights and marketing professional with 20 years experience on both the client and supplier sides of the research industry. In her time as a consultant and executive, she has had the opportunity to advise C-Level executives and political leaders across a multitude of industries and ideologies. Her experience includes clients such as AT&T; AOL; XM Radio; Bank of America; Wachovia; US Chamber of Commerce; the BBC, and many others. Her consumer insights and marketing savvy have helped these companies and associations build their brands, gain a competitive edge, launch new products, re-invent themselves, and make their messages be heard to the public.
She has been a frequent speaker at research industry conferences on these all of these topics and has been published in industry journals. She has received two Ogilvy Awards for research excellence (US West in 1993 and Bank of America in 2009).
Maritza’s educational background is in sociology, psychology and criminology. She lives in Alexandria, VA with her 3 daughters, her Rottweiler and her Army JAG officer husband.
Tabitha and her team at Citrix drive customer retention programs, deliver excellence in market research practices, develop customer behavioral insights through analytics and predictive modeling and turn customer feedback from listening posts (such as NPS®) into actionable insights – ensuring a great customer experience all along the customer journey from Awareness to Advocacy. Tabitha’s 15+ years of expertise as a customer experience leader has helped companies to turn a wealth of customer data into actionable information and drive bottom-line and strategic impact. Tabitha has designed successful customer experience programs at Xerox, Philips Healthcare and Citrix, in addition to becoming a recognized expert in customer metrics and the customer experience discipline.
Laura Evans leads Dow Jones Œs Audience Insights & Analytics team, a cross-functional and highly specialized group focusing on strategic research, product development, data analysis for all digital, mobile and offline properties of Dow Jones and Co (The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch, Barrons, WSJ Live, Factiva, Financial Services, and Risk and Compliance). In this role, Laura is responsible for developing and explaining how audiences are engaging with DJ products and services, discussing the application of these research findings and action plans for implementing research recommendations, as well as profitably expanding audiences. Prior to joining Dow Jones, Laura was with The Washington Post for x years where her last position was Chief Experience Officer and Vice President of Research. Laura is currently completing her Ph.D. in Political Science with a concentration in Quantitative Methods at George Washington University. She holds a Masters Degree in Applied Politics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Law and Society from American University.
As President and CEO of ForeSee, Larry is responsible for managing the company's strategy and significant growth, since the company's founding in 2001. Larry brings more than 20 years experience in senior management and in directing ForeSee’s e-commerce and technology initiatives. An expert on the cross-channel customer experience and author of Managing Forward: How to Move From Measuring the Past to Managing the Future, Larry speaks extensively on the topic at private and public sector industry events and has been quoted in numerous publications and media, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Investor's Business Weekly, Internet Retailer, Multichannel Merchant, DM News, Computerworld, Federal Computer Week and Government Executive, among many others.
As a thought leader and a technology trendspotter and trendsetter Banafsheh has pioneered successful approaches in integration of business strategies and emerging technologies to deliver differentiated customer experiences for new and existing products and services across digital and offline customer channels. In 2010, Banafsheh established the first customer experience organization at the American Red Cross with an uncommon charter within the non-profit sector that focuses on customer experience as a differentiating growth catalyst for a broad and diverse constituent-base that includes disaster “clients”, financial donors, blood donors, volunteers, members of the armed forces and their families, preparedness, health and safety instructors and many more. Prior to ARC, for 15+ years Banafsheh held executive leadership roles in the mobile and mobile internet industries in various capacities ranging from implementing innovative product and customer experience strategies, sales and channel strategy, CRM as well as other customer-centric technology investments. Banafsheh has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Maryland and an MBA from The George Washington University.
Annette is a Client Services executive who has run Services departments/teams for Allegiance, Medallia, CustomerSat, and BizRate/Shopzilla, all companies focused on improving both customer and employee experiences by utilizing their software tools to facilitate listening to and operationalizing the voice of the customer. Annette started her career in this customer experience space as a VOC consultant at J.D. Power and Associates and has been working with clients to transform their cultures and experiences for more than 20 years. She is currently Director, Customer Experience Management for Confirmit. She is passionate about helping companies understand the importance of the employee experience and its role in delivering an exceptional customer experience, as well as helping them transform their cultures to ensure the customer is at the center of every conversation. Examples of clients she has worked with include: Honeywell, Oracle, Apple, Nike, Gold's Gym, Tropicana, Mattel, Symantec, EMC, Fidelity, 21st Century Insurance, Lucent, Avaya, XSport Fitness, GSK, Care Fusion, and the list goes on. Annette holds a B.S. in Management from California State University and resides in Southern California. She is also a member of CXPA (Customer Experience Professionals Association) and is the Orange County lead for SoCal CXPA Local Networking Events.
Larry oversees marketing, training and strategic initiatives as the Executive Vice President at Robbins Brothers, The Engagement Ring Store; a chain of destination bridal jewelry retail stores. Finding the elusive 1% of couples who plan to get engaged is a challenge, especially given the fact that this milestone event is a huge secret kept from everyone but the proposer’s closest family members and friends. Consistent brand messaging to the target demographic, across all touch points and across all media channels, in addition to an organic public relations and social media push 365 days a year, ensures that the majority of men and women in the market for a diamond engagement ring make Robbins Brothers a “must visit” website and retail store when they decide to start shopping for their symbol of love.
Prior to joining Robbins Brothers in 2003, Larry worked at the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and at U.K. retail giant Marks & Spencer. Larry holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a CPA. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, two sons and labradoodle.
As a customer experience director at Starbucks Coffee Company, Heather has responsibility for retail store segmentation and customer journey. In this role she is focused on making it easy to be a customer and enabling partners to deliver their best in each of Starbucks 18,000 stores. During her 10 years at Starbucks, Heather has built an international entertainment business, launched the U.S. healthy snack platform and grown the domestic brewed coffee business to over a billion dollars through strategic customer-focused innovation, including Starbucks Blonde Roast. Prior to Starbucks, Heather gained multi-disciplinary experience at Limited Brands, J. Crew Group and Price Waterhouse LLP. Heather serves on the Board of Directors of The Team Jesse Foundation committed to providing education and support to families of fallen soldiers. She is also a Board of Trustees member for The Moyer Foundation dedicated to helping children in distress. Heather received a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting from Indiana University and earned an M.B.A. in Marketing and Management from New York University. She currently lives in Seattle, WA with her husband Kevin and their two whippets Java and Moka. Outside of work, she enjoys yoga, scuba diving, hiking, fashion and interior design.
Suzanne has been designing strategies that create extraordinary customer experiences in retail for 10+ years, whether through operations or marketing. She currently serves as the Sr. Manager of Customer Service Development for Giant Eagle, leading the strategic direction and development for service related hiring, training, operational processes and measurement of in-store customer experience. Suzanne holds a BS in Business Management from the University of Arizona and a Masters in Psychology from Chatham University.
Jeff Hawley is Director of the Customer Experience Group for the Yamaha Corporation of America. In his role he directs overarching marketing and customer experience initiatives online, in print and within social media to Yamaha music dealers, partners, fans and customers.
As a technology evangelist, thought leader and in-demand public speaker, Jeff has worked with institutions and publications such as Apple, CMO.com, CRM Magazine, National Association of Broadcasters, Salesforce.com and many more.
Carol Hilsum was born and raised in Dundee, Scotland and studied Economics and Marketing at Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow before joining Topman as Marketing Assistant. Soon after Carol was promoted to Senior Marketing Executive at Topshop and quickly progressed into a role as CRM Manager.
Carol joined NET-A-PORTER.COM as Retention Marketing Manager in 2010 and was responsible for revamping the online luxury retailers’ CRM strategy. Six months into the role Carol was promoted to Head of CRM and today manages a team of 13 and oversees all aspects of customer insight and experience across desktop, mobile and tablet devices as well as data and email strategy.
Ben Hoffman is currently the acting Chief Customer Officer for Cigna, a global health service company, dedicated to helping the people they serve improve their health, well-being and sense of security. His 25 years in customer experience have provided him the opportunity to work on a broad variety of initiatives and industries - from auto insurance quoting to health care to railroad yard management. He has extensive experience in leading customer experience functions, customer/usability research methods and in starting new customer experience functions (having done so over 10 times).
Previously, Ben has worked for Travelers Insurance, The Hartford, Dell Computer and IBM. He holds a BA in Psychology from Moravian College and a Masters in Statistics and Measurement from Rutgers University. He currently resides in Madison, CT.
Jeff Hoogerhyde is a Marketing Manager with 3M, leading transformation in eCommerce and Operations. His responsibilities include driving strategic programs to improve 3M’s B2B and Channel eCommerce, as well as managing operations for 3M’s eTransformation orgainzation. In his previous position, Jeff led Shop3M.com, where he oversaw 200% increase in sales and 30% profit improvement over 5 years. Whether managing business operations, or implementing transformative technologies, Jeff builds strategic alliances and establish sustainable processes that result in impressive revenue and cost improvements. Jeff’s "roll-up-the-sleeves" leadership style inspires cross-functional teams to action. Adept at working across the organization, Jeff’s integrity, energy, and strategic problem solving skills, make him a valued team member.
Jeff has a MBA from Indiana University Kelley School of Business| Six Sigma Black Belt Certification | Project Management Professional Certification
Proven areas of success…
=> Strategic Planning – Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix
=> Operations Management
=> Project Management and Business Analysis
=> Change Acceptance Process
=> B2C and B2B eCommerce
Specialties: eCommerce/eBusiness Strategy | Process Design and Improvement | Methodology Implementation | Budget Administration | Vendor & Supplier Relationships | Operational Analysis | Teambuilding & Mentoring | Change Management | M&A Integration |
Eric Jagher is Senior Director, Strategic Guidance, Insights, and Planning for U.S. Cellular, which is the nation's sixth-largest wireless carrier. U.S. Cellular provides a comprehensive range of wireless products and services, unmatched customer service and a high-speed nationwide network to approximately 5.9 million customers in 26 states. Eric played a leadership role in the creation of the company's new brand positioning and strategic development behind The Belief Project, which builds customer loyalty by replacing recurring contracts with incentives from the industry's only points-based rewards program. This unique value proposition was launched in October 2010 and has drawn accolades from J.D. Power and Associates, which named U.S. Cellular a Customer Service Champion two years in a row, and the readers of PC Magazine selected U.S. Cellular as their top wireless carrier four out of the last five years. Eric leads all customer experience strategy, insights, strategic planning, and forecasting functions for the Marketing organization including competitive, industry, and consumer insights, business results analysis and strategic long-range forecasting. Eric received his bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Maty Kiser is Sr. Director of Strategic Operations at U.S. Cellular and leads a program expected to generate sizable benefits in value for her company. She has served as an executive at several other Fortune 500 companies delivering business capabilities and technical solutions to end customers.
Christine has been a member of the Gap Inc. CRM team for 7 years and in retail for 15. She currently leads the CRM Operations team and is responsible for the strategy and integration of Gap Inc. CRM programs in the field across multiple brands.
Jeff has been a member of the Zappos Customer Loyalty Team since July, 2006. He is a member of the leadership team and focuses on developing our future leaders. Jeff holds prior work experience in both the banking and insurance fields. Random fun & possibly weird fact: I once fell off of a luge sled on the Olympic bobsled track in Calgary, Canada. When I reached the bottom of the track, I was covered in ice!
Gary Magenta is committed to the development of leaders and managers by helping them recognize that leaders who want to change their businesses must change how they engage their people. As the Senior Vice President of Root, a consulting company that helps organizations execute on strategy through people, he is the architect and leader of the Root Compass℠ Manager Development program, and he oversees Root’s business development efforts throughout North America and Europe.
During his 11 years at Root, Gary has partnered with CEOs and executive teams across all industries to help them gain a holistic view of their businesses, their people, and the customers they serve by helping them focus on practical ways to effectively deploy their strategy, increase employee engagement, and accelerate results by leveraging comprehensive solutions that connect strategy to people and results. Gary is a certified executive coach specializing in helping leaders connect with the people who have their hands on the levers of change and how they can impact that change.
Gary is the author of the forthcoming book, I’m Sorry for Yelling. I Didn’t Know Any Better, which outlines 12 Powerful Questions to make YOU the best manager you can be at work and the best person you can be in life. Gary was also recently recognized with a bronze American Business Award (The Stevies) for Executive of the Year – Business Services.
Jessica Manna is chief customer officer for Veterans United Home Loans. Veterans United is committed to providing the industry’s most delightful home loan experience. And, it shows! Over 97% of customers would recommend the company.
Her team leverages customer insights to deliver a personalized and memorable home loan experience. She also oversees the innovation team, which uses six sigma / lean process improvements to increase efficiency and consistency of the experience.
Previously, Jessica was vice president and chief marketing officer at Residential Finance, a national mortgage lender. She received her bachelor’s in management and marketing from Florida Atlantic University and expects to receive her Master of Business Administration this May from The Ohio State University. Her teams have been awarded seven awards for marketing excellence and in 2009 she was named #2 on Direct Marketing News’ list of “Top 30 [Marketers] Under 30”.
Andrew leads Allegiance’s product marketing efforts, helping to guide product strategy and ensure that Allegiance clients get the most value possible from existing products. Prior to joining Allegiance, he spent five years in Forrester’s Customer Experience research practice where he led the firm’s voice of customer coverage.
James Merlino, MD, is the Chief Experience Officer of the Cleveland Clinic health system, and is a practicing staff colorectal surgeon in the Digestive Disease Institute. He is also the founder and current president of the Association for Patient Experience. As a member of the Clinic’s executive team, he leads initiatives to improve the patient experience across the Cleveland Clinic Health System. In addition to his work in patient experience, he also leads efforts to improve physician-patient communication, and referring physician relations.
Partnering with key members of the Clinic leadership team, he helps to improve communication with physicians and employees, and to drive employee engagement strategies. Along with the Clinic CEO, he is co-chairperson of the Cleveland Clinic Diversity Council, and also sits on the professional affairs committee. He is a recognized world leader in the emerging field of patient experience.
Dr. Merlino believes that all employees are caregivers and partners in delivering great patient care to positively impact the patient experience. He believes the guiding principle of ‘Patients First’ requires more than world-class clinical care . . . it requires care that addresses every aspect of a patient’s encounter with Cleveland Clinic, including the patient’s physical comfort as well as educational, emotional and spiritual needs. Ultimately, he believes Patients First is about treating your patients the way you would want your family members to be treated.
Prior to returning to the Clinic, Dr. Merlino practiced at one of the largest county hospitals in the United States. There he was involved in several quality initiatives, and served as the director of surgical quality. He was instrumental in implementing care paths for the management of complex colorectal surgery patients, and advocated for the implementation of the American College of Surgeons NSQIP program to that hospital.
Dr. Merlino is certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery and the American Board of General Surgery, and he is a fellow of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Merlino received his undergraduate degree in business administration at Baldwin-Wallace College, and his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He completed his residency training in general surgery at University Hospitals of Cleveland, and his fellowship in colorectal surgery at Cleveland Clinic. During his residency, he took a two year research sabbatical to complete an AHRQ funded research fellowship in Health Services Research. Prior to attending medical school he worked in public service and served as a trustee of a large community hospital.
Dr. Merlino’s wife, Amy, is a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Cleveland Clinic.
Rick Meyreles currently serves as Vice President, Global Voice of Customer, at in the World Service division of American Express. Rick has global responsibilities for managing the end-to-end voice of customer program for American Express. These responsibilities include management of the global customer satisfaction survey platform, analysis of VoC data and collaboration with internal partners to drive customer experience improvements from customer feedback and analysis. The voice of customer platform encompasses the following American Express customer segments in the US and 22 other countries: consumer, small business and corporate cardmembers; and merchants. Prior to this role, Rick served as Vice President, Consumer Brand Marketing, Consumer Card services, responsible for brand marketing initiatives extending across the US consumer charge and lending product portfolios. Previously, Rick was Director, Small Business Services, Product Development and Partnerships, International Consumer Card services, responsible for product development and partnership development for the small business portfolios in major American Express markets around the world. Rick has also held a variety of marketing and business strategy roles at American Express in retail banking, brokerage and financial advice. He has been with American Express for more than 13 years.
Michelle has been a member of the Customer Loyalty Team at Zappos.com since October, 2006. She is a member of the management team and in that role she is responsible for cultivating the culture and developing employees. Michelle’s favorite Zappos Core Value is Embrace and Drive Change.
Lesley and her team are the behind-the-scenes masterminds who take a people-centered approach to improve, design and innovate the Zipcar member experience across all touch-points, channels and supporting service systems—from mobile to web to member support to the Zipcar itself. Among many other cool experiences, Lesley led the charge in creating Zipcar's smart phone applications, making it possible customers to reserve a Zipcar, honk its horn from across the parking lot, and unlock or lock - all from your smartphone.
Prior to Zipcar, Lesley was part of the Microsoft Office Product Group and held key product design, management and marketing roles at Boson-based start-ups Groove Networks and Indigo. Working in an international service design consultancy, she led cross-discipline teams to design and deliver innovative, service-focused, intuitive experiences for all kinds of consumers and for global clients with complex, multi-channel service delivery systems like BMW, Sheraton and Weight Watchers.
Her passion for developing and delivering great experiences for people is matched by her personal enthusiasm for new experiences. She's co-founded an art studio, volunteers each year internationally, and participates on the board of non-profits aimed at addressing problems impacting the world's poorest countries.
Milton F. Pedraza is the CEO of the Luxury Institute, LLC. Through the use of proprietary surveying techniques with high net worth consumers, Mr. Pedraza has established the New York-based Luxury Institute as the trusted and impartial luxury brand ratings and research and Luxury CRM consulting institution that is the voice of high net-worth consumers. Today, luxury goods and services firms, luxury professionals, high net worth consumers, and the international press, all rely on the Institute for its impartial ratings and best practices insights on to how to better serve high net-worth clients globally.
Luxury Institute has intimate working relationships with the world’s top luxury brands. Mr. Pedraza combines research, with unique and proprietary knowledge of Luxury CRM Culture, to assist brands in significantly enhancing CRM practices in order to measurably increase financial results. Using techniques that have been proven to deliver measurable customer loyalty and financial results by companies such as Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Nordstrom, Tiffany & Co., Lexus, Apple, and even Zappos, Mr. Pedraza customizes best practices to each client’s unique DNA. The Luxury Institute helps to create a self-reinforcing customer-centric culture that consistently delivers extraordinary customer experiences that make customers and associates feel special. The implementation of this culture helps luxury brands to not only Outperform its competitors, but also to dramatically and measurably Outbehave them while increasing sales and profits.
Mr. Pedraza is a world-class authority on Customer Relationship Management with an expertise in understanding Customer Experience directly from the voice of the luxury consumer. Prior to founding the Luxury Institute, Milton served in Finance, Marketing, Sales and Senior Management positions at Fortune 100 companies Altria, Pepsico, Colgate, Citigroup and Wyndham Worldwide. Today, Mr. Pedraza is an author and speaker at the world's foremost Financial Services, Travel and Leisure, Real Estate and Luxury Conferences. As an executive and private investor, Milton has conducted business in over ninety countries and speaks several languages. He is the most quoted expert on luxury around the globe.
Raj Rao is Vice President for Global eTransformation with executive responsibility for accelerating Digital Marketing and eCommerce capabilities at 3M. His team champions strategic “e” initiatives in the areas of Social Business, eCommerce, 3m.com customer experience, Digital strategy roadmaps and Web content excellence. He actively partners with the company's Sales, Communications and Marketing teams in global markets to design and execute innovative online solutions that support 3M's core strategies. Raj's background included marketing leadership & financial analysis roles at Procter & Gamble in Europe, Middle East and Canada. Prior to joining 3M in 2009, he was Vice President at Brunswick, leading the international fitness products subsidiary with assignments in Singapore and Chicago. He is a native of Bangalore (India), and lives by his conviction that imagination is at the root of creativity.
With nearly a decade of leadership experience, Penny Sanchez heads the Amerigroup Customer Experience Strategy which is within the Customer Service Organization. As vice president of the Customer Experience Strategy, Ms. Sanchez is responsible for creation, development and execution of strategy that drives the identification of new opportunities to increase the customer experience for all of Amerigroup’s customers. Her department approaches initiatives from the customer’s point-of-view. Ms. Sanchez has brought experience in relationship management, sales, customer satisfaction and business development to her position. While working for Harris Bank, Ms. Sanchez refreshed the company’s BankatWork program, boosting revenue results and event activities across the organization. While at APAC Customer Services Inc., she was responsible for expanding the company’s relationship with a $12 million health care client. And at Xerox Corporation, she managed a new $125 million business unit. These are just a few of Ms. Sanchez’s accomplishments prior to her joining Amerigroup in November 2010. Outside of work, the Rochester Institute of Technology and Trinity College graduate has been involved in various nonprofit organizations. She has served on the boards of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, the Josephinum Academy and the Kendall College of Business. She currently is on the board of trustees for Trinity College, Hartford, CT and is a board member with the Together We Can Foundation, Virginia Beach, VA. Ms. Sanchez has also co-authored two chapters in the book Women and Leadership: Transforming Visions and Diverse Voices. Both personally and professionally, Ms. Sanchez brings a lot to her role at Amerigroup. She is a passionate “Customer advocate” and a strong desire to make a difference in this world.
Liam Shannon, Senior Creative Director, Global Brand Expression, Vistaprint – Building on over 25 years of experience at Agencies in Boston (Hill Holiday, ELF, Fresh Cut Grass) and New York (Ogilvy & Mather, Korey Kay & Partners), and work on national accounts including Dove Soap, Tagamet, American Express, The Irish Tourist Board and many more, Liam has brought a brand-building lens to the proven techniques of direct response and in the process begun to build a new paradigm for marketers of all stripes.
Alvin serves as Global Vice President of Retention and Loyalty at Wyndham Worldwide / RCI where he directs a multi-channel strategy (Direct Mail, Email, Call Center, Web, Social Media) to engage and drive value to customers. Alvin’s background focuses not only on using behavioral data and attitudinal data to personalize the experience for the customer, but also on using it to facilitate customer centric decision making at the executive level to generate goal alignment and in turn, increased health of the business. He has spent more than 15 years analyzing and understanding customers and exceeding their needs to increase loyalty and drive revenue across more than six industries including telecommunications, broadcast radio, cable TV, home improvement, consumer electronics, and hospitality.
Prior to joining RCI, Alvin worked for brands such as DIRECTV, XM Satellite Radio, Sprint/Nextel, Accenture, and delivered customer centric strategies for The Home Depot and Best Buy while serving as a Client Leader for dunnhumbyUSA. Alvin holds a B.S in Business Administration from The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
When he’s not spending time making customers happy, Alvin’s passion is coaching his five kids in football, basketball, and soccer.
Shari Storm has been an executive in the credit union industry since 1998.
Shari has an undergraduate degree in speech communications from the University of Washington and earned her MBA from Seattle University. She published her first book titled, Motherhood is the New MBA: Using Your Parenting Skills to be a Better Boss. Having sold almost 7,000 copies in North America, her book has been translated and published in China and was purchased for publication in Brazil.
She has been featured in Time Magazine, Redbook, HybridMom, Body & Soul, Costco Connection, Martha Stewart’s radio program, KING 5 morning news, The Metro News New York, BusinessWeek online, MomLogic website and Working Mother magazine blog.
Shari mentors at Seattle University’s graduate program. Her accomplishments also include presenting at a TEDx event, leading a group of business people to teach free enterprise in the communist country of Belarus and raising three daughters.
You can learn more about Shari at www.sharistorm.com
Lynn Stott is Vice President for Student Experience and Innovation at the University of Phoenix / Apollo Group.
In this role, Lynn is responsible for the establishment of a culture of innovation leading to strategic improvements in student experience throughout the learning process.
Before joining the University of Phoenix in 2012, Lynn worked to implement AAA's early NPS, Salesforce, and Customer Experience programs. She also worked at World Savings Bank & Pacific Gas & Electric Company to build early experience design and strategy teams - linking business goals to online customer experience.
Lynn's background includes a Ph.D. in Anthropology, years of classroom teaching experience and instructional design, followed by a decade managing User Experience Design and Strategy teams for web and software development.
Tim has extensive global business strategy, product strategy, brand strategy and marketing program development experience rooted in consumer / customer insights. He is credited with building best-in class consumer insights, strategy and marketing teams that have proven successful in driving business, achieving both top line growth and bottom line profit.
Tim serves as a member of Macy’s Management Group responsible for
- Developing integrated consumer perspectives on the business,
- Identifying growth opportunities rooted in serving customers better that can be translated into practical strategies, programs and tactics for achieving growth.
In 2011 he won Macy’s Chairman’s Award for Customer Engagement and was recognized by Peppers & Rogers 1-to1 magazine as a Customer Champion of the year. He is also a member of The NPD Group’s Fashion Advisory Board and an active volunteer developing community outreach programs for East Side Community high School in Manhattan.
Prior to Macy’s, Tim was Managing Director, Consumer Insights & Strategy at Citigroup during which time he was also a trustee of the Marketing Science Institute. Prior to that, he was SVP, Strategic Services at Grey Global and a Director of The Advertising Research Foundation.
Tim is a noted speaker and author of numerous papers on brand equity, customer loyalty, consumer behavior and communications effectiveness. He has also won numerous David Ogilvy and Effie Awards for his efforts to develop proven sales driving marketing and communications programs rooted in consumer insights and analytics.
He guest lectures at a variety of business schools. And, in his spare time, Tim is an avid skier, photographer and pool player.
Katherine Twells currently leads the customer marketing organization for the Coca-Cola Company throughout the Western United States. After six years as Vice President for Area Sales in California she moved into a marketing leadership role where she is responsible for leading a team of innovative marketers that foster strong customer relationships for Coca-Cola. She has been with The Coca-Cola Company for 23 years serving in increasing positions of responsibility covering multiple geographies and business systems. Her experience includes accountability for large national customer relationships as well as leading diverse teams of sales and marketing professionals.
Profiled in Marcus Buckingham’s bestseller “Go Put Your Strengths to Work” as well as the 2009 college textbook titled “Sales Management” by Robert Effermeyer, she is a respected authority in her field. She is passionate about leadership development and has hosted and moderated the CMO Summit for The Coca-Cola Company that engaged CMOs in conversations with thought leaders on key marketing trends and opportunities for growth.
Ms. Twells is former co-chair of the Chapters committee for The Coca-Cola Women’s Forum and worked to create chapters across the country to further the development of women’s leadership in the Coca-Cola Company. She is an inaugural member of the Women’s Advisory Council and The Coca-Cola Leadership Advisory Team and serves an active member of the Women’s Foodservice Forum.
Erin Wallace has 12 years of customer experience, sales, marketing and operational experience. In her current role as Global Manager, Customer Experience at Deere & Company, she leads a team responsible for John Deere Experience—the voice of customer worksystem used to gather & action ongoing customer feedback about the John Deere brand, product solutions and channel experience. She oversees the closed loop processes for issues management and measurement reporting. Aligned with the company’s strategic growth objectives, Erin’s team has led the expansion of the John Deere Experience process into emerging markets and across Deere’s business units. In her previous role as Manager, Customer Experience for the Financial Services division, Erin leveraged her cross functional experiences to consult and design customer experience strategy and was responsible for strategic processes and programs to embed a culture of customer focus. One of these programs, the Working As One Champion program, was recently highlighted in Forrester’s latest book Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business.
Erin holds Customer Experience Management certification and is a Net Promoter® Certified Associate. She graduated with a BS from North Carolina State University, and holds a MBA from Indiana University-Bloomington and a MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University.