Visionary Headliners, Rockstars
and Fab Facilitators

Interested in Becoming or Nominating a Speaker?

Headliners

Darren Stavely

Chief Operating Officer
Resolvion

As a 20-year veteran in the financial services industry, Darren is obsessed with customer experience and solving big problems. He has had the good fortune to serve the underbanked as well as the most affluent of clients. Passion for people and building relationships is what makes his energy so contagious and a sought-out speaker in the business community.

Anindya Sundar Das

Senior Director, Head of Global Service Design
Uber

With over two decades of experience, Anindya is a seasoned leader specializing in business transformation through the use of Tech. He focuses on bringing new, cutting edge technology and innovative processes into operations to enhance efficiency and consumer experience.

Bobby Thompson

Director of Operations
Beazer Homes

An Army combat veteran and construction professional with over 25 years of leadership experience, Bobby has invested his entire career in sharpening his technical and leadership skills. With a career spanning various roles in the building industry, he brings deep expertise in process improvement, innovation, leadership, workforce development, and team building.

ROCKSTAR INSIGHTS

Sean Albertson

Founder & Chief Executive Officer
CX4ROCKS

Sean is a globally respected thought leader, keynote speaker, and advisor with over 25 years of experience transforming customer service and experience strategies for startups to Fortune 200 companies. As the author of the award-winning 4ROCKS: Reduce Effort, Drive Loyalty, Transform the Customer Journey, Sean reveals how to create loyalty-driving experiences at the intersection of technology and human engagement.

Natalie Beckerman

Global Head | Customer Support Operations
IHG Hotels & Resorts

Described as a fixer in the customer experience and customer contact space, Natalie has run top tier, large scale operations driving transformation and change, leading strategy, while conquering operational and service excellence across the Globe. She is known to build new business, increase revenue and turn around performance, while at the same time reenergizing and invigorating businesses and leaders. Natalie has done this in the telecommunications/mobile, Home Services, Hospitality and Fintech/Financial services industries.

Colleen Beers

Chief Executive Officer
Athena Vantage Consult

Colleen brings over 30 years of expertise in customer experience and is known for being a formidable leader, helping customers solve their customer experiences goals.

Jaysa Boyer

Head, Employer Engagement
Ultimate Medical Academy

Jaysa joined UMA in 2014 and has spent the past 11 years expanding Employer Partnerships to 150+ national partners, helping place thousands of graduates. Passionate about healthcare education, she is dedicated to bridging workforce gaps, strengthening talent pipelines, and creating customized solutions for healthcare recruiting. Jaysa is committed to improving employee engagement and empowering women across industries, making a lasting impact on both graduates and employer partners in the healthcare community.

Nate Brown

Head of CX Advisory
Metric Sherpa

Nate Brown loves two things very much…customer experience and community. Fortunately, these concepts go hand-in-hand! As a community builder, Nate co-founded CX Accelerator in 2018. Quickly growing to well over four thousand members, this vibrant collection of CX leaders is helping one another to maximize their career and accomplish remarkable things in service to others. Nate also heads up Advisory Services for Metric Sherpa, a research firm helping organizations to transform customer interactions.

Daniel Burks

Vice President of Sales Operations
America’s CAR-MART, Inc.

With over two decades of experience, Daniel is a seasoned professional in customer service leadership, specializing in building high-performing businesses and thriving teams. His diverse background spans Army Aviation, IT Leadership, Product Management, Field Operations, and Corporate Leadership in both Operations and Customer Experience roles. Daniel brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to any audience.

Richard Coggins

Vice President and Distinguished Engineer
The ODP Corporation

Richard is a Distinguished Engineer at The ODP Corporation with 26 years of experience in IT leadership, specializing in legacy modernization, cloud transformation, and Generative AI. His work focuses on developing enterprise AI solutions that enhance productivity, streamline operations, and drive business innovation at scale. With deep expertise in cloud strategy and automation, he helps organizations modernize technology ecosystems and harness AI for enterprise efficiency.

Lisa DeFalco

Founder & Chief Executive Officer
TPG, Inc. & Anna Technologies

Lisa founded the Independent Quality Assurance market, introducing the phrase “this call may be monitored for quality assurance”. Opening TPG in 1996, she designed methodologies used by Fortune 500 companies to define “good calls,” now implemented globally in 9 countries, 13 languages, and over 180 million interactions. A 30-year contact center veteran, Lisa chaired the American TeleServices Association, established the industry’s Self-Regulatory Organization, and advanced compliance standards with federal regulators. As CEO of TPG, she led its transformation into an AI-driven firm with the Anna® Conversational Intelligence Platform, revolutionizing call evaluation and behavioral optimization.

Travis DeWolf

Senior Manager, Digital Initiatives Delivery
RBC Insurance

Travis is an energetic and solutions minded leader, working in the insurance industry for 8 years. She leads a team of digital initiative delivery specialists at RBC Insurance responsible for change management, execution, and process design, as well as promotion of digital tools. Expert at executing on complex initiatives and building value for stakeholders to ensure cohesion and adoption and thinking outside the box to find digital solutions to everyday problems.

Neal Dlin

Vice President, Customer Service Experience
Aviso Wealth
Customer Engagement Leadership Council Member

Neal is a human experience (HX) executive with 30 years of expertise in customer and employee experience, known for building award-winning service organizations. A status quo-challenger, Neal inspires leaders to rethink interactions through core human needs, delivering humor, energy, and “a-ha” moments that boost CX and EX results. As the founder of Chorus Tree Inc. and Unsung Heroes Productions, Neal blends personal lessons from overcoming poverty with creative initiatives, having donated over $500K to charity through musical theatre that fosters community and compassion.

Gary Dunbar

Director of Digital Engineering and IT, Customer Care – North America
ENGIE North America

Gary is a proven leader with a deep understanding of Lean Six Sigma, digital transformation, and global supply chain optimization. Gary has spearheaded initiatives resulting in millions in cost savings and significant efficiency gains. He’s passionate about building high-performing teams, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and leveraging data-driven insights to achieve exceptional outcomes.

Joep Everts

Senior Vice President Customer Support and Order to Cash
Elsevier

With a background in Finance and Technology, Joep was asked 5 years ago to significantly improve the satisfaction of Elsevier’s customers. By leveraging Interaction Analytics, Elsevier improved CSAT from 86% to 93% and is now capitalizing on the opportunities that GenAI has to offer.

Pamela Fusting

Director of Operations, Customer Experience
Tennessee Department of Human Services

Pamela engages internal/external partners across all program areas to ensure a seamless, omnichannel customer experience and to grow the Department’s Voice of Customer program. She previously served as Project Director for the Maryland DHS Statewide Contact Center.

Christina Glogowski

Director, Digital Solutions Customer Experience, North America
Straumann Group

Christina brings 17 years of expertise in the software and medical device industries, excelling in sales, training, mentoring, and leading high-performing teams. She has a proven track record of driving success in the field and fostering growth among her teams.

Matt Goldsmith

Senior Vice President Member Services
Digital Federal Credit Union

Matt has over two decades of experience leading customer support organizations across a wide range of industries. Matt’s breadth of experience includes directly leading both small and large contact centers as well as deep knowledge across all the supporting functions of successful customer support operations. Matt has achieved industry leading results throughout his career while also driving significant gains in efficiency and cost to serve.

Zach Greco

Senior Director of Customer Experience
Floor & Decor

With two decades of experience, Zach is well seasoned in customer & associate experience. His expertise is in building the experience from the ground up, with an unwavering commitment to people as the cornerstone of success. Zach’s career is marked by implementing team-building strategies, leveraging technology, and provide effective coaching, all aimed at achieving excellence in customer, employee, and brand experience

Lydia James

Chief Transformation Office
The Pivot Solutions Group

Lydia is a Chief Transformation Officer, CX Thought Leader, and Business Transformation Strategist with over 20 years of experience leading high-impact enterprise transformations across the Department of Defense, Retail, and Automotive industries. She specializes in AI-driven CX innovation, digital transformation, operational excellence, and post-merger integration—refining service strategy, unifying technology platforms, and optimizing workforce strategies. As Founder of The Pivot Solutions Group, Lydia empowers organizations to scale efficiently, elevate customer experiences, and drive sustainable business growth through AI, automation, and predictive analytics.

Brian Klaja

Senior Director, Operations Strategy & Enablement
Brex

With 20 years in contact center and back-office operations, Brian has a proven track record of developing strategies that drive both customer satisfaction and cost efficiency. Learn from his expertise on leveraging generative AI and advanced tools, from enterprise-level implementations to startup solutions.

Nancy-Ellen Martin

Director of Customer Service
ThredUp

With 30 Years of Leadership in Customer Service, in the Insurance, Tech, and Retail industries, Nancy-Ellen has a track record of driving exceptional customer experiences across both the tech and retail sectors. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a unique ability to blend operational excellence with a deep commitment to culture-building and customer satisfaction.

Eve Moguea

Customer Experience Program Manager | North America
New Balance

To thrive in today’s environment, Eve leads by example by embracing change as an opportunity. She focuses on cultivating a growth mindset and gaining employee involvement early in the decision-making process. Establishing a regular feedback loop to drive continuous improvement is key and forming diverse teams to bring different perspectives to the table.

James Pavlovich

Vice President Customer Experience and Operations
Straumann Group

Known for his ability to lead teams through successful organization transformations utilizing innovative technologies, James focuses on developing customer-centric metrics and creating empowered teams to make data-driven decisions. Working in high-growth businesses for the bulk of his career, James is currently tasked with making Straumann Group a company that is easy to do business with.

MQ Qureshi

Head of Direct-to-Consumer Strategy & Sales
Ford Motor Company

MQ is a Digital Product, Strategy, and Transformation Executive with a proven track record across industries, leading strategy and execution for companies like McDonald’s, Grainger, and PUMA. Now at Ford Motor Company, MQ serves as Head of D2C Strategy & Sales Acceleration for BlueCruise, Ford’s L2 Hands-Free Driving service. He brings his expertise to help Ford, a 120+ year-old automaker, reinvent itself at the intersection of technology and vehicle innovation.

Alpa Shah

Global Vice President – CX Practice
Frost & Sullivan
Customer Engagement Leadership Council Member

Alpa has vast professional and volunteer experience in developing business and volunteer organization strategies; analyzing product, regional, and vertical markets; planning and executing events; sales and marketing; writing growth opportunity insights; and, most importantly, creating and inspiring teams to be best in class. Her current area of focus is on CX; she runs think tanks and customer surveys to uncover growth potential for businesses in the CX environment.

Arretta Stivers

Former Director of Client Success
Realtor.com

Arretta is a seasoned contact center expert with over 20 years of experience as a results-driven operations executive. Known for her strategic vision and leadership excellence, she has spearheaded transformative initiatives that have enhanced revenue, optimized operations, and reshaped organizational architecture across diverse industries. An accomplished public speaker, Arretta shares her insights on driving performance and innovation in contact center management.

Fab Facilitators

Joe Ahmad

AI Evangelist
Acquire AI

Joe is a specialist in AI-driven CX transformation, helping businesses implement high-impact, scalable AI solutions tailored to their needs. With hands-on experience delivering AI initiatives that drive measurable outcomes, he empowers CX leaders to make informed decisions that enhance customer engagement and drive business growth.

Shalesa Charron

Enterprise Account Executive
Nextiva

Shalesa’s contact center experience spans 3 decades advising customers how to leverage emerging technologies to achieve business outcomes. She has witnessed the evolution of QM initiatives over the years and is excited about how AI can transform the way enterprises can think about data to improve CX.

Lauren Kindzierski

Head of Strategy & Innovation
VXI Global

With over 18 years of experience in customer service industry, Lauren has proven track record of figuring out strategies that improve agent engagement, builds company culture, and ultimately enhances the overall customer experience. She was recognized by Gulfshore Business Magazine as Top 40 under 40. In 2016, Lauren received a Silver Stevie Award for Women in Business – Executive of the Year.

Jaclyn Lo

Director, Customer Success
ProcedureFlow

Jaclyn is a CX leader specializing in onboarding, digital adoption, and change management strategies within Contact Centers. Passionate about employee empowerment and driving sustainable results, her expertise lies in identifying potential roadblocks, managing stakeholders, and implementing effective communication plans to drive successful software implementations.

Jon Lunitz

Head of Enterprise Solutions and Sales
DATAMARK, Inc.

With over two decades of experience in the BPO industry, Jon has developed a keen understanding of both the buyer’s and seller’s perspectives, having led international teams in business development and strategic sourcing. He understands that AI integration is not just about automation but about creating a seamless and enhanced experience for both agents and customers.

Lisa Michaud, Ph.D.

Director, Product Management
Interactions

Lisa has deep expertise in driving exceptional omnichannel customer experiences with conversational AI. She has been a published NLP scientist, an educator, a system architect, and an engineering leader before becoming a product director at Interactions. She is an established thought leader and evangelist on the topics of adaptive, personalized interfaces and the need to create consistent, equitable experiences that maintain context across all channels of communication.

Samantha Middlebrook

Vice President of Product Strategy & Marketing
Upland Software

Samantha, the bridge between tech and business teams, is a passionate CX and KM strategist. Her mantra is you can’t throw technology at a business problem and hope it sticks; focusing instead on human-centered design and curating memorable moments for customers through every interaction they have with a business.

Sean Minter

Founder and Chief Executive Officer
AmplifAI

Sean is a strategic visionary dedicated to the improvement of large organizations by harnessing the synergy of AI, people, and processes. Sean believes that people are at the heart of every successful transformation, and that tomorrow’s great transformation will be driven by those augmented by the right technology.

Juanita Olguin

Senior Director, Product Marketing
Coveo

With over 15 years of diverse experience, Juanita has successfully led key initiatives, including establishing offshore centers in India and Guatemala, launching innovative solutions, and crafting go-to-market strategies. Juanita is dedicated to helping enterprises navigate advanced technologies while empowering employees to drive meaningful change within their organizations.

Keegan Sanders

Enterprise Sales Director
Intradiem

Keegan is a contact center strategist dedicated to optimizing customer service operations. Keegan is passionate about leveraging technology and data analytics to enhance service delivery and contact center innovations. When he’s not transforming contact centers, you’ll find him on the soccer field coaching the next generation of student athletes, bringing the same passion for teamwork and strategy to the game.

Jim Simmons

Executive Director WFM and Contact Center Consulting
Queueless

Former Vice President Productivity & Initiatives,
Synchrony

Jim is a seasoned operations and analytics professional with over 25 years of contact center experience in a large banking environment. He has spent much of that time as a Vice President at Synchrony Financial developing a deep domain expertise specializing in WFM, speech analytics, customer journey mapping, and cost benefit analysis. As an advocate for both CX and EX he excels at identifying pain points, improving operational efficiencies, and implementing innovative solutions to complex operational problems.

Brad Stein

Global Vice President of Solutions Consulting
PolyAI

Brad is a seasoned customer service leader with 15 years of experience in contact centers and the past 8 years specializing in AI-driven solutions. He has designed, scoped, built, and deployed enterprise-grade virtual assistant solutions, ensuring businesses maximize value and achieve a strong return on investment. With a proven track record of driving efficiency and customer satisfaction, Brad is passionate about leveraging AI to transform customer service operations.

Ian Tempro

Chief Operating Officer
IA Solutions

As an industry veteran with 20 years of experience in steering contact center operations, Ian’s leadership as COO of Insta Answer has been instrumental in incorporating service focused technology to drive improved customer engagement. He is committed to helping brands reach their CX goals and is recognized for his ability to build truly bespoke programs across diverse industries.

Ryan Vaughn

Vice President, Solutions Consulting
Nextiva

Ryan joined Nextiva in 2024 as VP of Solutions Consulting. Before that, he spent a decade at Salesforce leading pre-sales for top Technology customers and another decade in consulting, managing complex cloud technology deployments for global companies. Known for his innovative, results-driven approach, Ryan focuses on improving processes and driving efficiency.

Brian Zempel

Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer
Gatestone BPO

Brian has a diverse background in financial services and operations management, including leading contact center environments for organizations like HSBC, Kohl’s, and Bridgestone. Brian has witnessed first-hand the power of managing customer experiences for strategic gains and higher profits. Having a robust CX game plan isn’t an option- it’s table stakes to win in any industry and marketplace. People talk a good game about harnessing data for strategic advantage- let’s put words into action.

Visionary Headliners, Rockstars and Fab Facilitators