Agenda

Abstract:
Your AI is live and your customers are still complaining. Or your deployment is months away and you’re already behind. Either way, you could have seen this coming. This session makes the case that AI readiness isn’t a technology decision, it’s a foundation decision and the work starts before you’ve spent a single dollar.
 
Action Items:

• Redesign your customer journey, map what AI handles versus humans, update knowledge bases and content in parallel, and engage your development team early to document APIs and queue integration work before it becomes a bottleneck
• Establish cross-functional governance early, align CX, IT, Data & Privacy, HR and Finance around shared ownership and clear accountability before the deployment exposes the gaps
• Re-imagine your organizational structure and leadership capability now, your managers need to be ready to operate in an AI-augmented environment before the technology arrives, not after

 

Rockstar Insight:

Daven Govender
Group Chief Customer Officer
Digicel Group
 
Why You Should Listen to Daven:
With over 20 years of experience leading customer experience and contact center operations globally, including BPO environments, Daven is a senior CX leader focused on helping organizations make disciplined, ROI-led technology decisions. He has led large-scale, multi-market CX transformations by balancing AI adoption, operational efficiency and customer outcomes, backed by strong people leadership and execution discipline to deliver measurable business impact.

Hosted By:

Pam Reilly
Senior Manager of Customer Engagement
Waste Management

Why You Should Listen to Pam:
Pam is a Senior Customer Experience Manager at WM with 20+ years of industry experience who has been recognized for her people-first, customer anchored leadership rooted in empathy, authenticity, and frontline credibility. What truly makes her unique is how she blends that foundation with empathetic, people-first leadership, actively listening, asking tough questions, and ensuring the customer voice drives decisions while building trust and accountability across teams.

Hosted By:

Paul Grubic
Director, Contact Center Operations
GE Appliances


Why You Should Listen to Paul:
Paul is an accomplished Director of Operations with more than 20 years of experience leading high-performing contact centers. Recognized for driving operational excellence and customer experience innovation, he has led large-scale teams, implemented transformational service strategies, and improved performance through data-driven decision-making. Paul specializes in scaling operations, fostering cultures of accountability, and driving continuous improvement across channels. He has a proven track record of improving key metrics, launching new support models, and aligning service delivery with business goals. A strong advocate for operational agility and customer-centric leadership, Paul brings practical insight to the evolving virtual contact center landscape.

Hosted By:

Nate Brown
Founder and Executive Director
CX Accelerator


Why You Should Listen to Nate:
Nate helps Customer Experience leaders better understand and serve their customers. Known for his innovative perspective and contagious energy, Nate has worked across the CX ecosystem as a practitioner, consultant, and analyst. His experience includes building contact centers from the ground up, leading complex CX functions, and helping organizations create stronger employee-customer connections. Named by Kustomer as “the most impactful influencer in the CX landscape for 2023,” Nate also serves as Executive Director of CX Accelerator, a global community supporting CX professionals. When not “CX’ing”, he is a competitive disc golfer, certified pickleball instructor, husband and 2X girl dad.

Abstract:
As technology, roles, and expectations keep shifting, building trust and driving adoption can be a real challenge for customer contact leaders. This session taps into the group to crowdsource practical ways to navigate change — and uncover opportunities to rethink and reinvent how work gets done.
 

Rockstar Insight:

Michael O. “Coop” Cooper
Founder & Executive Coach
High Performance Orgs
 
Why You Should Listen to Coop:
Michael “Coop” Cooper has coached 3,000+ executives and trained 150,000+ leaders in 37 countries over 27 years, from founders to the C-suite, including leaders at Google, Genentech, Oracle, Cruise, eBay, and PayPal. He has worked with leaders through the hardest calls of their careers, including restructures, layoffs, succession, and bet-the-company decisions. He helps leaders make better decisions, build stronger teams, and lead through constant change. In this interactive session he draws on 27 years of coaching to help you build trust and drive adoption by rethinking and reinventing how work gets done.

Abstract:
As AI and rising customer expectations reshape the contact center, leaders must move beyond traditional efficiency metrics to prove real business impact—while managing cost, complexity, and workforce change.
 
Action Items:

• Redefine success and link performance to containment, customer effort, retention, and cost-to-serve
• Align on a shared set of metrics because what you measure defines both the problem and success (and its ROI)
• Re-engineer workflows and knowledge systems to reduce agent friction and improve first-contact resolution
• Balance people and AI, align workforce strategy with automation, use it where it works, and upskill agents where it matters

Rockstar Insight:

Tricia Estrada
Director of AOG Operations
Honeywell
 
Why You Should Listen to Tricia:
With over a decade of experience in customer-facing support, Tricia is a proven leader in global customer experience program management. She brings deep expertise in rebuilding operations by aligning talent, processes, and metrics—driving measurable transformation through data, cross-functional collaboration, and a relentless focus on the customer.

Abstract:
For too long, Customer Experience has been measured by surveys, scores, and good intentions instead of business outcomes. This session challenges conventional CX thinking and explores how real-time data, AI, and decisive leadership can transform the contact center into a proactive engine for revenue growth, customer loyalty, and competitive advantage.
 
Action Items:

• Rethink CX success metrics by connecting customer-centered decisions directly to revenue, retention, and customer lifetime value
• Implement real-time AI and automation that proactively solve customer needs instead of simply reducing operational costs
• Collaborate across customer success, sales, operations, and executive leadership to elevate contact center insights into enterprise-wide growth strategies

Headliner:

Lee Kemp
Senior Vice President, Customer Success & Transformation
PCNA (Polyconcept North America)
 
Why You Should Listen to Lee:
A people-focused, results-driven executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience spanning Customer Experience (CX), business transformation, strategy, operations, and supply chain. Lee has led award-winning global transformation initiatives and customer-centric growth strategies for Fortune 500 companies, combining practical leadership, data-driven decision-making, and innovation to improve performance, accelerate growth, and create lasting competitive advantage. A U.S. Army combat veteran and former officer, Lee is passionate about developing people, challenging conventional thinking, and leading purposeful transformation that delivers measurable business results.

Panelists Include:

Angela Blevins
Vice President, Club & Owner Services
Hilton Grand Vacations
 
Why You Should Listen to Angela:
Angela is an award-winning Customer Experience Architect, Expansion Executive, and Operations Leader with deep expertise in driving innovative, sustainable strategies that maximize customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. She is a trusted Strategic Advisor and Board Member, recognized for leading high-value, high-stakes initiatives through strong stakeholder engagement, data-driven platforms, and disciplined execution that delivers growth, cost savings, and optimized performance. A hands-on servant leader and team builder, Angela cultivates cross-functional collaboration, develops top talent, and fosters high-performing environments that elevate the end-to-end customer experience and bottom-line results.
 
Mary Cruse
Senior Director – IT Customer Service
First American
 
Why You Should Listen to Mary:
Mary is a seasoned customer service and contact center leader with over four decades of experience across Fortune 500 companies in the airline, healthcare, and financial industries. As Senior Director of IT Customer Service at First American, she leads global support teams and brings deep expertise in service excellence, customer experience, technology, and leadership development. Recognized as an HDI Hall of Fame inductee and AWT Outstanding Executive in Technology, Mary is known for strengthening teams, creating industry best practices, and delivering impressive service.
 
Clancey Dollard
Director, 24/7 Support Center
University of Arizona
 
Why You Should Listen to Clancey:
Building teams that improve customer lives is Clancey’s passion. As a Certified HDI Support Center Director, he brings the hands-on experience needed to deliver meaningful customer experiences. Working closely with executive leadership, Clancey specializes in translating front-line support value into the hard ROI that captures a CFO’s attention.
 
Angel Christopher Gomez
Senior Vice President of Global Consumer Sales, Service & Reservations
AmaWaterways River Cruises
 
Why You Should Listen to Angel:
Bio is forthcoming.
 
Lance Thompson
Director, Customer Experience
Mercury Insurance
 
Why You Should Listen to Lance:
Lance has 30+ years of insurance experience focused on delivering superior customer service. Throughout his career he has led both cultural and technical transformations in an ever-evolving business. As AI advancements rapidly take hold Lance is focused on adapting his teams to further enhance both service delivery as well as personal development.
 

Abstract:
For years, contact center transformation has focused on replacing existing labor models, locations, and technologies with lower-cost versions of the same approach. In this interactive ThinkTank, CX leaders will explore how AI enables organizations to redesign service delivery from the ground up—rethinking workforce strategy, agent roles, knowledge management, and customer experience to create operations that are built for better, not simply built to replace.
 
Action Items:

• Reimagine service delivery models by challenging traditional assumptions around labor, location, and technology
• Evaluate how AI capabilities can transform agent roles, training, quality management, and customer support processes
• Design a future-state operating model that prioritizes better-by-design experiences over like-for-like replacement strategies

Fab Facilitator:

Jon Lunitz
Head of Enterprise Sales and Solutions
DATAMARK, Inc.
 
Why You Should Listen to Jon:
With more than two decades of experience in the BPO industry, Jon brings a practical understanding of both the buyer and provider sides of the business, shaped by leadership roles across international business development and strategic sourcing teams. He recognizes that AI integration is not simply about automation, but about creating smarter, more seamless experiences that improve outcomes for both agents and customers.

Abstract:
Great leaders don’t just respond—they reframe. Step back from the noise to see what’s next and redefine your role as a catalyst for customer-centric growth, influence, and enterprise value.
 
Action Items:

• Implement structured reflection time to step back, reset, and sharpen strategic focus
• Identify bold, customer-centric opportunities to align contact center impact with enterprise outcomes
• Develop a personal leadership roadmap, fueled by mentorship, to evolve from operator to transformative value creator

 

Capstone:

John McCahan
Chief Customer Experience Officer
Fellers
 
Why You Should Listen to John:
John is a Customer Experience and Service executive currently serving as CCXO at Fellers, where he is leading an end-to-end customer experience transformation. Most recently, he spearheaded the post-bankruptcy CX transformation of floral gifting company FTD, implementing AI across voice, digital, and agent channels. With leadership experience spanning automotive, banking, logistics, manufacturing, and retail, John has led customer service transformations for both public and private companies. A former U.S. Army Captain and paratrooper, he also serves on multiple CX and AI advisory boards and was recently named one of the “100 Leaders Transforming Customer Experience.”

Abstract:
As agents and leaders face increasing disarray, we’ll explore practical strategies for building successful remote teams through structured coaching, transparent performance metrics, targeted upskilling, and leadership engagement that drive accountability, employee ownership, and stronger operational performance.
 
Action Items:

• Implement structured coaching and transparent KPI visibility
• Create targeted training tied to measurable performance outcomes
• Build accountability through leadership engagement and remote work standards

Rockstar Insight:

Christopher Trujillo
System Director of Workforce Management
Memorial Hermann Health System
 
Why You Should Listen to Christopher:
Chris is a workforce management leader with more than 20 years of contact center expertise, recognized for building high-performing teams, optimizing operational efficiency, leading large-scale virtual agent transitions, and delivering millions in annual cost savings. A finalist for the 2024 Society of Workforce Planning Professionals Person of the Year award, he combines data-driven strategy, collaborative leadership, and dynamic execution to consistently deliver measurable results and lasting impact.

Abstract:
Hybrid isn’t just remote versus onsite—it’s onsite, remote, nearshore, and offshore teams across countries and time zones operating as one. Most contact centers lose visibility, consistency, and culture across these lines. This session shows how to design—not improvise—an inclusive hybrid model that delivers consistent outcomes across all locations and work arrangements.
 
Action Items:

• Implement visibility and recognition systems that give onsite, remote, nearshore, and offshore agents equal access to coaching, information, and advancement
• Evaluate blended versus separated team models across geographies by piloting both and measuring parity in quality, engagement, and retention before you standardize
• Empower supervisors with a cross-environment leadership toolkit—structured check-ins, asynchronous coaching cadences, and shared scorecards—so consistency holds across every site and time zone

Rockstar Insight:

Rasheeda James
Vice President of Client Services
Americor
 
Why You Should Listen to Rasheeda:
Rasheeda is a senior customer experience and operations executive known for scaling high-performing, people-centered organizations through data, technology, and heart-led leadership. As Vice President of Client Services at Americor, she leads large, multi-site contact center operations across the U.S. and nearshore partners, overseeing hundreds of professionals across voice, chat, and digital channels. Rasheeda is deeply committed to servant leadership, community impact, and developing the next generation of leaders. She believes that the strongest organizations are built where accountability, transparency, and compassion coexist.

Abstract:
Join our panelists as they help participants connect the dots between the event’s key themes, emerging trends, and leadership lessons. Through an interactive discussion, panelists will share their most impactful takeaways while encouraging attendees to reflect on their own insights, identify the opportunities most relevant to their organizations, and define practical actions they can implement immediately to drive meaningful results.

 

Moderator:

Nate Brown
Founder and Executive Director
CX Accelerator
 
Why You Should Listen to Nate:
Nate helps Customer Experience leaders better understand and serve their customers. Known for his innovative perspective and contagious energy, Nate has worked across the CX ecosystem as a practitioner, consultant, and analyst. His experience includes building contact centers from the ground up, leading complex CX functions, and helping organizations create stronger employee-customer connections. Named by Kustomer as “the most impactful influencer in the CX landscape for 2023,” Nate also serves as Executive Director of CX Accelerator, a global community supporting CX professionals. When not “CX’ing”, he is a competitive disc golfer, certified pickleball instructor, husband and 2X girl dad.