Visionary Headliners, Rockstars
and Fab Facilitators

With over 28 years of experience, Melissa has built her career in marketing and customer experience, specializing in performance measurement, voice of the customer programs, change management, and the standardization of best practices. She is adept at identifying and translating customer intelligence into business improvements that have driven brand loyalty, customer retention, and double-digit profitability.

Heather is a dynamic customer experience and sales industry expert with over two decades of experience. An award-winning professional and certified NLP practitioner, Heather is also the host of the Say YES Movement podcast, inspiring individuals and organizations to reach their full potential.

Phil has over two decades of experience in the call center, building two centers and modernizing another. As a passionate advocate for using technology to improve the customer experience, he has faced legacy roadblocks in all of these operations, and has had to learn to deal with them in many ways.

Tashonda has over 25 years of experience and a deep knowledge of utility processes and how they impact the customer. She manages a group of approximately 150 employees in multiple facets including Operations, Training, Quality Assurance, Supervision and Customer Service. Her team handles over a million customer phone calls and more than 100,000 customer emails a year. Tashonda has also implemented numerous technological and procedural changes to keep abreast within the industry and exceed customers’ needs and expectations.

Michael “Coop” Cooper is passionate about the people side of change. He recognizes changing minds can be difficult but knows often it’s much easier and simpler than we might think. He empowers leaders at companies around the world to understand and appreciate the underlying NeuroEfficiencies that people have, to speak directly in terms of what is important to them and successfully sell their ideas and strategies.

As Head of Contact Center Technology at IHG, Mary has championed innovation, inclusion, and performance on a global scale. Her journey to leading transformative CX programs across multiple industries offers insight into how women can lead with influence and impact in technology-driven customer experience roles.

With extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, Natasha brings a strong track record in setting strategic priorities, driving process innovation, and improving service delivery. She leverages data and analytics to identify challenges, design solutions, and lead teams to deliver equitable, measurable improvements in customer and employee experiences. Natasha’s background in journalism, communications, technology, and customer service gives her a unique cross-functional perspective. She combines voice of the customer insights with operational understanding and clear communication to lead impactful, future-focused initiatives.

Joel is a seasoned Operations and CX executive with two decades of experience transforming the value of customer interactions and experiences in the fintech industry. Renowned for his innovative strategies and unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, Joel has consistently driven bottom-line growth through his visionary leadership. Joel brings invaluable insights into harnessing technology and empathy to create exceptional customer journeys.

Jim has over 20 years of experience building and leading diverse and complex Customer Experience, Mobility, Marketing and Digital Strategies for some of the best performing companies in the world.  At Selective Insurance, Jim drives the strategic vision for Selective’s CX strategy, and with his team, delivers unique omni-channel experience and best-in-class self-service and mobile offerings to Selective customers, agents and employees. Previously at UnitedHealth Group and AIG, Jim and his teams were responsible for driving strategic implementation of cutting edge products and solutions that drive both enterprise wide delivery and promote innovation.

For over 20 years, Danny has collaborated with a diverse range of clients, including niche tech startups, Ivy League universities, and global conglomerates. He has transformed client relationships and improved organizational outcomes through a unique blend of advocacy, strategic thinking, team building, and personal connection. His leadership approach has directly driven key performance metrics, including Net Promoter Score (NPS), client retention, and revenue growth.

A customer service leader with 25 years of experience, Aaron drives AI-enabled healthcare operations that elevate the patient experience while reducing costs. As EVP of Customer Operations at Connect America and GM at 100Plus, he led initiatives that cut 2024 OPEX by 10% through strategic use of AI and offshore resources.

With a diverse background spanning technology, healthcare, and innovation consulting, Beth brings a unique, cross-industry perspective to solving operational and leadership challenges. As Executive Vice President of Operational Excellence at PatientPoint, she focuses on developing leaders and building scalable strategies that drive business growth. Beth is passionate about turning complexity into clarity—and helping others do the same.

Heidi is a seasoned sales leader with over 20 years of experience, known for her expertise in process improvement and call center implementation. She has a proven track record in reducing member churn, implementing AI to enhance customer interactions, and driving significant growth.

Speaking to and working with many diverse contact groups around the world has inspired and enlightened Cippy. It has brought positivity, new ideas and creativity to an already open mind about the importance and truly critical nature of the contact center environments. She has worked most of her career in Retail and Health Care contact centers helping others appreciate why internal and external customer service and brand loyalty begins in the contact center.

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.

Susan’s career progression over the past 25+ years from a front-line processor and call center representative to Chief Customer Officer has been a profound and rewarding learning experience. Her innovative approach to contact center operations and relationship management has redefined the importance of the customer experience at Slavic401k. By consistently placing the customer at the heart of every decision, Susan has fostered a culture of empathy, accountability, and excellence, achieving outstanding results for both the business and the customers they serve.

At PolyAI, Steven has spearheaded the development of the Value Function, collaborating with customers to quantify the impact of conversational AI on their organizations. Drawing on insights from recent customer deployments, he has successfully helped over 20 enterprise contact centers build business cases, leading to successful AI implementations over the past two years.

Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and spent more than 20 years in Natural Language Processing research, during which she published and presented in multiple International journals, workshops, and conferences on the topics of NLP and user modeling. She now is an established thought leader and public speaker on the application of conversational AI toward creating excellent customer experiences.

With three decades of technology business experience, Dan has built successful software businesses in customer experience, human capital, cloud, cybersecurity and AI markets. His ability to simplify the complex enabled him to scale billion-dollar businesses at four start-ups as well as Microsoft and Amazon.