Chip Bell

, Industry Expert and Best-Selling Author
Sessions:

Chip Bell is a world renowned authority on customer loyalty and service innovation, writing over 400 articles for many business journals, magazines, and blogs. He has appeared live on CNN, CNBC, CNN, Fox, Bloomberg TV, ABC, and his work has been featured in Fortune, Business Week, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, and Entrepreneur.  The newest of his six best-selling books is, "Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed and What to Do about It". Leadership Excellence Magazine listed him among the top 30 thought leaders in the world.

Lori Bocklund

Strategic Contact, Founder and President
Sessions: Putting Insights into Action − Realizing the ROI from Speech and Text Analytics | Contact Center Technology 101 | Shaping Your Contact Center’s Role in a Multi-Channel Strategy

Lori is a widely recognized and respected expert with 25 years of experience in contact center strategy, technology and operations. She brings her thoughtful and insightful expertise to each client engagement, creating project approaches that serve client needs and solve real business challenges. Representative engagements include:

- Developing contact center and technology strategies to address business objectives
- Leading clients through projects that include process change, organizational redesign, change management, and technology acquisition and implementation
- Building contact centers from the ground up to support new companies or new business initiatives
- Assessing existing operations and technology environments against best practices and developing actionable recommendations
- Developing requirements and helping clients select and implement the best technologies to meet their needs
- Serving as an expert witness in patent lawsuits in the contact center technology industry

Lori has also co-authored the highly applauded book, Call Center Technology Demystified, along with many papers, toolkits, and seminars. She's a frequent columnist and contributor in industry publications and has presented at conferences around the globe.

Lori received her BSEE from South Dakota State University, and her MSEE from George Washington University. She also holds certification in Change Management with Prosci.

Melinda Butterfield

The Beryl Companies, VP of Operations
Sessions:

Melinda Butterfield is the Vice President of Operations at  BerylHealth, a technology-enhanced patient experience services company serving over 500 hospitals and health systems nationwide. With more than 20 years of experience in contact center operations, project and vendor management as well as strategic contact center planning, Lindy’s experience and knowledge has been a key in the shaping of BerylHealth’s unique product delivery philosophy. Inside of BerylHealth’s nationally recognized workplace, Lindy provides strategic oversight for the contact center operations, customer service and quality, recruitment and training of managerial staff. An avid philanthropist, Lindy has been recognized for her volunteer efforts for the United Way and the March of Dimes and was a recipient of the Presidential Volunteer Award, Chairman’s Leadership Award and YMCA Women of Business Award.

Jeff Camp

TXU Energy , Vice President of Contact Center Operations
Sessions:

Jeff Camp is Vice President of Contact Center Operations for TXU Energy, a market-leading competitive retail electricity provider, powering the lives of more Texans than any other retailer. Camp is a proven operations leader and customer advocate, driven to deliver superior customer service and operating results.  He joined TXU Energy in 2009 and is responsible for managing the residential and business sales and service centers, outsource partners, customer experience management, forecasting and capacity management, operational analytics, command center operations, IVR and web customer experience and the quality assurance teams.

Camp has over 16 years of contact center operations experience.  Prior to joining TXU Energy, Camp served as executive vice president of consumer markets, sales operations at Countrywide Home Loans/Bank of America Mortgage and vice president of customer contact management at JCPenney Direct Marketing Services. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Western Washington University, where he graduated magna cum laude. 

Jolene Chan

Bluewolf, Chief of Staff
Sessions:

Jolene is responsible for developing Bluewolf’s service offering solutions and driving Bluewolf’s delivery organizations to serve all aspects of customers' move to becoming an agile enterprise. Prior to this role, Jolene was the engagement manager on key accounts focused on enabling call center, and sales organizations, identifying cloud computing tools that would help an organization manage their customers, employee knowledge, and cases. 

Jolene has more than 7 years of leadership experience in business value creation, executive management alignment and brings extensive management consulting experience to Bluewolf's global client base.

Prior to joining Bluewolf, Jolene was one of the founding members of the Middle Market Business Advisory Services group at PwC focused on customer growth, customer loyalty, and customer retention.  She started her career at Arthur Anderson in Metro New York, focused on developing content management applications for insurance and media organization.  Jolene holds a BS in Management from Binghamton University.

Brad Cleveland

ICMI, Senior Advisor, Former President and CEO
Sessions: The Principles of Effective Contact Center Management

Brad Cleveland is known globally as one of today’s foremost experts in customer strategy and management. He has worked across 45 states and in over 60 countries, and his clients have included many service leaders — American Express, Apple, Coca-Cola, USAA, HP and others. Brad’s books and articles have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and he has appeared in media ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The New York Times, NPR’s All Things Considered, and the in- flight programs of several airlines. Brad is author of Call Center Management on Fast Forward (see new edition, 2012: www.icmi.com/fastforward), which won an amazon.com best-selling award. He is a sought-after consultant and a popular speaker who presents with "sparkle, insight and humor."

Mary Cook

Varolii, Director, Contact Center Solutions
Sessions:

Mary Cook is Varolii’s Call Center Industry Practice Manager. She helps customers further define their enterprise multi channel communication strategies– and her area of expertise is within the call center. Mrs. Cook has more than 17 years of contact center experience including managing inbound and outbound global operations across a variety of industries. Starting her career within call center operations like Xerox and FTD, Mary moved into the BPO Industry working for global companies like iQor, and eventually became a call center industry consultant. Mary has helped companies across all industries develop and execute their call center strategies. Mary is widely published and is a sought after speaker for ICMI and Contact Center events. An avid social networker, you can find her on Linkedin and Twitter (CallCenterDr).

Tom Diaz

Frontline Performance Group, Senior Performance Manager
Sessions:

Tom Diaz has spent the last eighteen years helping businesses around the world dramatically improve the frontline service and sales performance of their customer-facing employees. Tom's clients have included small enterprises to major corporations across the automotive, apartment leasing, pharmaceutical and financial industries. He has driven frontline sales for organizations from North and Central America to Europe, Australia and New Zealand while simultaneously improving customer care and retention. 

Although he travels extensively, Tom is a lifetime resident of San Antonio where he lives with his wife Dawn, and their two sons, Zachary and Tomas. 

Daniel Dougherty

ResultsTel, Sr. Director, Business Intelligence and Delivery
Sessions:

Daniel Dougherty is responsible for Operational Excellence and Innovation in addition to leading Results’ Training, Quality, CI, and Business Intelligence teams.  Daniel has over 15 years of operations, marketing and continuous improvement expertise, servicing top brands including MSN, AT&T, T-Mobile, HP, Sirius XM and Time Warner Cable.  Daniel has led teams throughout 10 countries and worked to hone the performance of dozens of contact centers through leadership and process development.  Prior to Results, Daniel served as Sr. Manager for America Online where he was charged with operational accountability for 13MM+ annual member contacts across various channels.  Daniel is certified on all major workforce tools (Blue Pumpkin, IEX and eWFM), as well as continuous improvement systems (ISO 9000, 9001, Kaizen, and Six Sigma).  Daniel is the spearhead behind Results’ innovative performance management and continuous improvement system, ReadiAdvantage

Dianne Durkin

Loyalty Factor, President
Sessions: Psychology of Coaching

Dianne Durkin is the president and founder of Loyalty Factor, a consulting and training company that enhances employee, customer and brand loyalty for some of the nation’s most prominent corporations in America and many smaller businesses. She is also author of “The Loyalty Advantage: Essential Steps to Energize Your Company, Your Customers, Your Brand.”

With more than 25 years of experience in training and development, finance, direct sales and international marketing, Durkin is continually sought after to lead companies into new markets and directions, handle organizational restructures, and set up programs that will build lasting commitments with employees and customers.

Dianne Durkin has been interviewed by National Public Radio and Bloomberg Television & Radio. She has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, the Boston Globe, among numerous other publications, and was the subject of a cover story in Learning and Training Magazine.

A graduate of Rivier College, Durkin holds a Master’s Degree from Duquesne University and has completed advanced programs at University of Santa Clara and Babson College. In addition to being active in the Boston Club, Commonwealth Institute, the CEO Club, Who’s Who in America, and Women in World Trade, Durkin is a champion golf player and is fluent in French and Polish.

Many describe Dianne as a visionary thinker – with a rare combination of creativity and a strong business sense – who takes abstract ideas and turns them into reality. Durkin quickly gets to the core issues within a company and outlines their impact on the organization and its profits, productivity and people.

She presently holds two board positions, the NH Lung Association and Ms NH Senior America. In past years she was on the Advisory Board of Rivier College.

William Durr

Verint Enterprise Intelligence Solutions , Principal, Global Solutions Consultant
Sessions:

William Durr serves as Principal Solutions Consultant for Verint® Witness Actionable Solutions®. An industry veteran, with over 25 years experience, Bill held a variety of sales, marketing and management roles for major contact center vendors and worked as a consultant for centers challenged with meeting their performance objectives.  He has written numerous articles and whitepapers on contact center technology and management.  Bill is the author of four published books:  Building a World-Class Inbound Call Center, Navigating the Customer Contact Center in the 21st Century, Customer Centricity Through Workforce Optimization, and Analytical Workforce Optimization Demystified.  He is a frequent speaker at industry events, where he discusses topics such as, the migration of workforce optimization into back-office operations, branch,  and retail sites, as well as how they interact to help shape the customer experience.

Lisa Ford

, Author, Trainer and Customer Service Expert
Sessions:

Lisa Ford has over 20 years of experience presenting to businesses, associations and government. As the creator of “How to Give Exceptional Customer Service,” the #1 selling business video series in the U.S. for over 3 years, Lisa is best known for her work in the areas of customer service. Her most recent book is "Exceptional Customer Service: Exceed Customer Expectations to Build Loyalty and Boost Profits". Lisa was inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame by the National Speakers Association in 2002, and serves as a Board Member of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee.

Bob Furniss

Bluewolf, Director, Customer Care/Service Cloud
Sessions:

For more than 30 years Bob Furniss’ career has focused on helping companies improve customer experiences.  As the Director of Bluewolf’s Service Cloud practice (Bluewolf.com), Bob leads a team of consultants focused on improving customer service and engagement.  The Bluewolf team works with clients in three key areas: Salesforce Service Cloud strategy/implementation; Social Media strategy and implementation in the contact center; and creating vision blueprints to help companies set a new course for their contact centers in the areas of people and technology.

Before joining Bluewolf, Bob lead a Marketing team at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. The team supported eight key fund-raising programs generating more than 38,000 events with over 300,000 volunteers across America. Responsibilities include marketing strategy, volunteer experience, program development, digital channels and social media. 

In 2002 Bob founded Touchpoint Associates, Inc.  The consulting team focused on Customer Experience Management Strategies, Contact Center Strategies, Frontline Leadership and more. Touchpoint consultants consulted with some of the top organizations in the world - FedEx, DePaul University, Dell, University of Kentucky, HP, XM Radio, St. Jude and others.

Bob earned the designation as a Certified Associate by International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) in 2003. He has authored two books: "Ideas At Work - Powerful Ideas to Transform Your Contact Center," and "Mission Possible." Bob is a Senior Consultant at the Cutter Consortium – a unique IT advisory firm, comprised of a group of more than 150 internationally recognized experts who offer research, consulting, training, and executive education. On a personal note, Bob has a passion for the people of Honduras and works with a local children’s ministry, Point of Impact.  Find out more by visiting www.bobfurniss.com.

John Goodman

TARP Worldwide, Vice Chairman, Customer Care Measurement & Consulting
Sessions: Moving from Firefighting to Control at Alfa Insurance | Making Your Call Center the Heartbeat of Voice of the Customer (VOC)

John Goodman received a B.S. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. His book, Strategic Customer Service, was published by the American Management Association in April 2009. Mr. Goodman cofounded TARP in 1971. He has managed more than 600 separate customer service studies, including TARP's White House sponsored evaluation of complaint handling practices in government and business; studies of word of mouth and the bottom-line impact of consumer education sponsored by Coca-Cola USA; Business Week credits him with instigating creation of the GE Answer Center and the use of toll free telephone and web self service systems by hundreds of major corporations. In addition, he has developed frameworks for building and assessing Voice of the Customer processes in B2B and B2C environments. He has taught service quality and service reengineering courses at Wharton Business School's executive education program. He has appeared on “Good Morning America”, the ABC Evening News, and as a panelist on PBS.

James Grace

Interactive Intelligence, Strategic Consultant
Sessions:

James Grace is a Strategic Consultant at Interactive Intelligence with over 21 years of experience with contact center organizations to improve customer satisfaction through a focus on people, processes,and maximized use of contact center technologies. Prior to Interactive Intelligence, Jim was a Senior Consultant for over 6 years with both International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) and AllTEl Information Services, Global Professional Services. He's also served in contact center leadership roles with Bank of America, USA Mobility, and most recently with Online Computer Library Center (OCle) as the Director of Customer Support.

Jim is an innovative and results driven contact center professional focused on achieving planned outcomes in highly competitive environments that demand continuous improvement. Jim advocates service excellence through establishment of metrics and related expectations, and management of such to both customer expectations and organizational mission/core values. Jim is an active participant with the TechColumbus Contact Center Executive Forum..

Lisa Hall

BlueCross BlueShield of Nebraska, Member Services Manager
Sessions:

Lisa has over 10 years of experience at BlueCross BlueShield of Nebraska.  During Lisa’s tenure at BCBSNE she has been responsible for the leadership of front-line agents, mentor service lines, escalation/supervisor support, quality and training.  Currently Lisa serves as the manager of quality strategy, service training and customer metrics.  Lisa’s tenure permits for a solid understanding of service operations at BCBSNE.

Lisa has been instrumental in repositioning the customer service division at BCBSNE as they transition from a business to business model to business to consumer.  In her time, she has led several successful Six Sigma initiatives that boosted service performance and dramatically increased customer satisfaction scores in rapid time.

Susan Hash

Contact Center Pipeline, Editor
Sessions:

Susan Hash is Editor of Contact Center Pipeline. She is a veteran business journalist with nearly 20 years of specialized experience in the contact center industry. Before joining the Contact Center Pipeline team, Susan served as the Publications Director for ICMI, where she oversaw the editorial development and content of ICMI publications, including monthly newsletters and journals, call center management books, research, special reports and online content. Prior to ICMI, Susan wrote about customer management issues as Executive Editor of The Customer Communicator, Customer Service Newsletter, Executive Report on Customer Retention and Customer Satisfaction Technology, and as author of the management books, Guide to Customer Service Teams, How to Hire the Best Service Professionals, and Management Essentials: The Skills You Need to Be a Successful Customer Service Manager. She has received several notable journalism awards for reporting on customer management strategies.

Brian Hinton

Strategic Contact, Inc., Principal Consultant
Sessions:

Brian has 20 years of experience in organizational management and an additional ten years in contact center consulting. He has also held positions in executive management in start-up companies and in multi-million dollar corporations. He joined Strategic Contact in 2006 after being President of Primary Matters, Inc. where he was directly involved in the design, development, application and support of an activity-based planning and analysis tool for contact centers. Brian provided all customer training and support to the contact centers using the planning and analysis tool, as well as completing consulting projects within contact centers focusing on process-driven analysis.

Brian helps clients on a wide-range of projects, including: Designing IT projects to optimize business benefits; Defining requirements, selecting technologies, and providing project management for implementation; Examining the impact of re-designing business processes; and Benchmarking organizational best practices and generalize across the organization for efficiency.
Brian has authored several white papers and speaks at customer support conferences. Brian has an M.B.A. in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, Harvard University and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Illinois. Brian is a retired U.S. Navy Commander.

Todd Hixson

Intuit, Care Operations Resource Planning Manager
Sessions: Maximizing Efficiency through Extreme Workforce Optimization

Todd Hixson is the Care Operations Resource Planning Manager for Intuit’s Payment Solutions and Employee Management Solutions Divisions.

The Payment Solutions Division provides innovative and creative payment solutions while the Employee Management Solutions Division the small business payroll leader with over 1 million customers. Todd has been in contact center operations/management for 13 years, working for Travelocity prior to joining Intuit. He has been an out-sourcer, and in-sourcer and an us-sourcer with a belief in efficiencies realized using creative scheduling, performance based “right for me” shift bidding, and pushing limits with optimization that keeps an eye on delighted customers and engaged employees. During Todd’s career, he has driven back-office utilization of work force management practice, multiple channel skill based operations practices, and cross functional understanding via “a day in the life of operations” workshops. Prior to the contact center, Todd had a successful career in the entertainment world, first as a professional musician, and then as a business owner facilitating and scheduling labor for events such as the NBA All-Star game and arena-type rock concerts.

Gideon Hollander

Jacada Inc., Co-Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Sessions:

Gideon Hollander is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Jacada. Gideon is highly regarded for his strategic vision and innovation-centered leadership and is focused on ensuring that Jacada delivers high quality, best-of-breed solutions. Prior to founding Jacada, Gideon was part of the research and development team at Comverse Technology. Prior to Comverse, he served in various technology and management positions in an elite unit of the Israeli Defense Forces, where he specialized in expert systems and user interface design. Two of the projects that Gideon managed won the most prominent Israeli award for technological innovations. Gideon also has a passion for rock and mountain climbing.

Michael Housman

Evolv On-Demand, Managing Director
Sessions:

Michael Housman is the Managing Director of Analytics at Evolv on Demand. Dr. Housman has over ten years of experience engaging in econometric research and working directly with stakeholders to interpret and use the findings of rigorous analysis. Dr. Housman has worked for a number of contract research organizations, including the RAND Corporation, The Urban Institute, and The Lewin Group. Dr. Housman received his A.M. and Ph.D. in Applied Economics and Managerial Science from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his A.B. from Harvard University.

Rick Joslin

HDI, Executive Director, Certification and Training
Sessions:

Rick Joslin is the Executive Director of Certification & Training for HDI. He is a certified Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) instructor and has guided organizations through the implementation of KCS. Formerly, Rick was the VP of Customer Care, VP of RightAnswers.com, and VP of Knowledge Engineering for ServiceWare. Rick is the author of the HDI Focus Book on Knowledge Management, the Knowledge Management Maturity Model, and the Knowledge Management chapter in the HDI Service and Support Handbook. As a member of the Consortium for Service Innovation, Rick has helped to evolve KCS and guided the development of the KCS certification. He is also a contributing author to ITIL v3.

Dee Kohler

Strategic Contact, Consultant
Sessions:

With over 17 years of experience in the Contact Center industry, Dee has vast experience in leveraging contact center principles and executing the transformation from “departments answering phone calls” to true customer contact service centers.  She is currently a Consultant with Strategic Contact. Prior to this, Dee was with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska (BCBSNE) for six years, where she was responsible for strategic leadership and implementing call center operational plans.  Under Dee's leadership, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska earned three J.D. Power & Associates awards for highest customer satisfaction in the Midwest region. Before BCBSNE, Dee was at Prime Therapeutics, the Pharmacy Benefit Manager supporting BCBSNE along with twelve other Blues plans.  

Before entering the healthcare industry, Dee’s experience included the Boys Town National Hotline, a 24-hour crisis line; and a start-up sales/retention service center located in Houston, TX.  Dee graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln with a Bachelor of Science degree in Office Management.  She has been a member of ICMI since 1996 and part of their advisory council for national conferences since 2008.   

Brenda Kross

Interactive Intelligence, Strategic Consultant
Sessions:

Brenda Kross is a Strategic Consultant at Interactive Intelligence with more than 15 years’ experience in call center operations. She is a results-oriented contact center professional with extensive expertise in forecasting, analysis, process improvement, and team development. Her strengths include project management, problem solving, resource utilization, and analytical support to drive significant quality and efficiency improvements. She is PMP certified and Six Sigma Green Belt trained.

Matt McConnell

Intradiem, Chairman, President & CEO
Sessions: Data Overload? Using Metrics to Improve Customer Experience

Matt McConnell is chairman, president and CEO of Intradiem. Matt co-founded Intradiem in 1995 with a vision of helping companies increase the level of customer service they deliver by improving the performance of their agents. Today, Intradiem is a leader in its market with more than 300,000 call center agents around the world using Intradiem every day. Matt is the author of the book Customer Service at a Crossroads and holds 11 software patents. He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in industrial and systems engineering.

Mary Murcott

NOVO 1 Contact Centers, Chief Executive Officer
Sessions:

Mary Murcott is the Chief Executive Officer of NOVO 1 Contact Centers, and leads the company’s efforts to support clients’ business goals in building customer relationships and growing their brands. Before being appointed Chief Executive of NOVO 1 in 2010, Murcott was President and founder of her own company Performance Transformations, Inc. Prior to consulting she was VP at American Express and held executive positions at Budget Rent a Car and Ryder Trucks, DHL and Cox Communications. Murcott is an international keynote speaker and author of “Driving Peak Sales Performance in Call Centers. She is regarded as a “contact center futurist” and authority on sales and operations, multi-channel service, performance management, coaching, employee selection and retention, workforce planning, and first contact resolution. She is a member of CEO Netweavers, Institute of Management Consultants, and International Customer Management Institute Conference Advisory Board. A native of Omaha, NE, Murcott earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Creighton University.

Scott Murphy

The Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS), Assistant Director for Customer Benefits
Sessions: Overcoming the Challenges of an At-Home Workforce

Scott Murphy is the Assistant Director for Customer Benefits at the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) and is responsible for all aspects of the customer service operation.
 
Scott's professional career in the contact center industry began over eighteen years ago.  Scott began his career managing front-line customer service teams and from there moved to workforce management.  Scott has spent the past 10 years in customer service operational roles, overseeing customer service, quality, workforce management and training.  Scott has been employed at some of the most successful contact centers in the industry, including centers such as, First USA Bank and Electronic Data Systems (EDS). 

Scott is a former board member and chair for the Austin Contact Center Alliance and former advisory board member for ICMI.  Scott is currently a member of the editorial advisory board for Contact Center Pipeline Magazine.
 
Scott holds a B.B.A. from St. Edwards University in Austin, TX.

Tab Norris

Aslan Training & Development, Co-Founder and President
Sessions:

Tab Norris is Co-Founder and President of Aslan Training & Development. Aslan is a global training and consulting firm that focuses on improving the sales performance of call center organizations through agent & leadership development programs.

Since 1995, the principals of Aslan have developed and implemented hundreds of programs in over 25 countries for clients such as HP, FedEx, Cisco, AT&T, Computer Associates, Blue Cross Blue Shield, , GE, Apple, Merck, AXA Financial, National Geographic, Deluxe Corporation, Wells Fargo, MetLife, Williams Sonoma, and GMAC.

Bill Price

Driva Solutions, President
Sessions:

Bill Price started Driva Solutions in September 2001 to help companies achieve the delicate balance between cost containment and greater customer loyalty, co-founded the 10-country LimeBridge Global Alliance in early 2002, and formed and chairs the 35-organization Global Operations Council and the 11-company Chief Customer Officer Forum Americas. Bill was Amazon.com’s first VP of Global Customer Service, VP of MCI Enhanced Call Router and Call Center Services divisions, COO/CFO with ACP, and Senior Engagement Manager with McKinsey in San Francisco and Stockholm. He is a “Call Center Pioneer” (1997) and “CRM Guru” (2004), the lead author of The Best Service is No Service: How to Liberate Your Customers From Customer Service, Keep Them Happy and Control Costs (Wiley/Jossey-Bass, March 2008), and frequent speaker across the 78 countries that he has been fortunate to visit. Bill received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Stanford University, and lives in Bellevue, Washington and Iowa City, Iowa.

Blair Rehill

GoDaddy.com, Director- Workforce Strategies, Reporting and Operational Excellence
Sessions:

Blair is responsible for the efficiency of the Customer Care Center that involves Go Daddy teams from Workforce Management, Business Process and First Contact Resolution.

Since the start of his Go Daddy career in 2002, Blair has held a variety of positions within the company, working his way up through almost all of the positions with Go Daddy's Customer Care Center. He's responsible for the creation of many customer service departments and business solutions responding to Go Daddy's rapid growth.

Blair received a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Business and Philosophy, has a Green Belt in Lean Methodology and has a passion for customer service.

Justin Robbins

ICMI, Manager, Training and Development
Sessions: Rules of Engagement for the 21st Century Leader

Justin Robbins serves as Manager for Training and Development at ICMI. He brings with him over a decade of experience in the customer management industry, most recently as the Manager of Training and Guest Experience at Hershey Entertainment and Resorts. Justin has worn multiple hats in the contact center from agent to supervisor to senior leadership. At ICMI, he is responsible for developing training and professional certification content, global training partnerships, and training program delivery. Justin’s passions are relationship building, empowering leaders, and motivating others to provide legendary customer experiences. 

Scott Roskilly

American Cancer Society, Operations Analyst
Sessions:

Scott Roskilly has worked for the National Cancer Information Center for the past 10 years. Working in Operations and Management since 2005, he has worked with the American Cancer Society Quitline program, Cancer Information Delivery Departments, and affiliated Patient Service Centers across the country. Scott has been instrumental in creating organizational change in schedule management for both inbound/outbound call taking staff within the structure of the American Cancer Society and the needs of its constituents.

During his time with the American Cancer Society, Scott has supported the implementation of a schedule bid process, improved efficiencies in scheduling outbound appointments for call taking staff, and consulted with regional division offices in streamlining efficient schedules for better outcomes with constituents. Scott recently spoke regarding Schedule Optimization at the 2011 Society of Workforce Planning Professionals in Nashville, TN.

Ampy Rougeau

American Cancer Society, Constituent Services Manager
Sessions:

Ampy Rougeau has over 14 years experience with the American Cancer Society in relation to performance management and improvement. Since 2002 she has thrived in contact center management and project implementation. For nearly 5 years, Ampy was responsible for managing a tobacco cessation business unit within the American Cancer Society. Most recently, Ampy has lead the implementation and management of program coordination for the Mid-South division of the American Cancer Society. She has been identified as a leader in change management and is now responsible for serving as a conduit of transformation for a national region of the American Cancer Society.

Ampy began her career as a Cancer Information Specialist and since has served as a Team Supervisor, Delivery Manager, Project Manager, Constituent Services Manager and Assistant Director of Quitline® Service Delivery. Ampy holds a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Southwest Texas State University and is a member of the Customer Contact Council and Austin Contact Center Alliance.

Michele Rowan

Customer Contact Strategies, President
Sessions:

Michele Rowan, President of Customer Contact Strategies, spent 12 years with Hilton Hotels Corporation as VP of Performance Management and held roles in the US as well as five years in International Operations.  Her last key assignment was to lead both US and European strategy development and deployment of the remote agent program.  Michele replaced over 1000 brick and mortar positions with home-based new hires in 18 months at Hilton, and is established as one of the industry’s leading experts of remote agent business models. 

Rowan has worked with over 500 companies in financial, health care, travel, retail, entertainment, telecom /tech support, BPO, and non-for-profit sectors in design and implementation strategies.  Some of her clients are scaling models to as high as 4000 agents, some as small as 50 agents.

Prior to Hilton, Michele spent three years with a large US based outsourcer in the lead Human Resource role.  Her expertise is diverse and includes strategy development, operations, performance management and support, training, quality and human resources.

Sachin Sardar

Nationwide Insurance, Service Center Solutions Architect
Sessions:

Sachin Sardar is the Service Center Solutions Architect for Nationwide Insurance. He provides program level oversight to various strategic initiatives including Enterprise Architecture and P&C Service Center organization of Nationwide Insurance. Sachin has a true passion for Enterprise Architecture capabilities within Insurance and Financial Services industry and to identify opportunities that make enterprise wide impact and provide the necessary guidance to successful delivery.

Prior to Nationwide, Sachin provided leadership in the technology architecture area for Daimler Chrysler Contact Centers, General Electric, Sun Micro Systems, and General Motors.

Michelle Schrader

BCBSNE, Member Services Manager – Customer Service
Sessions:

Michelle has a rich medical history coupled with an extensive background within the customer service sector of health insurance.  Michelle joined BCBS-NE nearly 15 years ago and has touched several service operations teams during her tenure.  Today, Michelle leads a team of project managers, business designers, reporting analysts, and programmers that alter and improve the operations of customer service.  Michelle’s solid understanding and execution of call center principles helps to make BCBSNE one of the high performing plans across the country.

During her time at BCBS-NE she has led several system migrations, enhancements and ground-up technology builds.  She serves as the organizations leading subject matter expert for system modernization in relation to service oriented business.
          

Mark Smith

Ventana Research, CEO & Chief Research Officer
Sessions:

Mark is responsible for the overall business and research direction of Ventana Research, and drives the global research agenda covering both business and technology areas. He defined the blueprint and methodology for improving business by using benchmark research to provide guidance across people, processes, information and technology. Mark is an expert in enterprise software and business technology innovations including: business analytics, big data, cloud computing, business collaboration, mobile technology and social media. Mark has held CMO, research and product development roles at research and software companies. 

Mark started with Ventana Research more than a decade ago; he has worked in the software industry for 25 years, leading innovations in research and technology. Mark was rated the 2011 software industry analyst of the year by The Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR).  That same year, he was also rated in the top 10 HR digital influencers and in the top 15 online influencers in talent management by HR Examiner. Mark will also be ranked as one of the top ten technology influencers in 2012 by Human Resources Executive magazine.

Tom Stanfill

Aslan Training & Development, Founding Partner/CEO
Sessions:

Tom Stanfill is co-founder and CEO of Aslan Training & Development. Aslan is a global training and consulting firm that focuses on improving the sales performance of call center organizations through agent & leadership development programs. Since 1995, the principals of Aslan have developed and implemented hundreds of programs in over 25 countries for clients such as HP, FedEx, Cisco, AT&T, Computer Associates, Blue Cross Blue Shield, GE, Apple, Merck, AXA Financial, National Geographic, Deluxe Corporation, Wells Fargo, MetLife, Williams Sonoma, and GMAC.

Sarah Stealey Reed

ICMI, Content Director
Sessions:

Sarah Stealey Reed is the Content Director at the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) and is a member of the ICMI Advisory Board. She has over 18 years of global expertise in the areas of operations, offshore outsourcing, customer experience, and contact center management. She is an influential strategic leader who has built contact centers from the ground-up, fiscally managed them to support growth, and acted as a turn-around specialist for struggling metrics and employees. Her expertise is in building the operational baseline, while improving and maintaining an exceptional level of customer satisfaction. A consistent and amazing customer experience regardless of location, language, tenure, or channel is her mantra.

As the Content Director for ICMI, Sarah is responsible for the editorial content and community strategy for icmi.com. She’s a writer, blogger, and social poster, and often speaks on Customer Support and Emerging Channels at national events and through online webinars.

Sarah can be reached, followed, liked, or shared through:

Twitter: @sstealey

Email: sstealey@icmi.com

LinkedIn

Michael Tamer

Tamer Partners Corporation, CEO
Sessions:

Michael J. Tamer, tpc’s president and CEO, is a pioneer in the sales and service industry. A 20-year industry veteran, Mr. Tamer has been teaching the benefits of customer experience to organizations all over the world, including the United States Senate.  Michael was among the first to address the balance between privacy issues and quality in the work environment.  As a featured speaker for industry seminars and conferences both in and out of the tolling industry and as feature writer for trade magazines, he continues to bring the voice of the customer to the forefront of the sales and service industry. 

Michael’s book, The Four-Minute Customer, outlines his Customer Relationship Management philosophies. These tenets have continually helped all types of organizations increase customer loyalty, improve service and raise revenues.

Ann Tardy

Lifemoxie, President
Sessions:

As the Founder and President of LifeMoxie Mentoring, Ann combines the art of mentoring with the science of behavioral economics to turn mentoring from a missed opportunity into a strategic advantage for teams and organizations. By using proven processes and technologies, Ann prepares leaders to drive organizational and behavioral change using mentoring.

Ann first experienced the power of mentoring while closing over $2 billion of venture-backed financings at two of Silicon Valley’s largest law firms. While leading her entrepreneurial clients, Ann was surprised to discover that mentoring separates the magnificently successful from the mediocre. Ann went on to lead the legal departments of two high-tech start-ups, taking one company public and the other to acquisition. Following her in-house tenure, Ann launched her own law firm, growing it to 75 loyal clients before merging it with a larger firm.

Ann now helps visionary companies unleash mentoring where they need it most – in the middle. Ann and the LifeMoxie Mentoring team are creating mentoring cultures in companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric, Kaiser Permanente, Hitachi Data Systems, Southern California Edison, and Metro-North Railroad.

Scott Thomas

Tamer Partners Corporation, Senior Partner
Sessions:

Scott O. Thomas, is a Senior Partner with Tamer Partners Corporation.  He serves as the primary client partner for the NTTA.  With more than 16 years of experience in the sales and service field, he has filled almost every role in customer operations – agent, supervisor, trainer, manager, and executive in small, medium and large regional corporations.  Scott understands the needs of customer-facing departments – and the leaders and staff who work in them. He has expertise with clients in effective implementation of customer experience management, leadership strategies, and organizational culture transformation.  He has helped companies create detailed, actionable plans to shift cultures and improve leadership at every level of the organization.

Jeff Toister

Toister Performance Solutions, Inc., President
Sessions: Staff Up! 10 Ways to Hire and Train Faster

Jeff Toister is the author of Service Failure: The Real Reasons Employees Struggle with Customer Service and What You Can Do About It, a book that reveals hidden and counterintuitive obstacles to outstanding service (www.servicefailurebook.com).

He is also President of Toister Performance Solutions, Inc., where he helps clients improve customer service. His specific areas of expertise include employee training, leadership development, and talent management. Jeff has previously worked as a call center manager and a trainer, and continues to consult with call centers today.

Jeff is an active member of the American Society for Training and Development where he is a Past President of the San Diego chapter, a two-time recipient of the President’s Choice Award, and a recipient of the WillaMae M. Heitman Award for distinguished service. He holds a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) credential from the American Society for Training and Development and a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification from the Society for Human Resource Management.

Dina Vance

Ulysses Learning, Senior Vice President
Sessions:

Dina Vance is a widely respected thought leader on developing and leading contact center staff and a pioneer in improving the performance of contact centers. Vance was responsible for the ground-level startup of two contact centers before she moved into a consulting role where she also managed the call center division for an international consulting and training organization. She has worked with Fortune 100 companies to optimize their contact center performance through focus on results, people and process.
 
She currently serves as Ulysses Learning’s Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing/Manager Director of North American Operations. A regular speaker at conferences such as the BCBS Association and the Executive Learning Exchange, Vance frequently writes and talks about leveraging the power of social media in contact centers. She is on the executive board of the Call Center Industry Advisory Council (CIAC).

Contact info:
Dina Vance
dvance@ulysseslearning.com
O: 630-585-5350

LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/pub/dina-vance/0/599/5a9
Twitter:
@UlyssesLearning

Alexander Williams

BlueCross BlueShield of Nebraska, Member Services Project Manager, Programmer & Trainer - Customer Service
Sessions:

Alexander has over 10 years experience in the communications, governance and performance improvement (in relation to service operations).  Alexander joined the healthcare industry 3 years ago after spending several years in entertainment service operations.  Alexander's solid understanding of service operations eased the transition from one industry to another.

In his time at BlueCross and BlueShield of Nebraska, Alexander has lead the efforts of replacing BCBSNE's internal customer service intranet site and the development of an internal communication storage and dissemination system.  Alexander is also responsible for choreographing components of BCBSNE's membership migration to a new platform in addition to developing and programming system automation related to migration efforts.

Tricia Wisehart

Hertz , Senior Director, Reservations Sales Operations
Sessions:

Tricia Wisehart is the Senior Director, Reservations Sales Operations, for the Hertz Customer Contact Center.  In this role, she is responsible for U.S. reservations sales and customer services functions providing global reservations services.  In addition, Tricia is responsible for workforce management which includes forecasting call volumes and staffing requirements, agent scheduling, and monitoring performance to ensure established KPI’s are met. 

Tricia holds a Bachelor of Business Management degree from the University of Central Oklahoma.  She has been with Hertz for 38 years and assumed various roles throughout her career including two European work assignments and multiple reservations projects that impact customer contact centers on a global basis.  Tricia was responsible for initiating and developing a successful home agent program for Hertz and continues to be involved in expansion of the program.

Garrison Wynn

, Speaker, Advisor, Author, and Entertainer
Sessions:

As a speaker, advisor, author, and entertainer, Garrison has worked with some of the world’s most effective corporate leaders and business developers, from multibillion-dollar manufacturers to top New York Stock Exchange wirehouses. He has a background in manufacturing, entertainment, telecommunications, and financial services. In his teens, Wynn worked with Magnavox and baseball legend Hank Aaron to promote the world’s first video gaming system, and by age 27, he became the youngest department head in a Fortune 500 company’s history. He researched and designed processes for 38 company locations nationwide and developed and marketed products still being sold in 30 countries. An experienced actor in films and a former professional stand-up comedian, Garrison has hosted television specials and national radio programs. His new top-selling book, published by McGraw-Hill and available in bookstores worldwide, blends a decade of research and Garrison’s candid, laugh-out-loud delivery to finally spill The Real Truth About Success. His additional writing credits include business journal articles, weekly contributions to The Washington Post and has co-authored with Stephen R. Covey, Ken Blanchard, and Jack Canfield.