Brian Leeson is the manager of Member Services for Alberta Pensions Services (APS) in Edmonton, Alberta. With a focus on innovation, collaboration, and leveraging best practices, Brian’s experience working in contact centers for Dell Technologies and Alberta Health Services has helped shape the strategy that led to the APS’s successes during a major organizational transformation: Next Generation. Brian is a proud contact center leader, and he attributes the success he’s had to the teams he’s worked with.

Claudia Hawkins is the director of Customer Experience and Consumer Loyalty at Whirlpool Corporation’s Customer eXperience Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Claudia has been with Whirlpool for over eight years. In her current position, she oversees a 500+ person contact center operation as well as the training, workforce, and technology teams, providing pre- and post-purchase support for all Whirlpool brands in the US. Claudia drives consumer retention by incorporating the Voice of the Customer into all aspects of the business, reducing customer effort and improving the consumer experience. She received her MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and she holds an MA in industrial psychology. While at Whirlpool, Claudia has held various positions in operations, contact center quality and training, and human resources. She has experience in the automotive and telecommunications industries.

Evan Watson is the documentation librarian at the AICPA Member Service Center and was a frontline agent for two years prior to taking on his current role. He was a finalist for the ICMI’s Global Contact Center Award for Best Agent in 2015.

Michelle Williams is the director of Consumer Care at Dorel Juvenile Group USA. She has extensive knowledge of department operations, systems, and functionality. She is a certified CPST and she was the driving force behind implementing live chat and video chat in Dorel’s Consumer Care department shortly after she joined the team. Michelle is very involved with day-to-day operations, in touch with consumer needs, and she stays active in the field at Dorel's events. Previously, Michelle was employed with the Customer Experience & Operations team at AT&T, where she led their call center to improve the customer experience. Michelle operated a virtual field from all centers in the group to inspire a culture of innovation, ownership, and support through collaboration and partnership.