Advisory Board

Lori leads an independent consulting firm focused on helping companies optimize the strategic value of their customer contact technology and operations. Lori is a recognized industry leader in contact center strategy, technology, and operations. During her 25 years in the call center industry she has acquired an understanding of a broad spectrum of systems, applications, and operational environments. Lori is a sought-after speaker for industry events, and writes articles on technology and operations for a variety of call center publications. Lori is co-author of Call Center Technology Demystified. Attendees of Lori's courses appreciate her enthusiasm, energy, and humor as well as her ability to make today's complex technology environment more readily understood. Lori has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota State University and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University.

With more than 20 years of leadership experience, Josh Chapman joined MATTER as COO in March 2017. In his role, Josh is responsible for all non-sales activities at MATTER including marketing, operations, and programs.

Prior to MATTER, Josh was the CEO of GiveForward, the first personal crowdfunding site in the United States that was acquired by YouCaring in 2017. Before that role, Josh was a member of the senior management team at Cars.com through their $1.8 billion acquisition by Gannett. Josh has also spent time at Allianz Global Assistance and Conduent (Xerox) where, as a division vice president, he launched a 50 person project and built it into a $65 million business with over 2,200 employees.

A proud VCU alumni, Josh is also a published author and keynote speaker. In 2013 he was recognized with an ICMI Global Contact Center Award in the category of Best Customer Service Leader. He also serves on multiple boards and as an advisor to startups.

Stacey is a leader with demonstrated history of continuous improvement in the computer hardware industry and the automotive industry. She has experience with Lean, Six Sigma principles and process improvements, and is a Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) improvement advocate. She currently serves as Program Lead, Workforce Management and Analytics with StarTech.com. 

Jessica is responsible for product strategy for Optum Distribution’s call centers. She assesses current and emerging marketplace needs and trends to drive product strategy and capability development for the contact center solutions and services offered to all clients driving customer acquisition, loyalty, and retention. These solutions leverage industry best practices and Optum innovations to span the continuum of people, process and technology in the health care arena.

.

Vickie Friece has over 30 years of Financial Services experience, with more than 15 years specializing in Contact Center management, training, and quality assurance. She recently joined Meta Payment Services (A division of MetaBank) as SVP Operations – Service Delivery/Financial Operations; overseeing Customer Service operations and a variety of other operations departments. Vickie previously served as a vice president with Zions Bancorporation’s Client Contact Services, where she led Contact Center Training, Workforce Management, Quality Assurance and Customer Advocacy programs. Vickie works developing strategies and goals with a laser focus on enhancing the customer experience. In 2011, Vickie received Zions Bancorporation’s highest individual recognition, the Powered by People Award; and served on the steering committee for Zions’ Employee Mentoring Program, as well as the Diversity and Inclusion Council. Prior to joining Zions, Vickie spent 19 years in the mutual fund industry, where she managed operations and services departments. She holds several Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) licenses and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Management, and Political Science.

Beth is Vice President of Customer Care with Gopher Sports and is an experienced customer care leader with a demonstrated history of success working in the contact center and service industries. She is highly skilled in Operations Management, Process Optimization, Budgeting, Coaching, and Performance Management. Beth holds a Master of Arts (M.A.) focused in Leadership and Management from Concordia University-St. Paul.

Patrick is a passionate and successful B2B and B2C executive with extensive experience in sales and customer service. He is a seasoned call center expert with over 25 years of experience in a variety of companies. Prior to joining lululemon, Patrick was Vice President of Sales for 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. Patrick held many senior roles in various industries from insurance (AIG), banking (ING Direct France & Canada), hospitality (Accor) to now retail with lululemon. Patrick has managed both inbound and outbound small, medium and large call center operations.

A passionate connector of people, Erica Marois is a customer and employee experience enthusiast who loves helping others find unique solutions to their biggest challenges. She has 12+ years of experience in content creation and community building and volunteers as a facilitator for CX Accelerator. A content marketing specialist with 8x8, Erica works from home in Richmond, VA, where she lives with her husband and their lab-mix, Quinn. Outside of work, she loves cooking, traveling, and reading.

Dustie Mercer joined Renaissance in March of 2015 as Director of Call Center Operations. She has a Bachelor's degree from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and brings with her over 15 years of call center leadership experience. Her experience spans start-ups to mid sized centers, B2B and B2C, and various industries. Her commitment to maintaining employee morale and a positive work culture, she believes, directly contributes to creating the best possible customer experience.

Tim is a regular featured presenter at the contact center industry’s largest conferences. He has delivered workshops and keynotes in seven countries – to more than 15,000 customer service and contact center professionals.  Tim is part of an elite group of consultants who have earned a certified associate designation from the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI). He is also a professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA). 

Tim Montgomery is Founder and Managing Partner of Culture.Service.Growth (CSG), a San Antonio based provider of customer service and contact center solutions.  Tim’s firm grasp of real-world contact center solutions comes from nearly 20 years of hands-on operational and consulting experience.  During his career, he’s held a variety of leadership and executive positions within some of America’s most celebrated and respected companies – USAA, Coca-Cola and The Scooter Store.  His proven expertise in customer service and contact center operations has made him a sought-after advisor to companies in a variety of vertical industries. Tim has personally assisted some of the world’s most recognized service organizations – DELL, AIG, Lifetouch Publishing, ADP, Mitsubishi Motors, Farmers Insurance, AutoZone, Premera Blue Cross, Deluxe Corporation, Allstate, Kodak, Liberty Mutual, Cinergy, AAA, Prudential, Meguiar’s, Isagenix, Department of Veterans Affairs, Erie Insurance, The Gartner Group, Amerigroup, Prime Therapeutics, DentalPans.Com, Harvard Medical School, Nationwide Insurance and many more.

Tim is an accomplished author and has written numerous insightful and forward-thinking articles and whitepapers on a wide range of leadership/management, customer service, and contact center topics. His work has been featured in many global publications, industry journals and position papers. He is also a contributing author to highly regarded books on Leadership and Business Management, Customer Relationship Management, Call Center Operations Management and People Management.

His professional career also includes active duty and reserve assignments in the United States Navy. Tim earned both his BBA in Accounting and MBA degrees from the University of Texas @ San Antonio and a Lean Six Sigma Certification from Villanova University.

Dan Moross is Director of Customer Experience at moo.com, an online print provider, making it simple for companies of all sizes to create beautiful, expertly crafted business stationery and promotional materials that’ll help start conversations, open doors and strengthen relationships. Since joining MOO as their first customer service agent, Dan has built a highly engaged team of over 70 support specialists across two locations (London and Rhode Island, USA).

Dan's principal responsibility is to ensure customers are delighted with their entire MOO experience - from creating their personalized products online through to the final package they receive. Armed with the MOO Promise, which is aligned with the company's overarching brand values, it's clear that MOO understands how important it is to have a customer focused team that sits at the heart of the company, committed to helping customers along their journey.

Anne Palmerine is the Associate Vice President of Customer Engagement and Enrollment Services for UPMC Health Plan. Anne has led UPMC Health Plan in Customer Service for the past twelve years, including Enrollment and Retail. Accomplishments have included implementation of a highly esteemed Health Care Concierge program, implementation of Genesys call center technology, driving one call resolution and service recovery, integration of all member touch points, and achieving JD Power Call Center Certification in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014. Achievements have included from ICMI, 2015 Best Large Contact Center, from Stevie Awards, 2015 Contact Center of the Year (Over 100 Seats) and from IQPC, Best in Class Contact Center (Over 200 Seats). Anne has managed in customer service call centers for the past 22 years with a focus on customer retention, growth, and sales.
She has a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. ,/p>

David Perry is Customer Support Manager at Clio–Legal Practice Management Software.

Armed with an acting degree and a love of beer and people, he is forging ahead in the world of customer service leadership. When not at Clio, he is fighting for craft beer consumer rights and reform in British Columbia as President of the Vancouver Branch of CAMRA BC, playing Ultimate with the Vancouver Ultimate League, or teaching ITF Taekwon-do. Find David on Twitter: @davidjp87.

Kristy is a high energy, hands on Senior Customer Relations and Operations Executive with over 20 years of award winning B2B and B2C expertise in on-site and outsourced contact center design, customer care and revenue development.  She is known for delivering strong and sustainable call quality, service levels, revenue gains, customer loyalty and employee engagement.

Kristy has launched three new contact centers from the ground up & re-engaged two internationally recognized centers. Currently, she leads Quality Service for Navy Federal Credit Union’s 4000 Person Contact Center.

Recently, Kristy led her team through an Evolution of Quality Service where the Contact Center moved from a scored, checklist system to one that is behaviorally based and scoreless.  The results are showing themselves in achievement of the highest levels of member experience and post call survey results as well as higher employee engagement.

Kristy is also a member of the National Speakers Association.

Susan is AVP, Contact Center Support at USAA. She has over 25 years of operational, workload management and leadership experience with Farmers/Zurich Financial and United Services Automobile Association (USAA), both customer service leaders in the financial services industry. With in-depth experience ranging from front line service, claims and underwriting to building and leading workload management teams across the country, she is a respected leader with a proven track record of success in project management, workload management, strategic planning and capacity planning.

Jen Richard began her career in customer service over 18 years ago. Having worked in 2 completely unrelated service sectors - publishing and healthcare - she has had the privilege of working with very diverse customer segments. Jen has found that regardless of the industry, the similarities in caller behaviors (and agents) are universal. For the past 11 years Jen has been working for McKesson, and truly enjoys the role they play in healthcare and patient lives.

Jen has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, member of the CCNG Magnet Program and is an ICMI Certified Strategic Leader.

Heidi is Director of North America Sales Center for Jenny Craig. She has been with Jenny Craig for 10+ years. Heidi's main responsibilities are to grow the Jenny Craig client base by driving acquisition and increasing profitability across all business channels.  She has had much success across the board. Her year to date stats include New Sales Acquisition = +123% YOY;  New Sales Conversion: +12% YOY & YTD Deposits: +23% YOY.  She handles the strategic planning and cross-departmental management of the entire North America Call Center business channel. Heidi is a leader in her filed having extensive call center experience in sales, training, process, marketing, and technology solutions including artificial intelligence. She manages a staff of 80+ agents.

With a passion for technology and finding new ways to make customers happy, Patrick has spent the last 15 years in leadership positions within the contact center industry. With more than a decade managing various aspects of large multi-site operations with seat sizes ranging from 500 to 3,000 he has developed a deep understanding of what works, and what doesn’t. Patrick has spent the last four years working on the software side of contact centers with a focus on Workforce Optimization tools and improving the agent and customer experiences. 

Joan is currently the Vice President, Customer Care Operations at Charter Communications. Joan is responsible for providing support for a network of 12 internal call centers and 3 outsource vendors. This support includes workforce management, reporting and analysis, vendor management, CARE quality program, quality assurance audit, social media support and customer escalation support.

Prior to joining Charter, Joan was the Outsource Manager for North America for Nokia mobile phones and provided vendor support for the in-house outsource vendor that handled all U.S. and Canadian calls related to Nokia mobile phone products. Prior to her time at Nokia, Joan worked for Capital One Financial Services as a Senior Contact Center Manager. She supported several teams of inbound customer service representatives and was also involved in several outsourcing projects including the first vendor program in India and subsequent outsource launches in Canada and the Philippines. Joan has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications and a Master’s Degree in Liberal Arts from the University of South Florida. She has training in both Six Sigma and Project Management.

Tony is the General Manager of Contact Center Technologies at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer. CSAA Insurance Group is a reliable auto, home and other personal lines insurance provider to AAA members in partnership with local AAA Clubs in 23 states and the District of Columbia. With over 2.5 million policies in force and over $3 billion in revenue, it is one of the nation’s largest providers of personal lines insurance.

Tony leads a team of IT professionals providing services to three contact centers across the country. His group is focused on promoting best practices in customer service delivery and the effective use of technology. Understanding and improving the employee experience as well as fostering a culture of continuous improvement are core operational values.  Tony brings more than 27 years of experience in the insurance and travel fields. From holding leadership positions of increased responsibility in sales and market management, to building multi-channel distribution strategies, to implementing contact center solutions, he is well rounded in integrating people, process and technology to deliver on business objectives. 

Tony holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from the California State University, a certificate in General Insurance from the Insurance Institute of America, a certificate of Process Mastery from Hammer & Company and a certificate in ITIL Foundations.

Jeff helps customer service teams unlock their hidden potential.

He is the best selling author of The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service. More than 140,000 people on six continents have taken his video-based training courses on LinkedIn Learning (a.k.a. Lynda.com). Jeff's 15 training videos on LinkedIn Learning include Customer Service Foundations and Leading a Customer-Centric Culture.

Jeff was named one of the Top 30 customer service professionals in the world by Global Gurus. He was also named one of the Top 50 Thought Leaders to Follow on Twitter by the International Customer Management Institute. Feedspot has named his Inside Customer Service blog one of the Top 50 customer service blogs on the planet.

Jeff holds a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) certification from the Association for Talent Development.

Web: www.toistersolutions.com

Twitter: @toister

Blog: www.insidecustomerservice.com