Speakers

Erin Levzow is Vice President of Marketing Technology for Del Taco Restaurants. Prior to her current role Erin was the CMO for Marcus Hotels & Resorts. Levzow has served as vice president of customer relationship marketing (CRM), loyalty and marketing for Hathway in Austin, Texas, a customer service experience company specializing in helping billion-dollar brands develop mobile-first strategies. Levzow’s extensive marketing and digital experience also includes serving as senior director of digital, social, CRM and e-commerce for Wingstop Restaurants in Dallas, Texas, and serving as vice president of marketing and technology for Freebirds World Burrito, where she oversaw the marketing initiatives for nearly 100 restaurant chains. Levzow began her career at Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas and went on to work for MGM Resorts International and Palms Casino Resort & Palms Place Hotel and Spa.

She received a bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and holds a Master’s Marketing Strategy Certificate from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
 

Responsible for driving Ally’s DE&I messaging and executing on a variety of initiatives aimed at uniting Ally's past and prospective DE&I efforts, helping to guide consistent impact both internally and externally across the communities we serve.  
 

 

Stephanie Sayfie Aagaard serves as the Collaborative Innovator General at Whitman Family Development and Bal Harbour Shops in Miami, Florida. She founded the ACCESS Membership and Rewards Program to celebrate the Shops’ loyal customers on their curated journey through the roster of retail, restaurants and luxury partners. Steph developed the Bal Harbour Shops app and created the Virtual Series for the company as well. She heads up the sponsorship program as well as creates innovative programming for the Shops. She secures external partnerships and produces large scale partner events including the Official Miami Super Bowl Host Committee VIP Party at Bal Harbour Shops for more than two thousand notables from the worlds of business, entertainment, media, sports and fashion.

Stephanie has collaborated with Bal Harbour Shops for decades before she joined the official team. While serving as Senior Director of Major Gifts, Corporate Relations, Marketing and Events at the University of Miami’s The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and The Buoniconti Fund, Steph created Destination Fashion, an interactive entertainment and fashion event at the Shopping Center.

In Steph’s spare time, she has covered the social, celebrity, sports, fashion and charity scene in South Florida for her Steph Sez column every Sunday in The Miami Herald for more than twenty years. Steph created, produced and hosted her own entertainment television show, Steph Sez, where she interviewed boldfaced names from George Clooney to Tiger Woods to Mikhail Gorbachev. 

She also hosts the monthly Steph Sez Book Club with Books & Books. Stephanie has received numerous accolades during her career and for philanthropic work from many organizations. Stephanie is married and is the proud mother of two sons.  

 

Harveer Singh serves as the Chief Data Architect and Global Head of Engineering at Western Union where he manages the Cloud Data Platform, Martech & Adtech Platforms, Digital Banking Integrations, Loyalty and Consumer Ecosystem.. He is a technology executive with over 17 years of experiences spanning several industries such as financial services (including banking, payments, insurance, capital markets, and asset management), retail, and professional services. Previously, he has been working in EY’s Financial Services where he currently co-leads EY’s Next Generation architecture & solutions for Financial Services. Prior to EY, Harveer held various consulting roles at Deloitte, IBM, and Accenture. During his consulting tenure, he has presented and authored numerous professional points of views on Loyalty, Digital Transformation, Platforms, Architecture, Big Data, DevOps and Engineering Factories. 

Harveer has extensive experience in Digital Transformation, Technology Management, Data architecture, Governance and Platform development. He is dedicated to enabling business capabilities through continuous improvement of both data and processes. His past track record has proven success through his design and implementation of tech strategies, business cases, multiyear roadmaps, platforms and solutions.

Todd Miller, Sr. Director of Brand Strategy and Experience, is responsible for the articulation and experience of the Wawa brand across all consumer touch points.
 
Prior to joining Wawa, Todd was the Chief Experience Officer of The Archer Group, an independent digital agency. At Archer, Todd was responsible for all of Archer’s core product teams (Analytics, UX, Research, Design, Content, Social, Media and Technology) as well as overall digital strategy.
 
Prior to Archer, Todd led and built product and design teams for various companies, agencies, start-ups and non-profits. 

Karen Silveri is the Premier Privileges & Luxury Standards CX Manager at Lincoln Motor Company. Silveri has over 20 years of automotive experience, primarily working with luxury OEMs. After a hiatus from Ford Motor Company, Silveri returned in 2011 to work on the Lincoln brand. In her current role, she designs the Lincoln Access Rewards program — the first automotive rewards program focusing on the clients’ passions.

When Silveri rejoined Ford, her primary focus was to work with Lincoln retailers to change client experience at retail. The grassroots efforts she spearheaded, and her many successes, led her to her current role on Lincoln’s Client Experience team, designing and delivering the Lincoln Access Rewards program and leveraging it as an important opportunity for Lincoln to engage with clients.

Jo-i Jones is a seasoned marketing and communications professional with over 30 years of experience. Jo-i joined Verizon in 1992, where she currently serves as Manager of Loyalty & Retention Marketing. She is responsible for the development and execution of retention offers and related strategies as well as marketing analytics for the Verizon Business Group.
 
She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. An avid world traveler, Jo-i grew up in five countries in Latin America and Asia, and she is fluent in English, Spanish and Chinese. 
 

Nancy Flowers serves as the Vice President of Insights and Loyalty. In her role, Nancy develops strategies to maintain and elevate Hagerty's brand, market and consumer understanding and champion a member centric mindset through the organization. Nancy leads the development of loyalty strategies and tactics which deliver long-term member value and drive Hagerty’s industry leading NPS and client satisfaction results.
 
Since joining Hagerty in 2005 as a marketing manager, Nancy’s roles have had a singular focus: developing programs that drive loyalty, growth and revenue.
 
Her experience provides a unique platform that incorporates analytics, strategy and intuition to not only problem-solve, but drive change. Nancy is a thought leader and a regular contributor to podcasts, webinars, and conferences within the client experience field. Additionally, she was personally awarded a CX Impact award by the Client Experience Professional Association in 2014.
 
Her professional designations include Certified Customer Experience Professional through CXPA; Net Promoter Certification through Satmetrix; and Associate in General Insurance through The Institutes. Prior to joining Hagerty, Nancy supported a national telecommunications retailer with sales execution, training and service. She also developed marketing plans and strategies to achieve overall company
objectives.
 
Nancy is a graduate of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland and holds a Bachelor of Arts in
Communication.
 

Tommi has over 3 decades of marketing technology experience, her focus is on enabling direct marketing through alignment of technology and strategy. She is highly skilled in effectively collaborating with all members of the organization and leveraging big data for segmentation, marketing technology, and marketing initiatives. She is currently the lead for the Pega Decisioning initiative in the Verizon Business Group marketing technology team and has developed dynamic customer responsive solutions called Compass for customer retention and My Solutions for customer growth across digital, marketing and sales channels.  

Tommi holds a BA from George Mason University and an MBA from the University of Maryland. She is also a fitness instructor, Cleveland Browns fan, and founder of the Force Multiplier Foundation, a charity dedicated to bringing help to those in need.
 

She has been in Shell for 16 years working in various roles ranging from Customer Relationship Management, Loyalty Marketing & Operation, Global Marketing and Business Consultancy. She has been driving customer-centric initiatives such as Loyalty restructuring, the award-winning Shell Club Smart Extra Card launch in Turkey, the replacement of loyalty terminals and establishing a powerful CRM Programme with her team. As part of her passion for diversity and inclusion, she is taking roles in different community organizations and describes her purpose as ‘giving back to society’.  She is a strong supporter of workforce equality! Favorite quote: Be the change you wish to see in the world! 

As Director of Digital Technology, Stephen leads technology strategy and execution for the 7-Eleven app and 7Rewards Loyalty Program. With 20 years of experience at 7-Eleven, including 9 years on the consumer digital products, Stephen thrives off of the constantly changing needs of the convenience customer and the tech that "makes it happen."
 

Joe leads Shopper Marketing for 7-Eleven where his team creates brand building customer programs that provide innovative rewards and purchase incentives to loyal customers.  These activations not only come to life in-store, but also engage with consumers across the 7-Eleven digital ecosystem including digital apps, delivery, CRM, and social media.

Prior to joining 7-Eleven, Joe has spent over 15 years leading consumer marketing teams for world-class organizations such as PepsiCo, Dean Foods, and Fogo de Chao.  In each role – his passion has been to develop unique and creative products and programs that build lasting relationships with consumers and address their previously unmet needs. 

Joe holds both an MBA and Bachelors in marketing from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.  He currently lives in Dallas with his wife Emily and their two children (who also serve as his expert Gen-Z focus group).
 

Brian Beller is the Sales Program Manager at Otter Products (OtterBox + LifeProof.) As Program Manager, he is responsible for developing, deploying, and managing programs that enable sales. This includes loyalty, training, and CRM enhancements.

Brian joined Otter Products in 2012 and has had positions in Customer Service, Field Marketing, Sales, and Program Management. Before joining Otter, Brian spent over a decade in the fast-paced world of retail sales. His experience and expertise has helped to foster and create a unique loyalty program, Otter Rewards, that is helping to create sales associate advocacy with representatives selling OtterBox and LifeProof products.  This advocacy is directly correlated to driving profitable revenue for the company.

In his time away from work you can find Brian spending time with his wife and three children in the great outdoors of Colorado.

 

Julio has 25+ years of experience in consumer electronics with a strong track record of developing and executing "Go to Market" and sell through plans while fostering successful partnerships across channels. Now at LG Electronics, Julio directs and leads the Home Entertainment Channel Marketing team to drive demand and profitable growth of consumer electronics via retail.com channels.

During the pandemic, content became more and more important as people were staying at home and binging on streaming video and gaming. To capitalize on this demand, Julio’s team launched a nationwide program for holiday 2020 where new TV buyers were able to choose their favorite streaming or gaming service as a reward for their purchase. The innovative partnership offered $100 in credit from 5 top subscription providers with the purchase of a new LG OLED or NanoCell TV. Thousands of happy customers enjoyed content on their new TVs immediately after their purchase and into the new year.
 

Matt Moore is the Vice President of Digital and Loyalty at Tim Hortons where he leads the strategy and execution of these areas to help improve the guest experience.  Matt is a member of the Tim Hortons leadership team and during his 3 years has helped reset the digital agenda for the brand. Matt spent the previous decade outside of Canada, moving back to join the Tims team. Prior to joining Tims, he worked for Yum! Brands as Chief Customer Officer for Pizza Hut Europe where he helped begin a digital transformation at Yum! through the creation of Pizza Hut Digital Ventures.  He also worked for over 4 years at The Boston Consulting Group in their London and Dubai offices.  Matt holds an MBA from London Business School and a BSc (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from Queens University.
 

Caitlin Pitblado is the Manager of Digital Strategy at Tim Hortons where she helps set the vision and direction for initiatives within the Tims digital ecosystem. As a result of joining the company through the Leadership Development Program, Caitlin also has experience from the marketing and supply chain teams which helps her when thinking about the full-scale implications of the team’s Digital priorities. Caitlin grew up in Vancouver before heading East to attend Western University where she received her HBA degree from Ivey Business School.
 

John Sellers is the executive in charge of Rewards at Bank of America. In this role, John oversees all reward programs; including consumer, wealth management and small business relationship rewards programs and credit card rewards redemption. In 2019 Preferred Rewards for Business was named the ‘Most Innovative Product’ by Barlow’s Monarch Innovation Awards, which recognizes excellence and creativity in business banking

Prior to his current role, John had worked with other products including; Vehicle Lending, Investments, and Credit Card.  While in Card, John was the Director of Preferred Products and New Account Acquisition where he was responsible for all mass affluent BofA and Merrill branded products. John is the architect of the award winning Travel Rewards Card and led the effort to bring Chip technology to BofA cards.

Before his product roles, John spent the first half of his career in Credit Risk, where he was the Director of Risk Strategies. In this role, John oversaw existing account management strategies which included; line management, balance stimulation (cash and retail), authorizations (overlimit and delinquent) and other payment related strategies.

John began his career with BofA via the MBNA acquisition. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware where he was a Finance major. He also has an MBA from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business where he graduated with distinction and is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma academic honor society.

John is involved in several community organizations. He is a lifesaver for the Blood Bank of DE and coaches several youth sport teams in Kennett Square, PA where he resides with his wife and three kids.

 

Nishanth leads product teams in building awesome consumer-facing digital experiences in Rewards, Checkout and Financial Services. He led the rollout of Mobile Checkout from an idea/concept to scaling the service to over 3,500 stores. With the launch of Mobile Checkout, 7-Eleven became the first ever c-store chain to build and launch this frictionless checkout technology. Nishanth has proven track record of building and launching innovative customer-facing products. He is passionate about gaining deep understanding of customer needs and leading teams to deliver products and experiences that address them. Nishanth has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from JNTU India and MBA from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
 

Don earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from The Florida State University, and spent 11 years in academia teaching statistics and policy evaluation. Prior to joining Brierley, he was a research director for Dallas County, in charge of database modeling, data mining, and program reporting. He has authored several journal articles and a full-length book. At Brierley, Don leads our strategic program design practice, responsible for engineering solutions which balance compelling value propositions with enhanced member experiences and data-driven customer engagement. His current client list includes 7-Eleven, Al Tayer, Express, GameStop, Grupo Gigante, Hertz and MoneyGram. An avid theater aficionado, his passion for presentation informs his marketing data analytics, where he eschews the traditional view in favor of a dynamic storytelling model that brings numbers to life through contextualization and the generation of actionable insights.

Jillian is a Strategic Account Executive at Cheetah Digital, focused on collaborating with brands who want to deliver a more personalized, data driven customer experience. She has helped well known brands create, implement and evolve their loyalty and CRM strategies by leveraging over 16 years of industry experience from the industry's top agencies.  Her expertise spans across all verticals including retail, restaurant, entertainment and hospitality.

Sean has a 15+ year career with Price Chopper spanning marketing, merchandising, analytics, and accounting.  As Director or Loyalty Marketing and Analytics, Sean holds responsibility for consumer insights, targeting & personalization, offer activation, and program analysis across the retailer’s 130 locations in the Northeast.  

In the Summer of 2019, Sean led a team at Price Chopper that launched AdvantEdge Rewards, an evolution of the grocer’s fuel discount program.  In addition to fuel discounts, customers could now redeem for a discount off their total grocery bill.  In early 2021, they launched the AdvantEdge Rewards platform, a mobile-optimized site allowing customers to redeem their Rewards points online in a variety of additional new ways.  Customers can now redeem AdvantEdge Rewards points online as donations to local charities, to pay down student loans, to support local schools, or to enter sweepstakes for chances to win exciting prizes.  This evolution continues in late 2021, with even more new ways to earn and redeem Rewards coming soon. 

Visionary marketing leader passionate about driving business goals using data and analytics, with a proven track record of driving multi-million-dollar growth through Loyalty and CRM. Expertise in leading Loyalty & CRM strategy and execution, advanced data analytics, marketing technology, customer acquisition and retention strategies, Media Mix Modeling, Sales Forecasting, and Research. 

Currently, VP of Loyalty, CRM, and Marketing Technology at The Michales Store, a privately-held chain of 1,252 American and Canadian arts and crafts stores as of January 2021. It is one of North America's largest providers of arts, crafts, framing, floral and wall décor, and merchandise for Makers and do-it-yourself home decorators. 

Derek Whitworth currently serves as Managing Director, Marketing & Loyalty Optimization at Air Canada. In this role, he holds overall accountability for Aeroplan program management & performance optimization, along with CRM planning, member data planning & intelligence, and marketing operations. His team was responsible for many of the features which were delivered when the fully-transformed Aeroplan launched in November 2020. In connection with this, Derek was also part of the leadership team whose work resulted in the reacquisition of Aeroplan in 2019. Derek has 15 years of experience in travel and loyalty, working at Air Canada, Citigroup, and Star Alliance in a range of roles across loyalty, eCommerce, and customer experience strategy. He holds Bachelor of Arts degree in Art & Archaeology from Princeton University, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Emory University.
 

Yaqub Baiani is the Head of Consumer Digital Product & Design at 7-Eleven, Inc. Yaqub leads the digital ecosystem for all customer facing products including 7Rewards, Digital Wallet, Mobile Checkout, Fuel Loyalty and more. In his role, he is responsible for building and launching new digital experiences, features and capabilities for both customers as well as franchisees. Those experiences help to grow the overall member base, scan rate, merchandise sales, basket size, repeat customers and customer satisfaction.

Prior to joining 7-Eleven, Yaqub was Sr. Manager of Digital Product Management at Capital One where he led Machine Learning and the At-Home experience for the flagship product, Auto Navigator. Yaqub has an extensive background creating meaningful product experiences by leveraging human-centered design, customer back problem solving, journey mapping, blueprinting and digital innovation. Yaqub is enthusiastic in creating a truly best-in-class Delivery & Pick Up experience in 7NOW that will WOW our customers.

Yaqub is an avid traveler and his favorite place to visit is Japan. Yaqub holds an MBA in Business Management and Operations Management from St. Edwards University in Austin, TX and a BA in Business and Chemistry from Austin College in Sherman, TX.
 

Ryan Mitchell is the Director of Global Loyalty at Hertz, where he leads the strategy for the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty loyalty programs. He has more than 16 years of marketing and communication experience in three industry verticals including consumer product goods, restaurants and travel. Mr. Mitchell prides himself as a brand builder who puts customers first with strategic programs and unique offerings. A natural optimist, who is passionate about mentoring others and has extensive experience building teams of successful and happy people. He has worked for notable, premium brands including Ruth's Chris Steak House, Marlboro and Hertz, to name a few. Mr. Mitchell holds a Bachelor's in Marketing, a Master's in Sports Business Management and a Juris Doctorate all from the University of Florida. He lives in southwest Florida with his wife and three children, and can usually be found on the football, soccer or baseball fields.
 

Lucy has spent the last 15+ years working in digital, product, marketing and customer experience leadership roles with some of the largest financial services organizations globally, including Western Union, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and TD Bank. Prior to that Lucy held global consumer digital marketing leadership roles for Dell Technologies and Advance Micro Devices (Video Gaming Partnerships). In her current role at Western Union, Lucy is responsible for the Marketing, Loyalty and Consumer Ecosystem Product Portfolio strategy, accelerating the Western Union’s business strategy beyond its core money transfer business globally. Originally born in the UK, Lucy grew up in Canada, and was a resident of the UK for the last 15 years. Lucy recently moved to Denver in June 2018.

As Overstock’s Vice President of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Jimmy Budnik leads a cross-functional team including customer analytics, IT development, and customer activation strategy. The CRM organization is dedicated to creating a shopping experiences designed to the preferences of each customer as well as grow the company’s loyalty program, Club O. His team strives to foster an enduring relationship with customers while promoting Overstock’s reputation as an award-winning and customer-centric online retailer.
 
Budnik began his career with the online retailer in 2008. Budnik started as a Senior Process Improvement Engineer after half a decade working as an Industrial Engineer, first with UPS and then with Homeshield. Budnik has held several positions in his time at Overstock. These roles included transitioning between multiple departments as a Chief of Staff, including Customer Care, Marketing, Merchandising, and the Office of the President. Budnik has also served as Vice President of Customer Care for three years. Since joining Overstock, Budnik has helped develop strategies and execute initiatives to drive growth and improve the customer experience in various leadership positions.

Mary Riemer is the Director of Customer Experience for Metrolink, Southern California’s regional passenger rail service spanning 538 miles of rail across six counties that are home to nearly 20 million residents. Mary has a passion for the connection between mobility and innovation. With over 15 years of experience in the transportation industry, her expertise lies in understanding customer friction points, and using design and technology to solve them. She brings this focus to strategy, product design and implementation – including the application of real world problems like getting Metrolink back to its’ record breaking 12 million annual boardings prior to COVID. Launching a loyalty and rewards program is a central piece of that strategy, and of the future of Metrolink, as we prepare to move the region and the world for the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
 

Melissa O’Neill is currently the Director of North America eCommerce sales for Lenovo. She is responsible for leading the strategy and execution for Lenovo’s online routes to market, including lenovo.com and marketplaces. Melissa has over 20 years of eCommerce experience involving roles ranging from P&L management, strategic planning, business development, sales/account management, customer experience and loyalty. She enjoys anticipating what the future of eCommerce looks like and building data-driven plans that deliver to both business KPIs and customer expectations.

Jason Sprawka was appointed as the Global Director of Customer Experience in 2020 after leading US Customer Experience Team for two years. In his current role, he is responsible for creating world class customer experiences throughout the sales and ownership cycle. Jason brings together multiple organizations within Ford to drive cohesion and seamless integration for customer interactions. Jason has served in many roles during his 16-year tenure with Ford Motor Company, including Regional sales positions and Product and Brand Marketing positions for Fusion+Hybrid, Escape, Lincoln and FordPass.
 

Jay Hubbs is the VP of Advertising, Marketing, Innovation and Analytics overseeing Best Western’s customer-facing efforts including online and offline advertising and Best Western Rewards.   

Jay has over 25 years of experience in hospitality, travel, and digital marketing.  Prior to Best Western, Jay was with Remington Hotels in Commercial Services and Digital Marketing positions, and before that worked at Expedia, Starwood Hotels as well as hotel operations roles early in his career.  Jay has also built startup companies with consulting firm Scient and online review company ReviewPro, as well as entrepreneurial ventures.  

Jay holds an BS in Hotel Administration from Cornell University as well as an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  In 2018 Jay was named to HSMAI’s Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing and sits on HSMAI’s America’s Board.   

Carlos Dunlap-Beard is the VP, Business Development & Loyalty Strategy at Clarus Commerce. He has spent the past 25 years cultivating a rich background in B2C/B2B engagement strategies, direct marketing, business development, customer acquisition, customer loyalty, data analysis and strategic marketing. A proven marketing strategist and consumer engagement thought leader, Carlos has authored dozens of articles, blog posts and white papers featured in numerous publications and has spoken at many conferences and events.
 

Yan is currently Director - Consumer Marketing for ExxonMobil’s US Fuels business.  His team designs, develops and deploys marketing programs and offers, including Synergy Fuels, the Exxon Mobil Rewards+ program and app, ExxonMobil’s branded proprietary credit card and innovative, contactless payment options such as Alexa Pay for Gas.
 
He earned an Economics degree from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University before joining ExxonMobil’s Canadian Affiliate, Imperial Oil, in 1998.  Over the past 23 years, he has held leadership positions of increasing responsibility in sales, operations, strategy development, and marketing, in the US and Canada.
 
Yan is married and the proud father of a Junior in high school.  He enjoys skiing, biking and is a car enthusiast.  
 

Mayasa AlHejazi is a seasoned and highly experienced Marketing professional who has transformed Nojoom Ooredoo's Loyalty program), the loyalty business for one of the best telecommunication company in the State of Qatar. She brings on her expertise in the areas of Digital marketing,  Campaign management and Customer engagement.

Mayasa kick-started her career in 2013 with Ooredoo Qatar. She started as an analyst in the Direct Marketing team and went on the to become a Campaign Manager. As a Campaign Manager, her responsibilities were to improve customer experience, generate higher revenue through targeted propositions and through Upsell, Cross-sell, Acquisition and retention campaigns. Her exemplary performance in this area saw her promoted with additional responsibilities and she went on to manage the Loyalty business in 2019. For her exemplary performance in this adjacency, Mayasa was also recognized as the Employee of the year for 2019.

Mayasa is currently the Assistant Director of the Nojoom program, one of the biggest programs in Qatar. In her current role she effectively leads a team of Loyalty marketers and has additional Profit/Loss responsibility.

Mayasa has a Master's in Strategic Business Unit Management from HEC Paris and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Qatar University. She is immensely thankful to Ooredoo’s management for all the opportunities presented to her and prides herself on being an Complete Marketing professional.

Sabrina Davis is the Senior Manager, Marketing and Digital Programs at Metrolink based in Los Angeles. Her work is focused on developing and implementing all aspects of marketing initiatives. Her areas of expertise at Metrolink include marketing campaign planning and execution, loyalty program marketing management, email marketing strategy and much more. She has more than 20 years of marketing experience within major markets in both Canada and the USA in the restaurant and transportation industries. Sabrina’s passions include leadership, effective interpersonal communications and a great customer experience. Sabrina is looking forward to the challenge ahead for Metrolink; to restore ridership following a decline of more than 80 percent since the onset of the pandemic.
 

Susan LeBlanc is an enthusiastic marketing leader who’s all about connecting science and art through data-driven marketing strategies that create exceptional consumer experiences and happy cross-functional teams. She is currently leading brand, acquisition and mass consumer marketing for SCENE, Canada's #1 Multi-Award Winning Entertainment Loyalty Program. Here she spearheaded the company’s largest-ever brand marketing campaign that activated 15% of the member base on a single day and moved consumer’s perception of the brand to being an instigator of fun, social experiences.

Victoria Dravneek is the head of Personalization and Loyalty Strategy within Consumer & Small Business Digital at Bank of America. She is responsible for leading the bank’s loyalty strategy, new program development, the personalization of loyalty and rewards as well as leading the BankAmeriDeals loyalty program.
 
Dravneek joined Bank of America in 2006, where she led an innovation portfolio of work for Global Treasury clients, which included web-based automation of manual processes. In 2009, she joined Consumer Fraud & Claims, where she led efforts to protect new digital products, including the build of what would later become Zelle, Mobile Deposit and Video Teller. In 2012, Dravneek joined the Digital Solutions Program Management where she led Payments program delivery as well as the digital delivery of the bank’s Safe Balance account and the Preferred Rewards program. For the next four years, Dravneek led strategy for the award-winning Preferred Rewards loyalty program, growing the program from inception to over 6MM members. In addition, she introduced personalized video to the bank as well as My Rewards, an innovative new portal where customers can view information on and learn more about their rewards programs.
 
Prior to joining Bank of America, Dravneek spent over a decade in the digital industry producing content, business and marketing strategies for new media, including Scholastic, iVillage.com and Showtime Interactive television.
 
Dravneek holds a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in English Literature from The King’s College in New York. She is also a Bank of America certified Six Sigma DFSS Green Belt and Black Belt. In addition, she has submitted over 70 patents around leveraging emerging technology to make financial services easier for clients.
 
Dravneek currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband and two children.
 

As the Senior Director Loyalty, Customer Engagement for Best Western International, Theo is fascinated by the chains of interactions between the end user and the systems across travelers' journeys, agnostic of the channel or device they use. He is focused on solving problems by articulating the objective of the interaction, what is displayed to the end user, what is the value to the consumer, and how it translates into better engagement, loyalty and increased revenue over time. Theo graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in Communication and has worked in senior leadership positions at some of the largest 3rd-party hotel management companies, as well as Hilton Worldwide. He is currently the Chair of the HSMAI Marketing Advisory Board and sits on AH&LA's Consumer Innovation Forum.
 

Karen Szarvas serves as Sr. Director of Customer Loyalty & Partnerships at The Vitamin Shoppe®, an omni-channel specialty retailer and wellness lifestyle company. In her role, Karen oversees the newly redesigned Healthy Awards Loyalty program and is responsible for the development, execution and management of the program, as well as strategies to drive customer awareness, engagement and retention. Karen has more than 19 years of global marketing and loyalty experience and is a highly motivated, customer focused, thought leader. Prior to joining The Vitamin Shoppe, she worked at Wyndham Worldwide and consulted at KMS Marketing Solutions where she specialized in loyalty, branding, customer communications and experiences.

Connecting with consumers is the name of the game for Christy Johnson, the Certified Angus Beef ^® brand’s vice president of branding. In her role, she enjoys strategizing with design, media and advertising professionals to create pieces that resonate with the shopping audience, and developing the brand’s consumer loyalty program, Steakholder Rewards^™. A big part of her success comes from her love for research and passion for not just marketing, but marketing intelligently.
 
A cowgirl at heart, Christy originally joined the brand’s supply development team in 1997 after interning at cattle ranches and graduating from The Ohio State University with a degree in animal science. Her skills in coordinating events and training programs led her to a broader role with the marketing team, where she directed development of rancher profiles and video resources, and training programs for retailers, foodservice sales teams and restaurant waitstaff.
 
She resides in Dalton with her husband, Allen, and their four teenagers. After work hours, Christy’s usually found raising livestock and cheering on the kids at 4-H shows and sporting events.
 

Beth Woodruff is Director of Branding for Ally Financial specializing in brand strategy, partnerships and integrations. After spending nearly a decade working for companies like Ally, Driven Brands and AAA, Beth understands that brand storytelling is the driving force behind creating meaningful relationships with consumers.

Beth has produced award winning content through partnerships with OZY Media, Time, Inc and The XO Group. When she’s not telling the Ally brand story to anyone and everyone who will listen, Beth loves traveling, watching movies and playing with her two sons, Freddie and Oscar.

Beth holds an MA in integrated marketing communication from the University of Alabama. Roll Tide!

Chad Nikola is a customer first leader with a record of evolving and optimizing loyalty and personalization programs. He is currently serving as the Director of Customer Retention at American Eagle Outfitters where he recently led the complete rebrand and relaunch of AEO’s loyalty program - Real Rewards by American Eagle & Aerie. Chad’s background (Target, CVSHealth, Catalina) has helped shape his unique perspective on Loyalty/CRM programs and his unwavering passion for the customer.

Tulsi Patel leads CRM/1PD Strategy and Execution for J&J Consumer brands as a Senior Brand Manager on the Consumer Experience team. Her team helps Brands identify best practices on owned channel and platform capabilities, building first-party data to gain deeper consumer insights and empower consumers to have a 1:1 emotional connection with the brand. In evolving the CRM roadmap, she’s leading the drive to increase effectiveness and ROI for the U.S. market.
 
Prior to J&J Consumer Health, Tulsi spent 5 years at J.Crew/Madewell as a Senior Manager for Marketing and Ecomm Profit and Process Improvement and partnered closely with brand creative, visual merchandise, and store teams to bring strategies to life and develop an optimized end-to-end journeys for customers across channels. She started her career as a management consultant at Alvarez & Marsal, leading workstreams on projects primarily in retail on ecomm and IT solutions.
 
Tulsi is a 2023 NYU Stern School of Business MBA candidate, and holds a B.A. in Economics and History from Northwestern University.
 

Glenn has 20 years of expertise in Loyalty programs. He has spent his last six years at Woolworths as they transformed their Loyalty strategy and program, and prior to that has worked on leading Australian Loyalty programs such as Qantas Frequent Flyer and Commonwealth Awards. At Everyday Rewards, Glenn has led a variety of functions including Marketing, Operations, and Partnerships and for the last 15 months has led the Everyday Rewards program as a whole as it launched its App, a new brand platform, and adopted full agile ways of working, all whilst responding to Covid-19.  
 

Adam has been part of Sleep Number’s CRM team for 4 years, and manages the InnerCircle Rewards loyalty program as well as all Email and SMS marketing.  He is passionate about customer-centric direct marketing, and has held related roles at Staples, the BBC, the College of William & Mary, and Schwan’s Home Service.  He, his wife, and their 2 daughters live in Minneapolis.