Past Expo

Linda Kaplan Thaler, Author, Grit to Great

Advertising Hall of Famer Linda Kaplan Thaler is responsible for some of America' s most famous and award-winning advertising campaigns, including the Aflac duck and the hilarious "Yes, Yes, Yes" commercials for Clairol Herbal Essences. She has composed jingles that are among the industry's gold standard, including "I Don' t Wanna Grow Up, I'm a Toys ' R' Us Kid," and "Kodak Moments." She is a renowned motivational speaker and President of Kaplan Thaler Productions.

Having grown up in the Bronx, with no money or connections, Kaplan Thaler knows that perseverance and determination are what can make the difference and help people excel beyond their wildest dreams, whether in their career or personal life. She is proof positive of the power of grit. A powerful, entertaining and inspiring speaker, her lectures offer stories from the front lines of business on the impact that determination, hard work, and focused attention have on getting ahead.

Kaplan Thaler was formerly Chairman of Publicis Kaplan Thaler, with clients such as P&G, Citibank, Pfizer, and Wendy's. She was also previously CEO of the Kaplan Thaler Group, which she grew from a fledgling start-up to a company with over a billion dollars in billings.

Kaplan Thaler is also a nationally acclaimed author. Her newest bestseller with Robin Koval, Grit to Great, was ranked one of the top business books for 2015. A familiar face in the media, Kaplan Thaler has appeared on "The Apprentice," "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," CNN, and as the host of Oxygen's television series "Making It Big." She worked on the presidential runs for Clinton/Gore in 1992 and Hillary Clinton in 2008.

Her talents have earned her the prestigious Matrix Award, the Advertising Woman of the Year Award, NYWIFT's Muse award, and is one of Ad Age' s "Most Influential Women in Advertising." Recently, she won the Clio's Lifetime Achievement Award and was the first woman to ever receive this coveted award.

A native New Yorker, Kaplan Thaler is a Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude graduate of CCNY and currently sits on the Advisory Council for The Colin Powell School at CCNY.

Eric Messerschmidt, SVP Marketing, Ulta Beauty

Eric Messerschmidt is a proven marketing and sales executive with deep experience in technology, software, services, and retail industries. He has successfully led B2B and B2C marketing departments in established firms like AT&T and Sears Holdings, as well as mid-sized and early stage firms.  He has extensive experience in  loyalty marketing, CRM, customer insights and data analytics.  At Sears Holdings, he launched the Shop Your Way Rewards loyalty program, and over the last 5 years at Ulta Beauty, he has elevated Ultamate Rewards to become one of the leading loyalty programs in all of retail.   Eric graduated from the University of Illinois with an Electrical Engineering degree, and then earned his MBA in Finance & Marketing from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. 

Una Morabito, Senior Vice President, MassMutual Financial Group

Una is Senior Vice President of  MassMutual Financial Group and leads the Client Management organization within MassMutual WorkPlace Solutions. Leading all of the account and relationships managers, Una is responsible for the plan sponsor experience, ensuring high levels of satisfaction and retention driven by superior tactical and strategic execution.  Una and her teams are focused on plan management and delivering consultative solutions to ensure that we are helping plan participants retire on their own terms.     Una joined MassMutual in 1996 and has spent her career in the Retirement Plan arena with over 24 years of industry experience.  Una has held several roles at MassMutual, all client facing, and has been recognized for her leadership and passion centered on constantly elevating the plan sponsor’s experience at MassMutual.   Una holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in European Studies from the University of Limerick in Ireland. She also holds    FINRA Series 6, 7, 24 & 63 registrations, and is a Retirement Plans Associate of the International Foundation for Employee Benefit Plans.  

David Mingle, General Director of Global Customer Experience Execution and Planning, General Motors

David Mingle is the general director, Global Customer Experience Execution at General Motors. In this role, he is responsible for leading global customer experience strategies and programs for General Motors. As the general director he oversees customer experience programs including customer experience innovation, vehicle technology alignment and North America execution of customer experience programs.
 
Mingle joined General Motors in 2013 where he ran General Motors customer experience activities across the United States. During this time he managed the Social Center of Expertise, General Motors’ customer master data strategy, management and governance, and led the voice-of-customer strategies and processes.
 
A native of Illinois, Mingle received both his bachelor’s degree in Economics and his Master of Science in Economics and Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He currently serves as a board member for several personal interest organizations including the Jason Whitfield Foundation, which has provided scholarships to aspiring Olympic athletes in men’s gymnastics. 

Scott Robinson, Vice-President Loyalty Solutions, Bond Brand Loyalty

Scott Robinson leads Bond Brand Loyalty’s Loyalty Consulting & Solutions discipline and is our thought leader for consumer loyalty strategy engagements. His focus is enabling clients with the best possible solutions for their specific objectives and environments, and ensuring Bond maintains market leadership in terms of loyalty and CRM innovation, technique and approach. Scott has over 10 years’ experience designing, implementing and optimizing large-scale loyalty and CRM programs, and helping clients understand how to use them as stepping stones for inspiring powerful relationships with their customers. Along with his strong experience across a number of industries, including consumer retail and financial services, Scott brings a highly disciplined analytics approach to strategy development for clients. Earlier in his career, Scott launched and developed our Consumer Insights and Strategy Group, and spearheaded the development of the CRM principles and techniques, campaign management protocols and consumer data-driven strategy development tied to some of North America’s most celebrated loyalty programs. Scott is frequently called upon to comment in the media, and is a frequent speaker at industry events including conferences by Loyalty360, eTail, CMO Exchange, CMA, CRMC and AMA. Scott holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.  

Sean Claessen, EVP Strategy & Executive Creative Director, Bond Brand Loyalty

In his role as EVP Strategy and Executive Creative Director, Sean oversees Bond's Loyalty, Customer Experience and Creative practices—and blurs the line between breakthrough Creative and innovative Strategy. His extensive experience in above-and below-the-line advertising, coupled with a background in youth marketing, has garnered him a strategic understanding of how to acquire, engage and build meaningful long-term relationships between leading brands and their most valuable customers. He creates potent (and profitable) brand experiences by mixing traditional and non-traditional creative with a breadth of tactical knowledge governed by strategy derived from insights. Sean is a frequent speaker at leading conferences throughout North America, focused on Brand Experiences, Loyalty and Digital vocabularies like Social and Mobile.

Clay Walton-House, Leader of Customer Retention & Loyalty Practice, Lenati

Clay is a Principal at Lenati and leads the Customer Retention and Loyalty Practice. Clay helps Fortune 500 companies adopt and implement customer engagement strategies that accelerate growth and build loyalty. He has a proven track record of delivering successful organizational change, program design, optimization, and CRM operations that unlock business-wide impact in both B2C and B2B industries. Clay also leads an Executive Loyalty Roundtable Series, a quarterly advisory council that brings together executive leaders from leading brands to discuss pressing topics in retention and loyalty marketing.  Past clients include Hilton, Nordstrom, Microsoft, Expedia, T-Mobile, Adobe Systems, REI, Capital One, Starbucks and many others.

Pam Spier, Senior Manager, Customer Retention & Loyalty Practice, Lenati

Pam is a Senior Manager at Lenati with deep expertise in Customer Retention and Loyalty. She has led dozens of successful customer loyalty program initiatives. Pam is most passionate about helping clients create positive customer experiences that drive customer loyalty and generate business growth. She started her career with successful start-ups, and takes an agile approach to loyalty strategy and design. Pam has worked with many well-known brands including Hilton, REI, Vans, Nordstrom, T-Mobile, and Microsoft.

Margie Kupfer, VP of Marketing, 3C Interactive

As vice president of marketing at 3C, Margie is responsible for developing the marketing strategies that drive growth and support 3C’s leadership position in mobile marketing services. These responsibilities include lead generation, brand positioning and product marketing, public relations and event management. She works side by side with sales and business development to create inspiring content, proposals and relationships with clients and the industry.
 
Margie is an established marketing leader with 20 years of experience with strengths in strategic planning, retail advertising process, integration, execution and management.

 

Emily Rudin, Chief Customer Officer, CrowdTwist

Emily oversees the Client Success and Marketing teams at CrowdTwist. Emily has more than 15 years of retail, analytics, client services and marketing experience. Throughout her career, Emily led transformational initiatives that have enabled brands and retailers to form strong connections with their customer base. She offers a unique customer-centric perspective and has a proven track record for increasing value for customers, managing complex relationships and developing hard ROI for her customers. Prior to joining CrowdTwist, Emily held positions at Macy’s, Coach, Ann Inc., dunnhumby, and The Children’s Place. She holds a bachelor’s degree in consumer studies from Syracuse University. Emily is a proud mother of two. She and her husband are active members of their community.

Julie Gerola, Vice President & General Manager for Digital Marketing & Operations, Marvel Entertainment

Julie Gerola is the Vice President & General Manager for Digital Marketing & Operations at Marvel Entertainment. She is a marketing and loyalty expert, having served most recently as the Head of Marketing & Loyalty for Viggle Inc. Prior to her tenure with Viggle, Julie spent 12 years at Citigroup where she led major marketing efforts for Citi’s ThankYou Rewards program, a premier financial services loyalty program. Julie also spent several years in new product development creating notable financial services credit cards including the American AAdvantage Business card and Citi’s Prestige Card. Julie is a data-driven marketer with expertise in digital marketing, loyalty, strategy, economics, partnerships, and user experience.

Kim Welther, Vice President of Marketing Strategy, Baesman

As VP of Marketing Strategy, Kim leads Baesman's loyalty, data and strategic initiatives. She is tasked with driving client growth, customer acquisition and creating data-driven retention strategies. Before joining the Baesman team, Kim spent more than a decade at Victoria's Secret in Direct-To-Consumer campaign strategy and analysis. She built profitable customer acquisition and retention strategies from data-driven analysis to achieve company goals.

Sarah Sharp-Wangaard, Vice President of Marketing, Hibbett Sporting Goods

Sarah has spent more than 10 years working for Hibbett Sporting Goods. She has a variety of marketing expertise with a broad range of experience from direct-to-consumer marketing to customer loyalty. As the Vice President of Marketing, she is responsible for customer loyalty, as well as digital, social and site marketing. Sarah graduated from Lee University with a B.A. in Communications.

Nataki Edwards, Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations, AARP

Nataki Edwards is Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at AARP, the nation’s largest membership organization for people 50+. She is a leading expert in marketing to Boomers and other target segments, both demographic and psychographic, and has developed award-winning campaigns for top-tier brands including Yahoo!, AOL, Estée Lauder and American Express. Nataki has been with AARP since 2007. She oversees the overarching marketing vision for AARP Digital properties and platforms, including loyalty marketing and engagement. Under her leadership, AARP Digital has grown in size and impact and is rated as the #1 website for the 50+ audience, both on mobile and desktop. Nataki is regularly featured in media outlets like the Today Show, Washington Post, and USA Today as a digital and social media expert. She strives to expand AARP’s digital growth – meeting their members wherever they choose to engage and truly leading a revolution in the way people view and live life after 50.  

Lynn LaRocca, Senior Vice President, CXO, The New York Racing Association

Lynn LaRocca is responsible for the implementation and execution of a focused, strategic objective: enhancing the guest experience throughout the New York Racing Association properties including the world famous Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park, home of the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the prestigious Triple Crown. This encompasses creating and maintaining a superior experience culture at every consumer interception point by aligning and managing cross-functional departments including sales, marketing, hospitality, retail, guest services, communications and special events. Integrating the brand and the experience by keeping the organization focused on the customer and all the individual points of contact is the primary responsibility.

Michael Marino, Senior Vice President, Loyalty & Digital, Caesars Entertainment

Michael Marino is the SVP of Loyalty & Digital at Caesars Entertainment.  Michael oversees the Total Rewards Loyalty program, which consists of customers from Caesars’ gaming, hospitality, and online businesses.  Michael also oversees the Caesars.com e-commerce business, digital media, and PlaybyTR, Caesars’ mobile app.  Michael’s previous roles within Caesars include Vice President and Executive Associate to the Chairman, President and CEO and Director of Marketing Analytics.  Prior to joining Caesars, Michael worked at Bain & Company and Capital One Financial.   Michael holds a BS in Computer Science and an MBA from the University of Virginia. 

Barb Olson, SVP, Loyalty & 1:1 Solutions, Cogensia

Barbara Olson is a seasoned marketing executive and loyalty marketing leader with over 20 years of experience driving company sales and profitability through effective, measurable, data-driven marketing initiatives that acquire, retain, and build relationships with profitable customers. Today, Barb leads the Loyalty & 1:1 marketing practice at Cogensia.  This group turns actionable customer insights into business driving strategies to grow customer relationships.  Much of Barb’s work is about helping clients engage customers with relevant experiences and communications to differentiate their brands, supported by Cogensia analytics and customer management platform. 

Prior to joining Cogensia, Barb worked for Best Buy leading and revamping their loyalty program, and spent 10 years with Carlson Marketing managing numerous client brands including: Visa USA, Hallmark, AMC Theatres, Great Clips, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, TGI Friday’s restaurants, and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises.  

Barb is married with 3 sons, active in her local church and community and is an avid golfer and outdoor lover. 

Jodi Bertram, Director of Marketing, Houlihan’s Restaurant Group

A proven marketing, advertising and communications professional, Jodi has 20 years of experience in various industries, with a focus on hospitality.   She recently re-joined Houlihan’s after being on the team from 2004 – 2007.  Most recently, she has been a marketing consultant, and then at Applebee’s Services Inc., where she led campaigns for Brand Management and then directed Menu Strategy. 

A key focus is to align marketing goals to match desired consumer expectations and experience – which includes using data to understand customer behavior and leverage appropriate trends.

 

Jennifer Hitchens, VP, Online Community Management, Barclaycard

Jennifer Hitchens is Vice President – Online Community Management at Barclaycard, where she manages community strategy, implementation, and optimization for all external and internal Barclaycard Online Communities, including campaign launches for special marketing promotions, online events; financial literacy campaigns and video projects.
 
Prior to being promoted in September 2016, Jen served as AVP, Social Media & Community Management for nearly five years. She developed, launched and acted as Community Manager for two online communities and was responsible for the oversight of the social media marketing strategy for Barclaycard Ring and the Barclaycard Travel Community.
 
Most notably, Jen received a Citizenship Award from Barclaycard in June 2016 for developing an educational program with FICO for Barclaycard Ring cardmembers.  This prestigious global award is given to colleagues who have made a difference in the community on behalf of the company – from devising sustainable financial solutions for customers and clients; to supporting young people in developing skills for their future; or working with partners to achieve positive social or environmental impacts.
 
Jen has a proven track record in developing, creating and launching online support communities and social media marketing plans. She has a solid background in developing and launching new product lines, measuring results and analyzing metrics, and managing and developing customer relationships.
 
Before joining Barclaycard US, Jen led the Social Media Marketing strategy at Beyond.com and enjoyed over 15 years in the advertising industry at Alstin Communications, Inc. in Philadelphia. She has BAs in English and Art History from Lafayette College, as well as a certification in Web & Graphic Design from Moore College of Art and Design.

Graham Bradley, Loyalty Programme & Propositions Manager, Heathrow Airport

Graham plays a leading role in formulating strategies and actions to increase customer loyalty and value at Heathrow, the UK’s Hub Airport, including programme management of Heathrow Rewards, the world’s number one airport loyalty scheme. He is highly experienced in the field of customer experience and marketing, having previously held key positions with organisations excelling in these areas, including UK premium department store group, House of Fraser, and Australian-headquartered shopping mall operator, Westfield.
 

Marina Mirokhina, Marketing Manager, Pizza Hut

Marina graduated from National Research University (Moscow, Russia) in Management of Organizations and then got a master degree in Marketing Management in ESERP School of Business (Barcelona, Spain). After one year of work experience in marketing agency specialized on viral marketing and video advertising, in 2014 Marina joined Amrest, the largest restaurant operator in Central and Eastern Europe, as a Marketing Specialist. With a range of implemented successful projects like launching Pizza Hut's loyalty program, rebranding the restaurants, opening delivery service under her supervision, and thus extensive business growth, she took position of Marketing Manager​ at Pizza Hut chain in St. Petersburg, Russia.

  

Monica Paul, Loyalty Program Manager, The North Face

Monica Paul is the loyalty program manager at The North Face. She is responsible for driving strategy for acquisition, retention and promotion of the VIPeak Rewards program across all customer touchpoints. In this role, she works to evolve and improve the design and optimization of the reward experience for The North Face customers. Before joining The North Face, Monica held various integrated marketing roles in the telecommunications and CPG industries.

Michael Marino, SVP, Chief Experience Officer, Caesars Entertainment

Michael Marino is the SVP of Customer Loyalty & Chief Experience Officer at Caesars Entertainment.  Michael oversees Total Rewards, Caesars’ 50m member loyalty program, Caesars’ Digital business including Caesars.com and Caesars’ mobile app PlaybyTR, brand, media and all customer communication channels.  Michael’s previous roles within Caesars include Vice President and Executive Associate to the Chairman, President and CEO and Director of Marketing Analytics.  Prior to joining Caesars, Michael worked at Bain & Company and Capital One Financial.
 
Michael holds a BS in Computer Science and an MBA from the University of Virginia.
 
 

Brad Pitzele, Sr. Director of Marketing Strategy, CRM, and Analytics, GameStop

Brad Pitzele is the Senior Director of Marketing Strategy, CRM and Analytics for GameStop Corporation. In this role, Pitzele is focused on the strategy and delivery of CRM and marketing programs by leveraging data to craft highly relevant and personalized experiences that drive increased loyalty and sales. Pitzele has more than 15 years of strategy experience, with over 10 of those years focused in retail. Prior to joining GameStop, he has led similar initiatives for companies like Motorola and Guitar Center and has been well known for his ability to skillfully leverage data to solve complex business problems.

Rick Levitin, Sr. Manager, Customer Experience and Technology, Nissan

Rick Levitin has been in the Automotive industry for 16 years, spanning domestic and foreign markets, luxury and mainstream brands, retail and OEM organizations, focusing on fixed and variable operations management, training and customer satisfaction. Rick received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and earned an MBA in Automotive Management from Northwood University. Throughout his career, Rick has enjoyed a keen focus on the customer, and as Nissan’s Senior Manager of Customer Experience and Technology, he works to implement innovative solutions for the retail automotive experience.
   

Rich Mohr, VP, Rental & Global Product Management, Ryder

Richard Mohr 41, is the Vice President and Global Product Manager for Ryder Systems, Inc with responisbility for the Global Rental Operations.

Mr. Mohr is a successful leader with more than 20 years of experience in the Transportation Industry. He started as Rental Management Trainee in 1997 and has since held a series of positions with increasing responsibility. These roles have included transportation management, organizational leadership, consulting, sales, customer service and employee mentoring. Mohr has been responsible for and implementing setting the strategic vision and growth plan for the Rental Organization.

As the Vice President of Rental, Mohr leads 800+ employees across the U.S., Canada and UK.  Within these business units, he leads a team of Directors, National Sales Managers and Project Managers to meet the demanding targets, developing strategic alliance’s, establishing standard’s and setting initatives to create a commited business environment.

Mohr has spoken at many industry forums both within as well as outside of Ryder to establish a relationship within different divisions. For example being a speaker for the Ryder Women’s Leadership conference, National APA advisory board, as well as several annual transportation conferences. With a proven track record of execution, Mohr has helped Ryder with product launches that have been featured on Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Transport Topics and Loyalty 360. This positive exposure has helped Ryder be selected as a finalist in three customer facing awards in 2015.  With this experience, Mohr has developed an expertise in different faucets of customer satisfaction and growth.

Mohr is currently completing his Executive MBA program at Kennesaw State University (April 2017). Mohr also earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Charter Oak State College and also earned a cerification at Florida International University for an Executive Leadership Program.

Mr. Mohr also has an extensive record of volunteering within and outside of Ryder.  These include American Red Cross Coperate Advisory Board (Washington DC) Chairperson of United Way 2016/2015, Chair  of Ryder’s Public  Affairs Council for Alpharetta,Youth Lacrosse Coach in West Forsyth GA, Habitat for Humanity and is also an Eagle Scout. 

Nancy Mlotkowski, Senior Marketing Manager, Ryder

Nancy Mlotkowski is the Senior Marketing Manager for Ryder System, Inc. a FORTUNE 500® commercial fleet management, dedicated transportation, and supply chain solutions company, with responsibility for Rental and Pre-Owned Vehicle Marketing.
 
Nancy is a B2B strategic marketing expert with a knack for performing miracles on shoestring budgets. She graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, and later completed a post-graduate certificate in Internet Marketing from Full Sail University. She firmly believes in customer centricity and making every marketing decision with the customer’s experience in mind. When she’s not converting detractors into loyalists, she serves her two toddler dictators who couldn’t care less about the customer experience…unless it involves Legos or Batman. 
    

Michael Marino, SVP, Chief Experience Officer, Caesars Entertainment

Michael Marino is the SVP of Customer Loyalty & Chief Experience Officer at Caesars Entertainment.  Michael oversees Total Rewards, Caesars’ 50m member loyalty program, Caesars’ Digital business including Caesars.com and Caesars’ mobile app PlaybyTR, brand, media and all customer communication channels.  Michael’s previous roles within Caesars include Vice President and Executive Associate to the Chairman, President and CEO and Director of Marketing Analytics.  Prior to joining Caesars, Michael worked at Bain & Company and Capital One Financial.
 
Michael holds a BS in Computer Science and an MBA from the University of Virginia.
 
      

Lee Moreau, Director of Loyalty Marketing, Celebrity Cruises

Lee Moreau is the Director of Loyalty Marketing for Celebrity Cruises, a leader in the premium cruise line travel space.  With over 24 years of Guest Sales, Service and Marketing experience, including 12 years at FedEx on the International Business side of Operations, combined with 12 years in the cruise industry, Lee has a tremendous understanding of guests ‘wants, needs and desires.’  Currently overseeing a loyalty program of almost 4M members worldwide, Moreau feels that two-way communication with her customers is paramount to the success of their loyalty program, and in turn, to the overall success of the business.  Unlike other travel and hospitality industries such as Hotels and Airlines, a majority of consumers in the cruise industry do not engage with cruise brands weekly, monthly, or even annually, so Lee is focused on improving the overall Guest Experience when they are onboard, and also looking for ways (tools and partnerships) to add value to their memberships when they are not on a cruise.  This focus is constantly evolving and helps to drive engagement with their members, keeping Celebrity Cruises top of mind when the planning process for their next vacation (hopefully a cruise vacation) begins.  Lee believes in the guiding principal that Loyalty is the cornerstone to any successful business, and that approach has helped to make Celebrity Cruises’ Captain’s Club program one of the strongest and richest loyalty programs in the industry.

Doruntina Mekshi, International Program Manager, Deutsche Telekom AG

Doruntina Mekshi comes from more than 10 years experience in the telecommunication sector. For the last 2 years, she has been working for Deutsche Telekom, in the Branded Customer Experience Department, managing the company’s core customer experience programme designed to measure and improve customers’ experience in any of Deutsche Telekom’s touch-point, be it a call centre, shop, technical service, self service or web.

Prior to working for Deutsche Telekom in Bonn, Germany, Doruntina worked for Telekom Albania, covering a lot of topics in Customer Care and later in Retail – complaint management, reporting, employee performance measurement, customer satisfaction, retention, sales force training and many more.

She holds a BA degree in English and American language and literature from the University of Tirana and a Master degree in Leadership and Career management from the European University of Tirana. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, playing volleyball, reading or solving Sudoku and crosswords.

Frank Fenrich, International Program Manager, Deutsche Telekom AG

Frank Fenrich has been working with Deutsche Telekom’s customer experience measurement since 2006. He manages the major  text-s/SMS and IVR-based survey, which covers the company’s entire European footprint, consisting of 12 countries, with mobile and fixed operations. This survey measures on a daily basis the customer’s experience with one of the company’s main touch-points, like Call Centre, Shop, Self Service, etc.

Frank has been working for Deutsche Telekom for more than 25 years and since 2000, he has worked in its international sections, like Saudi Arabia, T-Mobile International and Deutsche Telekom Europe.

He holds an Engineer degree in telecommunication and resides in Bonn, Germany.

Deutsche Telekom is Europe’s largest telecommunication provider and has offices across 60 countries worldwide.

Scott Dixon, Director of CRM & Engagement, NCSA, Ubisoft

Scott Dixon is the Director of CRM and Engagement for North, Central, and South America (NCSA) at Ubisoft.  Scott oversees all digital direct customer communication across Ubisoft’s owned channels - consisting of Email, Web, In-game and console messaging platforms. Additionally he leads Engagement programs and both Pre and Post Marketing loyalty mechanics, as well as game live period messaging. All told Scott has over 15 years of CRM and Loyalty experience, and has worked in direct to consumer messaging and Digital marketing roles in Digital Gaming, Energy technology and Retail, for both enterprise and .COM startup sized corporations. All of his roles have centered around the use of Customer Data to find the best way to engage with customers using digital channels. You can find him on Twitter: @skootDX and linkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skootdx/

Viren Aggarwal, Consultant, Strategic Analytics, Barclaycard

Viren Aggarwal is a consultant with EXL Services, an operations management and analytics company. In his role, he leads the model development & implementation initiatives at Barclaycard US for both Acquisition and Existing Customer Management.

As a part of Strategic analytics, Viren also oversees RNPS Analytics and Customer Segmentation projects; and is responsible for strategizing marketing campaigns. He has been with Barclaycard US since 2014, and worked with both the Risk and Marketing Decision Science teams.

Prior to this role, Viren devised analytic solutions for financial institutions including banks and lenders across the US and UK, including extensive work on diverse portfolios like credit cards, consumer loans and merchant financing.

Viren holds a Masters in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, India and Bachelors in Economics from Hindu College, University of Delhi and is passionate about Econometrics and Analytics.
    

Doruntina Mekshi, International Program Manager, Deutsche Telekom AG

Doruntina Mekshi comes from more than 10 years experience in the telecommunication sector. For the last 2 years, she has been working for Deutsche Telekom, in the Branded Customer Experience Department, managing the company’s core customer experience programme designed to measure and improve customers’ experience in any of Deutsche Telekom’s touch-point, be it a call centre, shop, technical service, self service or web.

Prior to working for Deutsche Telekom in Bonn, Germany, Doruntina worked for Telekom Albania, covering a lot of topics in Customer Care and later in Retail – complaint management, reporting, employee performance measurement, customer satisfaction, retention, sales force training and many more.

She holds a BA degree in English and American language and literature from the University of Tirana and a Master degree in Leadership and Career management from the European University of Tirana. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, playing volleyball, reading or solving Sudoku and crosswords.

Frank Fenrich, International Program Manager, Deutsche Telekom AG

Frank Fenrich has been working with Deutsche Telekom’s customer experience measurement since 2006. He manages the major  text-s/SMS and IVR-based survey, which covers the company’s entire European footprint, consisting of 12 countries, with mobile and fixed operations. This survey measures on a daily basis the customer’s experience with one of the company’s main touch-points, like Call Centre, Shop, Self Service, etc.

Frank has been working for Deutsche Telekom for more than 25 years and since 2000, he has worked in its international sections, like Saudi Arabia, T-Mobile International and Deutsche Telekom Europe.

He holds an Engineer degree in telecommunication and resides in Bonn, Germany.

Deutsche Telekom is Europe’s largest telecommunication provider and has offices across 60 countries worldwide.

Jim Sprigg, Director of Database Marketing and Analytics, IHG

Jim Sprigg is director of Database Marketing and Analytics at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), where he has led IHG’s innovations in promotional design, targeted marketing, and marketing measurement. Jim leads a center-of-excellence comprised of 75 rock-star individuals residing in Atlanta, Manila, and Bangalore… supporting both science and execution of marketing for stakeholders across the globe. Previous roles at Lockheed, UPS, and Department of Defense involved advances in cost-based pricing, actuary/underwriting, effects-based military planning, and economic simulation. Jim’s focus today and throughout much of his previous academic and professional career has been the use of computers to understand and/or influence consumer choice. He is a frequent speaker at marketing conferences, a Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute, and has published in peer-reviewed journals including Marketing Science, Computational Economics, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Brand Strategy, and Rutgers Business Review.
        

Rose Yang, Director Insights and Loyalty, Marketing and Content Strategy, KKBOX

Rose Yang is the Director of Insights and Loyalty at KKBOX Taiwan. Her focus is to bring actionable insights to support business decisions, and to conduct CRM programs along with user journey.
Rose has over 1o-year experiences in CRM strategy, database marketing, and reward program development, across industry categories such as reward scheme platform, physical retail, e-commerce and digital content service.

She is passionate about knowing people’s emotions behind actions. With such good understanding, Rose believes marketer can drive customer loyalty with relevant and satisfying services.
She also loves to study user behaviors, evaluate strategic initiatives and experiment with new tactics. One of her key contributions to the company is to optimize campaign performance through marketing analytics.   

Vishal Morde, VP, Strategic Analytics, Barclaycard

Vishal Morde is VP of Strategic Analytics for Barclaycard US. He serves as a catalyst for developing new capabilities in Big Data, Machine Learning and Data Science within the organization. He manages advanced analytics initiatives for building predictive models and developing actionable consumer insights using state-of-the-art analytic tools and methodologies. In addition, Vishal is responsible for building business cases for new technology/data initiatives and delivering strategic recommendations to the senior management and other key stakeholders. Prior to this role, Vishal was responsible for creating Loyalty Analytics framework and optimizing marketing campaigns that reach more than 5 million customers in a year.
 
Vishal has 12+ years of experience in the Financial Services industry. Before joining Barclays, he worked at Discover Financial Services and HSBC, where he held leadership positions in Credit Risk, Marketing Analytics and Pricing Strategy. During his tenure Vishal led several key strategic initiatives supporting continued business growth and transformation.
 
Vishal has a bachelor's degree in Production Engineering from University of Mumbai, India; a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech; and Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Karen French, Vice President, Business Strategy and Support, Citizen's Bank

Karen A. French joined the Consumer Unsecured Lending business line of Citizens Bank in 2016 to drive the strategic growth plans for the division, which includes both the Citizens Bank Personal Loan and a variety of partnerships with Fortune 500 companies to offer zero-percent installment loans for large retail purchases. A key part of her work is leveraging the success of existing programs to develop strategies that drive a simple, fast and hassle-free lending experience.
 
Karen came to CFG in 2010 as part of the Student Lending department, where she spearheaded the launch of the Education Refinance Loan, a groundbreaking product that allowed students to consolidate higher education loans to significantly lower their interest rate. Karen has also managed the bank’s portfolio purchases of Student Loans from other leading lenders in the space since 2014.  Karen has a bachelor’s degree from  Duke University and received her  J.D. from Boston College Law School. 

Steve Kennedy, Director, Loyalty & Engagement, Domino's

As an expert in engagement marketing, Stephen leads the development, execution and management of the award-winning Dominos® Piece of the Pie Rewards program; which has been a significant contributor to Domino’s continued business success. As Director of Loyalty Marketing, Stephen is responsible for the overall success and ongoing management of the loyalty program, directs the testing of the program to ensure continued success and has responsibility for member engagement, experience and program profitability. Leveraging over 15 years of marketing experience focused on brand strategy, insights, innovation, advertising and strategic planning, Stephen is constantly striving to take the Piece of the Pie Rewards program to the next level of engagement. Prior to joining Dominos, Stephen held management positions at General Motors, Grail Brand Labs, Campbell Ewald and Borders Group. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and a Masters of Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University.
 

Julie Gerola, Vice President & General Manager for Digital Marketing & Operations, Marvel

Julie Gerola is the Vice President & General Manager for Digital Marketing & Operations at Marvel Entertainment. She is a marketing and loyalty expert, having served most recently as the Head of Marketing & Loyalty for Viggle Inc. Prior to her tenure with Viggle, Julie spent 12 years at Citigroup where she led major marketing efforts for Citi’s ThankYou Rewards program, a premier financial services loyalty program. Julie also spent several years in new product development creating notable financial services credit cards including the American AAdvantage Business card and Citi’s Prestige Card. Julie is a data-driven marketer with expertise in digital marketing, loyalty, strategy, economics, partnerships, and user experience.

Rebecca Barba, Sr. Manager, Product Marketing Strategy, Royal Caribbean

Rebecca Barba is a marketing magician, she creatively transforms complex business challenges into alluring, creative executions that draw in customers.   

Boasting twenty-three years in the leisure travel segment and over eighteen with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, Rebecca has a strong command of global marketing strategy in the vacation industry. Her passion for painting and arts allows her to combine visual design with fundamental marketing principles to deliver award winning campaigns on a global scale.    

Since joining Royal Caribbean, Rebecca has spread her magic across multiple marketing functions, including: Loyalty, Customer Communications, Brand, Media, Advertising, Partnerships, Production, Public Relations, Multicultural Marketing, Global Marketing, Revenue Generation, and Product Strategy. 

During her tenure in the cruise industry, Barba has earned numerous awards for outstanding achievement in sales and marketing, including the esteemed Travel Weekly, Gold Magellan Award in 2015 for Celebrity's Global Tours Travel Agent Website, and Silver Awards for Destination Videos and Innovative Tour Product.    
Rebecca has also accumulated professional recognition by Royal Caribbean including Manager of the Year, Employee of the Year and The Internationalist's top 50 Marketers in Latin America. 

Rebecca is a native of Miami, Florida, earning a minor in Visual Arts, BS in Political Science and a Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications from Florida International University.  She also received a Cultural Arts Diploma from the University of Salamanca in Spain. 

Rebecca derives inspiration from her travels whether at the office or in her studio.  She has visited numerous countries in 5 of the 7 continents and is always planning her next adventure. 

Kelly Whitehorn, Director, Corporate Marketing, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield

Kelly Whitehorn is the director of Corporate Marketing for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Little Rock, Arkansas. She joined Arkansas Blue Cross as a Communications Specialist in 1995, and has served as a coordinator and manager for Communications and Web Marketing. She assumed the director position in 2015. She is responsible for the development and implementation of strategic communication initiatives for consumers and other audiences; development and implementation of consumer experience initiatives; oversight of marketing activity/lead generation for both the Medicare and the under-65 individual markets; development and execution of online and offline marketing strategy including consumer, group and agent/broker sales; development of the social media engagement strategy; and ongoing oversight related to the innovation and development of customer-facing software for consumers, employers and agents. She’s also responsible for overseeing the development, planning, execution and measurement of brand advertising, public relations and community integration, as well as internal and external communications strategies and tactics that support consumer needs and business objectives. 
 
A native of California, Whitehorn received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 1985. She also has earned several professional designations including Certified Usability Analyst, HFI; Professional, Health Insurance Advanced Studies (AHIP); and Fellow, Health Insurance Advanced Studies (AHIP).


     

Ali Rauch, Director of Marketing, Chicken Salad Chick

Ali Rauch serves as the Director of Marketing for Chicken Salad Chick, the nation’s fastest growing private restaurant concept according to Inc. 5000. Joining the team when it had just 3 franchise locations, Ali has been an integral member of the leadership team in the process of getting it to a 65+ unit chain. Her passion for food, fun, and creativity make for the perfect fit in her role at Chicken Salad Chick, where she works with a dynamic team covering annual calendar planning & strategy, menu development, public & media relations, digital & email marketing, community marketing, social media strategy, as well as the creation, launch & management of the CravingCredits loyalty program. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications & Public Relations, Summa Cum Laude, from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, before transplanting to the South with her husband Todd. They live in Auburn with their furry son, Forrest & enjoy rooting for the Auburn Tigers & Green Bay Packers.

     

Michael Marino, SVP, Chief Experience Officer, Caesars Entertainment

Michael Marino is the SVP of Customer Loyalty & Chief Experience Officer at Caesars Entertainment.  Michael oversees Total Rewards, Caesars’ 50m member loyalty program, Caesars’ Digital business including Caesars.com and Caesars’ mobile app PlaybyTR, brand, media and all customer communication channels.  Michael’s previous roles within Caesars include Vice President and Executive Associate to the Chairman, President and CEO and Director of Marketing Analytics.  Prior to joining Caesars, Michael worked at Bain & Company and Capital One Financial.
 
Michael holds a BS in Computer Science and an MBA from the University of Virginia.
 
  

Sanjeev Sehgal, Director Customer Advocacy, Insights and Operations, Dell EMC

Sanjeev Sehgal is a Customer Advocacy Director at Dell where he leads the Customer Experience analytics and insights team for Dell’s customer segments. He has more than 17 years of experience working in the areas of finance, business and quantitative analysis; he has led global business reorganizations, M&A, and financial planning projects focused on delivering business impact while ensuring continuity for business stakeholders and external customers alike.
 
In his current role, he partners with the senior leadership team in Commercial, Enterprise and Consumer/Small Business segments, sharing quantitative and financial customer insights leveraged to establish action plans that meaningfully deliver favorable customer impact. He leads a team of analysts in Austin and Bratislava that builds customer use cases, runs predictive modeling and Net Promoter Score (NPS) analytics among others. His team runs big data analytics which research customer retention and lifetime value by CX categories. He also leads customer economics analytics focused on programs and loyalty initiatives. 
 
Sanjeev has rich global experience having worked in several Asian countries and the United States for over 20 years. He received his MBA from IIM Bangalore India. He currently lives in Austin with his family including two young kids, Aryan and Riana.  

Genny Burleson, Consumer Experience Coordinator, Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield

Genny Burleson is the Consumer Experience Coordinator for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Little Rock, Arkansas. She joined Arkansas Blue Cross as a Consumer Web Marketing Coordinator in 2013. She is focused on monitoring and improving the consumer lifecycle from awareness to renewal (moving forward); tracking, overseeing and optimizing projects to improve all consumer interactions; strategic support for consumer experience, including incorporating emerging consumer needs as well as digital and marketplace trends; collaborating with consumer research and brand marketing teams for data-driven decisions; and working to address the needs of the consumer on their terms; studying, analyzing, evaluating and re-designing internal processes to better serve the consumer; establishing voice of the consumer metrics and dashboard; and implementing and overseeing CX projects and initiatives.

A native of Arkansas, Burleson received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee in 2003. She is also a Certified Usability Analyst.

 

Lonnie Mayne, Founder & CEO, Red Shoes Living

Lonnie Mayne created Red Shoes Living while serving as president of InMoment. What began as an internal initiative to define and give structure to the distinctive InMoment culture, quickly grew into a vehicle through which Mayne and the company could provide support for a necessary, but often neglected factor so necessary in building successful, customer-centric organizations: the human factor.

Today, Lonnie is an internationally recognized speaker and coach, sharing his message of “standing out” and creating exceptional experiences for employees, customers and in personal relationships. He has become a regular presenter at the prestigious British Citizen Awards. Held biannually at the Palace of Westminster, the awards recognize individuals for doing extraordinary things, truly making a difference in their local communities.

Whether it's business or personal, Lonnie believes that Red Shoes Living is a way of life. His impactful presentations and leadership coaching provide guidance to individuals and organizations on how to create authentic, memorable relationships and cultures. 

Mark Lange, Chief Marketing Officer, Reputation.com

Mark has held founding marketing, sales, and product leadership roles in successful information and enterprise SaaS ventures acquired at attractive multiples — many of which have been cited among Information Week’s Top 100 ASPs, Forbes’ Best of the Web, and Upside’s Hot 100 Privately-held Companies. He has also run product marketing for PeopleSoft and led a $1.2 billion line of business for SAP.

Mark started his career in the U.S. Treasury Department and has served as speechwriter to the President. As an Executive Fellow at the Center for Digital Strategies at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Mark has moderated roundtables with Global 200 CIOs. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in English and Philosophy from Dartmouth College.

Cassie Boutelle, Vice President, Loyalty Products Global Retail Payments/Product Management, FIS

Cassie specializes in retail and financial institution loyalty products as well as emerging payment trends. She joined FIS in 2013.
 
As the loyalty rewards industry continues to grow year after year, she sees more businesses and financial institutions understanding the benefits of reward programs, such as increased spend and increased consumer insight via customer data. Today’s consumers are savvier than ever and wanting more from their retailers and financial institutions, looking for more incentives to drive where they shop and which card they use. Cassie sees the opportunity in the challenge of this environment, viewing loyalty programs as ways to stay competitive and innovate, ultimately pleasing customers and increasing revenues.
 
Cassie earned an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in public relations with a minor in education from the University of Florida. She is Certified in Pragmatic Marketing and has coauthored white papers with Callahan’s, Mercator and First Annapolis. In addition, she has been featured in the Credit Union Times, Credit Union Journal and Callahan’s.

Ali Rauch, Director of Marketing, Chicken Salad Chick

Ali Rauch serves as the Director of Marketing for Chicken Salad Chick, the nation’s fastest growing private restaurant concept according to Inc. 5000. Joining the team when it had just 3 franchise locations, Ali has been an integral member of the leadership team in the process of getting it to a 65+ unit chain. Her passion for food, fun, and creativity make for the perfect fit in her role at Chicken Salad Chick, where she works with a dynamic team covering annual calendar planning & strategy, menu development, public & media relations, digital & email marketing, community marketing, social media strategy, as well as the creation, launch & management of the CravingCredits loyalty program. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications & Public Relations, Summa Cum Laude, from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, before transplanting to the South with her husband Todd. They live in Auburn with their furry son, Forrest & enjoy rooting for the Auburn Tigers & Green Bay Packers.

Brock Bergman, Director of Business Development & Strategy, SessionM

Brock Bergman is currently Director of Business Development and Strategy at SessionM, the leading Loyalty Marketing Automation platform that maximizes customer lifetime value by delivering personalized, omnichannel engagement at enterprise scale. He joined SessionM in December 2016 following their acquisition of LoyalTree, a point-of-sale connected mobile loyalty and transaction analytics platform, where he was the company’s Founder & CEO.

Brock has been featured as a leading loyalty and digital strategist in print publications and online platforms including: BusinessWeek, SIRIUS Satellite Radio, PBS, and the Martha Stewart Network. Brock has also led efforts in developing strategic integrations, partnerships and loyalty strategies with companies including Ticketmaster, Oracle/MICROS, NCR, Aramark, Verizon, Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group, Toyota, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and more.

He fancies himself a hot sauce aficionado, a former collegiate golfer, beer-league hockey grinder, cyclist, dad, Pittsburgher, and a graduate of Villanova University with degrees in Marketing and Communication.

Rahul Chand, Senior Director, Enterprise Loyalty Marketing, 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.

Rahul Chand is the Senior Director of Enterprise Loyalty Marketing at 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.  Rahul is a leading CRM and Loyalty Marketing professional with over 15 years of experience of launching and managing successful loyalty and CRM programs.  Rahul joined 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. in 2013 and is currently spearheading the Celebrations Rewards program with millions of members and the Celebrations Passport paid membership program for the 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. family of brands that includes such iconic brands as 1-800-Flowers.com, Harry & David, Cheryl’s Cookies, The Popcorn Factory and more.  Rahul is a firm believer in leveraging data and technology to drive customer engagement & shaping customer behavior to utilize loyalty programs to meet strategic goals of the enterprise.  Rahul holds a BBA in Operations Management from Baruch College and an MBA in Marketing and E-Business from Fordham University.  He lives in Long Island, NY with this wife and two kids.

Len Llaguno, Senior Consultant, Willis Towers Watson

Len has over a decade of experience working with loyalty programs in the hospitality, online travel agency, airline and credit card industries. He specializes in using advanced predictive analytics to help loyalty program executives gain competitive advantage. Len leads development efforts for Willis Towers Watson’s LoyaltyAdvisor analytics suite. With the predictive power of LoyaltyAdvisor’s integrated financial framework and software, loyalty programs can test new strategies for optimizing performance, tiering and targeting members with the most potential, and managing liability risk from unredeemed points with more confidence.

Manolis Bardis, Senior Consultant, Willis Towers Watson

Manolis has over a decade of experience working with some of the largest loyalty programs in the hospitality, aviation, coalition and credit card industries. He specializes in using advanced analytics to help loyalty programs evaluate their liabilities and provide insights to senior management on the underlying drivers of cost. Manolis also provides guidance to senior loyalty executives to manage their loyalty programs by estimating the impact from various contemplated program changes, including the implementation of new expiration rules and marketing strategies targeting subsets of the membership population.

 

Shirley Adut, Strategic Initiatives, North America, Idomoo

Shirley has an extensive background in Customer Success Management and has leveraged this experience to execute a client-centric strategic approach at Idomoo. Throughout her career, Shirley has delivered quantifiable value to Fortune 500 companies, helping her clients streamline their workflow, optimize website performance and personalize marketing campaigns through video. Her passion for creating a superior user experience enables her to put the customer at the forefront of her recommendations.  As such, Shirley helps enhance loyalty programs by developing Customer Lifecycle Management tactics through the use of multi-channel contact strategies tailored to individual customer segments.

Graham Bradley, Loyalty Programme & Propositions Manager, Heathrow Airport Limited

Graham plays a leading role in formulating strategies and actions to increase customer loyalty and value at Heathrow, the UK’s Hub Airport, including programme management of Heathrow Rewards, the world’s number one airport loyalty scheme. He is highly experienced in the field of customer experience and marketing, having previously held key positions with organisations excelling in these areas, including UK premium department store group, House of Fraser, and Australian-headquartered shopping mall operator, Westfield.
 

Julius Lai, Vice President of Guest Engagement, AMC Theatres

Julius Lai is the Vice President of Guest Engagement for AMC Theatres, where his team is responsible for many of the guest-facing aspects of the AMC experience: the AMC Stubs loyalty program, amctheatres.com, the AMC mobile app, as well as AMC’s outbound digital marketing channels.  Prior to joining AMC, Julius spent his career building better customer experiences at different companies across travel and entertainment: increasing player engagement and retention by over 100,000 hours for Call of Duty and Destiny players at Activision, building and scaling the Expedia+ Rewards program worldwide with Expedia, and leading personalized marketing programs driving over $200MM annually for the ~40MM member Marriott Rewards program.  Common threads throughout Julius’ career have been developing and leading teams, savvy use of data and analytics to drive personalization, and a passion for creating awesome guest experiences.

Julius previously served as a Captain in the US Air Force where his last duty station was in the Headquarters Air Force branch of the Pentagon.  He has degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Duke University, where he spent an alarming amount of his college experience sleeping in a tent outside Cameron Indoor Stadium.  Julius failed miserably in his second chance to attend a football school by choosing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned an MBA.  He is married with two young daughters who are doomed to inherit his lifelong passion for the Chicago Cubs.

Mo Nasr, Director, Golfer Engagement, GolfNow | Golf Channel

As Director of Golfer Engagement for GolfNow/Golf Channel, Mo Nasr leads strategy and program development for the company, which aim to increase the engagement and loyalty of the golfers using the GolfNow technology to book their tee times.  Mo brought 12 years of loyalty and retention experience to his current position with GolfNow, previously serving in a variety of roles in the wireless industry throughout Africa and the Middle East, and within the aviation industry. 

Moderator - Narina Sippy, CMO, Stellar Loyalty

As the Chief Marketing Officer at Stellar Loyalty, Narina Sippy is responsible for marketing and alliances, and works with Stellar Loyalty clients and partners on strategy and program design.  She also serves on the Advisory Board of Loyalty360, the unbiased, objective, and market-driven association for customer loyalty.
 
Narina Sippy has 20+ years of experience in enterprise software CRM, ERP, GRC and analytics, specialising in go-to-market strategy and programs designed to help companies capitalise on fast growth and new market opportunities.  She has served as CMO, SVP and GM at both global and start-up software companies including SAP, Siebel Systems, Causata and Trufa.  Narina’s proven track record includes leading SAP America’s launch in North America leading up to SAP’s NYSE listing and contributing to the company’s 400% growth.  At Siebel Systems, she helped form and run operations for Siebel’s Industry Verticals (including Loyalty), and more recently, she led strategic alliances for customer experience predictive analytics company Causata (sold to NICE).  

Michael Marchand, Executive in Strategy, Innovation, Corporate Development and Operations, Dell EMC

 Michael loves to build innovative solutions that solve hard problems, create new business models and get them to scale.  He develops and delivers profitable Go-to-Market efforts and products to serve consumers, companies and governments.  He has demonstrated agility during his career in learning new topics, leading change across functions to achieve a specific results and working with different professions. 
 
Michael is a Global Director at Dell EMC where he recently joined the new Chief Customer Office to lead strategy, planning and design for our Commercial Segment.  His focus is to use both data analytics and customer listening to design effective programs to increase customer loyalty and drive experience value for customers and partners.
 
Prior to this role, Michael focused initially on Dell’s expansion in Software, Services and Analytics around Healthcare, Small & Medium Business and Consumers. He has worked on the Dell-EMC integration, evaluated software acquisitions in the HCLS, and built potential acquisitions in ERP SaaS space to leverage Boomi.  In addition, he designed a new function around Sales, Business Development and Marketing to better support Dell’s efforts in Healthcare, Education and Government.  The function focuses on helping these segments to transition to more Value Based approaches using technology.  Finally, he has built a team of strategists and data scientists to use statistical analysis to prioritize & enable Dell’s sales organization and enhance offerings.

Ron Cox, Director of Consumer Marketing & Planning, Spartan Nash

A West Michigan native with over 40 years of food retail experience, Ron is the director of consumer marketing and planning for SpartanNash, a Fortune 400 company and is directly responsible for the activities directly associated with personalized one to one marketing within the organization.  With over 25 years of loyalty marketing experience, Ron  leads a team that manages the consumer loyalty programs across the SpartanNash corporate locations, primarily focused on their yes Program available in the Family Fare, D&W Fresh Market, Family Fresh and VG’s banners representing over 1.5 million households.  This team also manages the e-commerce initiatives for SpartanNash, primarily focused on the online ordering and pick up program currently in its launch phase as well as a consumer analytic team which collects and analyzes consumer insights to develop solutions to drive engagement through merchandising and consumer experience strategies.  This consumer marketing team uses their corporate retail learning and experience to develop programs and solutions to offer to the over 2100 SpartanNash independent retailers to improve their one to one engagement with their consumers.

Brian Venuti, Vice President, Global CRM, Luxottica Group

At Luxottica, Brian is the VP of Global CRM responsible for customer and patient strategies across the optical and sunglass businesses. Prior to Luxottica, he ran CRM at Etrade where he oversaw customer experience and channel strategy. His experience includes companies like Sears and Capital One where he worked to develop segmentation, targeted marketing capabilities and institute direct response innovations. He was a finalist in the Loyalty and Gamification World Championships. He received his MBA from the University of Virginia.

Doug Glazer, Director of Customer Loyalty, Fanatics

Doug joined Fanatics in 2015 to build Fanatics Rewards, the company’s underutilized loyalty program, into the best loyalty program for sports fans anywhere. Prior to Fanatics, Doug spent 20 years developing and growing industry-leading loyalty and membership programs for some of the most admired national brands, including Nordstrom, Amazon, and TIME. Doug earned a master’s degree from Syracuse University, and an MBA from NYU. He lives in Seattle, WA with his wife and three kids.  

Jenifer Warrell, Senior Director of Marketing, American Girl

Jenifer Warrell currently serves as Sr. Director Global Marketing for American Girl—a division of Mattel, Inc. and premium lifestyle brand best known for its inspiring world of dolls, stories, and experiences that help girls develop strength of character.
 
Jenifer joined American Girl, which is headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin, in 1999. An experienced marketing leader, Jenifer is known for her expertise in vision setting, marketing development and innovation, as well as multi-channel marketing for global brands.
 
Jenifer received her B.A. in marketing and management from the Edgewood College-Madison, WI. She currently lives in New Glarus, Wisconsin with her husband, son and daughter.
 
American Girl ranks as one of the nation’s top multi-channel marketers, children’s publishers, and experiential retailers, with its renowned American Girl stores located in 20 major U.S. markets and specialty boutiques in Canada and Mexico.
 

Moderator - Tom Beauchamp, SVP, Business Development: Direct to Consumer Practice Group Leader, Halo Loyalty

Tom Beauchamp lead the company’s Retail and Direct to Consumer Practice Groups. He was formerly a Partner in the National Retail Practice of Fortium Partners. He brings more than 30 years of technology leadership and loyalty experience in retail, online and gaming organizations. Throughout his career, Beauchamp has been responsible for the restructuring of underperforming technology organizations in domestic and international retail organizations. He is a forerunner in cross platform loyalty application development and has successfully implemented vendor agnostic consumer marketing capabilities in retail, gaming, and healthcare industries. Beauchamp was the CIO for a number of retail organizations including Hot Topic Stores, Limited Stores, Footlocker, and Thrifty Drug Store. He holds a Bachelor degree from the University of Redlands and an MBA from the University of California, Fullerton.

Danika Hoffmann, Senior Vice President, Strategic Services, The Lacek Group

Danika leads the Strategic Services and New Business groups, marshaling the resources of TLG, and other Ogilvy offices, to find new clients and to drive customer engagement and data-driven strategies for existing clients, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Ford Motor Company and McDonald’s. She and her team develop strategic recommendations with a focus on designing and optimizing loyalty and customer-engagement programs delivered across all customer touchpoints. These strategies inform the execution of millions of targeted and relevant data-driven emails, digital ads, mobile experiences, and other real-time touchpoints for the known customers of all TLG clients. Danika earned her bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. Among her hobbies are traveling the world, putting her multiple languages to great use. 

Julie Bustos, Senior Vice President, Technology Services, The Lacek Group

Julie leads Technology Services, working with TLG clients to activate customer data and insights across channels and throughout the customer lifecycle. Over her 21-year career, Julie has worked across the agency to imagine and deliver technology solutions that measure and optimize customer relationships for numerous clients, including Enterprise Holdings, Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Ford Motor Company, Carnival Cruise Lines and McDonald’s. Solutions include marketing technology consulting, technology vendor selection, technology integration to create highly relevant customer messaging across channels, and even a proprietary technology solution that streamlines targeted content production for use across channels. During her downtime, this Minnesota Wild hockey fan and University of Wisconsin, Madison grad likes to spend time with her husband and three kids.

Greg Adamietz, VP of Partnerships, Rapt Media

 

Richard Long, Strategic Marketing Leader & Advisor, Allstate Rewards

Rich is a marketing leader who has always been passionate about customers and providing them the best possible experience across all channels, touch points and interactions to more effectively acquire, engage and retain them while increasing loyalty and customer value.  He has a unique career perspective from having served in various roles in client,  consulting and ad agency environments, where he has supported many different well-known B2B and B2C brands covering multiple industries over a 20-year career.  

Stephanie Meltzer-Paul, VP of Member Engagement, BJ's Wholesale Club

Stephanie Meltzer-Paul is currently the VP of Member Engagement at BJ's Wholesale Club where she oversees their loyalty program and membership retention efforts. Previously she has held consumer marketing positions at Starwood Hotels & Resorts and American Express.

Bill Linehan, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Red Lion Hotels

Bill Linehan joined Red Lion in February 2014 as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. He has more than 25 years of hospitality experience, most recently as Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director at Richfield Hospitality and Sceptre Hospitality Resources, where he led the sales, marketing and resource management activities surrounding the company's portfolio of hotels and resorts. At Sceptre, Linehan repositioned the company to become a global leader of hotel revenue technologies. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Global Marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group where he established the marketing to re-launch seven IHG brands to the development community. Linehan also previously served as Global Vice President of Marketing, Brand Alignment and Partnerships for Starwood Hotels and Resorts and held sales and marketing positions with both Hyatt and Sheraton. 

Lindsay Eichten, Director of Loyalty, Sally Beauty

Lindsay Eichten is Director of Loyalty for Sally Beauty North America. Lindsay is passionate about bringing practical, tactical, measurable changes to retail loyalty programs. Since joining the Sally Beauty team in 2015, Lindsay has led the development of a number loyalty member lifecycle emails and bringing the newly refreshed Sally Beauty branding to life within the loyalty program. The Sally Beauty team continually looks to enrich their years-old Beauty Club Card program. Lindsay has six years’ experience in loyalty program design, analysis and implementation. Prior to joining Sally Beauty, Lindsay launched several loyalty program revisions for JCPenney Rewards, including niche programs supporting two retail divisions. Lindsay began her career in loyalty research and evaluation while working for Cinemark USA. Lindsay holds a BA in Economics and Finance and a Masters in Management Administration from the Naveen Jindall School of Management at UT Dallas.

Moderator - Mark Johnson, CEO & CMO, Loyalty360

As CEO & CMO of Loyalty360, Mark is committed to bringing loyalty to the forefront as a critical marketing strategy. To further this goal, he has created an unbiased, market-driven clearinghouse and think tank through which users and loyalty providers can interact and collaborate with. His finger on the pulse of what’s happening in loyalty, Mark is driven to give members the expert insight and guidance they need to develop strategies and implement programs that effectively engage their customers and employees and build stronger relationships with them.

Mark has significant experience in selling, designing and administering prepaid, loyalty/CRM programs, as well as data-driven marketing communication programs. He received his start in loyalty program design while at Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, OH where he developed the bank’s open (merchant-based gift card) and closed (MasterCard) system stored value programs (Premiere Issue).

Following, Mark was Vice President of Product Development at Stored Value Systems. Through efforts, SVS designed the gift card mall product and wrote its first comprehensive market evaluation on loyalty. He was also responsible for the recommendation to acquire the assets of DataMark Technologies and their loyalty processing clients. At Size Technologies, Mark sold loyalty and CRM programs to Alliance Data Systems (Dynamic Value), Carlson Marketing Group (Gold Points Replacement), National Processing Company/Bank of America, Blackhawk Marketing/Safeway and First Data Resources.

Mark has his undergraduate degree in mass communications (media management) from Miami University, an M.B.A from the University of Cincinnati, and is currently pursuing an M.B.A. in Business Information - Statistics from Xavier University. A recognized thought leader in loyalty marketing, Mark shares his expert insights with media worldwide. He is a regular contributor to Hotel Executive and 21st Century Business and has been featured in FoxBusiness, NBC News, ABC News, New York Times, Washington Post, 1to1 Magazine, MarketingSherpa, CRM Magazine and The PrePaid Press.

Noah Brodsky, SVP Worldwide Loyalty & Customer Engagement, Wyndham Hotel Group

As senior vice president of worldwide loyalty and customer engagement, Noah Brodsky is responsible for the growth and evolution of Wyndham Rewards, the newly re-launched guest loyalty program of Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company.
 
Designed to be both simple and generous, Wyndham Rewards is a first-of-its-kind program for the hospitality industry, offering members a free night stay at any of more than 7,700 hotels around the globe for just 15,000 points with the opportunity to earn a minimum 1,000 points on every qualified stay.
 
In addition to Wyndham Rewards, Brodsky is also responsible for overseeing the program’s co-brand credit card, marketing partnerships, multi-brand advertising, social media marketing, customer care, and customer acquisition and retention efforts.
 
Brodsky joined Wyndham Hotel Group in June 2014 as vice president, sales innovation, where he was responsible for increasing the sales efficiency and driving the development and expansion of sales tools and systems for Wyndham Hotel Group’s global and field sales teams through strategy, systems administration, project management, communications and marketing and sales process.
 
Previously, Brodsky served as chief experience officer at WeWork, a venture-backed office leasing and co-working company based in New York, N.Y., where he oversaw operations, sales, marketing and public relations. His prior experience in the hospitality industry includes roles at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Four Seasons Resorts and Walt Disney World.
 
Brodsky earned his bachelor’s degree at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, N.Y., and his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School in Boston, Mass.
 
He is based in Wyndham Hotel Group’s Parsippany, N.J., offices.

Jeff Pearson, Senior Vice President, E-Commerce & Marketing, Lids Sports Group

Jeff Pearson is the Senior Vice President of E-commerce and Marketing for Lids Sports Group. He is responsible for multiple websites operated by Lids including Lids.com and Lids.ca. In addition, Lids has over 1300 stores in the US and Canada where Jeff leads the marketing, promotions and store support.   Key work coming soon includes a new Lids App and a renewed customer loyalty program aimed at providing key benefits for loyal customers.   Before joining Lids in August of 2016, Jeff was the Senior Vice President of E-commerce, Marketing and Strategy for hhgregg. He spent 10 years at hhgregg in various leadership roles.

Andrea Riley, CMO, Ally Bank

Andrea Riley is the Chief Marketing Officer at Ally, responsible for overseeing all marketing activities companywide.

Andrea has been an integral part of the growth and evolution of the Ally brand since joining the company in 2008. She oversaw the launch of Ally Bank in 2009, and simultaneously developed marketing efforts to support the transition of Ally’s auto finance business as it grew from a captive finance provider to a market-driven business model. Ally was named a “Top 25 Up and Coming Brand” by The Boston Consulting Company in 2015, alongside companies including Uber, Tesla and Virgin Atlantic.

In September 2016, Andrea launched Ally’s first company-wide brand campaign “Do It Right”, which sums up Ally’s brand philosophy, and relentless focus on customers. It is the first campaign to encompass the full scope of Ally’s financial services offerings under one mantra— including its award-winning online bank, auto finance business, digital wealth management and online brokerage platform, and Corporate Finance operation.
Prior to Ally, Andrea spent 20 years at advertising agencies – most notably leading the Chevrolet account, where she launched the iconic American Revolution campaign.