Agenda & Speakers
Getting Back to the Basics in Loyalty: Putting the Customer at the Center
Thursday, May 22, 2025 - 1:30 PM - 2:05 PM
Join industry leaders from Wyndham, Stop & Shop, and a leading apparel retailer as they dive into how a focus on customer-centric fundamentals is transforming their loyalty strategies. This interactive panel cuts through the noise to focus on what truly matters: building programs that reflect genuine customer needs and still deliver value for the brand.
Discover how these experts rely on data to evolve their offerings, create emotional connections that drive engagement, and overcome common challenges in today's complex loyalty landscape. Our panelists will share real success stories and practical approaches that brand marketers can implement immediately.
Get expert insights from our panelists during the Q&A session and leave with actionable insights on leveraging technology to optimize program value while keeping customers at the heart of your loyalty strategy.
Speakers
Brittany Miller, Previously Director of Loyalty for Gabe's Stores, Loyalty Marketing Professional
Brittany Miller is a results-driven marketing leader specializing in loyalty program strategy, customer retention, and growth marketing. As Director of Loyalty at Gabe’s Stores, Brittany led the successful relaunch of the company’s loyalty program, leveraging data-driven insights to enhance customer engagement and retention. By introducing a tiered rewards structure, personalized perks, and in-app gamification, they increased customer lifetime value and repeat visits. With expertise in CRM, digital marketing, and analytics, Brittany excels in transforming insights into impactful marketing strategies.
Mike Shiwdin, Group VP of Guest Engagement Loyalty and Strategic Partnerships, Wyndham
Michael’s experience spans Investment Banking, Private Equity, Corporate Strategy, and Marketing across companies such as JP Morgan, Cerberus Capital, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, and currently, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
At Wyndham, Michael is the Global Vice President of Loyalty, Guest Engagement, and Strategic Partnerships. In this role, he leads Wyndham’s global loyalty program, Wyndham Rewards, digital transformation, merchandising, strategic partnerships, promotional strategy, CRM, and guest analytics. Michael’s team enhances the value of Wyndham Rewards to both members and franchisees, leads multi-year MarTech planning, and works cross-functionally to optimize Media spend through digital and guest analytics.
Moderator: Denise Holt, SVP of Strategy Experience & Research, Phaedon
Denise understands the power of human insights in driving smart strategy and business growth. With over 20 years of experience in consumer loyalty, brand and creative strategy, consumer insights, human-centered design, and business strategy, Denise leads Phaedon’s strategy, experience, and research team. As part of our company’s thought leadership, she spearheaded a substantial multi-method research initiative that led the industry and has been embraced for uncovering insights about the drivers that are core to all human connections—Humanizing Loyalty: A road map to establishing genuine emotional loyalty at scale. In 2023, her team led and published research entitled Sparking Consumer Participation Through Shared Values and Beliefs. Denise’s clients across a variety of industries (travel, hospitality, retail, restaurant, health, wellness, and more) benefit from her strategic guidance, research leadership, and continuous pulse on emerging trends and human insights.
Prior to Phaedon (previously known as ICF Next), Denise ran her own strategy consulting practice, was the director of strategy and branding at Optum, and spent more than a decade in marketing and brand planning roles within the loyalty space. She is passionate about uncovering personal stories and insights from consumers, employees and business leaders that enable organizations to connect on an emotional level with those they serve. Denise brings clarity and focus to drive meaningful business growth.
Per Jensen, Loyalty Lead, Stop & Shop
Per Jensen is the Loyalty Lead at Stop&Shop. Here he has transformed the impact and role of Loyalty through a customer centric approach and manages a promotion budget of $50M. He built Catalina Marketing from the ground up in Germany and has extensive experience within the Retail/CPG space. He has held high level roles in a few startups covering business strategy, operations, advanced analytics, consumer insights and new technologies.
He received his MBA in Marketing and Finance from The Columbia Business School in NYC, and in addition he has a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Engineering/Product Development from Denmark’s Technical University.