Agenda & Speakers

Amanda Jamerson, Sr. Director of Hilton Honors, Hilton

Amanda Jamerson is recognized as a Woman to Watch & Role Model for Inclusion Hospitality by the Travel & Leisure Index and has over a decade of hospitality experience. With a multifaceted 14+ year career based in customer experience, marketing and eCommerce, she has remained committed to blending customer needs with marketing and technology to drive the business forward. She is a passionate leader focused on mentoring, developing and inspiring people in their careers and she pushes boundaries to create a diverse and equitable work environment.
 
Currently a Sr. Director of Hilton Honors, known as an award-winning guest loyalty program for Hilton’s portfolio of brands, comprising of more than 7,100 properties and over 150 million members. Amanda is responsible for developing a comprehensive multi-year program strategy that expands Hilton Honors across core loyalty segments and key enterprise growth areas. Leveraging customer-driven research and data, she oversees the evolution of member benefits and unlocks brand positioning to future-proof and propel Hilton Honors forward. Amanda is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and minor in hospitality and tourism management. 
 
When not working she is a full-time wife, mother, and travel enthusiast. Amanda lives every day by the Jane Goodall quote “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide the difference you want to make.”
 

Jessica Kearney, Assistant Vice President, Travelers Insurance

Jessica Kearney is Assistant Vice President of the Travelers Institute, the public policy division of Travelers. In this role, she leads corporate thought leadership initiatives on public policy issues of interest to the property casualty insurance sector, as well as the financial services industry more broadly. Her portfolio has included work addressing auto safety, autonomous vehicles, disaster preparedness, the economy and cybersecurity. She also serves as a member of the company’s Autonomous Vehicles Working Group.

Kearney is co-creator, producer and guest host for the Travelers Institute’s webinar series, which seeks to help risk professionals navigate today’s biggest challenges in insurance, business and leadership. She leads operations and initiatives for the Travelers Institute, presents at client and industry conferences, and was named to Insurance Business America’s annual Hot 100 list for 2022.

Prior to joining Travelers, Kearney held several positions at the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank and membership organization based in New York City. She served as Special Assistant to the President and Assistant Director for Foundation Relations, among other roles. Kearney has a Master of Public Administration degree with a concentration in public finance from the University of Connecticut, where she is a member of the School of Public Policy’s Alumni Council and chair of the Awards Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Northeastern University and completed studies at New York University.

Ken Bott, Head of Loyalty and Digital, PDQ Restaurants

Ken Bott has led PDQ’s Digital and Loyalty Strategy for PDQ since joining the company in August of 2020.  His role focuses on building sales and loyalty to amplify the brand experience in a digitally focused, guest-centric way. Ken has been in the Digital and Loyalty space throughout his 30+ years of working in the hospitality/travel verticals. 
 
Prior to PDQ, Ken held executive roles across Loyalty, CRM and Digital Sales at Darden Restaurants, Bloomin’ Brands, IHG (Intercontinental Hotels Group), Continental Airlines and USAir. Ken is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, holding degrees in Management and Business Administration. 
 

Laura Richardson, VP of Customer Success, Cambridge Mobile Telematics

Laura leads Cambridge Mobile Telematics' global customer relationships, helping them achieve UBI and Telematics operational excellence using performance data and actionable insights. Prior to CMT, Laura spent over 15 years in the consumer insights industry, most recently as a member of the executive leadership team of Profitero, an eCommerce analytics firm and prior to that, she was at Nielsen BASES. Throughout her career, she has led global Client Service teams and has championed the use of technology to elevate the speed, actionability, and quality of data to improve business decisions. Laura is an alumna of Wellesley College and has her MBA from Thunderbird.
 

Nishanth Mandaara, Director of Product Management, 7-Eleven

Nishanth Mandaara is the Director of Product Management at 7-Eleven. He leads the product teams that build E2E Delivery experience (7NOW).  He has been with 7-Eleven for more than 6 years and leads product teams in building various customer-facing experiences in driving loyalty, frictionless checkout and Digital Payments.
Prior to joining 7-Eleven, Nishanth had worked as the product and technology leader at a startup offering tablet-based POS solutions to SMBs. He is passionate about gaining deep understanding of customer needs and leading teams to deliver products and experiences that address them.

Nishanth holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the JNTU, India and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
 

Yaqub Baiani, Vice President of Digital Product Management & Design, 7-Eleven

Yaqub Baiani is VP, Digital Product Management & 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 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.