Senior Vice President, Chief Patient Experience & Operational Performance Officer at Stanford Health Care

Dr. Amy Climer teaches teams to be creative and innovative. She is a speaker, trainer, and coach in creativity, innovation, and team development. She uses research-based practices, tools, and techniques to teach teams how to innovate on demand. Amy holds a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. Her research led to the Deliberate Creative Team Scale, designed to measure the three critical dimensions of team creativity. Her TEDx talk The Power of Deliberate Creative Teams explains her research and philosophies on innovation. Amy is the host of The Deliberate Creative™ Podcast. She is the designer of Climer Cards, a creativity and teambuilding tool used by thousands to deepen conversations and generate ideas. Amy is trained or certified in Creative Problem Solving, Immunity to Change, and the FourSight Thinking System. In 2016, she won the Karl Rhonke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education.

Andrew Carothers, CCXP, is a Customer Experience executive known for developing innovative CX strategies that grow revenue, increase renewal rates, and expedite customer adoption. A founding member of Cisco System’s CX function, he helped build the function with a focus on digital experience and partners. He’s a 12-time International Customer Experience award winner, frequently writes and speaks on CX topics, and co-authored The Publicity Handbook (McGraw Hill), a Fortune Book Club selection. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for the University of San Francisco’s School of Management Strategic Artificial Intelligence program and as a judge for US and international CX competitions.

Andy Crestodina is a co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media, an award-winning 50-person digital agency in Chicago.

Over the past 24 years, Andy’s provided guidance to 1000+ businesses. He’s written hundreds of articles on content strategy, SEO, GA4, AI and visitor psychology. He’s also the author of Content Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing.

- Top 10 Online Marketing Experts, Forbes 
- Top 50 Marketing Influencer, Entrepreneur Magazine 
- Top 25 Content Marketers, Express Writers/Buzzsumo
- Top 10 Social Media Influencers, Social Media Explorer

Brian Carlson has over 20 years of experience in large academic health systems and private group practices. He is currently the Vice President of Patient Experience at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where he has significantly improved patient experience and operational efficiency since 2007.

Brian has a proven track record of driving financial and operational success. At VUMC, he enhanced the patient experience percentile rank and developed programs to boost workforce culture and patient engagement. Previously, he served as CEO/COO of Olean Medical Group and Practice Manager for Obstetrics & Gynecology at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation.

He holds dual master’s degrees in Health Services Administration and Business Administration from Xavier University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wittenberg University.

Camille is the Senior Director of Customer Experience at Holiday Inn Club Vacations. She and her team lead the CX strategy, and drive enterprise-wide improvements based on customer feedback. With 20 years of experience leading large-scale operational and transformational change across multiple industries, she is passionate about turning analytics into meaningful action. Her background in sociology, informatics, quality assurance, and lean continuous improvement fuels her commitment to creating positive change for both businesses and customers.

When she visits her parents in Louisiana, Camille still loves tending to the bees in her father's apiary - a hobby they've done together for 30 years.

One of the most in-demand Customer Experience speakers and consultants in the world today, David Avrin, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow, has shared his content-rich, entertaining and actionable presentations with enthusiastic audiences across North America and in 24 countries around the world. David helps organizations better understand and connect with their changing customers and clients to help future-proof their businesses.

David’s insights have been featured on thousands of media outlets around the world. He is also the author of seven books including the acclaimed: It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who Knows You!, Why Customers Leave (and How to Win Them Back), The Morning Huddle, and his newest book, Ridiculously Easy to Do Business With.

He brings deep passion and experience in leading customer experiences, developing teams, scaling businesses, and optimizing the delivery of products and services to deliver customer outcomes and propel revenue growth. He brings a unique background in customer success, sales, engineering, services, and global operations. He led the global customer success organization at GitLab, scaling the business from $50M to over $650M quarterly run rate and supporting a successful IPO with a net dollar retention of over 152%. Before GitLab, David built and scaled the Americas Customer Success team at Cisco, managing a $2B book of business that included high/low touch, digital, and partner success. In prior roles at EVault and Cisco, David has also led development teams, cloud operations, and services. Other experiences include CITTIO, Genentech, Yahoo, and SGI. David holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Enrique is an HR, Tech and Future of Work expert, keynote speaker and founder of global communities. Enrique is currently an advisor to the community he built, Hacking HR, a global learning community operating at the intersection of future of work, technology, business and organizations, with thousands of members of all over the world; and the Head of Global Community at Transform, building a global community of local chapters covering every major city and region in the world. 

Enrique is one of the top 100 HR global influencers. He was the founder and CEO at Management Consultants, a firmed specialized in Human Resources in Venezuela. Enrique is a guest author in several blogs about innovation, management and human resources. Most recently Enrique worked as an advisor to the Chief Human Resources Officer at the Inter-American Development Bank. 

Greg Kihlström is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, and serves as an advisor and consultant to some of the world’s top brands on marketing technology, marketing operations, and digital transformation initiatives. He speaks 3 times weekly with executives and leaders from Fortune 500 companies and top marketing technology platforms on his podcast, The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström. He is a multiple-time co-founder and C-level executive, leading several acquisitions and currently sits on the board of a martech startup. Additionally he is a faculty member on the Association of National Advertisers School of Marketing, and is a doctoral candidate with a focus on business intelligence.

Heather Brace is the Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for Intermountain Healthcare, an integrated, not-for-profit health system with more than 37,000 employees. She leads and has strategic oversight for Human Resources, supporting the organization’s strategic goals and utilizing proven, sophisticated tools for job design, learning and development, leadership strategy, culture enhancement, and diversity management to maximize employee performance and the caregiver experience.

2x Founder & CEO. Former Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Product Officer. Successful exits at Rybbon and Metalogix.

Enterprise Software/SaaS expertise in CX, MarTech, Digital Payouts, Content Management, and Middleware. 

Skilled at driving growth and innovation at every stage - from founder/CEO at startups to executive in orgs with $1B+ revenues. 

M&A leadership on both sides - 2x exits and 5x acquisition and integrations of strategic targets.

International business experience covering North America, Europe and India.

John Garrett—award-winning author and people-centric leadership speaker—is on a mission to create thriving workplaces. What the CPA-turned-professional comedian turned two-time Emmy nominee may do best is champion the human side of professionals, consulting with organizations to develop more productive cultures while shining a light on their people’s rich lives outside of work. And his book, What’s Your “And”?, was named a Distinguished Favorite by the Independent Press Awards and it was recently featured in Forbes.

Karen grew up in the research industry. Before joining Greenbook (https://www.greenbook.org/), she spent 30 years as a full-time qualitative researcher. All the while she dabbled as a part-time writer, earning bylines in mainstream consumer magazines, online publications, and popular anthologies. She merged her two passions when she took the role of Greenbook’s Head of Content. In her role, she manages the content strategy and operations across Greenbook’s publishing platforms: the Greenbook Blog, Podcast, Newsletter, and Global Events.

As a seasoned Customer Experience (CX) Executive, I have over 30 years of expertise in driving strategic initiatives that enhance customer loyalty, fuel profitable growth, and streamline operations. My background includes leading CX transformations at Fortune 500 companies, notably Safeco Insurance/Liberty Mutual, Washington Mutual/JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America. My experience extends to building and mentoring CX teams, and providing coaching and consulting services to a diverse range of consumer, B2B, and B2B2C organizations while at Qualtrics, Designit, and Verint. Let's connect if you need a strategic CX partner to elevate your customer experience and business outcomes.

I am a customer experience evangelist, helping organizations improve business results by enabling CX transformation. Simply put, I am passionate about customer experience best practices and helping companies master them. I love to speak about these topics in almost any forum.

Some of my specialties include: critical and practical thinking, customer experience management, voice of the customer programs, customer experience strategy, process redesign, customer-centric culture, leadership, brand experience, public speaking, VOC insights, and analysis.

Prior to joining Community Health Network (CHNw), Maggie spent several years of her career managing Customer Experience consulting work for high-tech, fortune 500 companies, including program and survey design, managing large-scale technical implementations, and delivering actionable analytic insights. Upon joining CHNw's Patient Experience Team in 2017, Maggie made an immediate impact, creating the Patient-Partner Program, implementing numerous methodological best practices, and guided thought-leadership. As CHNw's Xperience management partner, Maggie has led all aspects of our Patient Experience work. Community Health Network is routinely recognized as leading the way in experience management across healthcare systems, and industries at-large. Maggie's emphasis on industry knowledge, research expertise, and innovation helps to elevate the voices of patients, families, and caregivers across their unique healthcare journey and the holistic healthcare continuum.

Marcus brings nearly 20 years of experience managing and delivering exceptional customer and guest experiences across hospitality and service industries.

Marcus, who has been a Delaware North team member for 13 years, is the leader of the company’s global customer experience strategy and platform, called GuestPath®. Before Delaware North, Marcus honed his customer experience expertise at well-known organizations like Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and InterContinental Hotels Group.

Aside from his direct experience, Marcus has earned certifications as a Certified Customer Experience Professional (via the Customer Experience Professionals Association) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. He attended California State University, Sacramento, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, and holds a Master of Science in Hospitality Management from California State University, Long Beach.

Maria, the creator of The Transform Talks Podcast and The “Voices in Transformation” interview series, is considered one of the leading creators and influencers in the supply chain and business transformation space. Setting out to cut through the hype and noise around supply chain and business transformation many years ago, she has interviewed hundreds of senior leaders from some of the world’s most admired organisations to this date, with her contributions seeing her gain recognition as a highly acclaimed, influential, empowering and inspiring supply chain, logistics and procurement thought-leader, entrepreneur and woman in business. She is an official Gartner Peer Community and Sustainable Procurement Pledge Ambassador, furthering the supply chain and manufacturing industry by advising technology and solution providers. She leads one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing supply chain and manufacturing networks, the Future Insights Network, as CEO and Co-founder.

Michelle Morris is the Associate Director of CX Transformation at Verizon Connect.  She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) as well as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB). Michelle is a former board member for the CXPA (Customer Experience Professionals Association). In previous roles, Michelle developed and led two CX practices in the Professional Services (Crowe) and Printing/Manufacturing (Lexmark) industries and was a CX Design consultant and the Sr. Manager of Contact Center Sales for Verizon Business.  Prior to starting her CX adventures, she spent 15 years in Product Development, designing laser printing devices.  Michelle holds 6 U.S. Patents for her work as an engineer.

I am a passionate leader dedicated to building world-class teams, shaping unrivaled experiences and organizational culture, and driving innovation at the intersection of sports and education. 

Since joining IMG Academy in 2011 as a sport advisor, I’ve had the privilege to serve in nine different roles across eight departments, gaining a holistic perspective on the intricacy of our unique and complex operations.

As Chief Operating Officer, I oversee the strategic direction and operational excellence of IMG Academy’s Bradenton campus, including our boarding school, camps, events, the Legacy Hotel, and IMG Academy Golf Club.

Before IMG Academy, I was drafted in the MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies after playing collegiate baseball at Penn State University and later earned an MBA and Master’s in Sports Administration from Ohio University.

Nate Brown is the Co-founder and Executive Director of CX Accelerator. Having spent the first decade of his career in Customer Service, Nate transitioned to Customer Experience in 2015. He has been working hard to make CX work amazing for as many people as possible ever since.

Neen James is a leadership strategist, dynamic keynote speaker, and the author of Folding Time, Attention Pays, and the upcoming Exceptional Experiences. With boundless energy, quick wit, and actionable insights, she serves as a confidante to C-suite leaders to help them elevate experiences and achieve greater focus, communication, and influence. Recently appointed to the board of the World Luxury Chamber of Commerce, James has been named one of the Top 30 Leadership Speakers by Global Gurus multiple years in a row for her work with some of the world’s most prestigious brands, including Viacom, Comcast, Virtuoso Travel, Four Seasons, and the FBI. She empowers individuals to prioritize what matters most so they can create exceptional experiences that drive results and foster lasting connections. Originally from Australia, James is living her best life in Tampa, Florida.

Named one of the Top 15 People in Enterprise Artificial Intelligence by Business Insider in 2023, Ovetta Sampson is a tech industry leader who has worked with multiple technologies to help solve some of the biggest problems facing multiple industries. Leading engineers, designers and researchers, at top companies such as Microsoft, IDEO and Capital One, Ovetta has been designing and developing machine learning, artificial intelligence and enterprise software solutions for more than a decade. She left her last job as Director AI and Compute Enablement at Google to found Right AI,a consultancy that helps organizations and businesses minimize the human engagement risks when implementing AI.

Paige is all about building meaningful connections that help Experience Investigators grow and thrive through the power of partnership.

With a background in business development and a knack for strategic thinking, Paige brings together the right people, ideas, and opportunities to expand the impact of great customer experiences. Whether she’s collaborating with a new client, co-hosting a podcast episode, or brainstorming big-picture plans, Paige brings energy, insight, and a whole lot of heart to everything she does.

Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world. He is the 3-time WSJ bestselling author of ten books on marketing, innovation, trends and the future including his #1 bestseller Non-Obvious Megatrends. Rohit has been invited as a “non-boring” keynote speaker to events in 32 countries. He is a frequent contributor writing about non-obvious ideas for Inc, Entrepreneur and GQ magazines and is an adjunct professor of storytelling at Georgetown University. On a personal note, he loves the Olympics, actively hates cauliflower and is a proud dad of boys.

Sasha is an award-winning Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) with over 10 years of expertise in CX insights and enablement. As the country lead for the customer experience management practice at Capital One Canada, he leverages Voice of Customer insights and lean management principles to drive customer loyalty. Prior to Capital One, Sasha contributed to leading financial services institutions in consulting, account management and research roles. Sasha holds an MBA in Marketing and is a PROSCI Certified Change Management Practitioner.

Senior Director, Customer Voice Strategy & Execution at Cisco

Customer Experience and Professional Services leader with 17+ years of experience delivering successful commercial outcomes through standout experiences, high-performing teams, deep customer relationships, and technical + operational excellence.

Adept at setting strategic vision, distilling into operational roadmap, and collaborating across orgs, functions, and geographies to execute. Proven success across a wide spectrum of clients and experience programs, with a keen eye for identifying and developing untapped potential.

I am a customer-centric thought leader that loves what I do – driving best in class, human-centric transformation initiatives that improve the customer experience and success while creating efficiencies, growth, and business scalability. I accomplish this by assessing what matters most to customers and the business, designing best practices, modernizing processes, leveraging AI and technology capabilities, partnering with business leaders across the enterprise, and ensuring ROI and operational excellence. I am an expert in customer experience and transformation leadership, consistently sharing my expertise in publications, books, podcasts, conferences, and webinars.

Part message designer, part English-to-English translator, part magpie, Tamsen Webster helps leaders craft their case for large-scale change. In addition to her work in and for major organizations such as Harvard Medical School, Fidelity Investments, and Klaviyo, she’s a judge and mentor for the Harvard Innovation Labs, a professional advisor at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and has spent over 10 years as the Idea Strategist for one of only nine legacy-level TEDx events in the world. She was named to the Thinkers50 Radar in 2022 and is the author of two books, Find Your Red Thread: Make Your Big Ideas Irresistible and Say What They Can't Unhear: The 9 Principles of Lasting Change. She lives in Boston with her husband, two sons, and two brindle Greyhounds, Hazel and Walnut.