Bob Azman, Senior Vice President, leads the Customer Experience and Education organization supporting the Legal, Government, Risk and Compliance and Intellectual Property Solutions businesses within Thomson Reuters. He contributes to the development of the overall customer experience strategy as well as managing the Customer Service, Customer Technical Support, Reference Attorneys, Education, Training and Development and Client Implementation Services functions.  Customer Experience is a global organization with customer contact centers located worldwide. Before joining the company in 2007, Bob held executives roles at Ceridian Corporation, eFunds Corporation and Deluxe Corporation.

Bob earned both his MBA and bachelor’s degrees from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.  In his spare time, Bob is a guest lecturer in the executive MBA programs at both the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Business and the University of St. Thomas Opus School of Business.  He is currently developing seminars for executive education programs at universities focused on developing effective strategies to drive improvements in a company’s customer experience.  Bob is also a certified University of Minnesota Master Gardener. 

 

Dolf Berle , has served as President and Chief Operating Officer beginning on February 14, 2011. Mr. Berle had been Executive Vice President of Hospitality and Business and Sports Club Division Head for ClubCorp USA, Inc., the largest owner and operator of golf, country club and business clubs, since August 2009. Previously, Mr. Berle served as President of Lucky Strike Entertainment, an upscale chain of bowling alleys, from December 2006 to July 2009 and Chief Operating Officer of House of Blues Entertainment, Inc., a chain of live music/restaurant venues, from 2000 through 2006.  Earlier in his career he served in a number of operating, strategic and marketing roles at Diedrich Coffee, Pepsico International Restaurants, and Waste Management, Inc.  Prior to attending business school he served as a consultant at Booz-Allen & Hamilton.

Dolf earned an AB in history and literature from Harvard College, an MA in African History from the University of Zimbabwe, and an MBA from Harvard University.  He is a Board member for the Make-A-Wish North Texas Chapter, and a world class participant in Masters age group Track and Field in the decathlon event.

 

Jerry Conerly is responsible for the management of all TNT North American customer service.

Conerly was previously Regional Vice President Customer Service, Americas responsible for Customer Service (CS) and Customer Interface Technology (CIT). Prior to this position, Conerly had been managing the Customer Service function in North America since 2003. Conerly had been previously Call Center Manager, USA Region for TNT Express. Before joining TNT, Conerly was Major Accounts Customer Service Executive at Eagle Global Logistics (EGL) in Houston, TX.

Conerly holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business from Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX.

 

As vice president of customer service for U.S. Cellular, Lynn Costlow is responsible for delivering the company's award-winning customer experience strategy. She oversees customer interactions in our retail, telesales, and care center environments. And she leads more than 2,100 associates who handle more than one million customer interactions every month.

Costlow joined the company in 2005 as senior director of sales operations. In this position, she was responsible for retail, indirect, business-to-business and alternative sales-channel operations on a national scale. Prior to joining U.S. Cellular, Costlow spent eight years in management consulting leading large, cross-functional teams and specializing in program management, system conversion and implementation initiatives. For three of those eight years, she provided leadership and program delivery for U.S. Cellular projects.

Costlow earned a Master of Arts from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in psychology and sociology from Southwestern University in Texas. While Costlow loves living in Chicago with her son Evan, she is a native Texan and visits her beloved Lone Star State as often as possible.

 

Sharon Daniels, President and Chief Executive Officer, has overall responsibility for the strategic direction of AchieveGlobal. She firmly promotes the concept that the quality of an organization’s interpersonal skills can determine success, and also applies that same thinking to leading AchieveGlobal and its hundreds of employees.

In her time at AchieveGlobal, Ms. Daniels has been instrumental in work with customers from a broad array of industries, including financial services, government, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, and others. She leads AchieveGlobal’s Executive Advisory Board, using their feedback alongside other information resources to make well-informed decisions about the future of the company. She has sustained and developed AchieveGlobal’s extensive worldwide footprint, in over 40 countries, and capitalizes on the best practices resulting from AchieveGlobal’s long legacy, built on 40+ years in the performance improvement business.

Numerous press outlets have taken recent interest in Ms. Daniels’ accomplishments and point-of-view, including Fortune.com, Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, Fox Business News, Selling Power Magazine, and others. She regularly participates in speaking engagements around the world, with recent sessions delivered in the U.S. (Argyle Executive Forum, University of Florida’s Miller Center) and Asia (Commonwealth Magazine’s Human Capital Event).

Under her watch, AchieveGlobal has won a number of awards, including Chief Learning Officer’s Excellence in Customer Service award (silver), The American Business Award’s Best new Product/Service of the Year (Finalist), and Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Best Place to Work honor.

Ms. Daniels originally joined Kaset International in 1991, and served in the roles of Consultant, VP of Operations and General Manager of Field Operations. In 1997 and 1998 she held a leadership role involved in the integration of the three companies: Learning International, Kaset International and Zenger Miller, which together became AchieveGlobal.

Prior to returning to AchieveGlobal, she served as President and CEO of Communispond, a corporate communications company headquartered in New York. She was introduced to Communispond through her work with Frontline Group, a roll up of eight individual performance improvement companies.

Ms. Daniels’ career prior to her work in the training industry was in the field of banking. She joined Southeast Bank, headquartered in Miami, Florida, after college and held numerous roles in operations, the mergers and acquisitions team, branch management, and training and consulting. She was with Southeast Bank for fifteen years. Ms. Daniels holds a bachelor of education degree from the University of Florida, and a Master’s in Training and Organizational Development from the University of South Florida, and has over twenty-five years of experience in general management and sales leadership roles.

On the personal front, Ms. Daniels is married and has three children. In her spare time she enjoys volunteering in her community as well as hiking.

 

Before joining Hawaiian, Davis served in a variety of management positions involving operations, customer service, and maintenance over a 29-year period for Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines prior to their merger. Most recently, he served as general manager of airport customer service for Delta’s second-largest hub in Minneapolis, where he was responsible for hub operations and ground support equipment.
 
Prior to that position, Davis served as Northwest’s director of employee engagement and was responsible for developing strategies encompassing all operating divisions. Before that, he served as Northwest’s director of customer service and operations and was responsible for 24 western U.S. locations.
 
Davis earned his Bachelor of Science in finance from Northeastern Illinois University, followed by a Master in Business Administration from the University of Chicago.

 

Sherry Ellies is Vice President Customer Development for Kimberly-Clark Consumer Sales, leading the Family Care business calling on Wal-Mart U.S.. Sherry began her K-C career in 1990 as a sales representative in Dallas, Texas calling on top regional grocery customers. From 1998 to 2001 she was promoted to roles with increasing team leader responsibility in the Southwest Region and later into the Chicago market. In 2001 she advanced to Wholesale Team Director responsible for supplying the Kmart business. In 2003, she was promoted to Vice President responsible for the Sam’s Club U.S. business followed by another promotion in 2009 to her current role as Vice President on the Wal-Mart team. Prior to joining K-C, Sherry was a Product Manager, Promotional Manager, Market Research Analyst, and Field Research Specialist for DLM Communications. Sherry holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and sits on the CRE Board of Directors at the University of Arkansas. Currently, Sherry lives in Bentonville, Arkansas with her husband and son.

 

Tom has spent over 40 years in the High Tech industry, starting with 8! years in the US Navy as a Computer Technician and moving into the Service sector to eventually become the Vice President and General Manger of Customer Support for Mentor Graphics for 11 years. During his career he has been an advocate for driving change. He has vast experience in developing successful customer self help environments and moving customers into those environments. He is well versed on the various aspects of Knowledge Management and is an advocate of KCS (Knowledge Centered Support). He has developed a skill set around metrics and building dash boards that provide the information needed to drive business success.

 

Peter Flynn joined Stratus Technologies – the leading provider of uptime assurance technologies and solutions – in 1984 and has held various senior management positions within the Sales and Customer Services organizations in both the UK and the USA. As Vice President, Worldwide Customer Services, Peter manages all aspects of Stratus’ customer services businesses throughout the world, delivering the outstanding levels of customer satisfaction for which Stratus is renowned. Prior to joining Stratus, Peter worked in sales and support for AT&T/Paradyne, Northern Telecom, and Honeywell. Peter holds an honours degree in mathematics from Southampton University in his native England. He is based in Stratus’ worldwide support center located in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

James currently serves as a Director of Customer Experience Solution Sales for Avaya.  He has been at the forefront of technology development for advanced Customer Service environments for more than a decade, and has created comprehensive Customer Experience Strategies for some of the most recognizable brands in the world. 

James began his career at AT&T, working first within AT&T Labs R&D, and then moving into AT&T Solutions where he served as a Professional Services Manager within the Contact Center Consulting practice.  

In 2004, James become a principle partner in the Excis Group, and served as the companies Director of Global Business Development.  James worked to align the company’s core offshore application development capabilities with emerging Customer Experience market trends to create technology & process patents that ultimately were packaged into several successful VC ventures.

In 2006, after the successful sale of The Excis Group to corporate investors, James joined Avaya to lead the Customer Experience Solution Sales practice in the Southwestern United States.  He leads a team comprised of seasoned technical architects and former “Big 4” business consultants who help Customers align their facilities, people, processes, and technologies in accordance with high-touch, customer centric servicing models.

 

Carmine Izzi is Vice President and General Manager at Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., the world’s leading provider of virtual business solutions. In this role, he is responsible for Business Development and delivering Undisputed Top Performance™ for the company's clients in the Travel & Hospitality, Retail and Financial Services industries, and is leading Arise’s Government initiative.  Carmine has 20+ years of experience in operations consulting where he provided advisory services and expertise to some of the world’s most recognized brands. 

Prior to joining Arise in 2009, Carmine served as Partner for the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) practice of the America’s at IBM Global Business Services where he managed a staff of over 300 employees that delivered $170M in annual revenue, he also served as interim global lead where he was responsible for $600M in annual revenue.  Prior to this, he was a Sr. Manager in Accenture’s Supply Chain Practice where he helped establish and lead it’s Collaborative Product Commerce (CPC)  practice and worked on assignments in the U.S., Asia, and Europe in a variety of industries including electronics and high-tech as well as automotive and aerospace/defense.  Carmine began his consulting career with A.T. Kearney where he spent 4 years as Manager in their Operations practice.

Carmine holds a Master’s of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing Strategy as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of New Mexico.  He has also completed Executive Education in Investment Banking from the Investment Banking Institute, located in New York City and in Corporate Strategy at Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne Switzerland. 

 

Lindsay Johnston is responsible for advancing the company’s winning Social Enterprise strategy, customer success and growing the key customer base in the South Central Region of the United States.

Before joining salesforce.com in 2004, Johnston was leading the sales efforts at ATG (Art Technology Group) in the South Central Region of the United States where he provided solutions for some of the largest ecommerce sites. Prior to that Johnston led the sales team at Speedware in the South Central Region, assisting clients with 4GL and Business Intelligence strategies.

Lindsay holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from University of Waterloo and has lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the last 22 years.

 

John Knieriem is the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience Executive for Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company’s Mid-Atlantic Region. He is responsible for the Customer Service Experience delivered by the 4000 members of the Retail and Small Business Teams throughout Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

A 15-year Customer Service Professional, he joined Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company in 2007 from Fifth Third Bank where he was the SVP and Director of the Customer Service Contact Center based in Cincinnati, Ohio. His teams handled more than 12 million contacts per year supporting all Lines of Business, including Consumer, Card Services, and the Mortgage business.

Previously, he was the Sr Manager of the Client Expert Center, Dell Corporations Premium Support Center for Desktops and Notebooks and Sr Manager of Sales Operations in the Corporate Business Group, where he led teams serving Dell’s largest business customers in Order Management, International business, and Support Services.

Prior to joining Dell, Mr Knieriem spent 4 years leading GE Lighting’s largest customer service improvement initiatives.  The teams delivered breakthrough performance in Order Management and Fill rate improvement. He is Six Sigma Black Belt certified.

He has a BS in Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

 

As a senior product marketing manager at Aspect Software, Michael Kropidlowski contributes directly to company strategy with a view to technology, supplier partnerships and product strategy for Aspect® Unified IP®.

Michael is responsible for recommending new product marketing initiatives and implementing strategy that will ensure both market position and revenue remain optimal through working closely with global sales representatives and product management.

Joining Aspect Software in April 1999, Michael brought more than nine years of technical sales and training experience to the company, where he was initially the lead sales and technical channel partner trainer for the company’s contact management platform.  Michael also provided database creation consultation to the company's client base.

Before joining Aspect Software, Michael served as a technical trainer on database applications and inventory tracking systems at Follett Campus Resources.  Previously, he spent eight years with Marshall Field's as human resources trainer, regional trainer and department manager.

Kropidlowski holds a bachelor's degree in business communication from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

 

Mark Mitchell has been Managing Director of Customer Experience at American Airlines Inc. since August 7, 2007. Mr. Mitchell served as Managing Director - Operations for American at Los Angeles International Airport since 2006, and He was responsible for a team that will integrate new customer-focused programs, processes, systems, products, services and other enhancements designed to improve the overall experience for American Airlines passengers worldwide. He has several years experience in airport operations at American's headquarters unit, in American Eagle's northeast region, and at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Mr. Mitchell graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Industrial Engineering. He has 2 daughters, Makayla and Mallory, and we recently remarried in 2011 to his lovely wife Gina.

 

Dan Nordale, Vice President of worldwide marketing for Nuance’s Enterprise Division, is responsible for the Company's market awareness, demand generation and got-to-market activities.  Prior to joining Nuance, Dan held several executive roles in sales, business development and marketing primarily focused on the successful definition and introduction of new technologies and solutions.  Prior, Dan worked in consulting with KPMG and in large project management with Apogee Enterprises.  Dan earned an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at University of California Berkeley and his undergraduate business studies at University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

 

Patrick O’Shea is the Director of Residential Sales and Retention for TXU Energy in Dallas, Texas. TXU Energy is the largest energy provider in the state of Texas with more than 1.7 million customers.  O’Shea has more than 20 years in operations management and is responsible for sites in The United States and Central America.  O’Shea has directed call centers for both fortune 500 companies as well as entrepreneurial start up operations.

O’Shea earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, his Masters Degree from Amberton University in Dallas, Texas and holds post graduate certificates from both Villanova and Cornell University.  He is on the Board of Directors for SOCAP International (Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals) out o f Washington, DC and authored his first book in 2009 entitled Crisis Leadership…Managing your call center through tough times.

O’Shea speaks at seminars and symposiums on the topic of building sales and service cultures that produce results and reduces employee attrition.

 

Cory Overman is currently the Vice President of Customer Care with Santander Consumer USA. In addition to leading the Customer Care department, Cory also leads the organization’s Near Shore Vendor Relationship. Cory continues to build upon his International business knowledge by not only leading the relationship with his vendor’s, but also overseeing five Near Shore Servicing centers. Before taking over the Customer Care department at Santander, Cory led the Early Stage Servicing department. In this department, he was successful in maintaining Service Levels, increasing KPI’s, managing Operating Expenses, and mitigating losses.  

Before joining Santander, Cory spent 13 years with AmeriCredit Financial (now General Motors Financial) as an AVP. Through his tenure with AmeriCredit, Cory worked mainly within their Early and Late Stage Servicing departments; however, within Servicing, he gained extensive knowledge of Bankruptcy, Loss Mitigation, Project Management, Training and Auto Dialer management.

In all, Cory has over 17 years of Call Center/Organization Leadership experience.

Lastly, Cory holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Columbia College of Missouri.

 

Scott Quigley is passionate about outstanding customer service. And as the leader of Travelocity North America's customer care team, he sets the standard for an organization that handles upwards of seven million phone calls per year. When he is not engaging with Travelocity customers, Quigley's day-to-day to-do list also includes strategy, planning, and vendor management.

Quigley has been a member of the Travelocity sales and customer care team since 2005. During that time he oversaw Travelocity North America's domestic call centers where his contributions helped dramatically improve overall customer satisfaction, while meeting quality assurance goals.

Prior to leading the domestic call centers, Quigley managed multiple teams and functions within the organization, including: operations, planning, support teams, IVR/telephony, reporting, quality assurance, employee development, interactive customer care and agent effectiveness.

Quigley joined Travelocity after working at Deloitte Consulting for six years. His work there concentrated on contact centers and CRM and during that time he gained broad experience across multiple industries such as technology, manufacturing, health care and communications.

Quigley earned a Master of Science, Industrial Engineering from the University of Texas-Arlington and a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma.

 

Ed Shepherdson serves as Coveo's Senior Vice President of Enterprise Solutions. Mr. Shepherdson brings 30 years of experience in the technology industry to his role with Coveo. Prior to joining Coveo, he spent 18 years at Cognos, now an IBM company, where he most recently served as Vice President of Global Customer Support. While at Cognos, Mr. Shepherdson also held a variety of senior positions in the company’s Research and Development and Applications Development teams. Mr. Shepherdson has also served as an Advisory Board member in several industry associations, including the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA).  Mr. Shepherdson holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership and completed the Ivey Executive Program at the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.