Global Speakers

Greg-McPherson-112x128

Greg McPherson

Commercial & Communications Manager

Cerebral Palsy Support Network

Greg’s current role, Commercial and Communications Manager with the Cerebral Palsy Support Network, begins with building community awareness and engagement through to the infrastructure and financial governance of operating a truly customer aligned (and profitable) ‘For Purpose’ disability organisation.

With the customer ‘in the middle of every conversation’ his 30 years’ experience spans innovative customer-centric operational processes and thinking across diverse sectors: Manufacturing, Wholesaling, Retail, Allied Health, Genetics and Human Services.

The best place to start transformation is where relationships get made and tested; which is why he transforms frontline teams’ productivity and customer satisfaction efforts, resulting in Net Promoter Scores of over 80%.

His expertise ranges from start-ups and joint ventures in China, India & USA to SMEs and Multinational corporates, including;
– Xerox, Electrolux, Whirlpool, Brivis,
– Mitre 10, Spotlight, Anaconda,
– Symbion Health, Genetic Technologies, Bupa & Aruma Disability Services.

Qualifications include degrees in Marketing & Applied Psychology from Monash University.

By applying the universal principles of customer engagement and satisfaction, he has become a thought leader in aligning organisations to their customers; not the other way around.

Topic: Using The Customer Advocacy Role To Drive Change Management And Employee Engagement

Cerebral Palsy Support Network Logo

jess-boddington-112x128

Jess Boddington

Policy Director

Australian Banking Association

Jess Boddington is a Policy Director at the Australian Banking Association. Jess is responsible for working with Australian banks to set policy strategy and develop and advocate policy positions on financial services and consumer protection regulation. Her background is as an economist, and she has previously worked in financial services regulation and energy market design.

Panel Discussion: Coordinating Customer Advocate Initiatives To Understand Critical Pain Points And Prevent Recurring Systematic Issues

ABA0001_Rebrand_Logo_Horizontal Stacked_Web_RGB

Adam-Glezer-112x128

Adam Glezer

Consumer Advocate Professional

Adam is currently a consumer advocate professional that helps to protect the Australian consumers’ right within the travel industry. During his uni holidays, he landed a job working door to door sales. Within a short period of time, he’d left uni and was running a large sales team. Fast forward a few years, he became the National Sales Manager and shareholder at Deals.com.au. He was more recently working on a new business with an old school friend, which was put on hold since COVID-19.

Adam’s pet hate is seeing the big corporates taking advantage of the ‘little guy.’ When he and his wife had a bad experience with Flight Centre as a result of COVID-19, he figured this would be a problem affecting thousands of Australians; he was right. He now runs multiple Facebook groups that act as a community for consumers within the travel industry to help each other out with their refund issues. He also helps a large number of members, one-on-one, to help secure their refunds.

Adam and his team are currently pushing for greater consumer protection measures in Australia. He has been organising a lot media to bring attention to these issues. He has also been liaising with the Consumer Action Law Centre, Choice and Federal Politicians to push their agenda. He was honoured to be nominated in the Newscorp Thanks a Million Campaign in 2021 for his work as a Consumer Advocate.

Adam is the father of a two year old (who tends to keep him quite busy.) In his spare time, he enjoys nights out with his friends and he’s a sports nut. Go Dees!

Panel Discussion: Coordinating Customer Advocate Initiatives To Understand Critical Pain Points And Prevent Recurring Systematic Issues

Panel Discussion: New Challenges In Customer Advocacy In A Period Of Uncertainty And Economic Recovery

Dianne-Nyoni-112x128

Dianne Nyoni

Consumer Representative, SESLHD District Consumer Community Council

NSW Health

Dianne has worked with the HOT team since April 2017 as the Community Engagement Officer. Dianne comes to the team as an openly HIV positive woman who has worked extensively in governance and public speaking with in the HIV NGO sector for seven years. Dianne previously has a background in community work in Domestic Violence, CALD community as well as Mental Health after getting her Social Science degree. Dianne is both a voice and face for women living with HIV in Australia and is passionate about sharing her experience to support the HOT team as well as assist the opportunity for PLWHIV to live authentic, resilient and empowered lives by her example in her own life and encouraging

Topic: Case Study: Customer Advocacy In A Period Of Pandemic – How To Sensitively Meet The Special Needs Of The Healthcare Consumer In The COVID Period

NSW Health

Bruce-Coetzee-112x128

Bruce Coetzee

Customer Solutions Manager

Mercury

Bruce was born in South Africa and lived and worked there for most of his life. He moved to New Zealand in 2013 and is a very proud and privileged Kiwi now. He has worked for more than 40 years in the electricity energy sector both in South Africa and New Zealand. He has held several positions in power utilities throughout his life ranging from land surveying to customer facing roles. His passion is customer service and nothing pleases him more than to see a happy customer. Bruce is a father of two wonderful boys and one girl and has three grandchildren.

Topic: How Mercury Put Customer Care Champions & Customer Advocacy Firmly In Place

Mercury Energy

Dustin-Aspray-photo-2-112x128

Dustin Aspray

Associate Director, Customer Resolution

Optus

Dustin currently leads the Customer Resolution group at Optus. Prior to his current role he spent five years at KPMG in the Management Consulting Practice as leader in the Telecom practice in Sydney, Australia four years at Jabian Consulting, a Atlanta based IT and management consultancy that applies senior level consulting specialists to its clients’ top priority projects, and four years in the Telecom, Media and Entertainment consulting practice of Capgemini, a global IT and Management Consulting Company.

Dustin has over 12 for years of experience in large scale business transformations that have helped companies across Telecom, Media, Publishing and Manufacturing industries improve their operational efficiency, gain market insights, and improve their bottom line. Dustin has a strong technology foundation enabling the development of pragmatic solutions to complex problems allowing organizations to execute on their strategic visions. Dustin holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Industrial Systems and Engineering both from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Topic: How Optus Maximizes The Impact Of Its Customer Advocacy Program By Closing The Loop With Its Customers

Optus

Michelle-Bain-112x128

Michelle Bain

Group Customer Advocate

Suncorp

Michelle Bain joined Suncorp in 2003 and was appointed as Suncorp’s Group Customer Advocate in August 2020. She has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry in a variety of Legal, Regulatory Compliance and Customer roles, with previous roles including General Counsel Corporate Advisory and Executive General Manager, Compliance and Regulatory Affairs.

She is passionate about ensuring customers are at the heart of all decisions at Suncorp and that emerging customer and community issues are considered. Michelle advocates for Suncorp’s customers, especially those experiencing vulnerability, to ensure fair outcomes for customers when they need us the most. Michelle and her team are there to ensure Suncorp has the right processes and support in place to get customers back on their feet as quickly as possible. Michelle also values purpose led leadership and diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Topic: How Suncorp’s Best Customer Advocacy Practices Gives Vulnerable Customer A Voice

Suncorp

Tina-Morrell-112x128

Tina Morrell

General Manager, Customer Strategy & Experience

NRMA

Tina Morrell is the General Manager for Customer Strategy & Experience Design for the NRMA. Tina is responsible for customer strategy, research and insights (voice of the customer), experience design, developing customer value propositions and pricing to drive growth across Consumer and Business segments, as well as Member Relations and Service Improvement teams. Tina is also responsible for CX Design and Innovation and has experience across banking and telecommunications having worked at Optus and CommBank in Product Management & Development, CX & Innovation and transformational programs. Tina holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Macquarie University and enjoys running.

Topic: New Challenges In Meeting Customer Satisfaction: A NRMA Perspective

nrma

Simon-Donaldson-112x128

Simon Donaldson

Complaints Governance Senior Lead

Telstra

Simon has held leadership positions within Telstra complaints function in the past 8 years and has extensive experience managing operations and continuous improvement programs. With 20 years telecommunications industry experience, his current role is focussed on complaint management performance that exceeds industry standards for all customers.

Simon holds the operational daily relationship with TIO (telecommunication industry ombudsman) and leads a team accountable for performance management against all complaints metrics including Net Promoter Score and complaint resolution timeframes.

In the previous 12 months, the ability to identify, capture, resolve customer complaints and understand the root cause of issues has never been more important, especially for Vulnerable customers.

Simon has lead the operational oversight, recovery and governance of complaints for all consumer and small business customers within Telstra during this period.

Topic: How Telstra Mitigated COVID-19 Impacts To Complaints Management

 telstra

philip-Field-preferred-photo-112x128

Philip Field (Conference Chairperson)

Dispute Resolution Specialist

Philip Field started practising as a dispute resolution and complaint management professional over 35 years ago. He worked in private practice and in house legal roles before joining the Banking Ombudsman’s office in 2002. In 2008, he was appointed Lead Banking Ombudsman at FOS and then AFCA, a position he held for 11 years. Philip became the inaugural Customer Advocate at Telstra from July 2019. In May 2021, Philip ticked off a long held ambition to run his own dispute resolution and complaint management practice, becoming the Principal of the imaginatively named Philip A Field.

Conference Chairperson

Panel Discussions (Moderator):

  • Coordinating Customer Advocate Initiatives To Understand Critical Pain Points And Prevent Recurring Systematic Issues
  • New Challenges In Customer Advocacy In A Period Of Uncertainty And Economic Recovery
Isabella-Villani-112x128

Isabella Villani

Company Director

Exceed Global

Isabella Villani is a thought leader in in strategy, marketing, customer experience (CX), employee engagement and organisational transformation. Renowned for leading high-performing teams, she is greatly sought after as a speaker at industry forums and events around the world. Isabella is a published author with globally recognition for her two books Good to Great CX and Transform Customer Experience (www.isabellavillaniauthor.com).

As the founder of Exceed Global, Isabella has earned an international reputation for her infectious passion. With more than 20 years of experience at the forefront of CX, she focuses on delivering world-class keynote speaking engagements, custom workshops, executive training and consulting services in banking and finance, telecommunications, health, utilities, as well as government and not-for-profit organisations.

Isabella is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (Order of Merit) and is currently a Board Member for Victorian Interpreting and Translating Service (VITS) LanguageLoop, a state business corporation of the Victorian Government that delivers expert language services across Australia, Non-Executive Director for Waterpool Trading, an organisation that provides a market driven water trading platform and Retail Advisory Board Member at Save the Children, an international Children’s charity.

She is certified in Six Sigma (Black Belt), Kaizen, Systems Thinking Design, Project Management and has a bachelor’s degree in Speech Pathology from La Trobe University. Throughout her career, Isabella has consistently demonstrated an ability to integrate her experience across customer experience, operations, sales and marketing, technology and cultural change to optimise processes, technology, customer potential and human capital. She also excels in sourcing and managing strategic partnerships to achieve growth, streamlining operations and improving organisation-wide employee and customer experience.

Topic: Transforming Customer Experience Through Driving Customer Advocacy And Complaint Resolution

Exceed_Global_Logo

Ian-Harrison-112x128

Ian Harrison

Director, Customer Experience Optimisation

Verint

Ian Harrison is the Director, Customer Experience Optimization at Verint. In his role Ian provides support and advice to Customer Experience executives in setting the strategy, operational objectives, performance expectations, resource allocation and quality standards to meet evolving customer demand.

Most recently Ian was the Group Head, Customer Care for Westpac Group managing 2200 staff across 8 sites. During his time at Westpac Ian used speech analytics to provide the Bank with unique insights during and following the implementation of the Banking Code of Practice. Prior to Westpac, Ian was the Director, Customer Care for TNT/FedEx in Australia. Additionally, Ian spent 13 years at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) as a General Manager leading large back office and contact centre functions whilst developing and implementing the Group Operations Production Management (Lean Manufacturing) approach. Ian also spent six years at Vodafone Australia, as General Manager Customer Care and three years at TeleTech International, running outsourced call centres servicing a variety of clients.

Topic: Using Speech Analytics In Call Centers To Identify Vulnerable Customers And Resolve Complaints Handling More Effectively

Panel Discussion: Coordinating Customer Advocate Initiatives To Understand Critical Pain Points And Prevent Recurring Systematic Issues

Verint_Logo_Blue_RGB_High-Res

Paul-Kelly-112x128

Paul Kelly

Customer Advocacy and Service Improvement Specialist

PMK Service Consulting

Paul Kelly has over 20 years experience in improving customer advocacy. Paul has held senior roles including Head of Service Experience at Westpac Group where he was also personally responsible for escalation of complaints to Gail Kelly CEO and her executive team and board. (12 years in this role). Paul has also worked on creating great Service Delivery programs with Newscorp along with other organisations including SocietyOne and a large Hardware outlet.

Paul is a firm believer that there is real power in connecting emotionally with customers. He has extensive hands-on experience in customer service and has gained invaluable insights into customer and employee thinking through resolving many customer service failures and developing customer service improvement programs/charters. Paul’s approach adopts a proven methodology that will inspire and engage staff and management in helping unite the customer and an organisation to achieve harmony.

Topic: Advocating For Customers And The Front Line

Michelle-Couch-photo-112x128

Michelle Couch-Friedman

Executive Director

Elliott Advocacy

Michelle Couch-Friedman is a consumer reporter and mediator. She is the executive director of Elliott Advocacy (Elliott.org), a US-based nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can’t. She is the author of numerous articles and her guidance has been cited in media outlets such as CNBC, Newsweek, The Sun, Popular Science, Fox News, and The Reader’s Digest among others.

Michelle is also a licensed psychotherapist; training which often comes in handy as she mediates emotionally charged disputes between companies and their frustrated customers each day.

Topic: Most Consumer Complaints Can Be Resolved By Taking A Few Simple Steps

Elliot Advocacy logo

Brad-Meehan-112x128

Brad Meehan

Managing Director

Strativity Group Australia

Brad has designed and deployed enterprise level competitive and customer strategies for several ASX 100 companies and GOCs. He has expertise in competitive strategy, operating model development, proposition structures, customer experience strategy, customer experience mapping and improvement, omni-channel strategy development, voice of the customer programs, customer retention strategy, segmentation, business case development and large-scale customer-centric transformations. Brad gained his MBA with distinction from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2007 and has completed Harvard Business School Leadership Programs in both Customer-Centric Strategy and Competitive Strategy. He has also lectured in QUT’s MBA program in marketing, strategy and customer experience management.

Topic: Customer Centricity 3.0

Strativity Logo 2021

Prashant-photo-112-x-128

Prashant Bakshi

Chief Customer Officer

New Zealand Qualifications Authority

Prashant is the Chief Customer Officer at NZQA and is tasked with leading a fantastic vibrant team that helps NZQA to bring its customers at the heart of what NZQA does, through co-design, deep customer insights and through delivering services through channels of their choice. Prashant leads Service Design, Performance Improvement, Process stewardship, Customer Insights, Organisational Performance and key channel teams – Contact Centre, Web channel and Apps. Prashant has an extensive customer experience and strategy background in public and private sector across New Zealand, Singapore and India.

Topic: Evolving Role Of Chief Customer Officer In Customer Advocacy

New_Zealand_Qualifications_Authority_logo.svg

Kylie-112x128

Kylie De Courteney

Managing Director

NSW Telco Authority

Kylie De Courteney is Managing Director of the NSW Telco Authority (NSWTA), a role she has held since May 2019. An accomplished executive, Kylie has worked in the public and private sectors driving complex program delivery, organisational change and operational performance improvement.

Kylie is passionate about the digital transformation of government and customer-centric service. Prior to joining NSWTA, Kylie served as the Chief Customer and Chief Digital Officer at Service NSW – an agency that has delivered ground-breaking transformation in how citizens interact with government.

Under Kylie’s leadership, women are 50% of the Senior Leadership Team at NSWTA and 45% of the workforce. Over 40% of staff have a first language other than English and 85% of staff have flexible work arrangements in support individual and family circumstances

Topic: NSW Telco Authority Customer Advocacy & Complaints Resolution Program

Telco-Authority-colour-logo

Carolyn-112x128

Carolyn Van Tilburg

Complaint Resolution Officer

Teachers Mutual Ltd

Carolyn is part of the Operational Risk team at Teachers Mutual Bank Limited and is primarily responsible for ensuring the bank’s IDR and EDR processes are compliant and operate effectively making sure complaints are handled appropriately. Carolyn helps front line staff understand the importance of resolving complaints received by the bank in an efficient and professional manner. Carolyn’s goal is to make the process simple for staff so that the valuable insight that can be gained from feedback is used to improve the bank’s products, service and processes.

Carolyn has completed a Masters in Dispute Resolution and has over 20 years’ experience in the banking industry, predominately with Teachers Mutual Bank, with over 10 years’ experience in complaints management.

Topic: How Customer Advocacy Helped Teachers Mutual Bank Win The ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ Award With Highest Net Promoter Score

TMBL logo

Lawrence-112x128

Lawrence Mitchell

Founder & CEO

Raw Energy

Lawrence Mitchell is Founder of RAW Energy, Co-Founder of Finding EQUILIBRIUM and former Chief Customer and Marketing Officer for SumoSalad in Australia and The RELX: Risk & Analytics Group in the UK.

Lawrence is now based in Sydney, Australia, and helps businesses around the world to find creative solutions to big problems that lead to enhanced customer and employee experience and wellbeing.

Topic: Turning Disappointing Experiences Into a Great One

Raw Energy company logo

Ian-Aitchison-112x128

Ian Aitchison

CEO

COPC Asia Pacific

Ian Aitchison is the CEO of the Asia Pacific (APAC) region of COPC Inc. and has great expertise in Asian and Australian customer contact operations, having worked extensively throughout the region. Since joining the customer contact industry more than 20 years ago, Ian’s career has been marked by the consistent delivery of quality, service and process improvement that is the hallmark of the COPC Standards.

He has brought to COPC Inc. a level of experience that encompasses all aspects of customer experience operations. Having managed in-house and outsourced contact centers as well as document management and back-office processing centers, Ian fully understands the speed of change required when managing within this operational environment. His industry expertise includes technology, financial services, telecommunications, government, collections, credit card and insurance industries.

In addition to leading the Asia Pacific region, Ian has provided training and consulting advice to more than 25% of the world’s top 50 brands. He is a senior auditor for the COPC CX Standard and is a qualified Six Sigma trainer.

Prior to joining COPC Inc. in 2006, Ian served in a number of executive roles in the industry including National Contact Center manager for KAZ Business Services, Manager of Consulting Services for Datacom, and Business Improvement Manager with Connect Interactive.

Ian holds a BA in Legal Studies from Napier University, Edinburgh Scotland and lives in Sydney, Australia, with his family.

Topic: Service Design In Complaints Resolution And Handling

Ivana-Sekanic-2-112x128

Ivana Sekanic

Principal, CX Performance

IAG

Ivana is a professional that makes a wide organisational contribution by designing and implementing large scale customer experience measurement systems. These systems provide excellent inputs across the organisation, improving decision making, resource allocation and prioritisation to drive superior customer outcomes. Ivana has developed competence in driving transformation business outcomes in a broad range of roles over the last 15 years in the Australian energy and financial services sectors. This experience is enhanced and underpinned with an academic background in Business (double degree in Computing & Business) and postgraduate qualification in Lean/Six Sigma principles.

Ivana is passionate about making a difference and loves to work in environments that are open to transformation and where her leadership and experience can be applied to drive greater business and customer outcomes.

Topic: Using Customer Insights And Analytics To Identify Systemic Issues Vulnerable Customers Are Facing

Bridie-Fennessy-112x128

Bridie Fennessy

Divisional Manager, Service Response

Yarra Valley Water

Bridie Fennessy is the Divisional Manager, Service Response from Yarra Valley Water. In this role she oversees how Yarra Valley Water manages complaints, claims and fault reports about water and sewer services and supply.

Bridie has worked in operations, policy, insights and advocacy roles within Ombudsman Schemes, Nor for Profits and the Public Sector for over 20 years.

She is passionate about creating environments, services and products that enable consumers, in partnership with organisations, to play an active part in reaching fair outcomes to issues and to make good choices that are in their best interests.

Topic: How Yarra Valley Water Is Strengthening Its Commitment To Customer Advocacy With Fairer Treatment

yvw_t155

Michael-Blacker-112x128

Michael Blacker

Risk Manager

Teachers Mutual Bank Ltd

Michael leads the small team that handles complaints at TMB focusing on helping staff members deal with complaints in the front line and escalating complaints that cannot be resolved. Michael has set out to improve the insights provided to the Bank’s Senior Executive and Board from the Bank’s complaints data recognizing the value of this type of feedback.

Michael is a CPA and has completed a Bachelor of Business Major in Accounting and Banking and Finance with over 25 years experience in Banking and 20 years in risk management. Michael has held a number of senior roles in internal audit, compliance management, risk analysis and risk management with Teacher’s Mutual Bank, CBA, Police Bank, State Super and APRA. His experience spans various elements of risk management AML, Operational Risk, Internal Audit, Compliance Risk Management, Fraud, Complaints, Model risk management, Credit Risk and Prudential Regulation.


Topic: How Customer Advocacy Helped Teachers Mutual Bank Win The ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ Award With Highest Net Promoter Score

TMBL logo