Global Speakers

Chris is serious about designing Digital Customer Experience and making every experience with a customer amazing and memorable. Focusing on analytics, detailed understanding of customers and constant measurement for outcomes while thinking different.

Having joined Koala as Head of Customer Experience at the end of 2016 after 10+ years driving change and improving customer’s digital experiences at companies such as Telstra & Westpac and some smaller companies.

Chris was instrumental in launching Telstra Live Chat at scale at time most organizations were only experimenting with Live Chat, growing to 500+ agents. Later leading the re-platform of the technology beyond a pure customer service channel to a platform designed to follow the customer.

Glenn is an expert and specialist in digital strategy and online marketing. With senior management experience covering a variety of sectors and channels, Glenn leverages digital technologies, the internet and a variety of marketing activities to transform,​ sustain, innovate and grow businesses. Glenn continually pushes the boundaries, increases the benchmarks and produces winning results.

As Director of Lupo Digital, specializing in Customer Strategy and Experience, Glenn manages his team to deliver cross-channel online marketing experiences and strategy programs across various industry aspects including: inbound marketing strategy, digital marketing automation and workflows, content alignment and creation, brand and persona development and partnerships (EG: Google) for both Australian and International companies and brands.

Glenn has developed and delivered training and workshops to businesses in the areas of: Digital Strategy, Online Marketing (Branding & Literacy), Google and Analytics, Email Marketing, PPC Advertising and Social Media and Communications Planning.

Glenn holds a Bachelor’s degree in Informatics with dual major in Business Management and Marketing. As a regular and lead contributor on the subject of augmented experiences (Bots, Chatbots, AI, AR), contributing as a writer on LinkedIn Pulse, InternetRetailing.com.au, and Medium.com (Chatbots Life and Chatbots Journal), Glenn holds the badge of Top Writer in Artificial Intelligence.

Adam Spence has 20 years of experience in driving and implementing many leading contact centre and customer experience initiatives at enterprises. In his first 14 years at Vodafone Australia.  Adam drove the implementation of many leading network infrastructure and call centre initiatives and created the world acclaimed and award winning “Lara” speech application. Adam was also part of Vodafone’s Global Customer Management Group where he assisted other Vodafone markets with the implementation of speech recognition solutions.

In 2009, Adam joined Nuance Communications as Asia Pacific Director for Mobile Care, working with APAC carriers and enterprises on development and deployment of their Handset Self-Care and Virtual Assistant programs.

In 2014, Adam re-joined Vodafone to head up Customer Care, Experience and Digital Transformation at Vodafone Qatar. One of the highlights is the deployment of the 24/7 Virtual assistant (“Hani”), Next-Best-Activity program and Net-Promoter-Score platform across all touch points as well as the operational management including customer care, billing and collections.

Adam joined [24]7 in late 2016 as the Managing Director for ANZ, where he leads business development, planning and operation of [24]7 business and customers in the Australia and New Zealand region.

Adam is also currently studying for his Masters in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute.

Roger founded Propel to ensure all levels of organizations understand the potential to improve customer experience through the development and adoption of strategic social capabilities. While many other consultancies and agencies in the market focus on social media channel and campaign activities, he has demonstrated the value behind improving business performance through social capabilities aligned with organization and customer needs.

Over the past decade, Roger has helped clients realize the potential to improve business practices through social customer care, creating more efficient, effective and personalized services capabilities. He has worked with clients including the ATO, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, IAG, Queensland Government, Suncorp Group, International Trade & Investment, IBM Australia & New Zealand, Telstra, Austrade and British Airways.

Roger is also an active industry figure as a TEDx speaker, Australian Institute of Company Directors advisor, and conference speaker. He is also a Director for the National Children’s & Youth Law Centre based in Sydney.

Isabella Villani is an industry expert in customer experience, employee experience, business transformation and omnichannel strategy. She is currently director of her own company, Exceed Global (www.exceedglobal.com). Her book Good to Great CX: Customer Experience Strategy to Execution (www.goodtogreatcx.com) was published globally in September 2016 by Major Street Publishing.

As an industry expert in CX renowned for leading high-performing teams, Isabella has extensive experience in business optimization, process improvement, change management, program management and training development and facilitation. She has provided consultancy services to companies in banking and finance, telecommunications, health, infrastructure and resources, as well as to government and not-for-profit organizations.

Agile, multidisciplinary and client-focused, her company Exceed Global provides innovative best-practice consulting and talent solutions to help businesses solve problems, increase profitability, gain market advantage and achieve operational excellence. The team listens to each client’s unique needs, then collaborates and engages to deliver tailored outcomes in both strategy and implementation.

Isabella has workplace certifications in Six Sigma (Black Belt), Kaizen, Systems Thinking Design, Agile and CompTIA Project Management. She has a degree from La Trobe University and has also gained Executive Coaching qualifications and a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment.

Maloy Patnaik has been a strategist and digital partner advising and supporting the top Australian companies for over 15 years.

Providing actionable strategic guidance across the entire marketing and digital ecosystem, Maloy brings a combination of CXO level planning, delivery and media experience in a fast-changing global market. He is a strategic thinker and thought leader who anticipates market changes and helps change and guide businesses accordingly.

In his current role with Infosys, Maloy is instrumental in helping Australian retail organizations navigate the complex digital landscape of mobile, social, analytics and automation to develop simpler and more efficient business operations and customer service models.

Maloy can be reached at @maloypatnaik on Twitter.

Rob joined GM Holden in October 2016 as General Manager Customer Contact, responsible for Customer Contact Strategy, Contact Centers including Digital Responses, Dealer Support and driving continuous improvement across the business.

Prior to this Rob moved to Australia from the UK in May 2014 working at Telstra as Director, Advocacy Program. He was responsible for oversight of customer experience and advocacy programs introducing methods for building capability in teams and leaders to better respond to the requirements of customers and make systemic improvements.

Prior to 2014, Rob was Systems Thinking lead for Aviva worldwide having introduced improvement methodologies into the UK business in 2008 as a means of improving customer service in the Life & Pensions areas. Rob continued to lead improvements across Aviva and Systems Thinking is now a recognized part of the core strategic capability set.

Rob worked in senior Customer facing roles in a number of the Aviva businesses, focused on business turnarounds and significantly improving customer experience. Prior to this Rob worked in Finance and operational roles through a number of mergers and acquisitions at Aviva.

Rob is a qualified accountant and a people centric, customer focused leader. He prides himself on harnessing the passion and energy of individuals and teams to create higher levels of performance. He is an experienced practitioner and leader of customer service improvement and process improvement methodologies.

Bianca is head of customer care and the immediate past product leader for Intuit Australia. She has more than 17 years’ IT experience with expertise in the accounting and technology sectors. Bianca previously worked for companies including MYOB, Solution 6 and Telstra where she undertook key internal and external facing roles encompassing customer care, product (development and management), consulting and operations. Bianca is also an experienced leader in building a culture of innovation, project management and business process improvement. In addition, she’s worked extensively with development teams using lean and Agile methodologies. Bianca lives in Sydney and is passionate about solving customer problems, building high performing teams, and coaching people in health and wellness to maintain balance in their personal and professional lives.

Claire Hayes is passionate about building strong, digital teams who solve old business/customer experience issues with new innovative digital solutions.

Currently Claire is the General Manager of Operations and Transformation for Business Customers. My team and I run the website and online tools that Telstras B2B business customers use, from the smallest Sole Trader to the largest Enterprise customer. She has 13 years digital experience in both B2B and B2C at Telstra, Westpac and consulting with BDO. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) and Masters of Applied Commerce both from Melbourne University.

A global, commercial marketing executive with a record of delivering for Mercedes-Benz, Ansell and professional services consultancies, Mitchell is committed to marketing earning the right to define and project the customer experience as the primary driver of competitive advantage. In an era of rapid product and service commoditization, Mitchell is convinced that the customer experience matters now more than ever. Prior to joining Ansell Limited, where he is their Marketing Director, Mitchell enjoyed nine years with Mercedes-Benz in global, regional and national marketing roles. Mitchell has been recognized by CMO Australia magazine as one of the nation’s top 50 marketers in both 2015 and 2016.

Anand Thomas was appointed Chief Customer Officer, Bancassurance, Digital and Direct Insurance in November 2015, and is responsible for MLC’s Bancassurance and Direct portfolio, and the delivery of quality protection solutions to customers through NAB channels (Consumer and Wealth, Business and Private,) and Direct channels. In addition, he is accountable for the Digital channels and Data transformation for the MLC Life Insurance business.

Previously Anand held senior leadership roles across a variety of NAB’s businesses including Digital, Compliance and NAB Wealth since joining NAB in 2010 as Head of Channel Development, in the Digital and Direct business.

Prior to joining NAB, Anand held a number of leadership roles at ANZ over 7 years in both Consumer Banking and Digital. During his time at ANZ, Anand spent time working with ANZ joint ventures in Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. Anand has worked internationally at OCBC Bank in Singapore and Citicorp in India.

Anand holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Madras, India.

He is currently a formal mentor for incumbent MBA graduates at Melbourne Business School.

Antoine is currently the ‘Head of Wealth Direct’ for the National Australia Bank. He leads the Contact Center and Digital Services for all Superannuation and Investments contacts for customers, employers and financial advisers. Previously Antoine held a lead strategic role with the Retail and Customer Contact Center arm of the National Bank of Canada.

Highl­y accom­plish­ed, resilient executive manager and visio­nary leader, with exper­ience in a wide range of operational roles, strat­egic plann­ing, acqui­sitio­ns/merge­rs and initial public offerings, in both start up and growt­h organ­isati­ons. A transformational change leader who enjoys driving major organisational change based on: achieving efficiencies and improving productivity and meeting and improving customer outcomes and expectations while engaging multi skilled team.

Demonstrated experience in creating and leading high performing teams by providing a clear vision and feedback through empowering and encouraging an enthusiastic and energetic workplace. Strong results focus, driven, with clear successes in commercial outcomes, both in cost reductions and revenue increases in complex, diverse and ever changing environments. Broad operational experience in roles from sectors, private, public and Government of both a strategic and operational nature. Strong stakeholder management and network ability to connect with people at all levels.

David is currently the State Manager of Westpac’s digital home lending channel Connect Now. With a deep seeded passion for ‘helping people’, he has also led large multi-site teams across NAB, the leading online bank Ubank & St.George Bank’s largest retail metropolitan division, producing in each an impressive uplift in customer engagement levels, but equally a team of happy people.  He has a reputation as both a strategic thinker, yet also a leader that loves to be on the ground.

David lives by simple principals of kindness and care, bundled up in a competitive, energetic spirit that gets all those who work alongside him excited and enthused for life. His passion lies in combining the benefits that technology offers with a highly engaged workforce, that ultimately leads to excellent commercial and customer outcomes.

David is currently in the last year of his MBA at the AGSM, is half-way through writing his first book, and recently co-founded ‘The Leadership Project’, a think tank on all things leadership.

With a passion for all things ‘customer’, Niki prides herself on putting the customer at the centre of business decisions. She is a seasoned Insights and Customer Experience professional, having gained 16 years experience in retail, manufacturing and services industries. As the Head of Insights and Customer Engagement at iSelect, she is responsible for marketing optimization, CX design, and customer research.

When Niki is not enhancing the iSelect customer experience she enjoys being a customer herself and then putting these real life learnings into practice at iSelect.

Rohit is a senior leader with over 16 years’ experience in strategy, customer experience and business growth across large organizations ranging in sectors from financial services, government and consumer goods. Rohit is driven by curiosity and powered by passion to solve problems that truly make a difference to the lives of customers. His passion for the customer was developed very early in his career, during his first role with Tata Global Beverages, the world’s second largest tea and coffee company. He also spent 10 years at AMP, and in his last role there was the Head of Business Growth and Performance, responsible for driving customer centered growth. He is currently with the NSW Government, leading the Customer Centric Program for one of its flagship agencies, and is responsible for improving the quality of services and experiences for the people of New South Wales, which includes the Voice of Customer program.

Rohit has a Master’s degree in International Business from the University of Melbourne, an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, is a certified Design Thinking practitioner and a Certified Practising Marketer (CPM) from the Australian Marketing Institute.

Rohit love’s bringing ideas to life, and focusing on understanding the ‘purpose’ and the ‘why’ in order to inspire others to join the causes he is committed to.

Obsessed by designing and delivering incredible customer experiences, Tom is a future-focused CX Leader constantly striving for innovation and anticipating expectations of customers. Tom has worked as part of Operations and Contact center environments for over 12 years and most recently at Sportsbet has been striving to deliver the best possible service experience for the customer.  Tom has achieved success in a range of fields including analytical insight, process design, quality and project delivery.  Through Tom’s 3 years at Sportsbet he has learnt a great on how to share customer insights, get business buy in and achieve tangible customer outcomes.

Yuval is an Analytics and Data Mining professional with extensive commercial and academic experience. As the Head of Analytics & Data Services at iSelect, he is responsible for the key functions that deliver commercial value from data. These functions include analytics, data science, data warehousing and business intelligence. His team contributes at both the strategic and operational levels of the business, across the on-line and call-centre channels, and in verticals such as health, car, and life insurance, as well as utilities, telco and home loans. Yuval is also the founder and co-organizer of the Data Science Melbourne meetup group, and the Melbourne R User Group.

Anne is a Certified Practising Marketer and Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute (CPM FAMI) with over 20 years experience in sales and marketing for companies both nationally and internationally, from startups through to enterprise level.

Anne has consulted to Telstra Digital, Virgin Money, Zurich Insurance, Aussie Home Loans, Beiersdorf (NIVEA & Elastoplast), Tourism Australia, Cellarmasters (Woolworths Liquor Group), Archfashion, Musica Viva, ActionAid and many other organizations on digital strategy and developing more effective self-service experiences for customers.

Anne is a data-driven marketer who specializes in digital strategy, technical SEO, CRO & user journey mapping, IA restructures, pay-per-click advertising, marketing automation, social media and video, analytics and the latest martech solutions in personalization.

Since establishing her own business, 8VA Marketing has quickly grown into a dedicated team of digital experts and developers, who produce end-to-end, seamless omni-channel customer experiences. The business currently has clients in Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Launceston and Perth. The primary focus of all 8VA Marketing’s work is to increase traffic, improve the user experience, grow conversions, and find the most cost effective solutions for clients, many of whom are SMBs on limited marketing budgets.