Speakers

Bridget Sponsky is the Sr. Director of Enterprise Marketing at Ally leading a team responsible for the strategic direction and execution of brand advertising, content, sponsorships and partnerships. 

Prior to joining Ally in October 2008, Bridget held various positions at several advertising agencies including Young & Rubicam, Doner and Campbell-Ewald in the areas of brand, retail, experiential and entertainment advertising.

As a mentor to Michigan-area college students, Bridget focuses much of her free time in the development of her mentees.  She is also a current board member of The Bottomless Toy Chest, a non-profit organization devoted to bringing joy, hope and toys to pediatric cancer patients.  As an Ally LEADing the Way award recipient serving as an example of what it means to be a leader, Bridget was also part of the Ally team awarded the 2017 FCS Financial Marketer of the Year and consistently demonstrates a commitment to support Ally, her customers and her colleagues. 

Bridget earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Michigan State University.  She is a busy mother of two and active in fundraising and volunteerism for several community organizations.
 

Chris has over fifteen years of experience in marketing, focused on program management, communications planning and strategy, and rolling out new technologies with a focused on delivering stellar customer experiences. Chris has been at Redbox for about two years leading the Perks loyalty program and customer strategy. Prior to Redbox, he spent three years with Walmart helping to manage direct mail for Sam’s Club, develop and test personalization, and launch a digital circular for Walmart stores. Previously Chris was at Qdoba Restaurant Corporation for nine years, where he managed their loyalty program, email marketing, catering brand and gift cards. Originally from Colorado, he’s a big fan of the Denver Broncos and the CSU Rams, his alma mater. He loves spending time with his family and getting out to golf and see concerts whenever possible.
 

Jon Siegal has 30+ years helping businesses use digital and social experiences to acquire new customers and grow existing customer relationships. His clients include the International Olympic Committee, NBA, MLB, NFL, CraftWorks, Nautica, Donatos Pizza and many more.

Jon is currently Vice President of Global Loyalty Sales at Cheetah Digital. He was part of the team that built Cheetah Digital’s loyalty solution and underlying engagement data platform and is responsible for growing the company’s presence across key industries such as Retail, Restaurant and Travel.

Prior to joining Cheetah Digital, Jon was a Vice President of Sales at CRM category creator, Siebel Systems.  He was a member of the Founder’s Circle at Siebel Systems and was consistently recognized as one of the top contributors to the company’s growth from $40 million to $2 billion in annual revenue.

Jon received a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from UCLA.

As VP of Marketing Strategy, Kim leads Baesman's loyalty, data and strategic initiatives. She is tasked with driving client growth, customer acquisition and creating data-driven retention strategies. 
 
Before joining the Baesman team, Kim spent a decade at Victoria's Secret in Direct-To-Consumer campaign strategy and analysis. She built profitable customer acquisition and retention strategies from data-driven analysis to achieve company goals.
 

   

Durga Prasad is the Managing Director of Loyalty Marketing at TicketNetwork, one the most trusted and largest privately-held secondary ticketing marketplaces in the country. In his role, Durga oversees Mercury webservices and Loyalty rewards divisions by setting and executing business strategy, managing strategic partnerships and business development, running P&L of the divisions, and more.

Prior to this, Durga has vast experiences as Lead Software Engineer and Product Manager leading the development and launch of high impact products in Reinsurance, FinTech and other Financial Services companies. He is passionate about influencing how people experience technology and solving problems using scalable technological solutions balancing both strategic short-term and long-term goals of organizations.

Durga has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from IIIT, Hyderabad, India and an MBA from Boston University.
 

Amy Barnett is a customer-obsessed marketing leader with 25+ years of CRM and Loyalty experience developing and managing many of the largest US consumer marketing databases and award-winning loyalty programs.
 
Working in a variety of agency-side leadership positions including CRM Strategy, Analytics and Communications she’s had the pleasure of partnering with best-in-class brands and Fortune 500 companies such as American Eagle Outfitters, Build-A-Bear Workshop, The Container Store, Comcast Communications, Express, GameStop, Hard Rock International, Hertz, Jiffy Lube, Michaels, Procter & Gamble, R.J. Reynolds, T.J.Maxx, StubHub, Victoria’s Secret, and Unilever.
 
In her current role as Director CRM, Loyalty & Insights at Famous Footwear, she shares a mission to make Famous Footwear your favorite place to shop for shoes. In her day-to-day role she collaborates with marketing peers from Famous.com, creative, and media teams to enhance existing customer relationships and drive meaningful, profitable growth among new and existing customers. She is an avid believer in putting the customer at the heart of every discussion, by leading with customer-informed data, research and insights. In 2019, building upon a 20+ year company legacy of rewarding customers, Amy led the successful launch of Famously YOU Rewards.
 
Amy holds a B.S. in Marketing from Clarkson University and an MBA from the University of Texas, Dallas. She’s lived in upstate New York, Connecticut, Texas and California. And for the past 10 years, St. Louis - home of the Cardinals and Blues. She believes in the pure joy of wearing the perfect pair of shoes. And, for her in any given moment those could be her Nike running shoes, Birks, UGG slippers, furry-lined Crocs, or her Sam Edelman pumps.
 

A veteran sales, marketing and communications practitioner, Schneider spent nearly 15 years working with a variety of corporations and clients in a host of industries – from technology and engineering to recruiting and state government – building their brands and ensuring that sales and service were aligned. He learned the household goods relocation services industry by developing programs for some of the largest domestic moving companies in the U.S. while working for public relations, marketing communications and branding firms in the Midwest.

Schneider entered the relocation services industry full-time in 2007 by going to work for Wheaton Van Lines, Inc., the parent company of Wheaton | Bekins, the fourth largest van line group in the country. In 2014, Schneider became Executive Vice President. Today he’s responsible for Sales and Marketing, Agency Development, Customer Service, the Military and the company’s FF&E division. 
Schneider earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Indiana University.
 

Don earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from The Florida State University, and spent 11 years in academia teaching statistics and policy evaluation. Prior to joining Brierley, he was a research director for Dallas County, in charge of database modeling, data mining, and program reporting. He has authored several journal articles and a full-length book. At Brierley, Don leads our strategic program design practice, responsible for engineering solutions which balance compelling value propositions with enhanced member experiences and data-driven customer engagement. His current client list includes 7-Eleven, Al Tayer, Express, GameStop, Grupo Gigante, Hertz and MoneyGram. An avid theater aficionado, his passion for presentation informs his marketing data analytics, where he eschews the traditional view in favor of a dynamic storytelling model that brings numbers to life through contextualization and the generation of actionable insights.
 

 
Kelly Edwards is the Manager, Loyalty Marketing at DSW Inc. Designer Brands, an American footwear retailer of designer and name brand shoes and fashion accessories. The retailer has over 500 stores in the United States and an e-commerce website. Kelly currently managers the DSW VIP Loyalty program with over 25 million members.  As a passionate, data-driven marketer Kelly believes that brands should always be evolving to meet the customer’s needs. In May 2018, Kelly played a pivotal role in relaunching the DSW Rewards program to DSW VIP.  Kelly and her team seek to create meaningful customer experiences across every touchpoint and she holds the firm belief that loyalty programs must extend beyond transactional loyalty to inspire self-expression.
 
Kelly holds a B.A. in English from The Ohio State University. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio she is an avid Ohio State Buckeye fan and active member within the community. She has held prior positions in digital marketing at Bath & Body Works.
 

Yuichiro Miyake is President of Sapporo Lion, the group that operates the restaurants and bars division of Sapporo. He has been working with Sapporo Lion for over 31 years and has great experience in restaurant management after being a top manager of several restaurants. He was recently awarded the in-house ‘Excellent Store Award of the Year’ for the store's improvement for the second straight year. In 2009, he launched a new restaurant brand "Yebisu Bar," a restaurant concept that utilizes the synergistic relationships with Sapporo Beer. Now it has become the base of Sapporo Lion's revenue. He worked on improvements of branding by restructuring and activating the concept of existing brand. After becoming general manager of sales in 2016,  he managed not only Sapporo Lion’s but also the sales of subsidiary of Sapporo Lion in Japan and overseas. He has contributed to the increase of Sapporo Lion’s revenue and expansion of its business.
 

As a Sr. Solutions Engineer at Airship, Cevin is responsible for determining the solution fit in the pre-sales process, advising as a product expert, demo guru and customer storyteller. For over 10 years he has worked closely with enterprise brands such as Microsoft, Samsung, Frontier Communications, AT&T, Dignity Health, and Chase Bank. Prior to his solutions career, Cevin was an IT professional.Cevin puts his deep technical knowledge to work every day, solving complex enterprise goals and helping to find and explain solutions that are clear and easy to understand.
 

Pamela Erlichman is the Chief Marketing Officer for Jebbit. With over 20 years of marketing experience, Pam is responsible for the Jebbit brand and customer experience. Prior to joining Jebbit, Pam was the Vice President of Marketing for Oracle Data Cloud, which included creation and growth of Oracle Data Cloud’s industry firsts the Data Hotline and the Data Lab brands, providing data strategy and education to brand, media and agency partners. Pam joined Oracle Data Cloud via the Datalogix acquisition, where she created and grew the marketing function from its inception. Prior to Datalogix, Pam worked at Digitas, leading relationships with world-class brands including Delta Air Lines, AT&T, FedEx, Ahold USA, Celebrity Cruise Lines, and Progressive Insurance.
 

Mariona Belles has over 12 years of international business experience leading digital transformation initiatives. Originally from Barcelona, Spain, she holds an MBA from ESADE Business School. She led digital programs in the travel and ecommerce industries in several European countries: Germany, Sweden, Spain and the UK before moving to the Twin Cities. Before joining Best Buy she was a Digital Strategist at Three Deep Marketing supporting key accounts like Red Wing, Medtronic, and Nestle. At Best Buy she launched multiple digital capabilities including Wish List, Student Deals and Digital Member Offers. Over the last two years she has been leading the My Best Buy loyalty and membership program focusing on transformation. She is also a certified leadership coach, possesses an agile certification by the University of Minnesota and is passionate about helping business grow through digital transformation.
 

Experienced Data Analytics professional with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Predictive Modeling, Data Warehousing, Market Research, Master Data Management, Pre-sales, and Retail Technology. Strong information technology professional with a BA focused in Math/Statistics from Boston University.

Ian Verschuren has helped Marcus Thomas grow successfully on two continents. He is an integral member of the firm’s consulting group, offering Marcus Thomas’ clients applied experience and a comprehensive understanding of technology and its potential intersections with business. Since the mid ‘90s, Ian has counseled clients from major league sports teams to multinational industrial companies and well-known global brands. He holds a Master of Business Administration in strategic business management from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.

Teacher. Mentor. Strategist. Innovator. Author. All are terms you could use to identify Adam Pierno. The highly caffeinated Pierno has refined a simple methodology to build precise strategies for numerous client campaigns. Prior to his current role as AVP of Marketing Strategy at Arizona State University’s Enterprise Marketing Hub, Pierno leveraged his knowledge of consumer behavior to produce informed and effective campaigns for such national brands as Delta Air Lines, Dial Corporation, Domino’s Pizza, Dunkin’ Brands and Mercedes-Benz. His first book, Under Think It delves into the foundational aspects of marketing strategy. He was inspired to pen this insightful guidebook to fill a void in strategy training curriculum. That book is used to teach strategy at universities, global agencies and Fortune 100 companies. His second book, Specific demonstrates a model that today’s brands can use to grow in an absence of viable mass media. He’s been interviewed and quoted for ABC News, NPR, Adweek, Business Journals and more. Adam hosts his own podcast featuring conversations with business and marketing luminaries, called The Strategy Inside Everything.

As VP of Sales – North America, Eric is fully responsible for the sales operations in North America and is accountable for all associated key business development initiatives around Kentico EMS (digital experience platform) and Kentico Kontent (headless CMS and Content-as-a-Service, CaaS). Eric joined Kentico Software in the fall of 2008 and has over 16 years in the enterprise content management industry consulting clients on digital engagement strategies and solutions. Eric specializes in forming strategic alliances and programs that add value to the customer relationship; and his approach to building and managing the US team has given Kentico Software the ability to establish a successful and growing North American presence.
 

Elizabeth Fettes is the head of Marketing & Brand Strategy for Premier Worldwide Marketing which is the exclusive worldwide sales and marketing representatives for Karisma Hotels & Resorts. Karisma is an award-winning luxury hotel collection which owns and manages properties in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe with an impressive portfolio including the one and only Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts and Margaritaville Island Reserve Resort, the all-inclusive brand of Margaritaville. Elizabeth oversees and transforms each brand to life within the consumer’s journey with tailored communications and marketing one to one, not one to all. From brand ideation to product development to interaction throughout the consumer lifecycle, Elizabeth has continued to improve the dialogue with the consumer to be one of meaning, value and putting the consumer’s needs front and center. With her previous experience at Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean and the sports industry, she has continued her passion of creating an unique consumer marketing experience. She’s an avid sports fan – Miami Hurricanes (Go Canes), loves spending time with her family, traveling and curling up with her 150-lb French Mastiff, Patrick.
 

Robin Ruttle has over 15  years of brand, CRM, loyalty, and integrated marketing experience across many consumer-facing industries including retail, hospitality, consumer packaged goods, and media. Robin currently leads the loyalty program at Stop & Shop, a leading grocer in the Northeast, with over 400 stores throughout NY, NY, CT, RI, and MA. She led the design of the company’s newly enhanced program, Stop & Shop GO Rewards, which will launch in early 2020. Robin also oversees the 6M membership base of the existing loyalty card program, providing personalized experiences and campaigns throughout the year.

As Senior Director of RBC Rewards and Loyalty, Nadia has end to end responsibility for all RBC Rewards Products including the future strategic direction, ongoing growth of the business, and expansions as we evolve the overall Loyalty program.  Nadia not only overseas the management of the Travel and Retail suite of Rewards products, but she also has direct accountability for the relationship management of key merchant partners to the program.
 
Over the past 20 years, Nadia has held progressively more senior roles with broad mandates that span across data and analytics, product management, cards and rewards.  Nadia joined RBC in 2004 in the credit cards business managing the growth and retention strategies, pricing strategies and marketing for the credit card business.
 
Nadia holds a BAA from Ryerson University in Toronto.

Michelle Davis has over 20 years of CRM, loyalty and integrated marketing experience and brings extensive knowledge in leading and developing winning strategies across many consumer-facing industries including retail, hospitality, financial services and consumer packaged goods.

Michelle has worked with some of the top-leading U.S. and global organizations in these verticals, including Procter and Gamble, Shell, Kellogg Company, Best Buy, Hallmark Cards Inc., Hasbro, Luxottica (including Sunglass Hut North America), Radisson Hotel Group, Hyatt Hotel Corporation, Darden Restaurants, Stop & Shop and many others. 

Michelle aims to deliver best-in-class solutions for her clients that keep the consumer in focus and push marketing boundaries to change the status quo. What may have worked in the past may not be right for today.

At Luxottica, Brian is the VP of Global CRM responsible for customer and patient strategies across the optical and sunglass businesses. Prior to Luxottica, he ran CRM at Etrade where he oversaw customer experience and channel strategy. His experience includes companies like Sears and Capital One where he worked to develop segmentation, targeted marketing capabilities and institute direct response innovations. He was a finalist in the Loyalty and Gamification World Championships. He received his MBA from the University of Virginia.

Jake Finch is the Vice-President Insight and Intelligence at SharkNinja, a global manufacturer of  small home appliances and market leader in the both the Vacuum and Kitchen categories
 
In this capacity, Jake leads a global team focused on Category and Market insights in support of Product Development, Customer experience in service  of launching 5 star products that delight our consumers while driving a high rate of sale for our retailers. 
His innovative approach to re-engineering  consumer insight strategies and  analytics is a  key enabler of SharkNinja’s relentless focus on innovation, consumer satisfaction  and  time to market.  Jake has previously held roles in global  customer Experience and contact center operations.
 
Jake holds a Masters in Business and Administration from HEC Montréal, considered one of the global elite of  business schools that hold all three prestigious accreditations: AMBA, AACSB International and EQUIS.
 

Jessica Groves is the Brand Manager of Loyalty Marketing at Giant Food Stores LLC. She has worked in the grocery industry for 15 years with experience in Operations, Human Resources, Merchandising and Marketing. Jessica was named one of Loyalty 360s "40 under 40" earlier in 2019 as well as a finalist for Top Woman in Grocery with Progressive Grocer in 2019. Jessica has a passion for putting the customer at the heart of the business and most recently led the redesign and launch of the CHOICE Rewards loyalty program. 
 

As the VP of loyalty and Financial Services and Marketing Products, Mostafa Boutajrit is responsible for strategy, design and execution of Caesars Entertainment customer loyalty program, Caesars Rewards, the industry-leading loyalty program which fuels Caesars analytics marketing engine. create strategic vision to drive engagement through enhanced promotions, mobile marketing, gamification, integration with the mobile app. In addition to pioneering innovative ways to thoughtfully and constructively elevate the service excellence across all 38 Caesars properties.
Mo started his career with Caesars 22 years ago, with multidiscipline background including Finance, Internal Audit, Casino and hospitality Operation.

With more than 65MM members and 47 Casinos in 5 countries, his team approaches loyalty with the mindset of creating emotional experiences for the members. Mo believes loyalty today should be a happy marriage between data and art, with a multitude of brands
 

Roger Dooley is an author and international keynote speaker. His books include Friction: The Untapped Force That Can Be Your Most Powerful Advantage (McGraw Hill, April 26, 2019) and Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing. He writes the popular blog Neuromarketing as well as a column at Forbes.com. He is the founder of Dooley Direct, a consultancy, and co-founded College Confidential, the leading college-bound website. He’s been a serial entrepreneur since he left a senior strategy position at a Fortune 1000 company to enter the then-nascent home computer market.

Cecilie Balfour is a Marketing Manager at TELUS leading the go-to-market strategy for TELUS Rewards, the only points-based loyalty program offered by a telco in Canada, with over 1.2 million members. In this role, Cecilie focuses on how to build awareness and drive customer engagement with Rewards across all TELUS channels. Prior to TELUS, Cecilie worked in the advertising industry, specializing in brand strategy for financial, insurance, and tourism clients.
 
Cecilie is currently completing her MBA at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. She holds a B.A. from Simon Fraser University and a diploma in Digital Marketing from New York University.

Cindy McKissock is Fannie Mae’s Vice President, Design, reporting to the Senior Vice President – Digital Products. Cindy is responsible for all enterprise customer and employee experience design, including service design, product design, design-led research, the enterprise digital design system, design thinking education and methodology, and design operations.

Prior to her current position, she was Vice President for Capital Markets Asset Business Initiatives, responsible for Capital Markets’ strategic initiatives to redefine the securitization process for the whole loan conduit, implement a new pricing and execution platform and develop new loan inventory management processes. Before that she was Director, Capital Markets Assets Business Initiatives; Senior Project Manager, Securities Trading; and a Software Developer for the Liquid Investment Portfolio accounting and trading systems. Before joining Fannie Mae in 2000, Cindy was a Staff Assistant at the International Monetary Fund.

Cindy has a bachelor of arts in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and a master of science in information systems technology from George Washington University.  

Lori Palca serves as Director, Loyalty & Engagement at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company, with over 9,200 hotels across more than 80 countries on six continents. In this role, Palca focuses on cultivating loyal members of Wyndham Rewards, the company’s award-winning guest loyalty program, through innovative relationship-building across the customer lifecycle.
 
Palca joined Wyndham in 2018 with over a decade of marketing experience in brand management, digital, loyalty, and customer experience, most recently leading customer experience transformation and marketing at Accenture Interactive.
 
Prior to Accenture, Palca held a variety of progressive marketing roles spanning financial services and hospitality, including tenures with American Express, Darden Restaurants and Digitas.
 
Palca holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. and an M.B.A. from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, N.C. 
 

King was a pioneer of the digital age, leaving the traditional side of marketing communications to build his own digital agency in 1995. Over the next 16 years, his firm represented clients ranging from Visa to Goodyear to Nestlé and teams in the NFL, MLB and NHL before being acquired by Marcus Thomas in 2011. Today, King is one of the agency’s leaders in Content Marketing, directs agency marketing and is a digital strategist helping the agency’s clients use technology to make human connections online and in-person.
 
He is a prolific speaker and writer on subjects relating to the integration of technology and marketing. He is a former board member of the Public Relations Society of America and the Press Club of Cleveland; former president of AAF Cleveland; and was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2012. He is a graduate of Kent State University and has served on their Alumni Board of Directors and Board of Professional Advisors to the University’s College of Communication & Information.
 

Kevin Myers is the Chief Marketing and Information Officer at Donatos Pizza.  In his first year Kevin has successfully “fused” the Marketing and Technology teams with innovations, growth projects, common purpose and joint goals, budgets and expected ROI. He joined Donatos following an impressive career with retail brands and software companies leading their marketing, product development, and sales efforts. Kevin specializes in “connecting the dots” often missed when chasing industry trends, implementing leading-edge technologies, and innovative branding/marketing programs. This enabled the organizations he led to align innovation to fueling sales, meeting profits, leveraging influencers and elevating the overall customer experience. 
 
While most of Kevin’s career has been in marketing and sales, he credits his engineering degree from The Ohio State University as giving him a unique advantage in aligning technology to unresolved problems, unmet needs and unique market opportunities.

Jon Dale is the Assistant Vice President responsible for brand and communications for The Doctors Company, the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer with $4.5 billion in assets. With over 25 years in marketing and communications, Jon has led customer experience, retention, and “share of wallet” initiatives for companies in the airline, hospitality, insurance, banking, healthcare, and technology industries.
 
A Massachusetts native, Jon is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Columbia University. He currently resides north of San Francisco with his wife Mary and two dogs.

As a member of the Integrated Loyalty Services team at Lenati, Jodi works with clients to help them develop, refine and optimize their loyalty and customer engagement strategies.  For almost 25 years, she has embraced the marriage of art and science, leveraging data-driven solutions and robust customer interactions to deliver bottom-line growth and exceed member expectations.  Having worked across many industries and verticals, Jodi specializes in retail and financial services, working with brands like Gap Inc., Brooks Brothers, Vans, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Whole Foods and Citi Retail Services.
 
Jodi has a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from The American University (DC) and an MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Pamela Erlichman is the Chief Marketing Officer for Jebbit.   With over 20 years of marketing experience, Pam is responsible for the Jebbit brand and marketing strategy.  Prior to joining Jebbit, Pam was the Vice President of Marketing for Oracle Data Cloud which included creation and growth of Oracle Data Cloud’s industry firsts The Data Hotline and The Data Lab brands; providing data strategy and education to brand, media and agency partners.  Pam joined Oracle Data Cloud via the Datalogix acquisition, where she created and grew the marketing function from it’s inception.  Prior to Datalogix, Pam worked at Digitas, leading relationships with world class brands including Delta Air Lines, AT&T, FedEx, Ahold USA, Celebrity Cruise Lines and Progressive Insurance.
 

Nick is a lifelong Northern California resident who has worked for The Family Coppola since 2001. What started as just a summer job during college turned into a career, with positions in shipping, hospitality, web content development and marketing, including over ten years leading the company’s social media strategy and execution. With Nick’s deep knowledge of the Coppola brands and culture, he was the natural choice for his current role, managing strategic partnerships. He spearheads and builds integrated marketing efforts for Coppola’s loyalty program, as well with partners such as the Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Football Club, and numerous other high profile brands.  
 
Nick has a BA in Communications from Sonoma State University and currently resides in Sonoma County with his wife and two children, along with whatever critter his kids have found in the backyard today to keep as a pet.

Robert Passikoff, is Brand Keys founder/president, and is a sought-after speaker/thought leader on engagement, loyalty, and predictive metrics. He has pioneered work in those areas creating the Customer Loyalty Engagement Index and the Sports Fan Loyalty Index and is the creator of 7 validated customer engagement tools used to drive B2B global and multinational brand campaigns. In past lives Robert held roles as EVP Strategic Planning for William Esty Advertising, Cato Johnson Y&R Worldwide (conceived, sold, & executed their worldwide “Action Marketing” paradigm, and VP Director of Research for Citibank (where he identified B2B banking preferences that set the foundation for the first ATMs) Dr. Passikoff’s best-selling book, Predicting Market Success, provided marketers with a 21st century perspective on loyalty, and his 2nd, The Certainty Principle, dealt with engagement in a more complex and digital marketplace. Brand Keys was awarded a Gold Ogilvy for their B2B campaign research for Delta Dental. He is a three-time winner of The Advertising Research Foundation’s Innovator of the Year award, and the recipient of the ANA’s Beacon Award. New York University’s communication school declared Dr. Passikoff “the most-quoted brand consultant in the United States.” His new book, Reports of My Death: Branding in the Digital Age, will be published in Fall 2020.
 

Emily Mikus serves as the Director of Loyalty and Shopper Marketing at GIANT Food Stores.
 
In this role, Emily leads the team responsible for all aspects of GIANT’S loyalty program, GIANT Choice Rewards, including the strategy, management and execution. She also has oversight of the company’s shopper marketing programs.
 
Emily has nearly 15 years of experience in the grocery industry and has held various positions at GIANT over the years. Prior to her current position, Emily held positions in Strategic Planning and Business Development, Insights, Marketing and Store Operations. Emily’s breadth of experience in providing strategic leadership and consumer research support for multiple disciplines across the business lends to a deep, longitudinal understanding of consumers, brands and competitors, with a customer-minded focus and analytical drive to continually uncover new opportunities and innovate new solutions.
 
Emily earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Millersville University. She currently serves on the Occupational Advisory Committee for Careers and Technology at the Carlisle Area School District and is a proud mom of two young boys.

Michelle Garcia is Senior Manager, Customer Experience at Nissan North America. She has worked in the automotive industry for 23 years, and is a seasoned leader with comprehensive experience in program management, business transformation and change management.  With a passion for taking on new challenges, she has addressed complex business problems in national, regional, and international environments.  

Chris Roution, Director of Marketing Partnerships & Business Development at T-Mobile. His nearly two decades of experience years spans, business development, strategic partnerships, product management and software development. As Director of Partnerships, Chris’ main focus these days is setting the partnership strategy, vision and execution for T-Mobile’s Customer Appreciation program, T-Mobile Tuesdays. Chris’ team manages a portfolio of brand partnerships across a broad range of industries, i.e., Entertainment, Gaming, Retail, Food & Beverage and e-Commerce.
 

Eliot Hamlisch serves as senior vice president, worldwide loyalty and partnerships at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s leading hotel brand franchisors and hotel management services providers with more than 9,000 hotels across 80 countries under 20 hotel brands. In his role, Hamlisch oversees Wyndham Rewards, the company’s award-winning guest loyalty program, as well as its co-branded credit card, loyalty partnerships & sponsorships, rewards program marketing, and customer acquisition and retention efforts.
 
Previously, Hamlisch served as Wyndham’s head of global sales, overseeing a team of over 100 sales professionals tasked with generating more than $1B in annual revenue across the company’s worldwide hotel portfolio. He joined the organization in 2016 as vice president of sales innovation.
Prior to Wyndham, Hamlisch spent three years leading sales strategy and operations at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, where he was responsible for developing, executing and supporting strategic initiatives to drive profitable growth across the company’s North American portfolio.
Earlier in his career, Hamlisch held a number of strategic planning, business development and customer engagement positions with Deloitte Consulting and American Express Company. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received his Master's in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Sharath is Group Loyalty Manager with Air Arabia, the leading low cost airline in the Middle East and North Africa. 
 
He is an award winning growth marketeer with 10 years of experience helping organisations like INFINITI Automobiles, M H Alshaya, Kuwait and Reliance Retail, India launch Loyalty & CRM programs and transform existing ones into hugely profitable cash machines.
 
Sharath has a bachelor degree in engineering from the National Institute Of Technology, Trichy, India and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, India.
 

As the Sr. Director of CRM & Loyalty, Lisa leads the development, execution and management of Sleep Numbers Loyalty program, the InnerCircle, as well as all direct mail and email programs. Lisa is responsible for the overall success and ongoing growth and management of these programs.  She directs the testing of all programs to ensure continued evolution and growth.  She is responsibility for the InnerCircle member engagement and program profitability. Leveraging her deep experience in retail, holding positions in merchandising, finance, strategic and promotional planning and marketing she is able to activate new initiatives quickly and successfully. Lisa is constantly striving to take the InnerCircle program to the next level of engagement. Prior to joining Sleep Number, Lisa held management positions at Best Buy and the Department Store Division of Target Corporation. She is born and bred in Minnesota, living there all her life and earning her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Minnesota in Retail Merchandising and Business.

Meaghan Kelly serves as Director, Acquisition and Field Engagement, at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company, with over 9,200 hotels across more than 80 countries on six continents. In this role, Kelly has global oversight for member acquisition and field engagement with Wyndham Rewards, the company’s award-winning guest loyalty program.
 
Most recently, Kelly spearheaded the transformation of enrollment incentives to drive growth for Wyndham Rewards—named the number one hotel rewards program by readers of USA TODAY— adding new frontline staff benefits and expanding the incentive program features, all of which were built through hotel insight, research, & analysis.
 
Kelly joined Wyndham in 2010 and since that time, has held a number of progressive operational roles at Wyndham focused on sales process, programs, and technology. She started her current role in early 2019. Prior to Wyndham, Kelly served in various marketing and operational roles with Subway and later, Realogy.
 
Kelly is a graduate of Mount Saint Mary’s University.
 

Julie Oleskiewicz is a Loyalty Marketing Professional with 10+ years in the travel industry. In her current role as Director, Leaders Club Program Management, she oversees the operations, servicing and performance of Leaders Club, the loyalty program of The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. (LHW). In 2018 Julie played a vital role in transforming the Leaders Club Program, which was re-designed to better serve the needs of both the guest and the Member Hotel customers. A passionate customer advocate, her mission was to ensure a smooth transition between programs by training hoteliers and service center employees to maintain a best-in-class service experience for loyalty member guests.
 
In her previous roles at Lufthansa German Airlines, Julie’s functional experience ranged from direct marketing to strategic brand advertising in positions at the local, regional and global levels.
 
When not traveling, Julie enjoys discovering new places in Brooklyn where she lives with her husband and baby on the way.