Gopa Balakrishnan
Director – Digital Business, Services Portfolio & Innovation
Siemens Large Drive Applications
Gopa serves as the Head of Digital Transformation, Services Portfolio and Innovation for Siemens Large Drive Applications Customer Services Business. In his role, Gopa and his team drive digital technology & innovation into traditional services portfolio offerings to increase plant availability, equipment reliability and enhance productivity for diverse industrial customers globally. He enjoys leading and coaching a team of creative and passionate technologists aspiring to be the future leaders of services, technology and product management.
Gopa has 20+ years of experience and held progressive leadership positions in Engineering, Software Development, Product Management, Digital Transformation, Operations Management and Business Process Improvement. Serving diverse customer verticals working for Siemens since 2017 and prior to that with General Electric’s Power & Industrial Solutions business, US Technologies & BAeHAL a joint venture of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, India and BAE Systems, UK.
Gopa graduated from Amrita Institute of Technology and Science in India with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wayne State University, Detroit, MI and is Six Sigma Green Belt Certified. Gopa resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife and their 2 children. In his spare time, Gopa loves to spend time with his wife and children playing with their pet dog, travelling with family, watching his favorite soccer team Manchester City chase the quadruple or listening to music.
David Beinhacker
Chief Research Officer
Customer Care Measurement & Consulting
David’s methodological prowess coupled with a passion for innovative analytics is helping leading companies get the most from their investment in listening to the voice of the customer. David has an aptitude, the skill set, and a penchant for bridging the proverbial gap between the science of the customer experience and business acumen. As he sees it, complex statistics and mathematics don’t have much value if they don’t genuinely shape decisions and actions that improve the customer experience. Possessing a rare talent for fashioning business cases from survey results, and demonstrating a zeal for storytelling with complex data, David is helping blue chip companies improve their customer experience ROI. His skills in bringing data to life have been honed over a decade of practical experience, working with some of the best and most admired corporations from more than a dozen sectors. David lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Christine and their daughter Helena.
Mary Jo Bitner
Professor Emeritus
Executive Director Emeritus
Center for Services Leadership
Mary Jo Bitner is the Co-Executive Director of the Center for Services Leadership, Edward M. Carson Chair in Service Marketing, and Professor of Marketing at the W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University (ASU). In her more than 25-year career as a professor and researcher, Dr. Bitner has been recognized as one of the pioneers in the field of service marketing and management worldwide. At ASU she was a founding faculty member of the Center for Services Leadership and has been a leader in its emergence as a premier university-based center for the study of services marketing and management. She also served on the Board of the American Marketing Association (AMA) (2011-2014) and as the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Service Research (2013-2017). Dr. Bitner is co-author of a leading textbook in services: Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus Across the Firm, McGraw-Hill, 7th edition, 2017. The book is used at the undergraduate and graduate levels at universities around the world, and has been translated into more than eight different languages. Dr. Bitner led the development of the W. P. Carey MBA marketing and service leadership specialization, a unique full-year focus within the nationally ranked W. P. Carey MBA. Alumni of this ongoing program work in companies worldwide, leading the implementation of service and customer-focused strategies. In 2003, Dr. Bitner was awarded the Career Contributions to the Service Discipline Award presented by the American Marketing Association. She was also named an IBM Faculty Fellow and received the inaugural ISSIP Fellow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Service Science, from the International Society for Service Innovation Professionals in 2013. At ASU, Dr. Bitner has received the W. P. Carey School of Business Graduate Teaching Excellence Award and the award for Outstanding Professor, PhD Programs. She served as a Distinguished Faculty member at Fudan University, Shanghai, China and taught for many years in ASU’s EMBA program in China. Dr. Bitner’s current research is concerned with service infusion strategies in goods-dominant companies and the strategic roles of technology and contact employees in shaping customer experiences in service contexts. She has published articles relevant to service marketing and management in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Sloan Management Review, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Service Management, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and others. She holds a BA in Political Science and MBA and PhD degrees in Marketing, all from the University of Washington, Seattle.
Kenneth Blanchard
Principal Branch Team Support
Edward Jones
View Biography
Edward Jones Principal Ken Blanchard leads Branch Team Support within the Service division. His area focuses on aligning how branch teams think, learn and work by partnering with other areas to shape, co-design and advocate for solutions to improve the branch experience. Associates in his area provide timely, accurate and complete responses to branch team inquiries.
Ken began his career as an Edward Jones financial advisor in Oro Valley, Ariz., in 2001, after being recruited by Regional Leader Jeff Lane.
By partnering with local individual investors to work toward reaching their long-term financial goals, Ken built a robust business that ranked him among the firm’s top 800 financial advisors. He served his region as a coach, mentor, field trainer, performance leader and recruiting leader and completed three asset-sharing plans.
In 2014, Ken was named an Edward Jones principal and relocated to the firm’s Tempe Campus in Phoenix to lead Area 3 of Branch and Region Development. He assumed responsibility for the Western division of Branch and Region and Develop-ment in October 2017 and continued in that role until October 2020, when he assumed his current duties. After graduating from high school in his native state of New Jersey, Ken moved to Canada and earned two undergraduate degrees and a master’s degree in business. He is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School’s Securities Industry Institute and holds the CFP® professional designation. He mastered French as a second language and worked for the National Bank of Canada in New Bruns-wick and Quebec before moving to Arizona, where he had a five-year banking career before joining Edward Jones.
Ken and his wife, Lisa, have two daughters, Sara and Allie. Ken enjoys playing the piano, and he and his family enjoy spending time outdoors and traveling.
Milt Bossch
Vice President Agency – Sales Services
State Farm® Mutual Automobile Insurance Companies
Milt Bossch is Vice President Agency – Sales Services for State Farm® Mutual Automobile Insurance Companies. In this role he leads the Agent Development Center team, which is responsible for training agent interns who are pursuing a career as a State Farm agent.
Milt has more than 27 years of experience with State Farm and has served in a variety of executive leadership positions including Developmental Agency Field Executive, Market Agency Field Executive, and Vice President Agency. He assumed his current position in 2016.
He received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Iowa. He earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 1995, the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation the following year and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
In his free time, Milt enjoys spending time with his wife and four children and is an avid Big Ten football fan.
Stephen W. Brown
Emeritus Edward M. Carson Chair
and Professor of Marketing Distinguished Faculty
Center for Services Leadership
Stephen W. Brown is the Emeritus Edward M. Carson Chair, Professor of Marketing Emeritus and Distinguished Faculty with the Center for Services Leadership (CSL), W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. From its founding in 1985 until May 2011, he served as the CSL’s Executive Director. He is also a former national president of the American Marketing Association. Professor Brown has co-authored and co-edited 24 books and over 150 articles. Much of his research and writing focuses on the science of service and the topics of strategic services marketing, service excellence and recovering from service failures. Currently, he’s devoting major research, executive teaching and consulting to the area of service infusion or growing service revenues in product-dominant companies. His most recent co-authored book is Profiting From Services & Solutions (2014). Dr. Brown has been identified as one of the ten most frequent contributors to the English language services marketing literature in the world. He’s been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the HANKEN School of Economics in Finland and from Karlstad University in Sweden. He is the recipient of the Career Contributions to Services Marketing Award from the American Marketing Association and the Educator of the Year Award from the Association for Service Management International. He serves as a speaker and seminar leader for conferences and business meetings around the world. Dr. Brown has co-founded three companies, and he serves on several boards.
Brian Bruner
Director of Customer Loyalty
Abbott Diagnostics
Brian joined Abbott in 2003 as the IT Manager for Latin America & Canada. He then joined the Services organization as the Manager of Technical Support for LAC, and then the Area Service Director for Latin America & Canada until 2019. In 2020 he took on a newly-created Global role as Director of Customer Loyalty for Abbott Diagnostics. In this role he is responsible for all things related to Customer Loyalty.
During the past ten years working with Latin America & Canada, Brian has seen the Services organization, as well as the entire division, embrace Net Promoter System, and work to put the customer in the center of all decisions. In his new role he hopes to continue down this journey. Abbott Diagnostics strives to delight its customers by providing excellence in the planning, installation, and servicing of our laboratory equipment, as well as by providing insights to our customers to improve their services.
Brian earned a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from Brigham Young University. He later completed an MBA at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin with his wife and two dogs. He has four children and two grandchildren.
Peggy Carrieres
Global Vice President Sales Enablement
and Supplier Development
Avnet
Michelle Cirocco
Chief Responsibility Officer
Televerde
Michelle Cirocco developed her passion and commitment for the success of the business and growth of the business model through her career at Televerde which began in 1999. Michelle’s career at Televerde includes leading the company’s global marketing department, building and managing the client success department, overseeing sales operations, and early roles sales and account management. She earned her MBA at Arizona State University where she is also an Advisory Board Member for the Center for Services Leadership. She is an avid TED fan and recently organized and hosted TEDxPerryvilleCorrectional, which looked behind the curtain of incarceration to show the potential that exists in giving a second chance and was the first TEDx to be held in an Arizona prison facility. Michelle also dedicates a significant amount of her free time giving back to her local community by volunteering for the Phoenix Rescue Mission, Athena International and the Arouet Foundation.
Bill Donnelly
Vice President
Market Insights and Customer Experience
Penske
Bill Donnelly is Vice President of Market Insights and Customer Experience at Penske Transportation Solutions, a transportation and logistics services provider. In his current role, he and his team provide insights on customer needs, competitors, market conditions, business analysis, and partners for Penske’s service lines.
Bill joined Penske in 2007 to launch the customer account management web site. He moved on to managing the company web site and later into market research. Prior to working for Penske, Bill worked for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in its interactive marketing group, held a marketing role with Mitel Telecommunications equipment, worked as a consultant with American Management Systems, and analyzed IT and telecommunications markets with Research Asia in Hong Kong and Thailand.
Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from Middlebury College, a Chinese language certificate from Beijing University, and an MBA from the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. He currently resides outside of Philadelphia, PA.
Neil Farmer
Vice President of Operations
A&W Food Services of Canada, Inc.
Neil Farmer joined A&W Canada as a part time employee while in High School in Saskatchewan in 1976. He became a Restaurant Manager in 1985 before relocating to the Vancouver Head Office as a Marketing Analyst in 1987. In 1995, Neil left A & W to own and manage a consulting company in Toronto providing Operations and customer service expertise and services to the Food Service Industry. After relocating to the Interior of British Columbia with his wife and two sons, Neil rejoined A & W and has held a variety of positions throughout the company. In 2012 he was appointed to the position of Vice President, Operations.
Brad Haeberle
Vice President, Service & Solutions, Marketing
Siemens Industry, Inc.
Brad Haeberle is the Senior Vice President of the global Services Business for Siemens Smart Infrastructure. He is currently responsible for driving the organization’s global Services strategy through digitalization of Siemens delivery services, and new expanded services to ensure a world class customer experience to achieve profit and growth.
In his most recent role as VP, Solutions and Service Business Line Head for the Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc. he was responsible for America’s development of strategy, portfolio for the Solutions, Service and Energy & Performance Service business to achieve superior profit, growth, and customer and employee satisfaction goals.
Brad started his career with Siemens Industry, Inc. in 2007and held several key roles across the automation business, global product development team and sales and marketing. Over the past six years, Brad was responsible for the fire, building automation, energy, security, electrical, and HVAC portfolio strategy for the Services and Solutions businesses.
Brad also led the effort to develop the service strategy for Siemens Industry, Inc., and has chaired the Siemens Building Technology Sustainability Committee, helping to define the company’s sustainability focus.
Jerry Harper III
Deputy Director
Phoenix Convention Center
Jerry Harper is a graduate of UC San Diego with more than 15 years of experience with the City of Phoenix. He began his city career in the Community & Economic Development Department where he worked on several downtown projects including the headquarters for the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), the ASU Downtown Campus and CityScape. During his tenure in the Economic Development Department, he served as the project manager for the construction of the once city-owned Sheraton Phoenix Downtown hotel.Since 2012, Jerry has served as a Deputy Director at the Phoenix Convention Center & Venues managing Sales & Marketing initiatives and the venue’s Marketing contracts. He and his team are responsible for promoting the Phoenix Convention Center and downtown Phoenix in order to attract clients to the nation’s 5th largest city.
In addition to his role at the Phoenix Convention Center, Jerry serves as a board member for the Tourism & Hospitality Advisory Board and Center for Services Leadership.
Quintinus Henry
Director, Quality and Service
Graybar
Quintinus Henry, Director, Quality and Service for Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical products, communications products, and related supply chain management/logistics services. In his current role, Quintinus is responsible for Graybar’s Quality, Continuous Improvement, and Service Solution efforts to ensure the company continues to remove process inefficiencies while offering a host of products and value added services that work to our customers’ advantage. Upon exiting the Air Force as a Heavy Equipment Operator, Quintinus started his career with Graybar in 1987 as a truck driver in Albuquerque, NM where he advanced through several positions to include Warehouse, Counter Sales, Customer Service, Quotations, and Outside Sales. Moving to New Castle, DE in 1994, he served in the roles of Counter Manager and Sr. CSR before relocating to Corporate in 1997 to serve in the various areas of Operations, Strategic Planning, and Information Technology. Quintinus holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Information Systems (MIS), certifications in Risk & Information Systems Controls, Customer Journey Management, and is very active in mentoring youth across the St. Louis Region.
Leadership Development and Board Affiliations:
Alicia Holder
Director of Business Partnerships
Center for Services Leadership
Alicia Holder, Director of Business Partnerships, has responsibility for developing the Center’s business partnerships, developing and implementing executive education programs and oversight of the Center’s marketing strategy with the Center’s member firms, and implementing the Compete Through Service Symposium and annual Services Leadership Institute as well as developing Company Specific Programs for the Center’s clients. Alicia has been working in higher education since 1992 where she was Assistant Director of University Events in Institutional Advancement at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Her responsibilities there included bringing notable speakers to the Norfolk area for the university’s President’s Lecture Series and other events to promote the school to the community, alumni, donors and prospective students. She has been with the W. P. Carey School of Business since 1997 and has served in the MBA Career Management Office and the Marketing Department in a student advisory/recruiter development role. She has been in her current role with the Center for Services Leadership since 2000. Alicia graduated from the Evening MBA program in the W. P. Carey School in 2000 and also holds an M.A. in Teaching. Alicia was the W. P. Carey School of Business 2005 winner of the Dean’s Staff Recognition Award and was a recipient of the Arizona Governor’s Team Award for Excellence. A marketing campaign run under Alicia’s direction has won the Phoenix area American Marketing Association award for”Best Business to Business Marketing Campaign”.
Thomas Hollmann
Clinical Associate Professor and Co-Executive Director
Center for Services Leadership
Thomas Hollmann is a Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing and a Research Faculty fellow at the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University. Thomas’ work experience spans four countries and over 10 years in Fortune 100 companies, including Black & Decker, Xerox, and as an executive at Sun Life Financial. His research interests include Services Science, with a focus on B2B, service analytics, and Relationship Marketing, with a particular interest in relationship outcomes (profitability, customer equity, defection, retention, satisfaction, etc.). His research has appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing and several leading marketing and services conferences. He has received research grants and awards from the Center for Innovation Management Studies, Xerox, IBM, and the Center for Services Leadership. Thomas has consulted with a range of Fortune 500 firms and he received awards for his teaching at Arizona State University and at NC State. Thomas earned a Ph.D. in Marketing from Arizona State University.
Bradford Jones
Director, PC Service Enablement and Design for Service
Lenovo
Brad Jones is the Director of PC Service Enablement and Design for Service at Lenovo. He has 25+ years of service and support experience spanning across IBM and Lenovo. His career has covered a variety of service and support areas, from Level 1 and Level 2 technical support to field repair, service process development and service training.
As a managing Director, Brad is currently responsible for driving service enablement across Lenovo’s PC and Intelligent device portfolio worldwide. This role requires working closely with development and design leaders, as well as geography service teams, to ensure Lenovo and its partners are ready to service new PC products. Part of this responsibility is to define global warranty terms and service delivery models while balancing expense to revenue objectives with customer satisfaction. Additionally, Brad leads Lenovo’s PC diagnostics and service tools development team and is responsible for driving strategic design requirements as well as Lenovo’s overall design for service initiatives to improve service cost and efficiency.
During his career Brad has attained extensive experience working specifically with ODM’s and third-party partners on process development for both turn-key service models and hybrid service models around the world.
Jon Katz
President & CEO,
Bestwork Industries for the Blind
As President and CEO, Jon Katz channels his extensive experience in the military, private, and nonprofit sectors to lead Bestwork Industries into the next era of its 40-year history. Those plans include growing and diversifying the lines of business and shepherding the organization from a manufacturing facility into a social enterprise that will provide people who are blind with comprehensive training and vocational rehabilitative services.Jon began his career in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving for more than 20 years in infantry, logistics, acquisition, and recruiting. Jon has since worked in the defense industry and as an entrepreneur.Most recently, Jon served as Vice President, Business Development, Global Distribution and Retail for National Industries for the Blind (NIB), the nation’s largest employment resource for people who are blind. Focused on Department of Defense/Federal Civilian Markets, Jon led the addition of more than 2,000 Blind Work Years, and helped increase channel sales by more than 15% and retail sales by 20%, all while gaining insight into the 100 NIB-associated agencies based in 39 states at more than 250 locations. Jon also provided Advisory & Administrative Assistance Services to Georgia Industries for the Blind to increase business and improve operations, and inspire a transformation of that organization.
Jon received a B.S. in Business Administration from Montclair State University and an M.S. in Acquisition & Contract Management from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He also holds a Master’s Degree in National Security & Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College as well as an Advanced Professional Designation in Logistics Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Jon recently earned an Executive-level Certificate in Nonprofit Management from The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University.
Jon’s an active Board member for multiple worthwhile organizations. He currently serves as an executive committee member and an advisory board member for the William P. Carey School of Business Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University, and serves on the Board of the National Association for the Employment of People who are Blind (NAEPB) as Chairman of the Operations Committee.
When not working, the outdoorsman can be found by land or by sea. Jon is an avid fisherman who enjoys boating and offshore fishing. He is also an avid cyclist, participating annually in the Great Cycling Challenge, an event that raises money to fight childhood cancer.
Jonathan Leighton, MD
Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the Office of Mayo Clinic Experience
Stephan M. Liozu is Chief Value Officer of the Thales Group (www.thalesgroup.com) and Chief Marketing Officer of Thales Inc. in the USA. He is also an Adjunct Professor & Research Fellow at the Case Western Research University Weatherhead School of Management. Stephan holds a Ph.D. in Management from Case Western Reserve University (2013), an MS in Innovation Management from Toulouse School of Management (2005), and an MBA in Marketing from Cleveland States University (1991). He is a Certified Pricing Professional (CPP), a Prosci® certified Change Manager, and a Strategyzer Business Model Innovation Coach. Over the past few years, Stephan published academic articles in the Journal of Revenue & Pricing Management, Business Horizons, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Industrial Marketing Management. He has also written several articles on strategic pricing issues for the Journal of Professional Pricing and is a regular presenter at Professional Pricing Society conferences in Europe and North America as well as the Strategic Account Management Association conferences. He authored four books, Value Mindset, (2017), Dollarizing Differentiation Value (2016), The Pricing Journey (2015) and Pricing and Human Capital (2015). He also co-edited three books, Innovation in Pricing – Contemporary Theories and Best Practices (2012) and The ROI of Pricing (2014), and Pricing and the Salesforce (2015).
Roslynn Mack
Vice President of Sales Acceleration, Governance & Communications
American Express
Roslynn serves as Vice President of Sales Acceleration, Governance & Communications in the Global Commercial Services (GCS) division of American Express. She leads a team that delivers best-in-class tools, tactics, capabilities, and experiences that power more than 500 sales and account development professionals. This includes technology support, hiring strategy, continuing education, compliance monitoring, and strategic execution of organizational initiatives.
Prior to this role, Roslynn led a team based in the U.S. and Canada that provided sales enablement and customized growth and retention strategies. She was also responsible for governance of the team’s compliance, data collection, and reporting processes.
Roslynn started her career at American Express managing relationships with some of the company’s largest global clients. She drove the delivery of industry-leading service and innovative payment solutions to her clients across the globe. Roslynn also directed the solution design and onboarding processes for several complex clients internationally. She consistently developed payments programs that exceeded client’s expectations and their overall objectives.
Throughout her tenure, Roslynn has led and been a part of high performing teams focused on partnering with key business partners across the enterprise to drive growth. Whether building programs that support colleague development, promoting safe and sound business practices, or leading initiatives that innovate and transform teams, processes, and technology, she is committed to delivering fruitful experiences and outcomes.
Prior to joining American Express, Roslynn provided boutique consulting services to small businesses.
Roslynn has been recognized repeatedly for her leadership, collaboration, and contributions to various key business initiatives, earning her a Chairman’s Award for Innovation, two President’s Club Awards, and several business partner and leadership awards and honors.
Roslynn holds a Master of Business Administration from Cleveland State University, a Master of Accounting & Financial Management from Keller Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from David N. Myers College.
Roslynn lives in Arizona with her husband and daughter.
Rick McCombie
Executive Vice President, Chief Client Officer (Retired)
The Co-operators Group Limited
“It’s our company values, community involvement and our people that make this company a place where you can be proud to work,” says Rick McCombie who has been with The Co-operators since August 1976. As Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer, Rick is responsible for leading the distribution and client engagement strategies across The Co-operators group of companies. He is also responsible for agency management, region operations, call centre operations, marketing and client relationship management. Rick started with Co-operators General as an office trainee in Owen Sound. Since then, Rick has held various positions including Accounting Supervisor and Atlantic Division Controller. He was also Region Vice-President for New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Southwestern Ontario, as well as Central Ontario. Throughout his career, Rick has obtained his Chartered Management Accountant, Chartered Insurance Professional and LIMRA Leadership Insurance Foundation designations. One of Rick’s career highlights includes 10 years of profitable growth in the Southwestern Ontario Region while under his leadership. He was also the project leader of Co-op Auto Coalition in the early 90s. An active member in the community, Rick admires and is influenced by Mother Teresa, who he feels “put the lives of others before her own.” Rick lives these values. He is past Chair of the London/Middlesex and past Volunteer Chair of the Guelph/ Wellington United Ways. He is currently on the boards of the Guelph/Wellington United Way and the Centre for Services Leadership out of Arizona State University.
David J. McIntyre, Jr.
President and Chief Executive Officer
TriWest Healthcare Alliance
David J. McIntyre, Jr., is President and CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. In 1996, Mr. McIntyre co-founded TriWest Healthcare Alliance and has since led the corporation, which works to ensure that Veterans in roughly half the nation have access to high-quality health care when it is unable to be provided directly by VA. TriWest’s network has delivered more than 45 million appointments in support of VA since 2014. Previously, the company supported the health care needs of DoD’s TRICARE beneficiaries in the Western United States. Mr. McIntyre has more than 30 years of experience, success and accomplishments in national health care policy development, business development and leadership in both government and the private sector.
Mr. McIntyre has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Seattle Pacific University, a master’s degree in administrative sciences (with an emphasis in management and health policy/administration) from Johns Hopkins University, and he participated in the Executive Education Program for Senior Government Managers at Harvard University.
In addition to leading TriWest Healthcare Alliance, he serves on a number of non-profit boards, including the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation Board of Directors and the Fisher House Foundation Board of Trustees.
Ian Muir
Managing Director in Advisor Services
Charles Schwab
Ian Muir is the managing director of the Advisor Controls and Trading group in Advisor Services at Charles Schwab. He oversees the equity trading teams for our independent investment advisors, along with the risk and controls teams for Advisor Services. He brings over 30 years of experience in leading global financial services businesses through technology, service, operational, and cultural changes.
Prior to joining Schwab in 2012, Muir served in several capacities with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He led both global wire operations and emerging markets operations, oversaw client services and operations for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Canada, and Latin America, and served as the Global Treasury Services chief operations officer for technology and operations. Earlier, Muir had responsibility for the operations and technology transition after Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch, and he also served as chief information officer for technology and operations in both Latin America and Asia global markets.
Muir resides in Phoenix with his wife and enjoys occasional visits from his two daughters and their entourages. He is a board member of Grand Canyon University and a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
Keith Nedell
Chief Commercial Development Officer
Vixxo
Keith has over twenty years of business and management experience with a consistent track record of developing and implementing actionable recommendations to drive financial and operational excellence within the companies he has served.
Currently serving as the Chief Commercial Development Officer for Vixxo Corporation in a newly created role, Keith is focused on exceeding customer expectations and driving growth of the business through compelling and action-driven insights. Leading the Customer Success, Client Insights, Sales Operations, Marketing, and Pricing functions, Keith is focused on delivering preeminent service to our existing and prospective customers by driving coordination and execution.
Over the past thirteen years with Vixxo, Keith has held a combination of strategic and operational leadership roles, including Chief Supply Chain & Analytics Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Vice President of Strategy, and Director of Strategy & Development. Prior to joining Vixxo, Keith worked for the Everest Group, a general management consulting firm with the preeminent reputation for thought leadership in operations strategy and global sourcing.
Keith has an MBA from the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, a BS in Business Administration (Finance), and a BA in Economics from Stonehill College.
Amy Ostrom
Interim Dean
Professor of Marketing PetSmart Chair in Services Leadership
W. P. Carey School of Business
Amy L. Ostrom is the PetSmart Chair in Services Leadership and Marketing Department Chair at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Her research focuses on issues related to services marketing including customers’ evaluation and adoption of services, customers’ roles in creating service outcomes, and transformative service. Her work has appeared in a number of journals including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Consumer Research, and the Journal of Service Research. Ostrom, who was selected as the 2004 Arizona Professor of the Year and the 2007 ASU Parents Association Professor of the Year, has supervised numerous undergraduate Honors theses. She has shared the service blueprinting technique with small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies to help improve their service processes and develop new service offerings.
John Page
President, Keysight Global Services
Keysight Technologies
John Page is senior vice president, Keysight, and president of the Services Solutions Group. Page, most recently vice president of Keysight’s business finance organization, has 25 years of financial and corporate leadership, including CEO and founder of a cloud- based computing company as well as CFO and senior management roles at leading semiconductor and electronics firms. Page joined Hewlett-Packard in 1988 where he served in a variety of finance and operational positions. When Agilent Technologies was spun off from HP, Page helped lead the creation and spinoff of Lumileds as its first CFO. He was also one of the founders and executive staff of Agilent’s Imaging Electronics Division, which he helped lead from inception to over $1B in revenue. Page served as a member of the executive team at Nanosys from 2010-2014, where he was instrumental in the company’s transition from a technology research powerhouse with over 800 patents into a growing commercial business in the electronics industry. Page holds an M.B.A. from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Rochester.
Adrian Paull
Vice President, Customer and Product Support
L3Harris
Adrian Paull is vice president of customer support at L3Harris Technologies, responsible for simplifying and improving all customer interactions. His team provides support and services to commercial aviation customers around the globe. L3Harris Technologies is an American technology company focused on creating a safer world and a more secure future.
Prior to joining L3Harris, Paull built his career at Honeywell beginning in 1980. During his time at Honeywell, he led customer service and product support for Aerospace, Automation and Control Solutions, and Home and Building Technologies businesses. He also serves as a board member for ORBIS International, a nonprofit organization, and Arizona State University’s Center for Services Leadership.
Paull earned his bachelor’s degree in systems and control engineering from Buckinghamshire College.
Leslie Paulson
Division Vice President and General Manager
PTC’s Servigistics Business Unit
Leslie Paulson is currently the Division Vice President and General Manager of PTC’s Servigistics Business Unit with global responsibility for Service Parts Management, Pricing and Optimization solutions. Our SPM solutions deliver unprecedented capabilities for synchronizing supply and demand for service parts while optimizing operational excellence. This responsibility includes direct sales, pre sales and business development, partner enablement, product management, GTM strategy, services, cloud, marketing, technical support, annual recurring revenue, bookings and total margin.
Previously, Leslie retired from Caterpillar, Inc. after 29 years of service. Most recently, she served as General Manager within Caterpillar’s Industry Solutions, Components & Distribution Division with responsibilities for the division’s Industry Solutions group which includes Defense & Federal Products, Caterpillar Defence Products (UK), Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Solutions, and Caterpillar Safety Services.
Leslie joined Caterpillar in 1989 and held positions in engineering, manufacturing, strategic planning, M&A, human resources, IT, logistics and most recently, marketing. Prior to managing Industry Solutions, Leslie had been leading the transformation of the Technical Information Solutions (TIS) Department and the development of the next generation of Service Information System (SIS). She was also very active with leading leadership development for women and advocating the opportunities associated with elevating innovation throughout the enterprise.
Leslie is a native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin although spending most of her years in Cobden, Illinois. She is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in mechanical engineering and also a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Bradley University. She is also a graduate of Caterpillar’s Executive Leadership Program Digging Deep with Stanford University. She and her husband have four children, and are active in the community, schools and church. Leslie is an avid cook and has 4 ovens in her kitchen, one in her basement and one outside!
Francesca Peri
Vice President, Partner and Customer Experience, U.S. Operations
Starbucks Corporation
Francesca has been creating meaningful experiences for customers and partners at Starbucks since 1995. She started as a store manager in the San Francisco Bay Area and advanced to hold roles throughout the U.S., including district manager, regional director and regional vice president leading company-operated and licensed stores in California, New England and Hawaii.
Francesca has led major companywide initiatives, including the 2019 Leadership Experience. The immersive conference brought together over 12,000 Starbucks partners to build store manager leadership capability and accelerate their potential to transform the customer and partner experience at Starbucks. As the operations leader for U.S. and Canada stores during COVID-19, she worked cross functionally to adjust operational direction quickly while prioritizing safety and fiscal responsibility.
Currently based in the company’s Seattle headquarters, Francesca leads teams that focus on co-creating the best possible retail partner (employee) experience and engagement which enables a terrific customer experience in Starbucks stores.
She also serves on the boards of YouthCare, a local non-profit that serves homeless youth in Seattle and Junior Achievement of Washington.
Francesca has a B.A in History from Wheaton College, Norton, MA.
Dave Prus
Assistant Vice President – Customer Care Center
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Companies
Dave Prus is Assistant Vice President– Customer Care Center for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Companies. His role includes oversight over the call center service functions designed to support State Farm Agents and customers. Dave joined State Farm® in in 2000 and has served in a variety of executive leadership positions including Director in the Financial Services Integration Office, and Marketing and Sales Director. He assumed his current position in March 2014. He received a Master of Business Administration from John Carroll University and a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics from The College of Wooster. He also earned the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation.
Jen Rubin
Vice President Customer Success
InMoment
As Vice President of Customer Success at InMoment, Jen leads a team dedicated to helping clients continuously improve their customer experience. She does this by optimizing the way clients listen, understand, analyze and transform the way they engage with their key stakeholders – customers, employees, prospects and partners.
Jen is responsible for ensuring that clients understand the power of their CX program and the value the program brings to the organization. She accomplishes this by collaborating with clients to uncover their needs and tailoring best in class approaches to fit clients’ organizational strengths. She looks to consumer trends and innovation to create programs that not only answer key research questions, but also address desired outcomes and business objectives.
Jen holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business. She is CCXP certified and has shared Customer Experience thought leadership by speaking at conferences including Forrester’s CX conference, CX Talks and InMoment sponsored events.
Lee Scanzano
Vice President, Customer Care Operations
Cox Communications
Lee Scanzano is the Vice President Field Customer Care at Cox Communications. She leads the company’s Specialty Technical Support operations and is responsible for enterprise-wide recruitment and onboarding of new hires for Customer Care. Her responsibilities include all facets of customer care operations and the customer experience.
Ms. Scanzano came to Cox in October 2003 from Bank One (JP Morgan Chase), where she held the position of Vice President of Customer Care. Prior to Bank One, Lee served as the Senior Vice President of Customer Care with the Gale Group in California and Michigan.
She also held numerous positions at American Express in New York and Arizona. While in Phoenix, she was the Business Leader and Senior Service Delivery Leader for the Telephone Service Center, with a staff of 1,200 employees.
Over the span of her extensive career, Lee has been the recipient of numerous business awards that highlighted her innovative leadership, strong financial performance, and high levels of customer satisfaction.
Lee currently serves on the Better Business Bureau Board. She recently accepted the role of Board Chair of the Center for Services Leadership, part of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Lee would tell you that her passion for Inclusion and Diversity has truly been the cornerstone of her success throughout her career. She remains engaged in leadership for the Pride Employee Resource Group at Cox.
She and her husband currently reside in Carefree, AZ. They have one daughter, who is pursuing a career in the non-profit space. Lee and Nick love their pets, and list travel and reading as two of their favorite pastimes.
Tracy Tannenabum
Chief Marketing Officer
Mertiage homes
Tracy Tannenbaum has more than 30 years of diverse marketing experience with a passion for strategy, building and leading highly successful teams and problem solving. Tracy is currently the Chief Marketing Officer for Meritage Homes. Prior to joining Meritage Homes in 2015, Tracy was a Vice President at Banner Heath and Chief Customer Officer at Abrazo Healthcare. She also held the positions of Vice President of Marketing and Customer Analytics at Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. in San Diego, CA and Vice President of Marketing positions at Centex Homes and The Princeton Review. Tracy began her career at AT&T where she spent over 10 years working in diverse roles as part of their “fast track” program for high potential executives.
Tracy received her BS from Penn State in Marketing. She also received her MBA at the Stern School of Business at New York University with a triple major (Marketing, Management and International Business) and graduated with honors while working full time. Tracy is an avid traveler who has visited over 80 countries and every continent. She is also an active member in several non-profit organizations. Tracy moved to the Phoenix area fifteen years ago and spends most of her free time with her two teenage children.
Brian Van Valkenburg
Senior Manager of Field Services
Swagelok
In his current role as Senior Manager of Field Services, Brian leads the global field engineering, services and training development programs for the organization. Joining Swagelok Company in 2011, Brian initially served as a project manager, and later as an engineering supervisor and manager in the Nuclear Service Group. Brian also served as an engineering manager and manufacturing strategy manager, prior to his most recent role as marketing training and services manager. Prior to joining Swagelok, Brian served as an Armor and Cavalry officer in the United States Army. Brian earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy and an MBA from Kent State University. Brian also serves on the Board of Advisors for the USO of Ohio.
Ron Zielinski
Senior Vice President Global Customer Service
Coherent Inc.
Ron grows services, customer loyalty and people globally at Coherent Inc. as he has for much of his 36 years in the complex Photonics Industry. His leadership contributions have driven Coherent’s strong brand reputation and its revenue growth to >$1.5B while unfailingly registering >95% customer satisfaction scores in rather diverse markets. Coherent is presently being acquired after a public bidding war that valued the company at nearly $7B. One strategic rationale for the deal centered on acquiring Coherent’s global service infrastructure. Ron pursues continual personal growth to create space for next level staff to fill when he isn’t fermenting food and drink in his kitchen.
Aric Zion
Chief Executive Officer
Zion & Zion
Aric’s experience includes having led marketing for EMEA and Japan for Nortel Networks’ $10B global optical networks business unit.
His background includes a Master’s in Computer Engineering from the University of Florida, the Executive MBA program at Emory University, and PhD work in marketing at Arizona State University.
His international experience includes positions with Intergraph, where he was based in The Netherlands, and additional assignments with Nortel Networks where he was based in Tokyo for one year and London for two.
Aric’s experience in senior global management, marketing, market research, and engineering, converge to form a unique base from which he has drawn in building the team and culture at top-ranked marketing agency Zion & Zion.
Aric currently serves as Zion & Zion’s CEO. At present, Zion & Zion has numerous agency relationships with public and private companies including: American Eagle Outfitters, IBM, Bally Sports, BD, NASCAR, and Walmart.