The CX Academy Fellowship Award
The CX Academy launched the Fellowship in July 2022 to celebrate CX Excellence around the globe. The CX Fellowship is the first of its kind and the highest professional accolade and distinction (FCXA) our industry offers.
The Fellowship recognises leaders and those that aspire to be leaders in the CX profession. The CX Fellowship will play a major role in helping to position the CX industry as a professional discipline that is critical for business success.
The CX Academy is the largest Customer Experience education provider in the world with graduates in 80+ countries. It created the highly respected CX Industry Advisory Council in 2018 to set the global standard for CX certification globally.
The CX Academy Fellows 2022
David Conway
Chief Strategy and Customer Director KPMG Nunwood
David has served on the board as an executive director of three large UK financial institutions leading customer and marketing functions. He co-founded the Customer Experience business which specialised in CX transformation programmes. This included the development and design of CX technology platform Customer Experience Cloud and the methodological approaches to successful CX implementation. He created the Six Pillars of Experience the methodology for experience design and measurement now used by 100s of companies globally from Russia to Brazil. Worked with organisations like Virgin Atlantic, RBS, NatWest, Centrica, Woolworths Australia and many more which resulted in large scale improvement as measured by the CEE CX Index where each of these companies improved their position by 50 plus places.
Diane Magers (CCXP)
Founder and CEO Experience Catalysts
Diane Magers is an experience catalyst. Skilled in creating Experience Management business value and systematically changing organizations to align around experience and drive financial impact. She believes sustainable change requires embedding customer and experience capabilities into all parts of an organization. She specializes in enabling brands with skills and competencies like design thinking, journey management, and value mapping to drive sustainable shifts in how organizations work to achieve results. Over 25 years of transforming experiences working in and with brands such as Sysco, AT&T, State Farm, Dale Carnegie, CommScope, Invisalign, Ciena, Freeman, Cisco, and Sodexho.
Paul Bailey
Head of CX at the Irish League of Credit Unions
Paul Bailey is currently Head of Communications at the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU). He is a firm advocate of the ethical imperative to provide excellent customer experience and service to both internal and external customers of organisations. Irish credit unions have come first in the annual CXi research report every year since the research began in 2015. He has over 30 years’ experience at a senior management level in organisations across the statutory and voluntary sectors in Ireland. Paul is member of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) and the Institute of Directors in Ireland and a former Board member of Barretstown.
Leena Basrur
Founder and Chair of Direxions,
a leading customer consultancy group in India
A postgraduate in Statistics, Leena spent 6 years in Media in Ogilvy & Mather, before starting DataBasics Direct & Media Services in 1992, specializing in Direct Communication solutions for the media industry. Today it is one of India’s largest, most successful and most experienced loyalty and customer engagement agency. An industry stalwart, over the last 25 years Leena has been associated with over 80 customer relationship programs for marquee brands across retail, hospitality, financial services, telecom, CPG and healthcare industries, targeting customers, channel, employees and influencers. She is the Vice Chairman of the InterDirect Network of independent Direct, Digital Marketing and CX companies with members from over 20 countries and she has been a speaker at conferences in India and International Customer Relationship Marketing conferences.
Don Peppers
Acclaimed author,
speaker and co-founder of Peppers & Rogers Group
Recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on customer-focused business strategies, Don Peppers is an acclaimed author, speaker and co-founder of the management consultant firm, Peppers & Rogers Group. His new company, CX Speakers, delivers workshops, keynote presentations and thought leadership consulting focused on customer experience topics. Don Peppers’ work routinely examines the business issues that today’s global enterprises are grappling with while trying to maintain a competitive edge in their marketplace. He focuses on the customer experience and its related topics, which range from digital technologies, disruption, and innovation to customer metrics, social selling, customer success, customer advocacy, trust, and corporate culture. In 2015, Satmetrix listed Don and Martha Rogers #1 on their list of the Top 25 most influential customer experience leaders.
Martha Rogers
Acclaimed author, speaker and co-founder of Peppers & Rogers Group
Recognized for over 25 years as one of the world’s leading authorities on customer-focused business strategies, Dr. Martha Rogers is an acclaimed author and co-founder, along with Don Peppers, of Peppers & Rogers Group. In 2015, Rogers founded Trustability Metrix, designed to help companies understand how they are trusted by customers, employees and business peers. Her latest endeavor with Don Peppers is the formation of CX Speakers, a new company which delivers workshops, keynote presentations and thought leadership consulting focused on customer experience topics. With co-author and business partner Don Peppers, Rogers has produced a legacy of international best-sellers that collectively sold well over a million copies in 18 languages. Their first book, The One to One Future (Doubleday, 1993), was called by Inc. Magazine’s editor-in-chief “one of the two or three most important business books ever written,”
Shep Hyken
New York Times Bestselling author
Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert and a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Shep works with companies and organizations that want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His articles have been read in hundreds of publications, and he’s the author of 8 books, including his newest book I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again. He is also the creator of The Customer Focus™, a customer service training program that helps clients develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset.
The CX Academy Fellows 2023
Sandra Fornasier (CCXP)
Director of Customer Insights and Success Experience at Autodesk
Impassioned Customer Experience professional with 20+ year proven track record at building customer experiences that naturally guarantee mutually successful business outcomes in a B2B context. She cultivates a deep understanding of customer needs and behaviours and leverages data-driven insights to develop customer-centric strategies that drive brand loyalty. CCXP certified, skilled at defining and executing on CX strategies, experience design and journey management, and inspiring cross-functional leadership teams to action. Her passion for delivering outstanding customer experiences has earned her a reputation as a visionary leader in the field.Her background in customer advocacy, customer success management, project and product management as well as software architecture keeps her laser focused on CX strategies that impact Business Results.
“What you don’t measure, you can’t improve”
Lorraine Walsh
Director of Customer Experience at Laya Healthcare
Passionate about CX, with over 20 years in the health insurance industry, Lorraine is Director of Customer Experience at Laya Healthcare since 2019 and sits on the Executive team. She leads the development and implementation of the CX strategy for Laya and she holds responsibility for customer services within the business. The business is currently transforming contact and communication to and from its Laya members. Previous to this, Lorraine was Head of Marketing where she managed the successful rebrand to Laya Healthcare in May 2012. Lorraine holds a business degree specialising in marketing and a diploma in strategic marketing management. She is a member of the Irish Management Institute and the Irish Marketing Institute.
Gemma Colby
Head of CX at First Central Insurance Group
Gemma Colby is an experienced senior CX leader having worked across a wide range of industries. She is currently Head of Customer Experience at First Central Insurance Group. It’s fundamentally people that makes Gemma tick. Whether that’s developing up and coming leaders and CX talent or designing great customer experiences and CX strategies, Gemma is passionate about human beings and the transformation that can be delivered through empowerment. Excited by opportunities to contribute to organisations that have ambitious plans with a clear human centred purpose. She is proudly a board member at Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association since 2022 and a ‘Women in CX’ community founding member since its launch in March 2021. Most recently being named one of CXM’s top 25 CX Professionals of 2023 and winning CX Leader of the Year at the UK Customer Experience Awards 2021 for customer centricity transformation work delivered at Yell, Gemma has been recognised for the impact she has had.
The CX Academy Fellows 2024
HunNi Liew
Head of Business Transformation at DHL Express Malaysia
Hun Ni is the Head of Business Transformation for DHL Express Malaysia. She has over 28 years of experience in the corporate world, working with the world’s most international company in 13 different roles – 5 years in project & program management, 2 years in business services & solutions for global MNCs, over 10 years in sales management, planning & development and over 5 years in operations development during which she also led the corporate cultural change & employee engagement program for Malaysia & Brunei. Having managed successful teams for over 22 years, Hun Ni believes that to be a great leader, one of the most important skills to have is effective & impactful communication to continuously engage, equip & empower her people. She is also passionate about coaching & developing people to unleash their potential. Hun Ni mentors young people and currently leads the DHL Express Malaysia’s transformation agenda focused on digitalization and enhancing customer experience.
Adriana Cavallo
General Manager - Customer Experience (APAC) at BGL Corporate Solutions
With over a decade of experience within the Software industry, Adriana brings a wealth of expertise and a genuine passion for customers to her role at BGL Corporate Solutions. Leading various teams across the Asian Pacific region to deliver exceptional customer experiences, her tenure has been marked by transformative initiatives, particularly in automating internal processes to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Adriana is deeply invested in creating lasting impressions through every interaction with customers and employees. Whether it’s creating seamless onboarding processes or fostering a culture of continuous improvement, she ensures that the customer and employee journey intertwine harmoniously, resulting in experiences that are not just satisfactory but truly memorable. In a landscape where technology evolves rapidly and customer expectations continue to increase, Adriana remains committed in her mission to elevate the customer experience to new heights.
Rashad Issa
Chair of the Board of Trustees at Chartered Quality Institute
Rashad is a Non Executive Director, strategy specialist and an operational Quality, governance & assurance expert. With a proven track record of guiding ambitious businesses to operational excellence, Rashad is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the
Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and an advisor on the EDI committee with Project Management Institute (PMI). He is the Quality and Business Improvement Lead at the Baltic Exchange spearheading efforts to optimise regulatory compliance in financial benchmarks, fostering efficiency and excellence.
Rashad is a thought leader leveraging his platform as a Podcaster and a Blogger. As the founder of the Rashad in Conversation podcast and the How To Quality©️ series, he sheds the light on the indispensable value that the Quality profession contributes to businesses worldwide, sharing inspiring success stories from global leaders.
Adam Khan
CX & Service Design Consultant at A2Dominion
With over a decade of experience in consulting and a specialised focus on contact centres for the past six years, Adam is a passionate advocate for customer experience excellence. He has built a career at the intersection of customer-centric transformation and digital innovation, immersing himself in end-to-end customer journeys and pioneering solutions that drive satisfaction, loyalty and operational efficiencies. Adam’s cross-industry expertise gives him a nuanced perspective on diverse customer touchpoints, from orchestrating seamless digital experiences to creating transformative CX strategies. Adam’s approach is rooted in a genuine enthusiasm for understanding the customer’s perspective. He combines a deep understanding of service design with a commitment to continuous improvement, ensuring that customer experiences evolve to meet today’s digital demands.
Simon Hughes
Senior CX & Insights Business Partner at AXA Insurance
With an undergrad in Psychology from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and an MBA from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) Simon has worked on brands such as AXA, AIB, SkyTV, Guinness, Heineken, Coca Cola, Tesco, Sony and the Volkswagen Group, to name a few, over the last 25 years. His interests and skill set includes consumer & market research, market mix analytics, proposition development and strategic planning & implementation.
Sarah Dennett
Customer Experience Lead at Croda
Sarah has worked as a CX and insights professional for 8 years. She started her career in Customer Service at Johnson&Johnson and then moved into customer analytics at Smith&Nephew as Business Intelligence Manager. Her CX career started with a role in the Global Business Services function of Smith&Nephew. She now works for Croda – a global speciality chemical manufacturer – where she leads on VoC insights strategy and champions the CX learning and development programme. Sarah is focused on generating a thorough understanding of both rational and emotional customer needs and enabling Croda to turn this insight into customer centric actions that achieve their purpose of ‘Smart Science to improve lives’.
The fellowships will be awarded to CX champions around the world that have made a great impact (and still do) on the industry throughout their careers. It will recognise leaders and those that aspire to be leaders in the CX profession and further afield. In particular those who have gone above and beyond in the CX sector.
To ensure that this is the case we created a set of criteria to help the awarding process.
Among others, they need to have a deep knowledge and commitment to CX and EX, backed with a number of years of real-world experience. Each chosen fellow has to be involved in customer and employee initiatives that empower and motivate staff to do what is right for the customer. All fellows will be invited to join a global CX community to mentor and participate in future CX positioning initiatives. Essentially they will become the ambassadors for our profession in the future.
If you wish to recommend a future fellowship candidate, please email Julian Douglas at julian@thecxacademy.org and we will happily share the full selection criteria, rules of the program along with and a Fellowship application to help you prepare the relevant detail for our Industry Advisory Council meeting.
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