Spanning diverse industries including aviation, hospitality, retail, BFSI, and more, these 35 CX leaders exemplify excellence in understanding and enhancing the customer journey.
What stands as a cornerstone of success, loyalty, advocacy, and sustainable growth? Customer Experience. At the forefront of this crucial discipline are Europe’s top primary market leaders, who bring invaluable expertise and innovation to their respective brands and industries.
Each of these CX leaders plays a pivotal role in shaping organisational strategies that prioritise customer satisfaction and engagement. From devising cutting-edge digital solutions to fostering a customer-centric culture, they navigate complex challenges with a relentless focus on delivering exceptional experiences and brand growth.
CXM Today highlights 35 ‘Customer First’ brand leaders who are redefining standards and setting new benchmarks across Europe.
Abdul Khaled is the Head of Digital, Customer Experience & Digital Products at E.ON Next, a position he has held for over 2 years. Previously, he worked at Cisco, where he focused on Digital Strategy for Europe, Middle East & Africa for over 3 years. Before that, Abdul was involved in Increasing Digital Engagement for Subway Franchisees in Europe at IPC Europe. He holds a degree from Brunel University London.
Alexis is the Director of Customer Experience for International Stations at Air France KLM. He has worked with Air France for over 15 years. Alexis is an experienced director in the airline industry, leading international teams in Sales, Marketing, E-commerce, and Customer Experience strategy. Alexis is responsible for revamping and automating customer care strategy, leading major agile and change management projects focused on cost efficiency and customer satisfaction. He holds a Master’s degree from NEOMA Business School.
Antonius serves as the Chief Customer Experience Officer at freenet AG, where he has dedicated 14 years to enhancing customer satisfaction and driving business success. He began his journey with the company as Vice President of Customer Management at mobilcom-debitel GmbH and has been the CXO for over six years. Before joining freenet AG, Antonius spent seven years as an Advisory Manager at dtms GmbH, honing his expertise in customer management and advisory services.
Anubha is the Global Head of Customer Experience at Philip Morris International, a position she has held for over 5 years. Prior to joining Philip Morris, she worked at American Express for over 6 years. Before that, Anubha held roles at Royal Bank of Scotland Business and ABN AMRO. She holds a degree from XLRI Jamshedpur.
Brenya is the Chief Customer Officer and Lead Link for Customer Experience at DINA Elektronik, where she has been for two years. She is instrumental in creating the next generation of German Mittelstand. Brenya leads the Customer Circle, encompassing marketing, sales, service, and support. Before joining DINA Elektronik, Brenya spent over 12 years at Diffferent, culminating in her role as Director of Strategy and Innovation.
Cristina is the Global Senior Vice President of Brand & Experience, Customer and Marketing Strategy at Radisson Hotel Group, where she has been for over six years. In her current role, Cristina is responsible for the company’s brand strategy and guest experiences. She focuses on enhancing brand standards, expanding the digital guest journey, and overseeing the Group’s Customer Strategy, CRM, and loyalty program, Radisson Rewards. Previously, Cristina worked at NH Hotel Group for three years.
Elliot is the Vice President of Global Retail Design & Consumer Experience at adidas, bringing over 13 years of experience with the company. He specializes in ensuring the achievement of objectives and executing strategies for client retention and personnel growth. Over his career spanning 25 years, Elliot has worked across diverse retail landscapes and various channels, including DTC, wholesale, and ecommerce. Previously, he held the position of Head of Brand at Aurora Fashions MENA within the Alshaya Group for over 3 years. Elliot earned his degree from Harvard Business School.
Eric has more than 25 years of experience in Sales, Negotiation, Shopper & customer initiatives, both locally and internationally across Europe, Russia, Asia, LATAM, and MENA. He is currently the Global Customer Director at Beiersdorf, where he focuses on leading and directing customer business development priorities with an emphasis on enhancing CX. Eric has spent his entire career at Beiersdorf, steadily advancing through the ranks to drive growth and customer satisfaction. He holds a degree from IPAG Business School.
Giorgio is the Head of Digital Experience and Business at Audi. He joined AUDI AG in 2001 after studying automotive engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Esslingen. Giorgio has held various roles in After Sales and Audi Genuine Parts. Throughout his career, Giorgio has led initiatives in Taiwan and China, overseeing after-sales service and sales operations. He returned to AUDI AG in 2020 as Head of Sales for China and Hong Kong, and since March 2022, he has focused on digital experience and business strategies to enhance Audi’s customer engagement.
Harriet is the Customer Experience and Operations Director at British Airways, where she has been for 19 years. In her current role for nearly two years, she has demonstrated a history of delivering enhanced customer and colleague experiences while leading and engaging teams on their journey. Harriet holds a degree from Buckinghamshire New University.
Harry is the Head of Customer Experience at B&Q, where he has been a senior leader in the Customer and Digital function for over five years. Starting with the company, Harry has been instrumental in driving positive change in complex environments by building and nurturing matrix teams and key stakeholder relationships. He holds an MBA from the University of Portsmouth.
Jörg is the Senior Vice President of Customer Experience at DERTOUR Group Deutschland, where he has served for over four years. With extensive experience as a Chief Product Officer and Chief Experience Officer across companies of varying sizes and stages, Jörg has led teams of up to 250 employees for over 20 years. His strategic acumen, bolstered by an Executive MBA from HEC Paris School of Management, enables him to navigate complex environments adeptly and deliver impactful CX results.
Joachim is the Chief Customer Officer at Evangelische Bank, where he has been a dedicated leader for over 13 years. His innovative approach and commitment to service excellence have significantly contributed to the bank’s success in fostering strong customer relationships. Joachim holds a degree from ADG Business School an der Steinbeis-Hochschule.
Juliane is the Chief Customer Officer at HelloFresh DACH, where she has been working for over seven years. With 18 years of total experience in leadership roles spanning Customer Experience, Product, CRM, Ecommerce, and Operations, Juliane has a proven track record of creating and shaping business strategies and pioneering new work principles and methods. Her previous roles include positions at TPC, Nestlé Skin Health, and CAVUS Communications GmbH. She holds a degree from the University of Mannheim
Katalin joined Marley Spoon in 2016 and has been with the company for over 7 years. As Chief Customer- and People Officer, she is accountable for providing stakeholders with actionable insights to improve customer and team experience and retention. Additionally, Katalin is an Advisory Board Member of CCW Europe Digital. Prior to Marley Spoon, she was Head of DE Customer Service Quality Assurance at Amazon for over 2 years and worked at Avis Budget Group for 3 years. Katalin holds an MBA from ESCP Business School.
Laura is the Director of Customer Strategy at loveholidays, the UK’s fast-growing online travel agency. An award-winning, results-driven leader, Laura has over 15 years of experience in customer experience transformation across contact centers, consulting, and SaaS startups. Previously, she worked at ASAPP, Limitless Technology, and Capgemini Invent. Laura’s expertise lies in transforming contact centers and digital CX using technologies like AI and Gig CX. She is a member of Women in CX and holds a degree from The University of Stirling.
Marc is the Vice President of Customer Engagement, Customer Champion, and Member Growth at Accor. He also serves as a Customer Advisory Board Member at Movable Ink. Previously, Marc held the position of Director of Customer Engagement EMEA at Hilton for over nine years. He holds a degree from Anglia Polytechnic University.
Marcus is the Head of Customer Experience, Service CX /SEG at Samsung Electronics GmbH, a position he has held for over 16 years. He has over 25 years of domestic and international experience with particular expertise within the TelCo, Consumer Electronics, and IT industry. Prior to Samsung, he was the Manager of Customer Relations at Hewlett-Packard for 10 years and also worked at DACHSER SE for five years. Marcus holds a degree from DHBW Mannheim.
Markus is the Chief Customer Officer at Smava, where he has served for over 7 years, initially starting as the Head of Sales Operations. Prior to Smava, he worked at Auctionata AG for over 3 years. Markus holds a Master of Science degree from HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management.
Martin is the Chief Experience Officer at Limehome, a leading player in the hospitality industry, where he has been for over two years. Prior to his current role, Martin led customer and employee experience at Tado. Upon joining Tado, he formed a central CX focus by aligning all of Tado’s customer-facing teams into one organization. Before that, Martin spent two years at Bragi. He holds a degree from University College Cork, which underpins his extensive expertise in customer and employee experience management.
Michela is the Global Customer Experience Lead at Nestle Nespresso SA, bringing over four years of experience with the company. Previously, she served as a customer journey manager at E.ON for two years. With a background spanning Telecommunications, Retail, Utilities, and Food and beverage industries, Michela excels in CX strategy, customer journey design, governance, and culture development. Michela holds a degree from Università Bocconi.
Michele is the Head of Customer Experience at HSBC Holdings PLC, UK, where she has been for over six years. She specialises in client experience management, tactical and strategic process improvements, and the delivery and oversight of the Client Operations Priority Client Service Model. With 25+ years in the finance industry, Michele has deep expertise in investor services, global custody, and fund services. She has held leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase & Co. for over 15 years and at Chase Manhattan Bank. Michele holds a BA Honours from the University of the West of England.
Mustafa is the Head of Global Customer Experience and Customer Care at MediaMarktSaturn, where he has been for over three years. Prior to this role, he spent five years at MediaMarkt Turkey, culminating in his position as Head of CX and Care Centre. With 15 years of experience in global companies, Mustafa has held both local and global responsibilities for CX. Before his tenure at MediaMarkt, Mustafa worked at Teleperformance Turkey for two years and HSBC for over four years.
Nicola is the Global Head of Consumer & Shopper Understanding for Nutella & Fresh Bakery Products at Ferrero, a role he has held for over 3 years. He is responsible for globally managing consumer and shopper insights generation, supporting global brand development, innovation, and long-term strategy for Nutella and related fresh bakery products. Previously, Nicola worked at Praxidia as Chief Operating Officer of Customer Insights, and before that, he was with GN Research. He spent over 14 years at Ipsos Suisse. Nicola holds a degree from Sapienza Università di Roma.
Niels is the Head of Customer Experience Innovation (Digitalisation) at Hyundai Motor Europe, a position he has held for over 6 years. Previously, he worked at Toyota Nordic A/S for over 4 years and at Toyota Motor Europe for 2 years. Niels has worked and is currently working in various industries and sectors (IT & Business/Private & Public). He holds a degree from Copenhagen Business School.
Paul is the Head of Customer at BMW UK, a role he has held for a year. He brings 16 years of experience with BMW, where he focuses on delivering exceptional customer experiences both now and in the future. Paul supports a team with diverse responsibilities spanning CRM and Contact Centre Technology Development, Customer Journey Management, Call Centre Operations and Change, Training Support, Knowledge base systems, Customer Strategy, Retailer Performance steering, and CX Innovation. He holds a degree from Aberystwyth University
Pedro is the Director of Customer Experience at Banco Santander in Spain, where he has been for over three years. With 15 years of experience, Pedro focuses on strategy, customer experience, and analytics. His fast-growing career is marked by a solid track record of delivering results and broad international experience in four different countries. Previously, Pedro worked at CTT – Correios de Portugal and McKinsey & Company and spent eight years at Banco Santander earlier in his career. He holds a master’s degree from Nova School of Business and Economics.
Ruchi is the Global Director of Customer Success at OLX Group, where she has been for over nine years. As the Global Director of Commercial and Service Excellence, she is responsible for building and executing the vision and strategy for the commercial and service arm of the European business. She has over 16 years of experience in leading and scaling ecommerce and classifieds businesses. Prior to OLX Group, she worked with Lazada and Barclays Capital. Ruchi holds degrees from Columbia Business School and the National University of Singapore.
Simone is the Global Head of Customer Experience at Allianz, a position she has held for the past three years. With over 15 years at Allianz, Simone began her journey as a Manager and has since risen through the ranks. Prior to her current role, she spent seven years at Allianz Private Krankenversicherung. Simone’s studied at Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences.
Siobhan is the Chief Experience Officer at Virgin Atlantic, having joined the company in 2018 and accumulating six years with the airline. With a background spanning over 15 years in Digital, Brand, Marketing, and Customer roles in Retail, and 10 years in Media, Siobhan has dedicated the past decade to driving transformation across brand, customer, and digital propositions. In her current role, Siobhan leads teams responsible for enhancing customer engagement and preferences.
Skadi is the Director of Customer Experience at Hapag-Lloyd AG, where she has served for over 10 years. She began her journey with the company in campaign management within global marketing and has since evolved into a role focused on Customer Insights, where she identifies customer pain points and develops strategies to address them effectively. Skadi holds a Bachelor of Science degree from HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration.
Stephanie is the Chief Customer Officer at AXA, where she has been making a significant impact for over two years. A ‘people person,’ Stephanie thrives on establishing connections and developing win-win business solutions. At AXA, she ensures that consumers, partners, and team members are central to the company’s initiatives. Previously, Stephanie held pivotal roles at adidas and Runtastic GmbH. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
Tamur is the Head of Customer Excellence Taskforce & Head of Customer Experience at Lufthansa Group, recently starting in this role. He previously held a five-year stint at Swiss International Air Lines as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) & Member of the Board. Prior to that, Tamur was with Lufthansa for over 8 years. He was also the Chair of the IATA Distribution Advisory Committee at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for over 3 years. Tamur holds a degree from the University of Cambridge.
Thierry is currently the Director of Customer Experience at Stellantis Germany. Previously, he worked at Astara for a year and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Switzerland for over 4 years. Thierry has 24 years of experience in the automotive business, having worked with Volkswagen, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles, and now Stellantis in 4 different countries (France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany). He holds a degree from Grenoble Ecole de Management.
Vagelis has dedicated his entire 21-year career to Unilever. Currently, he serves as the Head of Customer Experience for Southeast Europe, a role he has held for over a year. Vagelis started off as a supply chain analyst and has progressed through various roles, including Head of Customer Service for seven years. He holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree from Athens University of Economics and Business.
Catch some of these leaders at the CX NXT Summit on October 23, 2024 in Berlin. It will equip brands with the knowledge and CX strategies they need to stay ahead of the curve.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 represents a robust cloud-based CRM solution with features such as pipeline assessment, relationship analytics, and conversational intelligence. It utilises AI-powered insights to provide actionable intelligence via predictive analytics, lead scoring, sentiment analysis, etc. Currently, Microsoft operates in 190 countries and is made up of more than 220,000 employees worldwide.
HubSpot is an inbound marketing, sales, and customer service software provider, offering robust CRM and automation solutions. Some of its products include Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Operations Hub, Content Hub, Commerce Hub, Marketing Analytics and Dashboard Software. Guided by its inbound methodology, HubSpot enables companies to prioritise innovation and customer success.
Monday.com is a project management software company, offering a cloud-based platform that enables businesses 
Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freshworks is a global AI-powered business software provider. Its tech stack includes a scalable and comprehensive suite for IT, customer support, sales, and marketing teams, ensuring value for immediate business impact. Its product portfolio includes Customer Service Suite, Freshdesk, Freshchat, Freshcaller, Freshsuccess, and Freshservice. Freshservice for Business Teams has helped several global organisations to enhance their operational efficiency.
Talkdesk offers an innovative AI-powered customer-centric tech stack to its global partners. The company provides generative AI integrations, delivering industry-specific solutions to its customers. Talkdesk CX Cloud and Industry Experience Clouds utilise modern machine learning and language models to enhance contact centre efficiency and client satisfaction.
The company offers comprehensive cloud-based solutions, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, Gaming Consoles, Microsoft Advertising, Copilot, among other things, to help organisations offer enhanced CX and ROI. Its generative-AI-powered speech and voice recognition solutions,such as Cortana and Azure Speech Services empowers developers to build intelligent applications.
IBM is a global hybrid cloud and AI-powered 
Uniphore is an enterprise-class, AI-native company that was incubated in 2008. Its enterprise-class multimodal AI and data platform unifies all elements of voice, video, text and data by leveraging Generative AI, Knowledge AI, Emotion AI and workflow automation. Some of its products include U-Self Serve, U-Assist, U-Capture, and U-Analyze. Its Q for Sale is a conversational intelligence software that guides revenue teams with AI-powered insights, offering clarity on how to effectively keep prospects engaged.
Google Cloud accelerates every organisation’s ability to digitally transform its business. Its enterprise-grade solutions leverage modern technology to solve the most criticial business problems 
8×8 offers out-of-the-box contact centre solutions, assisting all-size businesses to efficiently meet customer needs and preferences. It offers custom CRM integrations support and integrates effortlessly with third-party CRMs like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk, and more. Offering global support in all time zones & development teams in 5 continents, its patented geo-routing solution ensures consistent voice quality.
Sprinklr is a comprehensive enterprise software company for all customer-focused functions. With advanced AI, Sprinklr’s unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform lets organisations offer human experiences to every customer, every time, across any modern channel.
Upland offers a comprehensive suite of contact centre and customer service solutions with products including InGenius, Panviva, Rant & Rave, and RightAnswers. InGenius enables organisations to connect their existing phone system with CRM, further enhancing agent productivity. Panviva provides compliant and omnichannel capabilities for highly regulated industries. Whereas, Rant & Rave, and RightAnswers are its AI-powered solutions, 
Zoho Social, a part of Zoho’s suite of 50+ products, is a comprehensive social media management platform for businesses and agencies. The Zoho Social dashboard includes a robust set of features, such as Publishing Calendar, Bulk Scheduler, and Approval Management to offer businesses all the essential social media publishing tools. Its monitoring tools help enterprises track and respond to relevant social conversations.
Hootsuite, headquartered in Vancouver, is a social media management platform that streamlines the process of managing multiple social media accounts. Some of its core offerings include social media content planning and publishing, audience engagement tools, analytics and social advertising. Its easy-to-integrate capabilities help marketing teams to schedule and publish social media posts efficiently.
Brandwatch enables businesses to build and scale the optimal strategy for their clients with intuitive, use-case-focused tools that are easy and quick to master. Bringing together consumer intelligence and social media management, the company helps its users react to the trends that matter, collaborate on data-driven content, shield the brand from threats and manage all the social media channels at scale.
Zoho Corporation offers innovative and tailored software to help leaders grow their business. Zoho’s 55+ products aid sales and marketing, support and collaboration, finance, and recruitment requirements. Its customer analytics capabilities come with a conversational feature, Ask Zia. It enables users to ask questions and get insights in the form of reports and widgets in real-time.
Salesforce-owned Tableau is an AI-powered analytics and business intelligence platform, offering the breadth and depth of capabilities that serve the requirements of global enterprises in a seamless, integrated experience. Marketers can utilise generative AI models, AI-powered predictions, natural language querying, and recommendationsons.
Fullstory is a behavioural data platform, helping C-suite leaders make informed decisions by injecting digital behavioural data into its analytics stack. Its patented technology uncovers the power of quality behavioural data at scale, transforming every digital visit into actionable insights. Enterprises can increase funnel conversion and identify their highest-value customers effortlessly.
Contentsquare is a cloud-based digital experience analytics platform, helping brands track billions of digital interactions, and turn those digital 
Amplitude is a product analytics platform, enabling businesses to track visitors with the help of collaborative analytics. The platform leverages the capabilities of 
Adobe Experience Cloud offers a comprehensive set of applications, capabilities, and services specifically designed to address day-to-day requirement for personalised customer experiences at scale. Its platform helps play an essential role in managing different digital content or assets to improve customer happiness. Its easy-to-optimise content gives users appropriate marketing streams, ensuring product awareness.
Started in 2005 in a Sweden-based small town, Norrköping, Voyado offers a customer experience cloud platform that includes a customer loyalty management system. This platform helps businesses design and implement customer loyalty programs, track customer 
TapMango provides a comprehensive, customisable, flexible and feature-rich customer loyalty program. The loyalty tools include an integrated suite of customised consumer-facing technology, easy-to-use merchant tools, and automation algorithms, all aimed at enhancing customer experience. Adaptable to any industry, TapMango’s platform helps merchants compete with larger chains, converting customer one-time purchases into profitable spending habits.
Adobe Experience Cloud offers a comprehensive set of applications, capabilities, and services specifically designed to address day-to-day requirements for personalised customer experiences at scale. Its innovative platform has played an essential role in managing different digital content or assets, to improve customer happiness or satisfaction. Some of its products include Adobe Gen Studio, Experience Manager Sites, Real-time CDP, and Marketo Engage.
