Top 17 CX Mentors to Learn More From in 2026
The right CX mentors can reshape how you think about customer experience—and how you deliver it. I've pulled together the voices worth following: practitioners who've built real programs, solved real problems, and share what actually works. Whether you're refining your strategy or building from scratch, these mentors will challenge your thinking and sharpen your results.
Top 17 CX Mentors
Below are the profiles of the top CX mentors, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Ian Golding
Ian Golding is founder and CEO of Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd, a CX consultant, mentor, speaker, and author of Customer What?, his practical guide to sustainable customer experience.
His work centers…
Ian Golding is founder and CEO of Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd, a CX consultant, mentor, speaker, and author of Customer What?, his practical guide to sustainable customer experience.
His work centers on operationalizing CX: turning strategy into customer journeys, measurement, employee engagement, and continuous improvement. He also mentors CX practitioners, giving leaders practical guidance for building and sustaining customer-focused organizations.
Jeanne Bliss
Jeanne Bliss is president of CustomerBliss, a customer-centric leadership advisor and author who held senior customer leadership roles at Lands’ End, Microsoft, Allstate, and Coldwell Banker.
Bliss helped pioneer the Chief Customer…
Jeanne Bliss is president of CustomerBliss, a customer-centric leadership advisor and author who held senior customer leadership roles at Lands’ End, Microsoft, Allstate, and Coldwell Banker.
Bliss helped pioneer the Chief Customer Officer role and has spent decades moving customers onto the executive agenda. Her consulting and writing emphasize leadership behaviors, organizational alignment, accountability, and culture—the foundations CX leaders need to guide lasting change.
Clare Muscutt
Clare Muscutt is founder and CEO of Women in CX, a global community for women in customer experience. She is a former Head of Customer Experience with 15 years in corporate leadership…
Clare Muscutt is founder and CEO of Women in CX, a global community for women in customer experience. She is a former Head of Customer Experience with 15 years in corporate leadership worldwide.
Muscutt combines hands-on CX leadership with community building, consulting, and speaking. Her work emphasizes human-centered design, collaborative CX delivery, responsible experience design, and helping practitioners learn from one another—making mentorship a natural part of her CX contribution.
Jeannie Walters
Jeannie Walters is founder and CEO of Experience Investigators, a customer experience consultant, speaker, educator, and Certified Customer Experience Professional focused on proactive CX.
Walters helps leaders investigate journeys, understand customer and…
Jeannie Walters is founder and CEO of Experience Investigators, a customer experience consultant, speaker, educator, and Certified Customer Experience Professional focused on proactive CX.
Walters helps leaders investigate journeys, understand customer and employee feedback, and turn those insights into better experiences. Her teaching and advisory work spans proactive CX, customer trust, journey improvement, and service culture, giving practitioners practical tools they can apply with their teams.
Annette Franz
Annette Franz is founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., a customer and employee experience consultant, speaker, and author. Her career spans CX technology firms and corporate leadership roles.
Franz connects customer…
Annette Franz is founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., a customer and employee experience consultant, speaker, and author. Her career spans CX technology firms and corporate leadership roles.
Franz connects customer experience with employee experience, culture, and organizational change. Her books and consulting explore customer understanding, journey mapping, governance, and the systems behind customer-centric organizations, while her mentoring helps CX leaders translate those ideas into action.
Karyn Furstman
Karyn Furstman is a customer experience executive coach and advisor at CustomersFurst, drawing on more than 30 years of CX leadership and service as a founding board member of the CXPA.
Furstman…
Karyn Furstman is a customer experience executive coach and advisor at CustomersFurst, drawing on more than 30 years of CX leadership and service as a founding board member of the CXPA.
Furstman coaches CX leaders through strategy, organizational buy-in, silos, operating plans, and executive influence. Her practitioner background gives her a useful mentoring perspective: she helps leaders prioritize the right work, build confidence, and connect CX programs to wider business objectives.
Colin Shaw
Colin Shaw is founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, a customer experience consultancy he launched in 2002. He is also an author, keynote speaker, and co-host of The Intuitive Customer podcast.
Shaw’s…
Colin Shaw is founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, a customer experience consultancy he launched in 2002. He is also an author, keynote speaker, and co-host of The Intuitive Customer podcast.
Shaw’s work combines CX strategy with customer psychology, emotion, loyalty, and measurement. Beyond Philosophy has developed and applied CX methodologies across major organizations, while his books, podcast, training, and consulting translate behavioral insights into decisions practitioners can use.
Brad Cleveland
Brad Cleveland is a customer experience author, speaker, and consultant. His work spans CX strategy and contact center management, including his book Leading the Customer Experience.
Cleveland teaches leaders to connect…
Brad Cleveland is a customer experience author, speaker, and consultant. His work spans CX strategy and contact center management, including his book Leading the Customer Experience.
Cleveland teaches leaders to connect customer experience with cross-functional processes, culture, loyalty, and business performance. His long background in contact centers adds an operational lens, making his guidance useful to CX practitioners working from frontline service through enterprise transformation.
Myra Golden
Myra Golden is a customer service trainer and conversation strategist. He spent 25 years teaching frontline teams and created the 3R Conversation Control Method for difficult interactions.
Golden turns difficult service conversations…
Myra Golden is a customer service trainer and conversation strategist. He spent 25 years teaching frontline teams and created the 3R Conversation Control Method for difficult interactions.
Golden turns difficult service conversations into repeatable methods for de-escalation, rapport, call control, and delivering bad news. Her extensive LinkedIn Learning catalog and frontline training make her especially useful to CX practitioners coaching service teams through high-stakes customer moments.
Bill Staikos
Bill Staikos is founder of Be Customer Led, an advisory practice, and a customer experience and transformation executive with more than two decades of leadership across global organizations.
Staikos advises executive teams…
Bill Staikos is founder of Be Customer Led, an advisory practice, and a customer experience and transformation executive with more than two decades of leadership across global organizations.
Staikos advises executive teams on customer-led strategy, operating models, measurement, data, technology, and AI. His approach starts with business questions and connects customer, employee, operational, and financial signals—useful territory for CX leaders seeking stronger strategic influence.
Ilenia Vidili
Ilenia Vidili is a customer-centricity advisor, keynote speaker, author, and LinkedIn Learning instructor. Her corporate background includes marketing roles at NEC, Bayer, and Arm globally.
Vidili helps organizations move customer centricity from…
Ilenia Vidili is a customer-centricity advisor, keynote speaker, author, and LinkedIn Learning instructor. Her corporate background includes marketing roles at NEC, Bayer, and Arm globally.
Vidili helps organizations move customer centricity from aspiration to operating practice. Her Journey to Centricity framework addresses leadership, culture, technology, customer trust, and decision-making, while her advisory work and courses give leaders practical ways to embed customer focus.
Julia Martin Ahlfeldt
Julia Ahlfeldt is a customer experience strategist, keynote speaker, and business advisor. She leads Julia Ahlfeldt CX Consulting and hosts the Decoding the Customer podcast on CX globally.
Ahlfeldt helps leaders connect…
Julia Ahlfeldt is a customer experience strategist, keynote speaker, and business advisor. She leads Julia Ahlfeldt CX Consulting and hosts the Decoding the Customer podcast on CX globally.
Ahlfeldt helps leaders connect CX strategy to measurable business impact through journey mapping, leadership alignment, experience innovation, and ROI measurement. Her recent work also examines practical AI adoption, giving CX practitioners a bridge between customer strategy and changing technology.
Nate Brown
Nate Brown is co-founder and executive director of CX Accelerator, a nonprofit community for customer experience professionals. His background spans customer service and CX leadership.
Brown has made professional development a central…
Nate Brown is co-founder and executive director of CX Accelerator, a nonprofit community for customer experience professionals. His background spans customer service and CX leadership.
Brown has made professional development a central part of his CX work. CX Accelerator equips, encourages, and connects practitioners through community, learning, mentorship, and resources, while his own background in service, journey mapping, client success, and contact centers keeps that guidance grounded.
Chip Bell
Chip R. Bell is a customer loyalty and service innovation consultant, keynote speaker, and business author. His work helps organizations create more inventive, customer-centered service.
Bell explores how distinctive service, generosity, partnership,…
Chip R. Bell is a customer loyalty and service innovation consultant, keynote speaker, and business author. His work helps organizations create more inventive, customer-centered service.
Bell explores how distinctive service, generosity, partnership, and innovation can strengthen loyalty. His books and keynotes turn those ideas into practical customer-centered behaviors, giving CX leaders useful material for coaching teams beyond scripted service toward experiences customers remember.
Joseph A. Michelli
Joseph A. Michelli is a customer experience consultant, keynote speaker, and author. His decades of research and advisory work include brands such as Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, and Mercedes-Benz.
Michelli studies how prominent service…
Joseph A. Michelli is a customer experience consultant, keynote speaker, and author. His decades of research and advisory work include brands such as Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, and Mercedes-Benz.
Michelli studies how prominent service brands build experiences that attract and retain customers, then translates those lessons into leadership and operational practices. His consulting, books, and speaking give CX leaders case-based guidance on culture, service, loyalty, and human-centered experience.
Jeff Toister
Jeff Toister is founder of Toister Performance Solutions, a customer service author, trainer, and keynote speaker. He helps leaders build stronger service cultures and customer-focused teams.
Toister’s books, courses, and speaking focus…
Jeff Toister is founder of Toister Performance Solutions, a customer service author, trainer, and keynote speaker. He helps leaders build stronger service cultures and customer-focused teams.
Toister’s books, courses, and speaking focus on the employee behaviors and organizational conditions behind consistent service. His work gives leaders practical tools for building customer-focused cultures, diagnosing service obstacles, and coaching employees to make better customer decisions.
Lynn Hunsaker
Lynn Hunsaker is founder of ClearAction Continuum, a customer experience strategist and educator. Her career includes enterprise CX, quality, marketing, and Voice of Customer leadership.
Hunsaker’s work emphasizes enterprise-wide CX management rather…
Lynn Hunsaker is founder of ClearAction Continuum, a customer experience strategist and educator. Her career includes enterprise CX, quality, marketing, and Voice of Customer leadership.
Hunsaker’s work emphasizes enterprise-wide CX management rather than isolated touchpoint fixes. Drawing on years leading Voice of Customer and CX improvement programs, she teaches practitioners to align strategy, metrics, silos, and organizational capabilities around lasting customer value.
Selection Methodology
I selected the leaders on this list based on their relevance, demonstrated expertise and impact, professional credibility, and ongoing contributions to the field.
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I look for evidence such as leading meaningful initiatives or delivering notable results within their organizations, developing influential ideas or practices, publishing research or educational resources, speaking or teaching, and other contributions that demonstrate impact within their work or the broader field.
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