The CX leaders you follow shape how you think about every customer touchpoint. The right voices push you past surface-level metrics toward work that actually builds loyalty and retention. I've pulled together the CX leaders worth your attention—practitioners and thinkers whose ideas you can bring back to your team and put to work right away.
Top 22 CX Leaders
Below are the profiles of the top CX leaders, covering who they are and the impact they’ve made in this space.
Annette Franz
Founder & CEO at CX Journey Inc.
Mission Viejo, United States
Focus area:
#Customer experience strategy#Employee experience#Culture transformation#Customer understanding
Annette Franz is an author, speaker, and founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc. Her work connects customer experience, employee experience, culture, leadership, and organizational transformation.
Her approach treats culture and employee…
Connect with Annette:
Shep Hyken
Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations
Greater St. Louis, United States
Focus area:
#Customer service#Customer experience#Customer loyalty#CX research#Customer-focused culture
Shep Hyken is Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations, a customer service and CX speaker, researcher, and bestselling author with more than four decades of industry experience.
Hyken turns customer experience and…
Liz Centoni
EVP & Chief Customer Experience Officer at Cisco
Palo Alto, United States
Focus area:
#Customer experience leadership#Customer success#AI#Technology strategy#Digital transformation
Liz Centoni is Cisco’s Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer, leading its Customer Experience organization after decades in engineering, strategy, and applications leadership.
Centoni views customer experience through technology and…
Connect with Liz:
Jeannie Walters
Founder & CEO at Experience Investigators
Oak Park, United States
Focus area:
#CX strategy#Journey mapping#Customer-centric culture#CX education#Proactive experience design
Jeannie Walters is founder and CEO of Experience Investigators, a CX consultant, author, speaker, and educator who has spent more than 20 years helping organizations improve customer experiences.
Walters helps organizations move…
Connect with Jeannie:
Brad Cleveland
Customer Experience Strategist & Author
Sun Valley, United States
Focus area:
#CX strategy#Customer service#Contact centers#CX leadership#AI and human experience
Brad Cleveland is a customer experience strategist, author, speaker, and LinkedIn Learning instructor with decades of CX, customer service, contact center, and leadership work.
Cleveland helps leaders connect customer experience with loyalty,…
Connect with Brad:
Colin Shaw
Founder & CEO at Beyond Philosophy
Sarasota, United States
Focus area:
#Customer experience strategy#Customer emotions#Behavioral science#Customer loyalty#CX transformation
Colin Shaw founded Beyond Philosophy, an early customer experience consultancy, and is an author, speaker, and co-host of The Intuitive Customer, a podcast about customer behavior and CX.
Shaw studies the…
Connect with Colin:
Nate Brown
Co-founder & Executive Director at CX Accelerator
Nashville Metropolitan Area, United States
Focus area:
#CX leadership#Customer service#Employee experience#CX community#Service culture
Nate Brown is co-founder and executive director of CX Accelerator, a community builder, speaker, and customer experience practitioner focused on helping CX professionals develop and lead.
Brown focuses on customer experience leadership,…
Connect with Nate:
Blake Morgan
Customer Experience Futurist & Author
Los Angeles, United States
Focus area:
#CX leadership#Customer-focused leadership#AI#Digital transformation#Future of CX
Blake Morgan is founder of CXOHouse, a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, educator, and author whose work examines customer-focused leadership, technology, and the future of CX.
Morgan studies how leadership and emerging…
Eric Smuda
Vice President, Customer Experience at Auris
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, United States
Focus area:
#CX strategy#Customer insights#AI governance#Customer-centric growth#CX transformation
Eric Smuda is Vice President of Customer Experience at Auris, and a customer experience and growth leader with more than 20 years of work on customer insight, strategy, and transformation.
Smuda sees…
Connect with Eric:
Stacy Sherman
Customer Experience Speaker & Advisor
New York City Metropolitan Area, United States
Focus area:
#Customer experience#Customer loyalty#Employee experience#CX leadership#Human-centered AI
Stacy Sherman is founder of Doing CX Right, a customer experience speaker, advisor, LinkedIn Learning instructor, and podcast host with a career on CX, sales, and marketing leadership.
Sherman’s Doing CX Right…
Dan Gingiss
Customer Experience Speaker & Author
Greater Chicago Area, United States
Focus area:
#Customer experience#Customer loyalty#Employee experience#Experience design#Customer service
Dan Gingiss is founder of The Experience Maker, a customer experience speaker, author, consultant, and former corporate leader whose career includes marketing, digital, and customer experience roles.
Gingiss focuses on everyday interactions…
Greg Kihlström
Customer Experience Author & Consultant
Arlington, United States
Focus area:
#Customer experience#Organizational agility#Marketing technology#Digital transformation#AI
Greg Kihlström leads The Agile Brand and works as an author, speaker, consultant, and podcast host. He focuses on customer experience, marketing, business agility, and technology.
Kihlström helps organizations adapt as technology…
Bill Staikos
Customer Experience & Transformation Executive
New York City Metropolitan Area, United States
Focus area:
#CX strategy#AI#Transformation#Journey orchestration#Customer signals
Bill Staikos founded Be Customer Led and is a customer experience, AI, and transformation executive whose career spans more than two decades of leadership in experience strategy and change.
Staikos focuses on…
Connect with Bill:
Adrian Brady-Cesana
Founder & Chief Experience Officer at CXChronicles
Buffalo, United States
Focus area:
#CX strategy#Customer success#Customer feedback#CX operations#AI
Adrian Brady-Cesana is founder and Chief Experience Officer of CXChronicles, where he advises companies and hosts The CXChronicles Podcast on customer experience, success, operations, and growth.
Brady-Cesana organizes CX around four operating…
Connect with Adrian:
Jeanne Bliss
Customer Experience Pioneer & Advisor
Seattle, United States
Focus area:
#Customer-driven growth#Chief Customer Officer#Customer-centric leadership#CX transformation#Customer loyalty
Jeanne Bliss founded CustomerBliss and co-founded the Customer Experience Professionals Association after pioneering Chief Customer Officer roles at major companies including Microsoft and Lands’ End.
Bliss helped make the Chief Customer Officer…
Connect with Jeanne:
Carlos Quezada
VP of Global Success at Gigamon
United States
Focus area:
#Customer success#CX strategy#Digital customer success#AI#Post-sales transformation
Carlos Quezada is VP of Global Success at Gigamon, leading customer success, technical support, professional services, and partner success after building HPE’s first Customer Success program.
Quezada has built and scaled post-sales…
Connect with Carlos:
Raj Sivasubramanian
Customer Experience Leader & Educator
San Francisco, United States
Focus area:
#Voice of Customer#CX measurement#Customer insights#CX education#Customer-centric transformation
Raj Sivasubramanian is a customer experience leader at Quantum Metric, educator, and speaker whose work includes Voice of Customer programs, CX measurement, analytics, and CX transformation.
Sivasubramanian challenges CX teams to look…
Connect with Raj:
Ashvin Vaidyanathan
VP, Customer Success & Insights at LinkedIn
San Francisco, United States
Focus area:
#Customer success#Post-sales leadership#Customer outcomes#CX strategy#Customer insights
Ashvin Vaidyanathan is LinkedIn’s Vice President of Customer Success and Insights and co-author of The Customer Success Professional’s Handbook, with more than 15 years in post-sales leadership.
Vaidyanathan sees customer success…
Connect with Ashvin:
Adam Toporek
Customer Service Expert & Author
Greater Orlando, United States
Focus area:
#Customer service#Frontline experience#Service leadership#Customer retention#CX strategy
Adam Toporek is a customer service expert, author, speaker, and founder of CTS Service Solutions whose work helps organizations improve frontline service, customer experience, and service leadership.
Toporek focuses on how service…
Connect with Adam:
Ian Golding
CEO & Founder at Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd
United Kingdom
Focus area:
#CX strategy#Customer journeys#CX leadership#Customer-centric culture#CX education
Ian Golding is CEO & Founder at Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd, a CCXP-certified consultant, author, speaker, and educator focused on practical customer experience strategy and leadership.
Golding helps organizations and CX professionals…
Connect with Ian:
Katie Stabler
Founder & Director at CULTIVATE Customer Experience by Design
High Legh, United Kingdom
Focus area:
#CX strategy#Experience design#Customer psychology#Customer insights#CX transformation
Katie Stabler is founder and Director of Customer Experience at CULTIVATE Customer Experience by Design, a CCXP-certified consultant, speaker, author, and strategist focused on customer-centered organizational change.
Stabler combines business psychology, customer…
Connect with Katie:
Adrian Swinscoe
Customer Experience Consultant & Author
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Focus area:
#Customer experience#Customer service#AI#Customer relationships#Human-centered experience
Adrian Swinscoe is a customer experience consultant, author, speaker, and host whose work explores service, customer relationships, technology, AI, and how organizations create more human experiences.
Swinscoe examines CX through the changing…
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.
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.
Further Reading
For more inspiration from the people shaping customer experience today, explore our roundup of top Chief Experience Officers.
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