Top 30 Customer Experience Influencers to Follow in 2026
The best customer experience voices push your strategy further—the wrong ones keep you recycling the same ideas. I've curated this list to help you find practitioners and thinkers who share real insights, not just inspiration. Follow them to sharpen your approach, learn the best CX management tools, stay ahead of trends, and bring better thinking back to your team.
Top 30 Customer Experience Influencers
Below are the profiles of the top customer experience influencers, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Shep Hyken
Shep Hyken is Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations, a customer service and CX expert, keynote speaker, researcher, and bestselling author with decades of experience in the field.
His work explores how…
Shep Hyken is Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations, a customer service and CX expert, keynote speaker, researcher, and bestselling author with decades of experience in the field.
His work explores how organizations eliminate friction, build customer-focused cultures, and create experiences that earn loyalty. Books including The Convenience Revolution turn those principles into practical strategies for leaders.
Annette Franz
Annette Franz is founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., an author, speaker, and customer experience leader. Her work connects culture, employee experience, customer insight, and outcomes.
Franz treats culture and customer…
Annette Franz is founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., an author, speaker, and customer experience leader. Her work connects culture, employee experience, customer insight, and outcomes.
Franz treats culture and customer understanding as foundations for CX transformation. Her books Customer Understanding and Built to Win examine journey mapping, customer-centric culture, and the organizational systems that turn insight into action.
Steven Van Belleghem
Steven Van Belleghem is an author, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and educator. He examines customer experience, consumer behavior, technology, and customer-centric business strategy.
His writing turns changes in technology and customer expectations into…
Steven Van Belleghem is an author, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and educator. He examines customer experience, consumer behavior, technology, and customer-centric business strategy.
His writing turns changes in technology and customer expectations into practical CX strategies. In The Offer You Can’t Refuse and other books, he explains how digital convenience, human connection, and social value can improve customer experiences.
Joseph A. Michelli
Joseph A. Michelli is an author, consultant, keynote speaker, and customer experience advisor. His work studies how organizations create stronger service cultures and customer relationships.
Michelli studies customer-focused organizations and turns their…
Joseph A. Michelli is an author, consultant, keynote speaker, and customer experience advisor. His work studies how organizations create stronger service cultures and customer relationships.
Michelli studies customer-focused organizations and turns their lessons into practical advice for leaders. His consulting and writing cover customer attraction, loyalty, service culture, leadership, and people-focused business change.
Colin Shaw
Colin Shaw founded Beyond Philosophy and works across customer experience consulting, research, speaking, and content, with a particular interest in how customers perceive and remember experiences.
Shaw studies the behaviors and emotions…
Colin Shaw founded Beyond Philosophy and works across customer experience consulting, research, speaking, and content, with a particular interest in how customers perceive and remember experiences.
Shaw studies the behaviors and emotions that shape customer decisions. His research and consulting help organizations understand how memories and emotions influence loyalty and the value of customer experiences.
Jeanne Bliss
Jeanne Bliss is a customer experience and leadership advisor who pioneered the Chief Customer Officer role at Lands’ End, Microsoft, Coldwell Banker, and Allstate during her executive career.
Through Customer Bliss, her…
Jeanne Bliss is a customer experience and leadership advisor who pioneered the Chief Customer Officer role at Lands’ End, Microsoft, Coldwell Banker, and Allstate during her executive career.
Through Customer Bliss, her books, and advisory work, Bliss connects leadership behavior with customer-driven growth. Her frameworks challenge executives to organize around customers’ lives, earn trust, and make customer priorities part of how the business operates.
Jeannie Walters
Jeannie Walters is founder and CEO of Experience Investigators, an author, keynote speaker, and certified CX professional with more than two decades of customer experience leadership work.
Walters turns CX principles into…
Jeannie Walters is founder and CEO of Experience Investigators, an author, keynote speaker, and certified CX professional with more than two decades of customer experience leadership work.
Walters turns CX principles into practical systems for performance, retention, and revenue. Her consulting, education, and book Experience Is Everything emphasize customer-focused leadership, measurable improvement, and making better experiences part of everyday operations.
Greg Kihlström
Greg Kihlström is an author, consultant, speaker, and host of The Agile Brand. He works across customer experience, marketing technology, digital transformation, AI, and business strategy.
His books, podcasting, and advisory…
Greg Kihlström is an author, consultant, speaker, and host of The Agile Brand. He works across customer experience, marketing technology, digital transformation, AI, and business strategy.
His books, podcasting, and advisory work examine how organizations adapt to changing customer expectations and technology. Kihlström connects CX with measurement, digital strategy, martech, and AI adoption, giving leaders a cross-functional view of experience transformation.
Adrian Swinscoe
Adrian Swinscoe is a customer experience and service advisor, author, speaker, and podcaster. Her works with organizations and leaders on improving how they serve and retain customers well.
His work explores customer…
Adrian Swinscoe is a customer experience and service advisor, author, speaker, and podcaster. Her works with organizations and leaders on improving how they serve and retain customers well.
His work explores customer service, employee experience, technology, leadership, and the practical choices behind better CX. Through books, interviews, advisory work, and Punk CX, Swinscoe often challenges conventional thinking about how organizations design and manage experiences.
Dan Gingiss
Dan Gingiss is a customer experience speaker, author, and founder of The Experience Maker, drawing on executive experience with brands including Discover, McDonald’s, Humana, and others.
Gingiss helps companies create experiences…
Dan Gingiss is a customer experience speaker, author, and founder of The Experience Maker, drawing on executive experience with brands including Discover, McDonald’s, Humana, and others.
Gingiss helps companies create experiences customers want to share. His WISE framework and The Experience Maker show how memorable interactions can build loyalty and word of mouth. His work also covers feedback, employee experience, leadership, and practical ways to stand out through customer experience.
Brad Cleveland
Brad Cleveland is a customer experience advisor, author, speaker, and former ICMI leader whose career spans CX strategy, contact centers, customer service, leadership, and service operations.
Cleveland treats customer experience as a…
Brad Cleveland is a customer experience advisor, author, speaker, and former ICMI leader whose career spans CX strategy, contact centers, customer service, leadership, and service operations.
Cleveland treats customer experience as a core business strategy. Through his books, courses, consulting, and talks, he covers customer journeys, service operations, AI, customer-focused culture, and ways to build loyalty and profitable growth.
Liz Centoni
Liz Centoni is Cisco’s EVP and Chief Customer Experience Officer, leading its services organization across customer success, professional services, technical support, renewals, and more.
Centoni is reshaping how Cisco serves enterprise customers…
Liz Centoni is Cisco’s EVP and Chief Customer Experience Officer, leading its services organization across customer success, professional services, technical support, renewals, and more.
Centoni is reshaping how Cisco serves enterprise customers in the AI era. Her approach to customer experience uses technology to make interactions more personal, proactive, and predictive. It helps businesses anticipate customer needs, reduce problems, and provide value before customers ask for help.
Blake Morgan
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, author, and educator. Her work examines how companies can prepare customer strategies for changing expectations and technology.
Morgan connects customer experience with technology,…
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, author, and educator. Her work examines how companies can prepare customer strategies for changing expectations and technology.
Morgan connects customer experience with technology, leadership, service, and business change. Her books, including *ls The Customer of the Future, help leaders understand changing customer needs and build businesses that offer easier, more relevant experiences.
Ian Golding
Ian Golding is a founder at Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd and a Certified Customer Experience Professional. His work spans CX strategy, education, and advisory services.
Golding helps organizations treat customer experience as…
Ian Golding is a founder at Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd and a Certified Customer Experience Professional. His work spans CX strategy, education, and advisory services.
Golding helps organizations treat customer experience as a disciplined, organization-wide practice. His consulting and teaching connect customer journeys, measurement, leadership, employee engagement, and customer-centric culture to the operational work required for sustainable CX improvement.
Stacy Sherman
Stacy Sherman founded Doing CX Right and works as a customer experience speaker, advisor, educator, podcast host, and LinkedIn Learning instructor after a career with major global brands.
Sherman connects customer and…
Stacy Sherman founded Doing CX Right and works as a customer experience speaker, advisor, educator, podcast host, and LinkedIn Learning instructor after a career with major global brands.
Sherman connects customer and employee experience with loyalty, trust, and business performance. Her work focuses on making every team responsible for customer experience. She also explores how AI can improve service while keeping people involved in important customer decisions.
Ilenia Vidili
Ilenia Vidili is a customer-centricity advisor, keynote speaker, author, trainer, and LinkedIn Learning instructor. Her early corporate career includes NEC, Bayer, Arm, and other firms.
Her book Journey to Centricity frames customer…
Ilenia Vidili is a customer-centricity advisor, keynote speaker, author, trainer, and LinkedIn Learning instructor. Her early corporate career includes NEC, Bayer, Arm, and other firms.
Her book Journey to Centricity frames customer centricity through humanity, technology, and culture. Vidili’s advisory and educational work pushes customer thinking beyond service teams, showing how decisions across leadership, finance, legal, and technology ultimately shape CX.
David Avrin
David Avrin is a customer experience keynote speaker, author, researcher, and consultant. He studies how changing customer expectations affect purchasing, service, and loyalty decisions.
Avrin focuses on the friction that makes organizations…
David Avrin is a customer experience keynote speaker, author, researcher, and consultant. He studies how changing customer expectations affect purchasing, service, and loyalty decisions.
Avrin focuses on the friction that makes organizations difficult to do business with and the expectations customers bring to every interaction. His work challenges leaders to examine accessibility, responsiveness, convenience, and the operational barriers that can undermine an otherwise strong offering.
Kerry Bodine
Kerry Bodine founded Bodine & Co. and specializes in customer experience, service design, research, and customer insights.
She helps organizations use customer insights to improve experiences and drive business change. Her consulting…
Kerry Bodine founded Bodine & Co. and specializes in customer experience, service design, research, and customer insights.
She helps organizations use customer insights to improve experiences and drive business change. Her consulting covers loyalty, employee and partner experiences, customer journey analysis, and AI, with a strong focus on people’s needs.
Claire Boscq
Claire Boscq is a customer experience keynote speaker, consultant, author, and coach. Her career spans three decades of CX, mystery shopping, employee engagement, and customer service work.
Boscq connects customer experience with…
Claire Boscq is a customer experience keynote speaker, consultant, author, and coach. Her career spans three decades of CX, mystery shopping, employee engagement, and customer service work.
Boscq connects customer experience with employee energy, workplace culture, and business performance. Her advisory and speaking work emphasizes empathy, trust, engagement, and care, arguing that better customer outcomes depend in part on how organizations equip and engage their people.
Bill Staikos
Bill Staikos is a customer experience, AI, and transformation executive, advisor, speaker, and host of Be Customer Led, with more than two decades focused on customer and business work.
Staikos focuses…
Bill Staikos is a customer experience, AI, and transformation executive, advisor, speaker, and host of Be Customer Led, with more than two decades focused on customer and business work.
Staikos focuses on how companies turn customer feedback into action. He helps teams move beyond past performance scores by using journey management, real-time coordination, AI, and new strategies to respond to customer needs faster.
Nate Brown
Nate Brown is co-founder of CX Accelerator and a customer experience practitioner, educator, and community builder focused on helping CX leaders better understand and serve their customers.
Brown’s work bridges customer service,…
Nate Brown is co-founder of CX Accelerator and a customer experience practitioner, educator, and community builder focused on helping CX leaders better understand and serve their customers.
Brown’s work bridges customer service, employee enablement, CX leadership, and professional development. Through CX Accelerator and his educational content, he helps practitioners build stronger service cultures, develop frontline confidence, and turn customer understanding into better experiences.
Chip Bell
Chip Bell is a customer loyalty consultant, author, and speaker whose long-running work examines service innovation, customer relationships, loyalty, experience leadership, and culture.
Bell focuses on helping companies deliver memorable service, not…
Chip Bell is a customer loyalty consultant, author, and speaker whose long-running work examines service innovation, customer relationships, loyalty, experience leadership, and culture.
Bell focuses on helping companies deliver memorable service, not just meet expectations. Through his books, consulting, and talks, he explains how creativity, teamwork, and trust can build lasting customer loyalty.
Jeff Sheehan
Jeff Sheehan leads CX JS Consulting and advises organizations on customer experience and service operations, drawing on decades of work across contact centers and customer-facing environments.
Sheehan studies the operational side of…
Jeff Sheehan leads CX JS Consulting and advises organizations on customer experience and service operations, drawing on decades of work across contact centers and customer-facing environments.
Sheehan studies the operational side of customer experience, including demand, costs, workflows, and contact volume. He helps leaders look beyond performance reports to find unnecessary work, hidden costs, and recurring service problems that hurt customers and profits.
Scott Lee Holloway
Scott Lee Holloway is Head of Customer Experience at APS Bank, a Certified Customer Experience Professional, CXPA board member, speaker, lecturer, and financial services CX leader in Malta.
At APS Bank, Holloway…
Scott Lee Holloway is Head of Customer Experience at APS Bank, a Certified Customer Experience Professional, CXPA board member, speaker, lecturer, and financial services CX leader in Malta.
At APS Bank, Holloway has helped improve customer experience and Voice of the Customer programs. His work covers customer feedback, accessibility, support for vulnerable customers, empathy, and digital service. He also teaches, speaks, judges industry awards, and helps develop professional CX standards.
Zach Hamilton
Zach Hamilton is a customer experience strategist and creator of the Experience Performance System™, with work centered on making customer experience more actionable, measurable, and repeatable.
Hamilton focuses on the systems that…
Zach Hamilton is a customer experience strategist and creator of the Experience Performance System™, with work centered on making customer experience more actionable, measurable, and repeatable.
Hamilton focuses on the systems that help organizations turn customer experience goals into consistent action. He connects CX strategy with performance, accountability, and practical processes that make customer-focused behavior part of everyday work.
Jeremy Watkin
Jeremy Watkin is Director of Customer Experience and Support at NumberBarn. He’s a customer service leader whose career has centered on support operations, contact centers, CX, and team leadership.
Watkin writes and…
Jeremy Watkin is Director of Customer Experience and Support at NumberBarn. He’s a customer service leader whose career has centered on support operations, contact centers, CX, and team leadership.
Watkin writes and teaches from the practitioner’s side of customer experience, covering reviews, service quality, support leadership, and customer interactions. His work is especially useful for CX teams responsible for turning service principles into repeatable frontline practices.
Stephanie Thum
Stephanie Thum is a customer experience advisor, educator, writer, and Certified Customer Experience Professional. Her work spans CX strategy, governance, professional education, and policy
Thum uses her practical and teaching experience to…
Stephanie Thum is a customer experience advisor, educator, writer, and Certified Customer Experience Professional. Her work spans CX strategy, governance, professional education, and policy
Thum uses her practical and teaching experience to show how companies can manage customer experience more effectively. Her writing and consulting help leaders move beyond one-off tactics by improving accountability, oversight, customer-focused decisions, and long-term practices.
Diane Magers
Diane Magers is a longtime customer experience practitioner, author, and educator. She is also a former CXPA leader whose career includes enterprise experience strategy, transformation, and leadership work.
Magers has helped establish…
Diane Magers is a longtime customer experience practitioner, author, and educator. She is also a former CXPA leader whose career includes enterprise experience strategy, transformation, and leadership work.
Magers has helped establish customer experience as a professional field through leadership, teaching, and industry work. She shows organizations how to build customer-focused systems, leadership practices, and teamwork that support lasting change.
Ron Kaufman
Ron Kaufman is CEO of Uplifting Service, an author, speaker, and service culture educator. His work helps organizations strengthen customer service, leadership, learning, and service culture.
Kaufman sees great service as…
Ron Kaufman is CEO of Uplifting Service, an author, speaker, and service culture educator. His work helps organizations strengthen customer service, leadership, learning, and service culture.
Kaufman sees great service as the responsibility of the entire organization, not just frontline employees. His Uplifting Service approach combines leadership, training, culture, service improvement, employee engagement, and customer loyalty to help companies deliver greater value.
Jeff Toister
Jeff Toister founded Toister Performance Solutions and works as an author, trainer, and service culture expert helping leaders create organizations that consistently serve customers well.
Toister’s books, courses, and advisory work focus…
Jeff Toister founded Toister Performance Solutions and works as an author, trainer, and service culture expert helping leaders create organizations that consistently serve customers well.
Toister’s books, courses, and advisory work focus on the organizational conditions behind strong service. He explores customer-focused culture, employee behavior, leadership, and training. His work shows organizations how to unite teams around a clear service promise instead of relying on one-off customer service tactics.
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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