Top 16 Fractional CXOs to Hire for Scalable Growth in 2026
Fractional CXOs give you senior-level leadership without the full-time cost—but the right hire depends entirely on your growth stage and gaps. I've mapped out the top fractional CXOs worth considering, so you can cut through the noise and bring in the expertise, transformation and even the implementation of CX software your business actually needs right now.
Top 16 Fractional CXOs
Below are the profiles of the top fractional CXOs, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Tabitha Dunn
Tabitha Dunn is a transformation executive and CX strategist at TD Results. She built her customer experience practices across Xerox, Philips, Citrix, SAP, Ericsson, Hitachi, and Concur.
Her work connects customer insight…
Tabitha Dunn is a transformation executive and CX strategist at TD Results. She built her customer experience practices across Xerox, Philips, Citrix, SAP, Ericsson, Hitachi, and Concur.
Her work connects customer insight to operating models, governance, retention, revenue, and measurable change. As a fractional-style advisor, she brings C-suite experience to organizations that need senior CX leadership without building another full-time function.
Joseph Loria
Joseph Loria is founder and CEO of RetentionCX, bringing more than 20 years of post-sale leadership across high-growth technology companies, global teams, and varied ownership models and stages.
RetentionCX helps startups and…
Joseph Loria is founder and CEO of RetentionCX, bringing more than 20 years of post-sale leadership across high-growth technology companies, global teams, and varied ownership models and stages.
RetentionCX helps startups and scaleups build post-sale systems around time to value, customer health, churn, and net revenue retention. Loria’s fractional model gives early-stage teams experienced CX leadership before a full-time executive hire makes sense.
Sean Albertson
Sean Albertson is founder and partner at AiSCENT, a customer experience leader, author, speaker, and consultant. He has more than 25 years of experience spanning startups through Fortune 200 firms.
Albertson works…
Sean Albertson is founder and partner at AiSCENT, a customer experience leader, author, speaker, and consultant. He has more than 25 years of experience spanning startups through Fortune 200 firms.
Albertson works at the intersection of CX, transformation, leadership, and technology, helping organizations remove friction and align people, processes, and customer needs. His frameworks and advisory work turn experience strategy into measurable business momentum.
Parul Bhandari
Parul Bhandari is CEO and principal customer success consultant at CustomerXSuccess, drawing on more than 20 years in customer-facing roles across startups, scaleups, and large enterprises.
Through CustomerXSuccess, Bhandari helps teams improve…
Parul Bhandari is CEO and principal customer success consultant at CustomerXSuccess, drawing on more than 20 years in customer-facing roles across startups, scaleups, and large enterprises.
Through CustomerXSuccess, Bhandari helps teams improve customer success, retention, engagement, and organic growth with scalable processes and practical operating discipline. Her consulting gives companies senior post-sale guidance without requiring a full-time customer executive.
Paige Hartsfield
Paige Hartsfield is chief of staff and fractional chief experience officer at BIG CHEESE. She is a CX architect and entrepreneur with three decades of experience in customer research, strategy, and growth.
…
Paige Hartsfield is chief of staff and fractional chief experience officer at BIG CHEESE. She is a CX architect and entrepreneur with three decades of experience in customer research, strategy, and growth.
Hartsfield helps leaders use customer research, strategy, education, financial measures, and competitive insight to build customer-centered growth. At BIG CHEESE, she combines chief-of-staff responsibilities with fractional CXO work for growth companies.
Martin Newman
Martin Newman is founder of The Customer First Group and a fractional chief customer officer. He has more than 40 years of experience in customer centricity, retail, and customer experience.
Newman advises…
Martin Newman is founder of The Customer First Group and a fractional chief customer officer. He has more than 40 years of experience in customer centricity, retail, and customer experience.
Newman advises organizations on customer-first strategy, culture, loyalty, and growth, and explicitly offers Chief Customer Officer leadership on a fractional basis. His model gives businesses flexible C-suite ownership of CX through advisory, project, interim, or time-based engagements.
Melinda Gonzalez
Melinda Gonzalez is a customer experience executive and advisor whose tech career includes leadership at Salesforce, WeWork, Pendo, and Accenture, plus founding the consultancy MGCX Advisors.
Gonzalez has built and transformed customer-facing…
Melinda Gonzalez is a customer experience executive and advisor whose tech career includes leadership at Salesforce, WeWork, Pendo, and Accenture, plus founding the consultancy MGCX Advisors.
Gonzalez has built and transformed customer-facing organizations around product adoption, retention, customer success, and growth. Her experience scaling global teams and CX capabilities gives her a senior operator’s perspective on building customer-led organizations.
Karyn Furstman
Karyn Furstman is a CX executive coach and advisor at CustomersFurst, drawing on more than 30 years in customer experience and senior roles across banking, insurance, technology, and consulting.
Furstman coaches CX…
Karyn Furstman is a CX executive coach and advisor at CustomersFurst, drawing on more than 30 years in customer experience and senior roles across banking, insurance, technology, and consulting.
Furstman coaches CX leaders to turn strategy into operating plans, gain executive buy-in, break down silos, and connect experience work to business outcomes. Her mix of executive coaching and advisory work gives leaders access to seasoned CX judgment without adding another permanent executive.
Shoaib Feroz
Shoaib Feroz is a fractional CX leader and transformation consultant whose work spans customer experience, AI, customer value management, digital strategy, and large-scale telecom programs.
Feroz ties CX measures such as NPS…
Shoaib Feroz is a fractional CX leader and transformation consultant whose work spans customer experience, AI, customer value management, digital strategy, and large-scale telecom programs.
Feroz ties CX measures such as NPS to churn, ARPU, cost-to-serve, and P&L outcomes, alongside journey, complaint, and care transformation. His fractional CX offering provides part-time senior ownership for organizations that need accountable leadership beyond a one-off consulting project.
Justin Thompson
Justin Thompson is a fractional CX leader with more than 15 years of senior experience across customer experience, marketing, and research, helping organizations strengthen retention and loyalty.
Thompson connects customer listening, service…
Justin Thompson is a fractional CX leader with more than 15 years of senior experience across customer experience, marketing, and research, helping organizations strengthen retention and loyalty.
Thompson connects customer listening, service design, brand promise, organizational priorities, and metrics while also working in community experience at Venture X. His fractional practice gives organizations senior CX direction without requiring a full-time executive.
Alana D’Angelica
Alana D’Angelica is a fractional CCO and customer operations strategist with 15+ years in post-sale leadership, including senior customer success roles at Indeed, Datto, Wix, and other tech firms.
D’Angelica helps startups,…
Alana D’Angelica is a fractional CCO and customer operations strategist with 15+ years in post-sale leadership, including senior customer success roles at Indeed, Datto, Wix, and other tech firms.
D’Angelica helps startups, SMBs, and nonprofits build customer-centric systems for adoption, retention, operations, and sustainable growth. Her fractional CCO work brings executive-level post-sale leadership to teams that need clearer journeys, processes, ownership, and revenue discipline.
Sara Elmstrom
Sara Elmstrom is CEO and practice lead for CX transformation at CXO2, with a 25-year career spanning customer experience, capability, operations, and business performance across industries.
Elmstrom works with boards and executive…
Sara Elmstrom is CEO and practice lead for CX transformation at CXO2, with a 25-year career spanning customer experience, capability, operations, and business performance across industries.
Elmstrom works with boards and executive teams on CX strategy, operating-model design, experience orchestration, capability, and high-performance cultures. Her consulting perspective blends customer experience with the people, processes, and operating structures needed to make transformation stick.
Ashley Hayslett
Ashley Hayslett is a CX technology, optimization, and strategy leader at Boldr. She has more than a decade of experience across customer support, community, operations, automation, and CX leadership.
Hayslett works on…
Ashley Hayslett is a CX technology, optimization, and strategy leader at Boldr. She has more than a decade of experience across customer support, community, operations, automation, and CX leadership.
Hayslett works on the systems behind modern customer operations, including AI, automation, knowledge management, voice of customer, and support workflows. Her approach emphasizes human-in-the-loop AI that improves efficiency without sacrificing the experience customers receive.
Carly Buxton
Carly Buxton is a researcher, writer, strategist, and founder whose work combines customer experience, communication science, cross-cultural research, and human-centered design.
Buxton applies research, communication science, user insight, and human-centered design to…
Carly Buxton is a researcher, writer, strategist, and founder whose work combines customer experience, communication science, cross-cultural research, and human-centered design.
Buxton applies research, communication science, user insight, and human-centered design to customer journeys and operations. Her experience work spans UX research, process design, customer-facing systems, and strategy, bringing a research-led perspective to fractional experience leadership.
Wael Qenawy
Wael Qenawy is a senior customer experience leader at Morni, where his work spans CX strategy across business lines and touchpoints, backed by operational expertise in satisfaction and loyalty.
At Morni, Qenawy…
Wael Qenawy is a senior customer experience leader at Morni, where his work spans CX strategy across business lines and touchpoints, backed by operational expertise in satisfaction and loyalty.
At Morni, Qenawy oversees experience across business lines and customer touchpoints, with an emphasis on satisfaction, engagement, and long-term loyalty. That operating perspective is directly relevant to fractional CXO work, where senior leaders must connect CX strategy to execution across functions.
Austin Gardner
Austin S Gardner is a CX and operations executive with 20 years in post-sales, including customer experience and success leadership at Higharc, Syncari, Shopmonkey, and Automattic.
Gardner helps B2B SaaS companies build…
Austin S Gardner is a CX and operations executive with 20 years in post-sales, including customer experience and success leadership at Higharc, Syncari, Shopmonkey, and Automattic.
Gardner helps B2B SaaS companies build the post-sale infrastructure behind retention, expansion, and customer-led growth. His work combines CX operating models, customer health intelligence, success systems, and AI tooling, giving early-stage companies executive-level CX capability without a full-time hire.
Selection Methodology
We 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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We 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
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