Top 22 CX Leaders to Follow for Industry Insights in 2026
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
Annette Franz is founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., an author and speaker. Her work connects customer experience, employee experience, culture, leadership, and organizational transformation.
Her approach treats culture and employee…
Annette Franz is founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc., an author and speaker. Her work connects customer experience, employee experience, culture, leadership, and organizational transformation.
Her approach treats culture and employee experience as foundations for better customer outcomes. Through consulting, writing, and speaking, Franz helps organizations turn customer understanding into coordinated CX strategy and sustainable change.
Shep Hyken
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…
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 service ideas into practical ways to reduce problems, build loyalty, and deliver consistent experiences. Through his books, research, talks, and Forbes articles, he helps leaders understand customer-focused culture, technology, and AI.
Liz Centoni
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…
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 business operations. Her work covers customer success, AI, innovation, and company-wide change. Her long career at Cisco helps her understand how products and technology can improve customer results at scale.
Jeannie Walters
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…
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 from reacting to customer problems to managing experiences in advance. Through her CXI Navigator framework, consulting, courses, and book Experience Is Everything, she offers practical ways to improve customer journeys, build customer-focused cultures, and put CX plans into action.
Brad Cleveland
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,…
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, growth, and operational performance. His books, courses, consulting, and global speaking cover CX transformation, contact centers, customer-centric culture, metrics, and the balance between AI and human interaction.
Colin Shaw
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…
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 emotions and behaviors that shape customer decisions. Through his consulting, books, research, and podcast, he explains how customer psychology affects loyalty, experience design, and business results.
Nate Brown
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,…
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, service culture, employee support, and professional growth. Through CX Accelerator, his writing, and his talks, he helps organizations become more customer-focused while helping CX professionals strengthen their leadership skills.
Blake Morgan
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…
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 technology shape customer relationships. Her books, courses, speaking, and CXOHouse community explore AI, personalization, digital transformation, contact centers, and the organizational choices required to build more customer-focused companies.
Eric Smuda
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…
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 customer experience as a way to drive business growth. He helps leaders use customer insights to achieve measurable results. His recent work also explores AI readiness, data quality, oversight, and teamwork across departments.
Stacy Sherman
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…
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 framework helps leaders improve customer and employee experiences to build loyalty and growth. Through her teaching, talks, consulting, and podcast, she also explains how to use AI without losing human judgment, trust, or strong customer relationships.
Dan Gingiss
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…
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 that make brands memorable and encourage customers to return and recommend them. Drawing on his leadership and consulting experience, he shows how customer service, marketing, and employee experience can turn ordinary moments into experiences that stand out.
Greg Kihlström
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…
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 and customer expectations change. His work connects CX with marketing, digital change, data, and AI, helping brands respond faster while staying focused on customers.
Bill Staikos
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…
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 the systems behind better customer experiences, including feedback, journeys, data, technology, and business change. His recent writing explains how AI can improve CX when companies have the insights, teamwork, and accountability needed to use it effectively.
Adrian Brady-Cesana
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…
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 pillars: team, tools, process, and feedback. His consulting, book, and podcast connect customer experience with customer success, technology, revenue retention, operational discipline, and the practical work of building customer-focused companies.
Jeanne Bliss
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…
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 role an important leadership position. Her consulting and frameworks help teams work together toward shared customer goals, take responsibility for results, and improve customers’ lives to support long-term growth.
Carlos Quezada
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…
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 organizations across enterprise technology, including digital-first and partner-delivered customer success models. His work combines CX and customer success with analytics, AI, automation, and operating efficiency, showing how customer outcomes can be managed at enterprise scale.
Raj Sivasubramanian
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…
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 beyond dashboards and treat measurement as a means to improve real experiences. His teaching and speaking on the “Metric-Centric Trap” draw attention to customer problems, cross-functional action, and the discipline required to turn feedback and metrics into change.
Ashvin Vaidyanathan
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…
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 as helping customers achieve their goals, not just use a product. His experience and writing connect customer outcomes, post-sales leadership, customer insights, and scalable success programs with the broader customer experience.
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Adam Toporek
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…
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 teams perform under pressure. His work helps CX leaders manage difficult customers, improve frontline service, strengthen customer relationships, and turn service strategies into action.
Ian Golding
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…
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 turn customer focus into everyday practice. His consulting, teaching, and talks cover customer journeys, CX measurement, leadership, culture, and ways to maintain lasting change.
Katie Stabler
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…
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 insights, and strategy to create experiences that benefit customers and companies. Her consulting and writing focus on thoughtful design, useful measurement, employee involvement, and turning CX plans into practical action.
Adrian Swinscoe
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…
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 relationship between people, service, and technology. His writing, interviews, consulting, and speaking challenge leaders to question conventional experience practices while exploring AI, trust, customer service, and what genuinely differentiated experiences require.
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.
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