Focused, data-driven customer experience strategies increasingly rely on the use of sophisticated AI and machine-learning algorithms. The future promises rich and accurate data models, such as digital twins, that will change how retailers present, sell, and deliver goods and services. As competitive pressures increase, companies struggle to balance the physical and employee resources needed to fuel, manage and act upon the insights from increasingly complex models.
In this roundtable discussion, industry and academic leaders will discuss:
The conversation will continue with a Q&A with the audience, including diving deeper into the challenges of the retail and service industries.
Vice President of eCommerce, Purple
Jimmyis the VP of eCommerce at Purple Innovations. He and his team are responsible for eCommerce sales, customer experience and operations for the DTC business. This includes a number of distinct teams such as digital product management, user experience design, site merchandising, customer insights, and the contact center sales and service organizations. His team is collectively accountable for establishing, delivering and optimizing high growth strategies for the company. Jimmy has been in the customer experience, eCommerce and retail space for well over 15 years. In that time, Jimmy has delivered customer-centered growth strategies; established teams; and built operations for some of the largest technology, retail and manufacturing companies in the world. Jimmy is a Pittsburgh native, but currently lives in Utah with his wife and two children.
Assistant Teaching Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Raelin is a researcher and strategist with more than 20 years of experience helping companies develop a deep understanding of their customers through human-centered research and design. By examining the full customer journey, Raelin turns research insights into actionable initiatives designed to improve the customer experience with a focus on increasing revenue, decreasing costs and elevating shareholder value.
Currently, Raelin is an assistant teaching professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) at Carnegie Mellon. Her goals are to help students build a strong methods-based foundation, develop critical thinking and empathic skills, and understand the drivers of business value. Prior to joining Carnegie Mellon, Raelin managed customer experience efforts at American Eagle Outfitters, where she led the Voice of the Customer program and Customer Journey Mapping initiatives. Raelin also led client experience strategy at BNY Mellon and through her own digital firm Sharp Creative consulted with retail, hospitality and consumer product companies.
Professor of Practice, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Vice President of Enterprise Data & Analytics, Zendesk
Chris is vice president of Enterprise Data & Analytics at Zendesk, where he and his team are responsible for data and analytics strategy and delivery across the company. This includes data platforms and engineering, architecture, BI, data science and governance. Chris has done about everything you can do in data — from building models to selling the platforms that run them. Chris' experience over the past 25 years includes leading a global data science and strategy practice, leading product management teams, bringing analytics products to market, and running data and analytics for a $4B global retail organization. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon in the CDAO program. He is proud to call Pittsburgh home, along with his wife and their five children.