Contributors

Charlie Stewart is chief executive of Rogerwilco, the Financial Mail AdFocus 2021 Digital Agency of the Year. He has worked in the marketing industry for over 30 years. A Scot by birth, he began his career in London before moving to South Africa in the early 2000s. At Rogerwilco he takes a leadership role in crafting high impact ROI generating marketing interventions for the agency’s multinational clients. His book on marketing strategy, co- authored by Mark Eardley, was published by Penguin Random House in 2016.

Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), Julia Ahlfeldt has dedicated her career to helping organisations gain market leadership through customer-centricity. She has worked with the C-Suite of leading brands including Virgin, Old Mutual and American Express to deliver on their brand promise and foster customer loyalty through great experiences. Julia is also the producer and presenter of the podcast Decoding the Customer, which explores business trends and innovation in customer experience.

Amanda Reekie is an experienced brand strategist and researcher who thrives on uncovering insight and wrangling meaning out of data. She has over 30 years of marketing and consumer insights predominantly in retail, e-commerce and in fast-moving consumer goods but works across all sectors. She is the founder of ovatoyou, an HTML and app based research tool with an associated panel of over 30 000+ online South Africans. Amanda was nominated for Shoprite/Checkers woman of the year in 2006 for the womenNATION project.

Clint is a certified customer experience professional. Prior to establishing his own consultancy he was CX Principal at MultiChoice Group and Executive: Customer Experience at Virgin Mobile. He’s made it his mission to translate CX theory into actionable, practical advice.

Dominique is a seasoned strategy formulation and execution professional with a proven track record in the fintech and proptech ventures. He loves coupling design thinking methodologies with robust data analysis to deliver enhanced customer experiences.

Jennifer has 20+ year’s general marketing management experience and has worked for brands including Old Mutual, Pernod Ricard and Capitec. She currently leads the customer experience and brand function at BNP Paribas (formerly RCS). Her life’s mission is to put people at the centre of their business through strategy collaboration so they can grow at scale.

Joshua Shimkin is an accomplished business leader with nearly 20 years of digital experience. He has successfully built businesses from scratch in Fortune 500 companies and startups using design thinking and lean startup methodologies, driving significant revenue growth, profitability, and brand awareness. At Peach Payments Joshua is responsible for scaling marketing efforts and SME sales across Africa. He holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from NYU Stern School of Business.

Kia’s a Certified Customer Experience Professional who’s worked with some of South Africa’s leading brands including Cape Union Mart, Capitec and Shoprite where she launched the company’s Xtra Savings rewards programme. She has extensive consulting experience across strategy, innovation and communication, and is a passionate customer champion, using customer experience strategy and data-driven insights to solve business problems.

Madeleen has been part of the client experience community for the past 15 years. Prior to banking, she was a research executive at a market research company, with clients ranging from FMCG to medicine and aviation. She was also part of the AMPS team and ran employee engagement and mystery shopping programmes for clients across a variety of industries.

Mumbi was one of the first three Certified Customer Experience Professionals (CCXPs) in Africa. She has diverse and significant experience in the financial industry. She has a passion for strategy and people giving her an edge in developing and implementing CX strategies underpinned by a truly human element.