About Customer Happiness Summit & Awards (CHSA)

Dr Debbie Kristiansen has over 30 years’ experience in Venue Management, Entertainment, Events and MICE Tourism. She has an extensive understanding of public and private sector organisations with a track record of driving growth and business development. Dr. Debbie was Vice President for Global Sales at Regent Exhibitions – IMEX Frankfurt from 2001. In 2005 she moved to the Middle East and helped establish the Bahrain Exhibition & Convention Authority, later assuming the role of CEO. She became the first female CEO of NOVO Cinemas in Dubai, until she joined Exhibition World Bahrain as General Manager in 2021.

It is this level of leadership that landed her many recognitions and awards, most recently: Top 150 Global Women in Leadership Award Winners 2022, UN Women USA Rise & Raise Others Award 2022, Top 50 Global Inspirational Women to look out for in 2022, Top 50 Women in Global Cinema & Entertainment 2020

Carolyn is currently working for Emerge Consulting Services as the VP of Innovation and CX, her role is to advise customers in the EMEA region on the latest innovative technologies, and help them get closer to their customers by digitally transforming their businesses.

Carolyn has a total of 17 years of experience where she has worked on projects where she assisted various organizations with implementingCustomer happiness departments and implementing/drafting CX strategies.

She has also worked in customer success roles with various multinational organizations.

In today’s world, organizations will have to rapidly re-engineer themselves and be more responsive to the changing customer needs and ensuring their happiness. EMERGE Consulting is well-positioned to be a partner and co-innovator to businesses in their transformation journey, identifying new growt

Liz Berks is a Customer and Employee Experience specialist helping clients to transform their business
to align with customer needs and deliver improved business performance.
She has spent 18 years working across the globe, from the UK to Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and
now Saudi Arabia, helping clients define their CX strategy, as well as working on the frontline of CX
definition and development for a global airline.
In 2021, Liz co-founded the CX consultancy, 4SiGHT CX, focusing on the ‘human experience’ and the
importance of customer understanding in CX. She is also a Founding Member of Women in CX, a
global online community championing the role of women in the industry.

Head of Customer Experience & Marketing at City Mall – Jordan
Judge member at the Customer Experience Judge Club – ICXA Judge
Awarded Top CX Professional – CXM Star #10 by CXM Magazine 2022

Throughout my extensive experience over the past 20 years, I was able to adapt to the fast-evolving changes surrounding the continuous shifting in customers’ needs, expectations, and behavior by visualizing the end-user experience and then work backwards to plan, strategize and execute CX efforts to deliver great experiences through using the right technologies.
My presence in the MENA Region and working in different industries enabled me to embrace different cultures, strengthened my ability to foresee market changes & dynamics in customer expectations which all lead to strategizing CX in this fast-evolving digital world.

"Yugeshree Frylinck is the founder of The CX Group, which is a leading management consulting, coaching and training business that specializes in Customer Experience. Her business is entrenched in keeping abreast and ahead of what matters to the customer always. She is committed to assisting businesses with understanding their customers and taking them on the journey of “outside-in” thinking. She has worked with leading brands to close the gap between their CVP and the customer expectation and assisting them by align the essence of their customer strategy and promise.

She resigned from an executive position as Chief Experience Officer in 2017 to start her own business called The CX Group. She was driven to educate Africa’s corporate leaders to understand and adopt a critical respect and commitment to Customer Experience.

Her experiences have allowed her to work across industries, exposure to various leaders and business maturity levels.

Quote:
Raising the bar on Customer Experience is of VITAL importance for any business’s success. Leader from the front, be brave, bring empathy back to the business table and always put your people first."

Edwin Best, global trusted advisor for Customer-centric business. He is the owner of edwinbest.org, guiding organisations for the transformation towards Customer-Centric business. Edwin combines the disciplines of CX and CRM/ tech to create a unique mix that is adapted to the context and issues specific to the company. Edwin has collaborated with a lot of customers in Europe, Middle East and North America with a wide range of CRM & Customer experience issues; CX strategy, CRM and CX tools selection & implementation, Customer journey mapping.

Edwin is a Award winning Customer experience judge in the Gulf region. He has been judging in the Gulf region since 2018. His mission is to make an active contribution to the discipline of customer-centric business. CX judging is one of the activities to fulfil this mission.

Ashley Boots was the Group Chief Human Resources Officer at NMC Healthcare, responsible for developing and executing the human resources strategy to support NMC’s business plans and transformation agenda to exit Administration. She has more than 20 years of international experience in both developed (US, Europe) and emerging (Middle East, Africa, Asia) markets.

Ashley developed her passion for change management and delivering organizational transformations through her experience working in leadership roles at multiple Fortune 100 companies. An experienced coach and change leader, Ashley’s strength is in data-led business and digital transformations, with a focus on culture, team enablement, and operational excellence. Having lived and worked across different geographies, she values diversity and is passionate about empowering others.

Ashley is SHRM-SCP certified and has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management with a concentration in Finance and Economics from Babson College, MA, USA, which she complemented with an Executive Master’s in Business Administration, earning a distinction from Hult International Business School, Dubai, UAE.

Rabih Farhat is the Founder and Managing Partner behind Related, a 5X award-winning martech agency that builds cutting-edge rewards’ solutions for a best in class customer experience. With over 20 years of cross-industry expertise, he became a thought leader in driving the most successful programs across the region. Rabih is a strong believer of using innovation to create moments of happiness throughout any customer journey.

In 2022, Rabih, was awarded Industry Entrepreneur of the year from UK based association, The Incentive Awards, for his positive contribution and growth impact on the industry.

Rabih serves on the board of multiple SAAS companies. He has contributed to several Publications, Panels and award Jury in leading regional and international tech events.