Announcing the Inaugural Wisconsin CX Symposium!
The first-ever Wisconsin Customer Experience Symposium on March 11, 2025 was a great success! Thank you to everyone who attended and helped us bring this event to life.
This dynamic event focused on one of the most critical areas for modern businesses – Customer Experience (CX). It was a day of valuable discussions and insights that will empower Wisconsin’s business leaders to elevate their CX strategies.
This virtual symposium will brought together industry experts, thought leaders, and CX professionals to explore best practices, trends, and innovations in customer experience management. From Culture to Competency, and Technology, this event covered critical components of the CX practice.
Save the date for next year’s event: March 10, 2026!
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Natalie Petouhoff
Author & Thought Leader
“We can imbue technology with our hopes and dreams for a future focused on bettering humanity. We just need to understand what we are optimizing for and why.” – Dr. Natalie Petouhoff
As a Business Consultant, Natalie helps brands reduce costs and increase revenue by transforming the customer and employee experience. Many companies think she wants them to spend more for empathy to work as a business concept. She’s not advocating pizza parties or creating Kumbaya factories. Dr. Natalie is asking executives to evaluate how and on what they are spending now.
Above: Dr. Natalie Petouhoff on the CX Symposium
Empathy in Action means spending less, which is particularly important in this economic climate. Only with a focus on empathy will they receive increases in savings and revenue. Many are puzzled by this paradigm until they see it in action. Empathy means action, action informed by feedback from the two most important assets in a company—customers and employees.
Natalie’s career spans many years in technology and customer and employee experience, holding positions in and consulting at companies including Salesforce, Hulu, Marriott, General Motors, General Electric, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Weber Shandwick, Forrester Research, PWC Consulting, Hughes Electronics, Pepsi, Verizon, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, Chevrolet, and Electrolux.
Tom DeWitt, Ph.D.
Author & Educator
Tom DeWitt, Ph.D., is the Founder and Former Director of CXM@MSU, an entity designed to advance thought and practice in customer experience management through a variety of industry-facing initiatives. He is also the architect and Academic Program Director for North America’s first master’s degree in customer experience management (MS-CXM), which is housed in the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University.
Above: Tom DeWitt on the CX Symposium
Dr. DeWitt joined Michigan State University after serving 11 years at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, where he was an Associate Professor of Marketing and the founder and director of the university’s Office of Applied Learning Experiences. At the University of Hawaii at Hilo, he was twice recognized as the Delta Sigma Pi College of Business and Economics Faculty Member of the Year and by the university with its Distinguished Service Award for Improving Student Life. Before moving to Hawaii, he served on the marketing faculty of Bowling Green State University, where he played a significant role in founding the university’s Institute for Excellence in Services. Dr. DeWitt has also taught in Asia, including ten summers at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (teaching Asian consumer behavior in Seoul, South Korea) and as one of China’s first full-time foreign hospitality management instructors.
Dr. DeWitt has worked to advance the field of customer experience management by delivering workshops and consulting projects in the USA and abroad, most notably in the healthcare, financial services, and tourism industries. He earned his doctorate degree from Florida State University, where he received an award for teaching excellence. Dr. DeWitt had a long career in hospitality management, including serving as the Vice President of Business Development for Incofood Management Services in Singapore, where he earned his MBA from Nanyang Technological University.
Michelle DiTondo
Former CHRO and Principal Consultant, Avion Consulting
Michelle DiTondo is a catalyst for change and transformation within organizations and a thought leader in organizational culture and customer experience. She brings over 30 years of expertise aligning workforce strategies with business outcomes. As the former Chief Human Resources Officer for MGM Resorts International, Michelle was instrumental in shaping a customer-centric culture across a global workforce of 83,000 employees. Her strategic approach to employee engagement, leadership development, and change management has been a driving force in creating exceptional guest experiences, resulting in measurable business success.
Above: Michelle DiTondo on the CX Symposium
With a proven track record of fostering innovation and collaboration, Michelle understands the critical interplay between employee satisfaction and customer loyalty, making her a sought-after advisor and speaker on creating cultures that prioritize customers at every touchpoint.
Currently serving as a Principal consultant and executive coach with Avion Consulting, Michelle continues to influence the industry by guiding organizations to unlock their full potential through effective leadership and cultural transformation. Her extensive experience across diverse sectors and her passion for customer-centric strategies position her as a dynamic and relatable voice for leaders looking to evolve their businesses. A natural storyteller and insightful strategist, Michelle’s presentations provide actionable insights into embedding customer focus into organizational DNA, making her an invaluable resource.
Panelists
Michelle Dauchy
Position title: VP of Customer Experience, Mercury Marine
Alex Paez-Gerstenhaber
Position title: Global VP of Client Experience, Hy Cite
Carrie Toth
Position title: VP of Customer Experience, Generac
UW–Madison Lightning Talks
Hear from partners across the University of Wisconsin–Madison, whose programs strengthen the next generation of CX leaders and professionals.
What to Expect:
- Keynote Speakers: Hear from renowned CX leaders who will share their insights on building exceptional customer experiences.
- Panel Discussions: Dive into interactive conversations on the future of CX, customer loyalty, and digital experience transformation.
- Lightning Sessions: See how thinkers at our UW are leveraging data and strategy that can be used to improve customer experience, and create future professionals with relevant CX skills.
Who Should Attend:
Whether you are a CX professional, marketing leader, or business strategist, this event is designed to help you unlock the power of customer experience to drive long-term success, differentiate your brand, and deliver ROI.
Agenda
This event took place on March 11, 2025. All times listed are in CST and are subject to change.
8:30 AM – Symposium Partner Booth Visitation
8:50 AM – Opening Remarks
9:00 AM – Keynote: Tom DeWitt, PhD
9:40 AM – Keynote: Michelle DiTondo
10:20 AM – Sponsor Briefing with enosix
10:35 AM – Break
10:45 AM – UW–Madison Partner Lightning Talks
11:05 AM – Keynote: Dr. Natalie Petouhoff
11:45 AM – CX Leader Panel Discussion
12:25 PM – Closing Remarks
But wait, there's more!
Any event attendees who filled out the survey received a complimentary digital copy of their choice of these incredible books written by our keynote speakers: The Customer Excellence Enterprise by Tom DeWitt or Empathy in Action cowritten by Natalie Petouhoff. If you attended the event but haven’t filled out the survey yet, please do so! A link to do so is in your inbox. If you have questions or need assistance with the survey, don’t hesitate to email us.
Thank you to our Steering Committee
Greg Chase
Position title: VP of Consumer Experience, Ascension Health
Nancy Finch
Position title: Chief Experience Officer, Jewelers Mutual Insurance
Greg Holman
Position title: Chief Administrative Officer, TruStage
Brian Melter
Position title: Chief Experience Officer, Landmark Credit Union
Event Sponsors
Thank you to our incredible event sponsor for helping us make this event possible. We couldn’t do it without you!
enosix
enosix.com | LinkedIn | Facebook | X / Twitter | Instagram
ENOSIX is an SAP transformation catalyst, empowering businesses by streamlining their digital transformation journey. We provide visionary technology that seamlessly unifies complex SAP with any frontend system (including MuleSoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow) in real time with flawless execution as a key to endless possibilities of innovation efficiency and full growth potential. Feel the Impact™. For more information, visit www.enosix.com.