About the Summit

We live in a customer-centric world in which business decisions, products to develop and services to provide are all driven by consumers, citizens and customers. Every day brings with it new examples of innovative ways industry retains and attracts new customers and improves the overall experience for those it serves.

The coming months will be critical for continuing the momentum developed in improving federal customer service under the Obama administration. While much has been achieved, the experience of federal customers remains woefully behind those found in industries such as retail, hospitality, tourism and the financial sector. Those industries have learned that today’s reliance upon technology, social mobility and connectivity has moved us into the age of the customer. Can government tag along?

Samir Bitar

Samir Bitar heads research and design of visitor experience at the Smithsonian. As a Director he leads special projects across 19 museums, galleries and the National Zoo. In his work with the Board of Regents, the National Board, senior staff, volunteers, external agencies and partner firms, Samir advocates for visitor-centric and market-oriented strategies across service design, visitor studies, marketing and experience design.

Matt Ford

Matt Ford serves as Customer Experience Program Lead at the General Services Administration. He is responsible for improving the experience of GSA customers by partnering agency-wide to create customer-centric products and services. Matt believes that empathy and design--as a tactical, organizational, and strategic driver--can transform our business, non-profit, and governmental institutions into levers of positive change. Previously, Matt worked as a design planner and strategist in the digital customer experience group at JPMorgan Chase and shepherded end-to-end design and business creation for large technology firms and social impact startups.

Lauren Dufresne

I left my job as a statistics consultant with the U.S. Army to work with my hands on one of the most high-stakes aspects of a person’s image. I cut and color hair full time; run a hair salon with 30 employees; and teach other stylists how to listen between the lines, isolate hidden potential, and use that information to help clients achieve a deeper and truer outward expression of themselves.

In my free time, I host a podcast called To Research! - cutcolorculture.com/listen - in which I interview creative professionals from various industries about how they learned to ask the right questions and design careers that make it easy to get out of bed in the morning.

Kim Scott Heinle

Kim’s career at SEPTA began in in 1984 with the Operations Planning Department. From there he progressed through a series of promotions with other departments including, Manager, Operations Administration; Assistant to the General Manager; Chief Officer, Operations Safety and Training; Chief Officer Light Rail Operations; Assistant General Manager, Light Rail & Suburban Operations; Director of Business Development; Chief Officer Surface Operations and since 2008, Assistant General Manager, Customer Service & Advocacy.

Since 2008, Kim has lead efforts at SEPTA in Philadelphia to realize the goal of transforming the organization into a customer-focused company in action and not just words. This has meant challenging accepted norms of behavior as well as traditional business practices and policies. Most importantly, he has worked to harness the entire workforce to act in various customer service capacities and to redefine customer relationships on the basis of personalized service. Changing the “reactive” nature of traditional customer service with a “proactive” posture built upon real-time information and highly charged social media engagement is at the core of the culture change efforts.

Abby Herriman

Abby Herriman is a recognized leader in the implementation of citizen experience programs. Her insight and innovative approaches are leading HighPoint Global to reach new levels of performance management.

As the Chief Strategy Officer for HighPoint Global, Abby is responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the company. She oversees the execution of strategic initiatives and alignment of the strategy. Her passion for elevating the citizen experience drives innovative solutions for federal clients.

Prior to joining HighPoint, Abby spent 13 years at Praxis Life Sciences, a consulting firm focused on building project management capability and maturity in life sciences organizations. As a principal at Praxis, she built and managed the performance consulting practice.

Eric Keller

Eric joined the Partnership in October 2013 as a research manager. He manages a portfolio of high-visibility research activities and products, from project conceptualization and design, budgeting, staffing, data collection and analysis, and report writing. Prior to joining the Partnership Eric worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a Presidential Management Fellow and Grants Policy Analyst. Eric holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from George Mason University, and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Wake Forest University.

Bill Ziff-Levine

Bill Ziff-Levine joined Navy Federal Credit Union in September of 2013 as manager of the in-house strategic member research team, Member Research and Intelligence Division (MRID). Bill’s team supports the credit union in various ways, including strategic research, member experience measurement, segmentation, predictive modeling and competitive intelligence.

Prior to joining Navy Federal, Bill was a managing director at Data & Management Counsel, Inc. where he designed and managed all aspects of marketing and advertising research activities for over 25 years.

His experience includes both consumer and business-to-business markets and ranges from straightforward feasibility work to complex market modeling. Throughout his career, Bill has worked with C-Suite executive management in financial services, entertainment and media, and information technology.

He received his Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, Penn. and his Master of Business Administration at the City University of New York (CUNY).

Bill and his team were instrumental in facilitating this year’s Best in Class award for Full Service Banking from the Forrester CX Index.