Judges
Scoring of Entries
The purpose of the ARCET Global scoring model and criteria is to ensure that business stories, teams and leaders are scored accurately, effectively and independently. Giving both entrants and judges confidence that the winners are deserving.
Our scoring model, which has been constantly updated based on both Judge and Entrant feedback, is endorsed by the University of Westminster and has been certified by Customer Institute. Giving you confidence that all entries will be evaluated in a vigorous and thorough manner.
The University of Westminster is founded on the principle of supporting entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial endeavours, which echoes ARCET Global’s commitment to improve businesses around the world.
Customer Institutes mission is to be the go-to source for B2B, B2C, and public-sector organizations to excel through customer centricity. A goal that exemplifies our commitment to furthering the practice of Customer Experience.
We are delighted to collaborate with both the University of Westminster and Customer Institute.
Awards Scoring Method Certified by the Customer Institute
Each criteria scored 1-10 (10 being the highest score)
After all the presentations, judges score the overall entry out of 100 so they can reflect on which story captivated them.
Scores are aggregated and given a percentage.
Finalists who score within 3% of the highest marks of that category will be winners.
Judging Panel
Meet the judges who will be bringing their industry knowledge and category specific skillsets to assess the entrants. Each judge has been invited to take part in the World Series after their exemplary performance at the regional awards. To ensure impartiality and all judges sign a confidentiality agreement. Judges are selected based on their business experience and qualifications. Each panel has a cross section of experts to ensure the evaluation is thorough.
Interested in becoming a judge? Apply to judge, your profile could be on display below.
Professor Graham Shapiro
Chairman of Judges - CEO, GSD
Professor Graham Shapiro is an award-winning British inventor, designer & digital entrepreneur. A Fellow member of The Chartered Society of Designers, Chartered Institute of Marketing and The Royal Society of Arts. Visiting Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Westminster, Ambassador of Innovation for The University of Cambridge, Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Chester and Chairman of Arcet Global. Graham invented the interloopmailer® and Reggie®.
For over 25 years his company Graham Shapiro Design (GSD®) has created online and offline visual communication for some of the world’s most respected companies.
He is also the founder of The Graham Shapiro Foundation. A Charity that's aim is to establish a real way to support mental health, wellbeing and to inspire innovation and young entrepreneurialism in the UK.
Andrey Silyanov
Chief Technical Officer, Reputation House
Andrey Silyanov, CTO at Reputation House, holds 7 years of in-depth experience in Machine Learning, its
algorithm and data analysis systems. While working with large volumes of data, he classifies customer
reviews, comments and creates deep learning models for text analysis and sentiment detection.
Andrey’s key role includes integration of intelligent data analysis systems with other platforms for
automatic monitoring and reporting.
Bader Zyoud
Information Security & Operations Manager, Mazrui Group
Twelve years of extensive hands-on experience in cybersecurity, risk management, governance, threat intelligence, SOC management, artificial
intelligence, security transformation programs, incident management, implementation of business resilience and project risk capabilities in terms of
information security, strategic planning, procurement, and negotiating, business development, project s management, IT and Security Audit Leader.
Dr Carolina Pinart
Group Head of R&D Information Technology (AVP), Nestle
Dr. Carolina Pinart is Nestlé's Group Head for R&D Information Technology. With a PhD in engineering, she drove innovation at Telefónica, led a NYC startup, and the AI strategy at Nestlé. She is involved in various tech organizations, and is an expert reviewer in Data and AI for Horizon Europe.
Debbie Botha
Co-Founder and Managing Director, ME, Dalebrook Media
As an ex-IBM Executive Architect, Debbie started her career in the early 90’s as a Cobol programmer on IBM Mainframes, and worked as a consultant, architect, coach and manager for 25 years on everything around system of insights, data governance, data insights, data science and artificial intelligence. Her experience spans more than 40 client engagements across 4 continents and 10 industries, and helped set up their CDAO Offices and developing and implementing their Data & AI Strategies and Architecture.
Elly Domene
VP, Cloud Services Channel Development, Mangata Networks
Elly Domene is a certified customer experience professional, multiple CX award winner, and a globally recognized thought
leader in B2B customer experience strategy, human centered design, customer success enablement and transformation.
Francis Goh
Digital Innovation Leader, Joint Innovation Centre, Amazon Web Services
Francis Goh is a Digital Innovation Leader at AWS, where he leads innovation engagements with key clients in the APJ region, using Amazon's innovation methodology and cloud technology. He is a certified customer experience professional (CCXP) and agile portfolio and program manager (ICP-PPM), with over 25 years of international experience in the technology and energy industries.
He is also the founder and CEO of HehSed Consulting, a firm that specializes in corporate strategy, innovation, CX, agile, and leadership strategies.
Jacob Mathew
Head of IT
Jacob has more than 25 years of experience in delivering innovative, high-quality, and responsive technology-based solutions. Jacob is currently focused on using AI to deliver value as part of digital transformation. He is recognised as an AI expert and has spoken about AI at a number of regional conferences.
Adam Streeter
Founding Partner, Perlon AI
Adam's experience includes the founding sales team at Deepgram, scaling one of the world’s leading companies in voice AI, and he is currently a founding partner at the AI consultancy Perlon AI where he focuses on the Middle East market.
Arte Merritt
Founder, Reconify
Arte Merritt is the founder of Reconify, a generative AI analytics platform. Previously, he led Conversational AI partnerships at AWS. He was the co-founder and CEO of Dashbot, a Conversational AI analytics platform he grew to 20,000 customers and multiple acquisition offers. Previously, he founded Motally, a mobile analytics platform he sold to Nokia. Arte is an MIT alum.
Bill Staikos
Senior Vice President - Executive Advisory, Medallia
Bill Staikos is an SVP at Medallia and Founder/Host of Be Customer Led, an award-winning customer experience podcast with listeners in 112 countries. Bill is a globally recognized experience leader with over 25 years of proven expertise executing holistic, customer-led strategies.
Clive Hilton
Director of Delivery, CloudStratex
Clive is a dynamic, results driven, senior executive with over 25 years' global experience, delivering at a strategic, commercial and operational level. He is passionate about Customer Experience, IT/Organisation Transformation and fostering the conditions and culture for people/teams to flourish.
Diane Magers
CEO, Experience Catalysts
An accomplished senior customer experience, sales and marketing executive with diverse and exceptional leadership skills. Drives contribution to bottom line results through strategic planning and designing services to deliver consistent brand and value messaging.
Innovative leader and expertise in customer engagement strategy, design, development, and execution. Extensive experience in design and implementation of sales, marketing and services solutions and applications including SAP.
Eryc Eyl
Senior Solution Director, Customer Experience, E Source
Eryc Eyl brings decades of experience in diverse roles and industries, as well as certifications in customer experience, organizational culture, and change management to his mission to improve the human experience of business. He supports utilities as an analyst for E Source, and speaks and consults widely on human experience.
Gustavo Morales
Director of Engineering, Toptal
A professional leader that brings his drive, energy, and passion to connect the best and brightest in technology with top organizations around the world in order to support companies' digital transformation.
He has vast experience working for top companies in the world with a wide range of technology stacks.
Gustavo has Implemented many SaaS cloud computing solutions for major airlines in the Americas and delivered a dozen of eCommerce solutions for top retailers’ companies in the United States.
James Buscaglio
Strategic Programs Lead | Global Sales Operations | Startups, AWS
Jim delivers results on small to large-scale customer experience (CX) transformation projects through his deep experience in program management, organization design and transformation, business process improvement, and change management. Over the past 16 years, he has designed and executed projects to deliver CX improvements for multinational firms, government agencies, and small businesses to achieve new sources of revenue, reduce operating costs, and increase customer retention.
Anagiel Guevarra
Consultant, Renascence
Anagiel is a Renascence consultant specializing in Voice of the Customer (VOC). With her financial trading background prior to entering the Customer Experience (CX) industry, her research and quantitative analysis skills help derive data-driven insights for better understanding customer needs.
Awad El-Sidiq
Head of AI and Analytics, ADNOC Distribution
Mr. Awad Ahmed Ali El-Sidiq (Chief Data Officer of the year 2023 , Award
Winner of Best AI Project Implementation for Energy and Utilities Sector 2022 –
2023 & Award Winner of Oracle Worldwide DBA Excellence Award for
EMEA Region at Open World USA 2013) is Head of Artificial intelligence &
Analytics at ADNOC Distribution – U.A.E, Key Member on Data warehouse –
Big Data Worldwide Leader Program. With more than 15 years of IT Industry experience in architecting and
managing large enterprise Database Applications and Advance Analytics
Solutions.
Bradley Metrock
CEO, Project Voice
Bradley Metrock is CEO of Project Voice, which brings content and community to conversational AI, and General Partner of Project Voice Capital Partners, which invests in early-stage, venture-grade conversational AI startups. He has hosted nine seasons of This Week In Voice, a popular and top-rated AI podcast, writes the Substack newsletter This Week In Voice VIP which enjoys upward of 25,000 subscribers, and programs Project Voice's annual conference, an influential AI event dating back to 2016.
Daniela Rossi
Founder and Managing Partner, Unlimited Platform
Daniela Rossi is a strategic, creative, dynamic professional and startups enthusiast with more than 20 years of international experience in Retail, Buying, Merchandising, Product Development and Customer Experience. When not engaged in consultancy projects with Independent overseas clients, you'll find Daniela hosting podcasts or moderating panel discussions and round tables to promote entrepreneurship in the Mena Region and to encourage conversations on the crucial yet controversial role of innovation across all sectors for the betterment of our society and economy.
Douglas Peris
Partner, Founders Bridge
Douglas is all about empowering entrepreneurs, unlocking business value, and making global connections. With his skills as a business leader and a coach, mentor, and investor in the start-up world, Douglas' mission is to develop successful founders who can make the world a better place.
Fatmah Alabdouli
Director of Data Management & Statistics, Ministry of Energy & Infrastructure - UAE
Data-driven and innovative leader with 12+ years of experience in leading high-performing teams to achieve strategic government goals through data-driven insights and analytics. Expertise in a variety of data analytics tools and techniques, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data. Currently working as Director of Data Management & Statistics in Ministry of Energy Infrastructure. Fatmah is a member of different international communities, institutes and societies such as INFORMS , Open Data Institute, etc.
Hussein M. Dajani
Partner, Deloitte Digital
Hussein is the GM for Digital and CX Transformation with Nissan Motor Co. for Africa, Middle East, India, Turkey, and Oceana overseeing some of the most dramatic customer transformations the company has had to go through in recent times.
JD Ackley
Global Conversational AI SME, Black 9*--6+
*
A highly experienced business communications professional with a deep knowledge of AI and digital transformation, JD is the Global Conversational AI SME for Black Box, which is a GSI with a foothold in 138 countries. Based in Barcelona and the Chicago metro area, JD previously ran the contact centre for US-based Retailer, Macy’s.
Jonty Slater
Head of Ideas & Challenges (CEO), Blue Globe Innovation
Jonathan Slater is a Head of Ideas & Challenges (CEO) of Blue Globe Innovation and director of international development at Challenge Works, a leading organisation that designs and delivers challenge prizes for social and environmental impact. With over 15 years of experience in the innovation field, Jonathan has a proven track record of creating and managing successful innovation programmes across various sectors and regions, with a focus on climate resilience and energy access.
Karl Lillrud
Senior advisor, The knowledge company
Embarking on his professional journey in 1996, Karl has been the catalyst for growth for
organizations globally for companies like, H&M, Volvo, AstraZeneca, Klarna, Spotify,
Qliro, 3 and many more. His first venture in 1996, an IT consulting firm, was just the
inception of a career characterized by innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. His battle with
dyslexia in his early academic years morphed into a strength, nurturing a creative,
problem-solving mindset.
Dr Mahmoud Alburai
Senior Policy Advisor, Dubai Land Department
Dr. Mahmoud AlBurai is currently serving as Senior Advisor at the Real Estate Regulatory Agency of Dubai, mandated to work on a plan to make Dubai more competitive. Prior to this role, Dr. AlBurai served as the CEO of the Dubai Real Estate Institute for 10 years, during which time the institute graduated 80,000 real estate professionals from the region. He is currently the Chairman of the UNDRR Arise network in the UAE working on making businesses more resilient, in alignment with the Sendai Framework.
Mark Beer
Co-Founder, Seven Pillars Law
Mark Gregory Beer OBE is a British lawyer and businessman who is co-founder of the law firm Seven Pillars Law, as well as chairman of The Metis Institute, and co-founder of the University of Oxford's Deep Technology Dispute Resolution Lab. He is chair of the Board of Trustees of the Global Legal Action Network and was previously President of the International Association for Court Administration.
Olga Guseva
Managing Partner, Integria Consult
One of the leading CX strategy experts and advisors based in Russia, СXPA member, loyalty measurement and development coach, certified customer-centric corporate culture measurement and transformation specialist, MBA, Ph. D., keynote speaker and СХ blogger
Dr Salim Al-Shuaili
Senior Executive (Artificial Intelligence & Digital Transformation), Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology - Oman
Dr Salim is an expert in the domain of Artificial Intelligence, digital transformation, and Advanced Technology Unit. He has PhD in ICT (Technology Adoption & Digital Transformation) with more than 20 years of experience in the domain of IT.
He has won the Digital Transformation Inspiring Award in the global CIO Summit, 2022 and works & leads several projects related to e-Government, Digital transformation, Artificial Intelligence, and 4th industrial revolution.
Shashidhar Reddy Keshireddy
Director of Data Integration Specialist in Data Science, AI and ML, CEPTUA IT INC
Certified Official Youth Assembly Delegate at United Nation Youth Assembly, New York. All the world countries youth leaders will participate in this assembly session, and he represented India for the United Nation Youth Assembly to #CocreateImpact: Innovation and Collaboration for a Sustainable World.Shashi is the Director of Data Integration Specialist for CEPTUA IT INC and CEO of AGILE IT SYSTEMS INC in the United States. Also received best employee recognition from CEPTUA IT INC – Houston, TX USA.
Sriram Sagi
Principal Product Manager, AI Data Center, NetApp
With over 16 years of experience in the technology industry, Sriram stands out as a dynamic and data-driven technology leader. His career is marked by a successful product and program management track record, leading initiatives that have generated over $300 million in quarterly revenue. Sriram's expertise lies at the intersection of technology and business, where he skillfully manages cross-functional stakeholders to drive product success and innovation.
Stephen Kruger
CTO, Careem
Leader, visionary and tech-centric, - Born and raised in South Africa, Stephen has led an ambitious career over the years.
Graduating from Rhodes University with a Bachelor of Science in computer science and biochemistry, he then went on to attend the executive leadership program at Harvard Business School. Throughout his career, Stephen has worked with leading companies such as Grab, IBM, Xerox, and Sun Microsystems, holding over 20 patents across various fields of IT. The most recent 6 years have seen him specialize in the industry of ride-hailing and superapps.
Wael AbuRizq
Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Analytics Advisor, Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA)
Wael possesses over 13 years of experience, showcasing profound expertise in the realms of big data modeling and
analysis. He excels in crafting, implementing, and assessing artificial intelligence models. Wael is a performance-
oriented professional committed to imparting his extensive know-how in steering, overseeing, and fostering data
teams, encompassing the full spectrum of data management and artificial intelligence.
Julien Rio
AVP International Marketing, Ringcentral
Entrepreneur, marketing expert and Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), Julien has worked in multiple industries across Europe and Asia for the past 13 years. Through those experiences he has been in charge of Marketing Strategy and managed both small and large international teams, focusing on all aspects of traditional and digital marketing, including branding, SEO, SEM, communication & PR, web development, events, social media, ABM & emailing campaigns, design, etc.
Katherine Buttler
Head of Product North America & CX Strategy Service, ThoughtWorks
Katherine Buttler is a CX leader, strategist and storyteller, with 23 years of digital consulting experience with Fortune 100 clients in numerous industries. She is Head of Product, NA, for ThoughtWorks, and leads the CX Strategy service for North America.
Mamoun Alamouri
Regional Vice President, Uniphore
Mamoun is the Regional Vice President of Uniphore. 16-year customer experience (CX) industry veteran. Prior to Uniphore, Mamoun worked in ujet.cx as Vice President for South Europe, MEA & India, Cisco as the leader for Customer Experience Management solutions covering Europe & MEA, prior to that was the director for customer engagement solutions @ Avaya. His Entire Career Mamoun’s work in CX domain with wealth of knowledge about how to best leverage technology to help organizations transform their customer experiences and contact centers.
Marlan Hardie
Chief Digital Officer, Worldwide Technology
Marlan operates as the Chief Digital Officer for global service providers at World Wide Technology. With 20 years in the customer care industry and a consulting background, Marlan has worked with many of the largest call centers in the telecom, cable, financial services, media and entertainment organizations. He evangelizes that “the brands that deliver the best customer experience have already provide the best employee experience.
Peter Dorrington
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Anthrolytics
As well as being a co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Anthrolytics Ltd, Peter is the inventor of Predictive Behavioural Analytics – a new way of combining data science with behavioural science to understand and predict human decisions and behaviour.
Samantha Richardson
Executive Engagement Program Lead EMEA / APAC , Twilio Inc.
Sam has been helping some of the world's most recognisable brands put customers at the front and centre of their organisations for over 20 years, through human centred experience strategy and design. At Twilio she leads global companies to digitally transform through combining the latest technology with customer centricity.
Snehal Kulthe
Head - BaaS and Enterprise Solutions, Finance House
Snehal is the Head -Baas and Enterprise Solutions, Finance House in the UAE. A senior technology executive with expertise in driving the innovation, delivery, and maintenance of enterprise wide systems, leading & executing cloud migration / cloud transformation, driving technology integrations & deployments, business process improvements and new product developments across Consumer & Corporate Banking, Credit Cards, Payments, Channels, Loyalty and Customer lifecycle Management (CLM).
St John Dalgleish
Founding Partner, Perlon AI
St John is a Founding Partner at Perlon AI, a consultancy specialising in AI strategy and advanced custom solutions. He has led complex projects at some of the world's largest companies including Saudi Aramco, LivePerson and EY.
Vianney Mathonnet
Partner Africa, Modus Capital
Vianney has over a decade of proven experience in asset management, private equity, and venture capital in Africa. He is the founder of Modus Africa, investing in African startups leveraging deep tech across Africa. He was the Executive Director of an Africa-focused Single Family Office from 2016 where he led private equity M&As and the VC division. He is an IC member of the Family Office and an advisor to a global VC fund.
Karl Escritt
CEO, Like Digital
With over 20 years of experience in Digital transformation, Karl’s core expertise lies in navigating brands through an ever changing, always-on digital landscape. He is constantly exploring new technologies and trends with the aim of understanding and advising how brands can better adapt to these constantly changing digital consumer needs.
Maali Qasem Khader
Chief Executive Officer, Middle East Institute Of Directors
Maali Q. Khader is a highly experienced, effective and trusted lawyer. Today she is a luminary in the corporate governance, sustainability, legal training and advice sectors. Maali holds a number of concurrent roles, chief of which is CEO of the influential Middle East
Institute of Directors, delivering advanced corporate governance advisory and training to a number of prestigious organisations.
Since 2012, as Founder and Board Member of Jordan Institute of Directors, Maali has driven excellence across a number of leading organisations.
Margaret Millett
Head of Global Resilience, Uber
Margaret J. Millett (MSBC, FBCI (Hon), MBCP) is an experienced, results-driven and forward-thinking Business Continuity Management (BCM) professional with demonstrated strategic thought leadership and management expertise. She has been actively involved in the BCM profession for 25+ years and worked for Fortune 300 companies.
Moe Abeidat
Group VP of Technology, Aramex
Moe Abeidat, who is currently a CTO at Aramex, NED at Overwrite AI, and CEO of Northli AI, stands at the intersection of technology, strategy, and transformation. A visionary in the field. Moe is a senior technology executive with a deep expertise in digital transformation. Not just content with shaping one segment of the industry, Moe has played pivotal roles in various transformational initiatives across the B2B, B2C, and even G2B2C sectors in the region. Moe is a true catalyst of regional digital change.
Ragna Ghoreishi, CCXP
VP Customer Success, Cleeng
Ragna Ghoreishi is a senior CX transformation leader who combines an E2E mindset of client centricity with a proven track record in operation & process transformation, agile leadership of cross-functional & international teams and “passionate out-of-the-box thinking”.
Sanjeev Shelar
Senior Leader
Sanjeev Shelar is a visionary, highly experienced Senior Digital Leader and innovator with 20 years' achievement delivering complex multi-million EUR customer experience and e-commerce projects to achieve operational and customer excellence. He is passionate about architecting scalable strategies that improve customer experience, engagement and ultimately drive revenues. He believes customer-centricity is a shift in mindset and a sustainable way of doing business!
Srinivasan Sampath
Acting Group CTO, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)
Srinivasan Sampath is the Acting Chief Technology Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). Sampath has the responsibility for driving the Group’s Technology and Transformation Strategy to ensure that FAB is ready for the next generation of Digital Banking services. In the recent years, Sampath has also been involved in leading digitization programs covering end to end digital customer experience and process automation. He was also involved in implementing the first cross border blockchain remittance transaction between two major banks.
Stef Ruinard
Cloud Solution Architect, Microsoft
As a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, Stef brings a combination of expertise in Machine Learning and software engineering to the table. Specializing in MLOps and ML-driven applications, his role is centered around applying innovative methods from diverse industries to improve software engineering practices. He is dedicated to facilitating the success of startups and enterprises by focusing on the intersection of people and technology.
Vineesha HK
Regional thought leader – Digital & Emerging Tech
Vineesha HK is Regional thought leader and expert of Digitalization assisting organizations achieve ambitious transformation, implement digital strategies to support business goals. Her experience includes serving as an advisor to senior government leadership at Ruler’s Court, Advisor to Economic Department of UAE government along with experience with top Global consulting firms. She has provided advisory to 40+ public sector organizations and Fortune 500 companies.
