Loyalty is the gift customers give back to companies when they get what they want. Today, earning it takes an enterprise-wide, integrated strategy. Is your organization set up to earn it? Tom Collinger is the Associate Dean of Medill, and Chair of the Integrated Marketing Communications programs. He has been a member of the faculty since 1998, joining Northwestern after 25 years in the marketing and communications field, with management positions at Time, Inc. Ogilvy & Mather, and The Leo Burnett Company. He is a widely recognized expert in the areas of integrated marketing communications; direct, database & e-commerce marketing management; customer loyalty; customer relationship management; and channel integration.

Tom Collinger, Associate Dean, Chair of the Integrated Marketing Communications Department, Associate Professor & Sector Head of Direct, E-Commerce & Search Marketing, Medill School at Northwestern University

It's easy for a company to give lip service to the idea of putting their customers first. But the strategic direction to actually move this from philosophy to action needs to come from the top. The (Inter)Views from the Top bring together the CEO/COOs who made customer service a priority through tough times, and proved the value of their efforts to their company's bottom line. (Inter)Viewees include

Jay Steinfeld, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Blinds.com
Bob Peixotto, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, L.L. Bean, Inc.
Todd Davis, Chief Executive Officer, LifeLock

Every customer-facing organization needs leaders dedicated to working towards enhancing organizational objectives, analyzing trends, and planning winning strategies. This keynote explains the competitive advantage experienced by organizations that create and manage a "Culture of Performance." It demystifies performance management, with detailed guidance for organizations to replicate top performers' practices, including the skills and assets needed to successfully compete in today's customer-first business society. Joey Fitts is co-author of the best-selling book, Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent Execution. Fitts is recognized as a leading authority on Business Intelligence, Performance Management, and Strategy Execution.

Fitts has consulted over 25 of the Fortune 500, guest lectured Harvard Executive Education programs and the Stanford Executive Briefings, been featured in the SuccessFactors Research Thought Leader Network, raised over $16M in venture capital, and served on the Board of Advisors for InterVivos and the Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). He currently works on Microsoft's Information Worker strategy.

Joey Fitts, Co-Author of the best-selling book Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent Execution

Customer experience and satisfaction are key drivers of customer loyalty which is well-documented to impact profitability.  Caring is the common theme linking the activities central to this conference—connecting with and engaging customers, obtaining insights into their current needs, anticipating their future needs and all customer-focused initiatives.  Caring is profitable for business, a source of sustainable competitive advantage, and an enduring differentiator.  As with other powerful concepts that add value to business, a scientific understanding of caring requires going beyond its everyday meaning to understand its true nature, and those deeper insights facilitate the implementation of caring in the company.