Aaron is a partner in the Wise Marketer Group (WMG), a customer engagement and loyalty marketing education, advisory services, and media company where, as CMO, he leads their marketing and corporate development efforts.

WMG owns and operates The Wise Marketer™, known to be the leading independent and unbiased source for global customer loyalty news, education, research and insights that reaches more than 15K persons worldwide. It also owns and operates the Loyalty Academy™ which offers a practitioner- based curriculum that allows marketers to earn the Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional™ (CLMP™) designation and a community of nearly 1,000 CLMPs in over 53 countries.

Aaron is an award winning B2B marketer with nearly 25 years of consumer-centric and data-driven marketing, market research, and loyalty and rewards industry experience. He is a recognized thought leader for how brands can use data intelligently to deliver value through their marketing efforts. He is a marketing executive that has led the development and publication of The Loyalty Report™ for Bond Brand Loyalty; led marketing teams at Rubikloud (as CMO) and Aimia; led client services for the small business division of what is now Gartner CEB; and delivered marketing strategy and plans for divisions of Alliance Data and Shell Canada. Aaron also taught Marketing for 5 years at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada.

Aditi Barua serves as the Head of Amazon Gift Cards for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region at Amazon, based in Dubai, UAE. With over 14 years of experience in product and business management, she is the single-threaded leader for Amazon’s gift card business across UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa. In her role, Aditi is responsible for developing and scaling a diverse portfolio of gift card products tailored to various customer needs, use cases, and distribution channels.

During her 8-year tenure at Amazon, Aditi has successfully launched multiple products across different business segments, including Amazon Business and Amazon Seller Services in India, and expanded the availability of Amazon Gift Cards to over eight countries. Before joining Amazon, she worked as a Product Manager for several companies in India.

Aditi holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Delhi University,  India. Originally from India, she enjoys spending time with her family and traveling the world.

Seasoned MBA professional in the loyalty and customer engagement industry with over 25 years of experience creating, developing, managing, revitalizing, and launching digital customer loyalty and engagement strategies for some of the largest international brands such as American Express, Mastercard, Aeromexico, Puntos Colombia and FEMSA. Having launched new enterprises as founding CEO for the Colombian and Mexican markets which include the creation of successful teams and organizational culture. Writer and columnist for Merca 2.0 magazine and actively participate as a speaker at national international levels and member of the Let’s Talk Loyalty podcast team. Recently, recognized as one of the Global Loyalty Leaders, an award bestowed upon individuals and leaders who dedicate their work to making significant contributions to the industry.

Cecilia has been on the judging panel of the International Loyalty Awards since 2017. She is Chief Growth Officer of DataLab, now part of The Relevance Group, a Customer Equity consultancy she co-founded in 2012.  Her focus remains on utilizing data to extract maximum financial value from customer relationships in a sustainable way.

Cecilia is a customer insight pioneer and was integral to Payback´s rapid success over 25 years ago. Since then, she has held leadership positions at top energy, banking and retail brands and continues to act as a sparring partner for C-level executives who understand the power of customer data to drive growth.

An Italian national, Cecilia is also a published author and a popular guest speaker on Loyalty topics. As a member of “Generation CEO”, she gets great satisfaction from supporting young female leaders on their path to the boardroom.

Cristina Ziliani, Ph.D is Professor of Marketing at the University of Parma, Italy. She lectures on loyalty management at leading universities and business events around the world, including the US, Japan, UK, France, Belgium and Spain. She has been the Director of the Osservatorio Fedeltà UniPR (Loyalty Observatory) since 1999, dedicated to research, consulting and education on Loyalty Management, CRM and CX. The Observatory runs a yearly Loyalty conference attracting over 450 managers across Italy to discuss the latest loyalty trends and research. In-depth webinars dedicated to specific loyalty topics – such as Sustainability or Engagement – are offered every spring. Over the years, the Observatory has developed international partnerships with research centers, labs and associations dedicated to loyalty, for joint research programs and echange of speakers. Cristina is also the Director of the Master in Trade and Consumer Marketing at the University of Parma, growing talents for marketing, CRM and loyalty positions in Italy and abroad. She is the author of +50 scientific papers on loyalty and 5 books, the latest being “Loyalty Management. From loyalty programs to omnichannel customer experiences” published by Routledge.

David is the founder and CEO of Polymath Consulting working on projects and advising organisations across the Cards & Payments industry. Polymath Consulting and David are particularly well known for their work on E-money & Emerging Payments. Prior to moving into payments David spent 20 odd years with leading advertising agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, Bates and McCann Erickson. Starting his career below the line in Sales Promotion he ended up as a Group Account Director and Head of New Business through the line.

David is CEO of Ellipsis, The Loyalty Experts and has extensive experience in loyalty, data and customer strategy. Previous to co-founding Ellipsis, David held executive positions in loyalty and is a recognized leader in the field with 20+ years of experience.

David is EVP, Brand Partnerships, at Havas Play. His team specialises in orchestrating and delivering growth and savings through brand collaborations for wide ranging businesses from Grocers to Radar Systems. Current and recent clients include Renault, Porsche, HRewards, PepsiCo, Waitrose, Google, BBC Studios, Bethesda Games Studios, Hearst Magazines, McCormick Foods, LNER, Pladis and Marks & Spencer. Prior David was CEO at Simbiotik which exited to Havas in 2024. Simbiotik was a leading marketing consultancy specialist in Brand Collaboration a field which David has pioneered, since 1994, with the foundation of one of the world’s first relationship marketing agencies where he led partnerships for several of the world’s leading, emerging, loyalty projects, ranging from grocers to airlines and nappies to energy with responsibility landing and expanding the range of 3rd party benefits elements whether to drive engagement, consideration, earn and/or burn. David is also an active investor in start-ups and also holds board advisory roles for businesses ranging from e-bikes to non-alcoholic drinks production.

Donna Orman is a senior business leader with over 25 years experience in some of the worlds most influential customer led brands including Nike, Virgin, Tesco, Nectar and Avios. She has in-depth knowledge of how to bring the brand to life through stories and experiences that engage the consumer, and then translating that into customer centric, data driven, agile growth teams, that deliver results. Having built, launched and managed many loyalty and customer strategies, Donna has seen that when you focus the design of your products, services and experiences on the customer needs, wants and fears, it delivers business performance and loyalty.

Jim Griffin is the founder of the AI Master Group and is a faculty member at the University of Texas, Austin, Masters Program in Business Analytics. He has 16 years of AI and ML project experience in the USA, Europe, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific, much of it specializing in loyalty. His projects have targeted brand objectives such as customer lifetime value, marketing spend optimization, customer predictive models, and Segment of One.

His engineering teams have created multiple digital solutions related loyalty, including the Young Living loyalty app, MakeItCount (loyalty program and fuel discounts), Noonpay (payment wallet), and various loyalty features for the Homesy app in the UAE.

Jim also has a popular YouTube channel devoted to AI with more than 10k subscribers.
Website: aimast.org

Jim is an expert in customer retention and has over 30 years of experience in CRM, loyalty, customer experience strategy and digital innovation. He played a leadership role in the design and launch of the award-winning Starwood Preferred Guest program as well as Walgreen’s first loyalty program Balance Rewards. Jim also led the optimization and relaunch of existing loyalty programs for Allergan, eBay and P.F. Chang’s. Currently Jim is a management consultant in the AI Monetization practice at AlixPartners, where he delivers revenue and growth strategies for clients across a variety of industries. Jim formed the Lifecycle & Loyalty offering at AlixPartners where teams are applying AI/ML models and advanced analytics to assist clients in optimizing their current efforts to deliver more profitable customer relationships.

Jonathan Reeve is the VP of APAC for Eagle Eye, the real-time marketing platform that drives the success of many leading global loyalty programs. Jonathan is the author of the highly-regarded book, Retail’s Last Mile: Why Online Shopping Will Exceed Our Wildest Predictions. Before leading Eagle Eye’s expansion into the APAC region, Jonathan led a thriving consultancy and held senior roles at renowned companies like Goldman Sachs and Tesco. Passionate about endurance sports, Jonathan has completed several ultra-marathons and Ironman triathlons.

Lisa is a trailblazer in the realm of loyalty strategy, driven by her insatiable passion for crafting bespoke approaches tailored to individual needs. Rejecting the notion of a one-size-fits-all solution, she understands that true success lies in aligning strategies with both client objectives and the diverse values of their customers. Over her illustrious 25-year career, Lisa has not only worked for but also pioneered and managed a plethora of strategies and programmes across an array of industries. From hospitality, retail, airline, financial, teleco to conglomerate groups boasting multifaceted asset structures. Infusing her endeavours with a potent blend of creativity and customer-centricity, Lisa brings to the table a formidable combination of strategic prowess and technical expertise. Her relentless focus on operational excellence ensures that every loyalty strategy she crafts not only delights customers but also delivers tangible results for her clients.

Mandeep has worked in marketing for 15 years, gaining experience across a broad range of agencies and clients including Publicis Dialog, RKCR/Y&R, Laphroaig, Virgin Media and Lloyds TSB.  Today Mandeep works for dunnhumby – the world’s leading customer-data platform and a pioneer in transforming customer data into customer-first strategies through their consultancy and products.  As a CRM and Customer Insight Consultant, Mandeep has deep expertise in optimising the Tesco Clubcard loyalty programme – one of the world’s first, most sophisticated, customer-first programmes.  For the last 8 years Mandeep has worked closely with Tesco to help inform and build customer loyalty propositions, whilst also delivering customer targeting strategies for their largest loyalty comms, including Clubcard Statement.  Mandeep has a dedicated and expert team of Client Leads and Campaign Managers and works with some super smart Data Scientists/Analysts; together they strive to look for new and innovative ways to improve the customer experience and drive long term loyalty.

Marcus Puffer is currently heading the Loyalty and Customer Engagement business unit at IBS Software, a leading information technology provider specialising on mission critical solutions in the aviation, cruise and hospitality industries. Before joining IBS, he was General Manager of topbonus, the Frequent Flyer Program of airberlin. During his tenure at Star Alliance, the largest global airline alliance, he was responsible for developing and implementing an unprecedented growth strategy.

Mark Sage is a subject matter expert in the area of customer retention and specifically loyalty marketing.
He is a highly skilled relationship marketing professional, with a considerable range of best practices and case experiences to contribute.

Speaking Summary

As VP for Loyalty & Member Engagement, Mark manages the global luxury loyalty programme for DFS, part of LVMH. With over 750 brands and 850 boutiques, Mark is responsible for ensuring customers are truly recognized and rewarded wherever they shop with DFS and inspiring them through surprising moments that captivate and delight
Prior to DFS, Mark was a key leader in the design, development and launch of yuu Rewards, the first truly digital coalition loyalty programme; now the largest loyalty programme in Hong Kong, serving over 4.1m members across 50 different brands and recently launched in Singapore.
Mark spent over 20 years working within loyalty agencies and providers at companies such as Carlson Marketing, Aimia and Eagle Eye, providing both proprietary and coalition loyalty solutions, consulting and design.
With a background in product design, digital development and a passion for marketing, Mark unites the strategy and theory around customer retention marketing with the art of the possible with regard to product delivery. A keen advocate of relationship marketing and the psychology behind customer behavior, Mark brings a different perspective on customer loyalty.

Corporate Biography

Mark is VP for Loyalty & Member Engagement at DFS and manages data insights, CRM marketing, loyalty strategy and loyalty product development for the DFS loyalty programme DFS CIRCLE.

Mark has worked in loyalty marketing for over 20 years and gained extensive experience of consumer orientated marketing programs, having implemented and consulted on loyalty & CRM solutions for clients across financial services, travel, telco, retail and CPG.

Patricia Camden serves as the Americas Leader for EY’s Loyalty  ractice and as Americas Customer and Growth Leader for the Retail Sector. Her career spans over two decades, with a concentrated focus on Customer Experience, Marketing Transformation, and the development of cutting-edge Loyalty Programs. Patricia is a Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP), and as a life-long learner, also holds Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and Certified Futurist (CFP) credentials.

Patricia’s expertise lies in bridging the gap between business objectives, experiences and technological capabilities, crafting loyalty strategies that resonate with customers and foster enduring relationships. Throughout her career, Patricia has partnered with prominent brands in the retail, hospitality, CPG, telecom and financial services sectors, leading initiatives that have established and revitalized loyalty programs. Her strategic insight and innovative thinking have been instrumental in helping businesses navigate the evolving landscape of customer loyalty, ensuring they remain competitive and relevant in today’s market.

Pavel Los is a seasoned marketing professional with over 25 years of experience, specializing in customer loyalty. Notably, he served as Global Loyalty Programme Manager at Shell, where he led the global loyalty team and supported markets worldwide. Currently, Pavel consults for New World Loyalty, where he collaborates with a global team of experts to provide strategic advice on all aspects of customer loyalty. Additionally, through LoyaltyCheck.eu, he evaluates and enhances loyalty schemes for SMEs across Central Europe, offering innovative and customized solutions.

Phil Rubin is a global leader in strategic customer marketing and loyalty, and an entrepreneur who has grown and led businesses for more than 25 years. He is currently the founder and principal of Grey Space Matters, an innovation and growth advisory that works with emerging technology companies and large enterprise clients in a variety of roles, all designed to drive profitable growth. Prior to founding GSM, he led Global Insights, Strategic Partnerships, Global Enterprise Business Development and Client Growth for Bond, a Toronto-based firm focused on connecting brands and people to drive profitable growth. Phil joined Bond in February 2020 when the company acquired rDialogue, the firm he founded in 2006. rDialogue, a leading independent customer loyalty firm, worked with blue-chip global clients including Activision, Adidas, Allergan, American Express, Boehringer Ingelheim, Brooks Brothers, Citigroup, Disney, Estee Lauder, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants (now IHG), Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Nike, Nordstrom, PGA of America, Panera, Pittsburgh Steelers, sweetgreen, UPS and Williams-Sonoma. Phil is recognized as an industry thought leader and sought-after keynote speaker for events across North America, Europe and Asia. He is a charter Certified Loyalty Marketing Professional (CLMP) and is a Board of Regents member of The Loyalty Academy. Phil’s career started in Macy’s Executive Training Program and included roles at Midway Airlines and GTE Wireless (now Verizon). He earned an M.B.A. with a concentration in marketing and strategy from the A. B. Freeman School at Tulane University and a B.S. in Finance from L.S.U.

Philip Shelper is CEO and Founder at leading loyalty consultancy, Loyalty & Reward Co, based in New York, London, Sydney and Melbourne. He has extensive experience within the loyalty industry as a designer, speaker, educator and researcher. In addition to designing loyalty programs for over 120 brands globally, he previously held loyalty roles at Qantas Frequent Flyer and Vodafone. Phil is a member of several hundred loyalty programs, and an obsessive researcher of loyalty psychology and loyalty history, all of which he uses to understand the essential dynamics of what makes a successful loyalty program.

Adrian Palmer is Professor of Marketing and Head of the Department of Marketing and Reputation at Henley Business School, UK. His first career in travel and tourism marketing and management informed his subsequent academic career. Since joining academia, he has taught, researched and published extensively on the subject of services buyer behaviour. His book “Principles of Services Marketing”, now in its seventh edition, and recently translated into Chinese, is widely used throughout the world to provide a grounding in the challenges and opportunities of marketing services.
Recent research on customer experience and loyalty has been published in Journal of Marketing Management, European Journal of Marketing and Harvard Business Review and his work cited widely, including the Financial Times and BBC. As well as developing theory, he has always sought to make the outcomes of research relevant to business practice.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has experience of teaching executive programmes in Europe and Asia. He recently joined the College of Experts advisory body appointed by the UK Government’s Department of Media, Culture and Sports.

Rob began his loyalty career in the first year of Nectar in the UK, heading up the retail analytics team before taking the reins of RBS Group’s award-winning YourPoints programme, introducing a paid loyalty concept and launching unique travel partnerships with EasyJet and eBookers. At loyalty pioneer, Collinson, Rob was responsible for the group’s strategy as it doubled in size, acquired Welcome Real Time and launched its global redemption platforms. Rob led Collinson’s financial services strategy before consulting freelance for a global credit card issuer, leading research into virtual currencies and points payments solutions. Returning to retail, Rob joined Marks & Spencer in 2021 to reinvigorate the M&S Rewards loyalty programme and now heads strategy for the firm’s Bank & Services arm.

Sereen Hindawi is a seasoned leader in loyalty and customer engagement with over 10 years of experience in Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
She brings a wealth of expertise in cultivating customer engagement and driving loyalty for renowned global brands including TELUS Communications, Emirates Airlines (Skywards), Majid Al Futtaim (SHARE) and Sephora (Beauty Pass).
Sereen has proudly led multi-disciplinary teams in impactful, industry-first and award-winning initiatives across different loyalty programs. She has furthermore fostered key relationships and cross-functional partnerships to drive innovation, set new standards and create sustainable growth for brands. Key in her career is Sereen’s work with team members allowing them to succeed in their roles, grow across new functions and earn accolades/recognition both internally and externally.

Simon believes customer loyalty isn’t everything but it’s way ahead of whatever’s in second place.  Simon is a Partner with Ellipsis & Company, the loyalty experts.  Ellipsis is the largest loyalty company in Australia and work with enterprise clients across the world.  Simon leads the solutions and technology innovations practice for Ellipsis matching the best loyalty innovations globally to Ellipsis client’s strategies. He was VP Asia Pacific at global loyalty leader Aimia before joining Ellipsis.

Simon has 20 years of experience as a loyalty operator (at American Express, Woolworths Holdings and Diners Club) and as a consultant (KPMG Consulting). He’s also been an early member of customer-facing start-ups In The Bag (acquired by Woolworths South Africa) and Destiny (acquired by Verifone).

Stephanie is a recognized loyalty marketer and digital executive with global experience working with Fortune 500 brands across the financial, hospitality, retail, and restaurant sectors. She is currently the Chief Commercial Officer at Sky Zone, a leading global indoor adventure park brand for kids (and kids at heart). She previously served as the EVP of Global Loyalty Services at Mastercard and as the SVP of Digital Guest Experience at Inspire Brands and Dunkin’. She honed her loyalty skills at Starwood Hotels, where she worked on the beloved SPG program for many years.

In 2025, Stephanie launched So Many Points (www.somanypoints.news) , a free newsletter that keeps loyalty and CRM marketers on the pulse of what’s happening, what’s next, and what it means. New issues drop 2x a month, and she often features interviews with esteemed colleagues and experts.

As for her own loyalty habits? She’s a self-professed points hoarder, a proud Sephora Rouge, and after years of chasing airline and hotel status, she’s learning to play the field more.

Stephanie lives in Boston with her husband Steve, and when not working she’s often answering to her Bernese Mountain Dog, Kona, and planning her next trip, usually while listening to a true-crime podcast.

Stuart is a career loyalty marketeer having started running programmes client side with The AA, Hertz and British Airways before moving to the global loyalty specialist agency ICLP designing, launching and running B2C and B2B programmes with amongst others Radisson SAS hotels, Avis, Harrods, Manchester United, Intel, IHG, Guoman Thistle hotels and advising on programme strategy and enhancements with Virgin Atlantic, Aer Lingus, Shell, Adidas to name a few. In 2016 Stuart took a further step into the innovation consulting space focussing on blockchain, crypto, NFTs, Web3, NFTs and metaverse including assisting with the launch of a dcommerce capability in Boson Protocol, leading product and strategy for Loyyal the leading blockchain loyalty platform, working with Emirates Airlines, Deloitte and VW Group on blockchain-based loyalty and mentoring and advising start-ups in the Web3 and AI space.

Trish is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with over 30 years’ experience of developing retail and customer strategies and designing and launching profitable loyalty, personalization, CRM and retail solutions on a global scale. This includes two of the world’s flagship loyalty programs – Tesco Clubcard and Pick n Pay smartshopper in South Africa. A world expert, Trish has worked across all markets sectors including financial services, FMCG retail, department store, fuel, automotive, telecoms, airlines and leisure.

Trish started her career at British Airways developing innovative forecasting and optimisation systems, before joining dunnhumby, then a startup, where she was part of the original team that trialed and launched Tesco Clubcard. Trish was one of the founding partners of 5one, which led the design and launch of Pick n Pay smartshopper. 5one was acquired by Mastercard in 2014. Trish became the Global New Product Development Lead for Retail & Commerce within Mastercard Data & Services.

Trish now works as an independent consultant, with a passionate focus on developing Retail Media Networks and the strategic and innovative use of customer data and AI to make better business decisions to drive top and bottom-line growth.

William is CEO of Sparkes Consultancy, which he founded following an illustrious career spanning over three decades with AXA, one of the worlds largest financial services companies. William has a proven track record in developing successful sales and marketing strategies that drive customer loyalty, amplify the customer experience and enhance brand reputation. Leveraging his deep understanding of consumer behaviour and market dynamics, William transforms loyalty programmes and initiatives that foster enduring relationships with customers and drive sustained business growth. William is a Chartered Insurer and was voted Irish Loyalty Personality of the Year 2021 by the Irish Loyalty and CX Awards

Wojciech Kempny is a Consulting Director, who leads a team of experts responsible for the regions of GCC, Africa and APAC. He specializes in Loyalty and Customer Experience & Engagement projects – liaising between Business Teams and Tech Teams in their efforts to establish Loyalty Programs. He has been working in Comarch for the past 10 years and has worked with some of the biggest companies in the retail, banking and government sectors. He has led consulting teams that created Loyalty Concepts for programs that are now +25M members strong. Wojciech has lived and worked in the Middle East and Africa for over 15 years. This local experience is an invaluable asset when cooperating with companies that are looking to create or revamp their loyalty and customer experience strategies in the region.