Dr. Edwards, previously Empathica’s Executive Vice President of Client Services, has been promoted to Chief Customer Officer (CCO), with new responsibilities to include worldwide marketing and North American sales.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada – April 19, 2011 – Empathica Inc., a leading provider of Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions to more than 200 of the world’s most respected brands, announced today that Dr. Gary Edwards has been promoted to the role of Chief Customer Officer (CCO). Edwards was previously the Executive Vice President of Client Services at Empathica.
In his new position, Edwards will continue to head strategic account development and marketing insights, and additionally will lead North American sales and worldwide marketing. The creation of this new role is a further demonstration of Empathica’s continued focus on the needs of their customers, with Edwards’ new emphasis on developing strategy and insights for c-level executives at many of the world’s leading brands.
“Gary is well-recognized as a thought leader in the Customer Experience Management space, and we’re thrilled to have him play an expanded role on Empathica’s leadership team,” said Mike Amos, CEO of Empathica. “He has strong relationships with many of the top retail executives in North America, a proven track record of expanding into new business verticals and is experienced in developing and leading a team of CEM professionals from program development through execution.”
During the past decade at Empathica, Edwards has served a key leadership role in program development, implementation, and providing strategic insights to clients in the retail, restaurant and financial services sectors to enable them to improve the performance of their businesses. For over 15 years he has led worldwide and domestic research projects in customer and employee research. Edwards’ prior experience includes serving as a Senior Vice President at Maritz: Thompson Lightstone and as an account executive in the then newly formed Financial Services Research Group. Prior to Maritz, he served as the General Manager of Gallup Canada after starting as a Research Associate. He has a PhD specializing in Social Research Methods from Wilfrid Laurier University.
“I’m excited to take on this new role as Chief Customer Officer at Empathica,” said Edwards. “We’re always innovating our solutions to help multi-unit organizations improve the experience they deliver to their customers, and I look forward to continuing to work with industry leaders on identifying the strategic insights to drive positive changes within their organizations and build their base of brand advocates.”