Calabrio Customer Connect Manchester, The Lowry Hotel
June 10 – 11, 2025

“Dave” Rhodes, the CEO of Calabrio, brings decades of experience growing and scaling software businesses with a passion for technology innovation that drives business impact. Prior to Calabrio, he was Chief Executive Officer of Sauce Labs, the leading provider of continuous test and error reporting solutions that give companies the confidence to develop, deliver and update high-quality software at speed. Dave also held the positions of SVP/GM of Unity’s Digital Twins Business after serving as their Chief Revenue Officer. Dave built Unity into the leading provider of real-time 3D software solutions for video games and digital twins. Prior to Unity, Dave was the Executive Vice President of Sales, Services and Marketing at Paradigm/Emerson, responsible for developing, implementing, and executing the company’s worldwide sales growth strategies, as well as its services and marketing operations. Previously, he spent 11 years at Autodesk, where he last served as Vice President of the Americas. Dave has an MBA from the University of San Diego and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from UC San Diego.

Martin Teasdale – Contact Centre Leader, TLX Advocate, and Community Builder
Martin Teasdale is a recognised leader in the contact centre industry, dedicated to improving leadership at the frontline through his pioneering concept, Team Leader Experience (TLX). With a career spanning nearly three decades, Martin has worked across various leadership roles, starting as an agent on the phones to global operations director , driving operational excellence, employee engagement, and customer experience transformation.
He is the founder of The Team Leader Community (TLC), a thriving network that supports and connects contact centre team leaders, and is the host of the acclaimed “Get Out of Wrap” podcast, where he shares insights and interviews with industry experts.This podcast, the first in the UK about contact centres, has in its 5 and half years had 100’s of thousands of downloads and is a regular feature in the top 150 Apple Podcast charts for management.
With a LinkedIn following of circa 22,000, Martin is an influential voice in the sector, championing contact centres and the role of team leaders as the key to unlocking better customer and employee experiences.Through speaking engagements, consultancy, and thought leadership, Martin collaborates with corporate partners to elevate industry standards, foster leadership development, and create meaningful change within contact centres worldwide.

With over 15 years of experience at the intersection of customer experience, AI, and enterprise software, Ritu is a product leader who builds with heart and scales with precision. As VP of Product Management at Calabrio, she’s passionate about designing intelligent, intuitive products that drive real-world customer outcomes and about doing it a true builder’s mindset. Throughout her career, she’s helped fast-growing companies find their product-market fit and guided large CCaaS companies through complex transformation journeys. Her superpower? Turning complex technology into compelling product stories that inspire teams and drive strategy forward. Armed with a Master’s in Computer Science from Purdue University and a reputation for being both a visionary and a doer, Ritu brings deep technical knowledge, cross-functional leadership, and a relentless focus on customer success to the stage—and to every product she helps shape.

An award-winning, industry-recognized expert with over 20 years of experience in contact centre planning management, Dave Vernon has held senior planning positions at blue-chip companies, including NTL, Barclaycard, HBOS, and The AA, delivering transformational projects in each.
At the forefront of driving best practices in contact centre planning, Dave has contributed extensively through years at The Forum, judging awards and writing industry articles—all with the goal of professionalising the contact centre planning industry.These skills have also been applied in a supplier environment at Aspect Software, where [Name] served as a Principal Solutions Consultant, ensuring that both existing and new customers receive high-quality solutions to facilitate transformational improvements within their contact centre operations.
As Director of Membership & Best Practice, Dave leverages a breadth of industry knowledge to continue professionalising the contact centre planning industry and raising standards in customer operations.

Ed Creasey is Calabrio’s Director of Pre-Sales Consulting and Engineering. He loves engaging and provoking audiences by understanding the challenges facing business and wider society, and using that insight to bring together customers and agents to deliver great experiences.He leads a diverse team of experts, solving customer problems from California to Melbourne. He brings deep experience, from the front line to C level, in the Contact Centre and Customer Experience (CX) industry. Ed has delivered thought leadership and led pre-sales and consulting teams across the CX domain: AI & Analytics, Workforce Optimisation, Employee Engagement, Cloud Contact Centres and Robotics. He’s sold and delivered CX solutions to a wide range of organisations and market sectors, throughout the world. Ed has a passion for leading teams, engaging audiences, helping customers solve their business problems and delivering happy, reference-able clients.

Mick has over 35 years Customer Service & Contact Centre industry experience, including most recently 13 years in the luxury retail industry working at Burberry. He is a dynamic leader known for his unwavering commitment to driving excellence, inspiring teams, and delivering results. With a track record of success in the Contact Centre industry, he has consistently demonstrated the ability to lead through change, transform vision into action, and cultivate environments where innovation and collaboration thrive.

Mick has worked across various leadership roles, starting as an agent in a call centre, to scheduling & forecasting, reporting & analytics, process improvement, auditing and leadership of reporting & scheduling functions.

Mick started his career at First Data where he held various roles across a 20 year period, then moved to UBS Wealth Management, on to Killik & Co Stockbrokers and now in his current role at Burberry. At Burberry, Mick is responsible for four key areas of the Global Customer Service Team; Resource Planning & Workforce Management, Management Information & Analysis, Reward & Recognition, and Budget Planning.

A widely regarded industry expert, Scott Budding has over 20 years of contact centre experience. Beginning within a Quality Management team, then as a leader of a resource planning function, Scott moved on from operational roles in 2015, to Workforce Engagement Management consulting from a pre-sales and post-sales perspective. Since 2017, he has led successful teams focused on UK and global markets. Scott is recognised for his thought leadership in Workforce Management, Quality Management and Analytics, and he has been invited to work with The Forum, Call Center Helper, CCMA and others, and speak at events such as CC Expo.

With nearly three decades of hands-on experience in the contact centre space, Neil Rigby is a seasoned leader passionate about transforming customer and employee experiences.

As Operational Delivery Lead at the John Lewis Partnership, Neil has spent the past four years spearheading a full-scale digital transformation, reimagining service delivery and driving innovation across the organisation’s customer operations.

A champion of people-first change, Neil is known for combining strategic foresight with operational excellence. His deep industry expertise and commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology have consistently empowered teams, improved performance, and enhanced the end-to-end customer journey. Whether optimising frontline operations or leading enterprise-wide transformation, Neil brings a grounded, visionary approach that delivers real impact.

RingCentral is a global leader in AI-powered trusted business communications, contact center, conversational intelligence, video and hybrid event solutions. RingCentral empowers businesses with conversation intelligence and unlocks rich customer and employee interactions to provide insights and improved business outcomes. With decades of expertise in reliable and secure cloud communications, RingCentral has earned the trust of millions of users worldwide.

Five9 empowers organizations to create hyper-personalized and effortless AI-driven customer experiences that deliver better business outcomes. Powered by Five9 Genius AI and our people, the Five9 Intelligent CX Platform is trusted by 3,000+ customers and 1,400+ partners globally. The New CX starts here and it’s at the heart of every winning experience. For more information, visit www.five9.com