The IT support industry is constantly changing, and no amount of formal training will be enough to stay on top of every new trend. That’s why it’s so important for IT service and support professionals to share with others what they have learned in this dynamic environment.
Each year, HDI puts out a call for nominations for the Top 25 Thought Leaders in IT service and support and customer experience; those nominated share their wisdom on social media so others might benefit from what they’ve learned.
From the many nominations we’ve received, we’ve picked a list of thought leaders. Click on their names to find a link to their Twitter or LinkedIn account, and be sure to thank them for sharing what they know.
Roy Atkinson
CEO and Principal Advisor, Clifton Butterfield, LLC
“Roy has long been a mainstay in the HDI community, and has an unparalleled level of knowledge and a deep reservoir of community spirit. He is committed to help make things better for everyone in the IT service and support industry.”
Vicki Brackett
President, Virtual Live Labs
“Vicki is a professional for the moment, someone who provides guidance and a really important perspective about the new normal of how to succeed in the hybrid work environment.”
Ben Brennan
Founder & CEO, QSTAC
“Ben is a person who believes in making IT Teams world class. Ben not only shares his ideas, thoughts, and processes, but also listens to others to adapt and achieve being a world class thought leader.”
Rae Ann Bruno
Owner, Business Solutions Training, Inc.
“Rae Ann opens minds and helps people see things they didn't before. She is a tireless uplifter of others. She doesn't engage in meaningless chatter, and her content is always spot on.”
David Cannon
Executive Vice President, nfiniti3
“David's understanding of ITSM and related practices as people-oriented is exemplary. In ways he might not even realize, he has shown me much about the political, organizational, and interpersonal dynamics that can make or break an ITSM endeavor. To top it off, over the last 15 years, whenever our paths crossed, David always made time to listen and advise."
Chris Chagnon
IT Service Management Architect, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
“Chris is always learning and sharing tips on the latest trends in IT. He truly cares about how best to serve the users of our community. He currently publishes articles for HDI, and is a sought-after speaker on many IT topics like ITIL and User Experience.”
Mauricio Corona
Director Programa Ejecutivo 'Transformación Digital Para Directivos', Afi Escuela de Finanzas
“Mauricio not only understands ITSM and Service Management, but he is also a thought leader in AI and robotics. He is a leader in bringing these frameworks and methodologies to Latin America."
John Custy
ITSM (ITIL, ISO/IEC 20000, MOF) ISO/IEC 27000 Consultant, JPC Group
“John has been a source of new ideas and innovations for many years. He is able to be pragmatic and practical, and provides solutions that lead to the desired outcomes."
Phyllis Drucker
Professional Speaker, Blogger, Writer, EZ2BGR8
“Phyllis is the consummate professional. Her passion and depth of knowledge for IT Service Management is impressive and a true asset to any IT organization looking to improve their customer’s (both internal and external) experience.”
Karen Ferris
Organizational Change Consultant
“Karen has been, and continues to be a thought leader for change, and understands how and why this is needed for service management and technical support. She is a coach, mentor, author, and speaker on the topic, and is one of the people who continues to lead and provide learning on this topic to many others.”
Suresh GP
Managing Director, TaUB Solutions
“Suresh is a trailblazer who continues to go from strength to strength in winning awards. More importantly, he continues to ensure he, his employees, his organization, and his clients are able to keep evolving.”
Nancy Louisnord
Global Chief Marketing Officer, EasyVista
“Nancy is a very motivated, charismatic, smart, and talented thought leader. I've been incredibly impressed with her knowledge and commitment to the technical support and service management industry.”
Michelle Major-Goldsmith
Manager - Service Management Capability, Kinetic IT
“Michelle has been leading and shaping the industry for many years. She shares great insight about service management, but also focuses on the impacts of mental health within the industry as well as insight into her thoughts and ideas for practical uses of methods and frameworks."
Peter McGarahan
Senior Director, Workplace & Collaboration Services, First American Financial
“Pete is brilliant, loves his family, and outworks any competition in any field!! A game changer!”
Simone Jo Moore
Senior Consultant, Master Trainer, Facilitator and Speaker
“Simone is rocking the humanizing of IT. With recognition and nominations in DevOps and Womentech and multiple podcasts and webinars on talent management and ethical and emotional AI, her energy is out there!”
Weston Morris
Director Global Strategy - Digital Workplace Services, Unisys
“Weston is a thought leader in the employee experience space and the digital workplace. He is a host for XLA.TV and delivers great interviews that are thought provoking, current, and interesting. He also hosts podcasts for Unisys and delivers the same kind of thought-provoking interviews.”
Alan Nance
Co-Founder and President, XLA Collab
“Alan Nance is helping organizations to understand and focus on Employee Experience. He is a visionary who has a way of helping organizations to take an experience approach to improving both the employee and customer experiences for their companies. He is a host for XLA.TV, an author, speaker, and consultant who is helping to evolve experience.”
João-Pierre Ruth
Senior Writer, InformationWeek
“He is a tireless contributor to the public discourse of the IT service and support industry, one who ensures that information is accessible for the busy professional on the go.”
Doug Rabold
Senior Manager of Customer Support, Amwell
“Doug Rabold is intentional about branding - conscious of representing his employer and maintaining the company image while immersing himself in client culture. As it pertains to the HDI Chapters, Doug has deftly led the organization through the pandemic. As a bit of a newcomer to the IT Service Management world, Doug has literally made a career of embracing change and disruptive thinking and he believes in leveraging people, processes, and technologies to improve the world.”
Barclay Rae
Consultant, Author, Business Owner, Podcaster, Barclay Rae Consulting Ltd
“Barclay is one of the go-to people in the world for service management and technical support. He is an independent consultant, who has led itSMF UK and works with technical support organizations globally. He applies common sense to service management and is a well-known speaker on the topic globally.”
Jeff Rumburg
CEO and Managing Partner of MetricNet, LLC.
“Jeff’s contribution to the understanding of the metrics of IT service and support is unparalleled. With his data-driven approach to the industry, you can uncover important details about your organization that you never knew.”
Greg Sanker
Director IT Support, Taylor Morrison
“Greg Sanker has been helping IT Leaders build and evolve their change management practice for over a decade. He continues to produce leading-edge work on evolving the change management process and other ITSM processes to enhance the effective delivery of technology products to the customer by de-emphasizing, without discounting, the technological components and focusing on the delivery of service and value.”
Patrycja Sobera
Global Vice President, EUX, Digital Workplace Solutions, Unisys
“Patrycja is a thought leader in customer support. As the global VP for Unisys Customer Support, she is leading a change from traditional customer support thinking to a customer experience model. She understands that OCM and data driven decision making is necessary.”
Jeff Toister
President, Toister Performance Solutions, Inc.
“Jeff is super-great to work with as a partner. He's organized, prepared, professional, punctual and always does a great presentation. There's something special about learning a technique from a training master, then realizing that he's using that technique to teach it to you. There's almost no one I can think of who is more passionate about training and customer experience!”
Tom Wilk
Service Desk Manager, Taylor Morrison
“Tom is a great contributor to the field and to the greater HDI community. He is an immense help when it comes to improving performance management, and he is extremely flexible when it comes to finding ways to reach and motivate others.”