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In this episode, Libby Anderson, Managing Director and majority owner, and Fiona Healey, Head of Client Strategy, both of Blondefish, share the power of purposeful play and what happens when we give audiences permission to get involved, explore and have fun. They offer numerous examples of how designing experiences with a clear purpose can transform events, tradeshows and Customer Experience Centres into memorable moments that spark connection, conversation and learning. They address the value of thinking beyond a single engagement, illustrating how repurposing, reskinning and flexible deployment can extend the life and value of content and interactives. Along the way, Libby and Fiona share their unique approaches to delivering against multiple objectives and ultimately maximising their clients’ investment.
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Guest Thought Leaders
Libby Anderson, Managing Director, Blondefish
Libby is the Managing Director and majority owner of Blondefish. She joined the business straight out of Royal Holloway University, where she studied Management with Marketing, and progressed through the company before completing a management buyout in 2023.
A natural problem solver who thrives on creativity, teamwork and the variety of the experiential industry, Libby now leads a team of ten, supported by a brilliant network of freelancers, creatives and suppliers.
Her original childhood ambition was actually to become a vet, and while her career took a very different turn, she still gets her animal fix outside of work through her love of horses and riding.
Fiona Healey, Head of Strategy, Blondefish
Fiona is Head of Client Strategy at Blondefish. After studying Public Relations at Bournemouth University, she worked in-house for brands including Panasonic, Wiley and GAME, where organising experiential moments such as the midnight launches of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 sparked her love of live audience engagement.
After moving agency-side, Fiona discovered her passion for events, content and experiential work, joining Blondefish five years ago. Today, she leads client strategy, working closely with clients to understand their objectives and collaborating with the team to turn them into engaging, memorable experiences.
Outside of work, Fiona lives on the UK’s south coast with her husband, three children and an ever-growing collection of pets. She’s a big theme park fan, loves planning holidays and admits to having a slightly competitive streak.
What started in March 2020 as a way to connect briefing professionals and thought leaders through authentic, unfiltered conversations has grown into 7 seasons and 100 episodes of The CXLive! podcast!
To celebrate this incredible milestone, host Darby Mason-Werner is joined by guest co-host Crystal Waldoch of Rockwell Automation for a special 100th episode that looks back at the journey, the people, the conversations, and the unexpected moments that have made The CXLive! what it is today.
Darby shares her journey into the briefing world and the lessons she has learned along the way. She and Crystal also revisit listeners’ favorite episodes and, more importantly, why those conversations resonated. Along the way, there are surprises, reflections, plenty of gratitude, and a look ahead at what’s next as The CXLive! sets its sights on the next 100 episodes!
Most of all, this episode is a celebration of the people behind The CXLive!, the guest thought leaders who generously shared their ideas, the listeners who tuned in and engaged, and the briefing community that continues to make every conversation worthwhile!
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Host
Darby Mason-Werner, Host, The CXLive! Podcast
Darby knew from a very young age that she wanted to find compelling work that made a difference. Her experiences from managing a produce stand at 12 years old to building the Xilinx Corporate Briefing Center Program from scratch were based on her eagerness to continuously learn, be innovative, deliver quality and exceed expectations. Making customers feel important comes from understanding their challenges, finding solutions and building trust. Darby thrives on creating memorable experiences for customers, intentionally defining each interaction along their journey. It matters!
Darby enjoys applying her 24+ years of experience helping fellow briefing industry colleagues simplify their lives with best practices discussed during these podcast episode conversions with industry thought leaders.
Guest Co-Host
Crystal Waldoch, Global Experience & Engagement Strategy, Rockwell Automation
Crystal’s superpower is in creating meaningful, lasting impressions for her customers by designing curated journeys rooted in human-centered and behavioral design thinking. By deeply understanding her audience’s needs, emotions, and decision-making drivers, she crafts experiences that feel personal, thoughtful, and impactful. Every touchpoint is intentionally shaped to build trust, foster engagement, and strengthen the relationship over time. Her goal is to turn every interaction into a moment that not only resonates, but inspires loyalty and connection.
This month’s CXLive! episode features an inspiring conversation with one of the true legends of the customer engagement and briefing industry: Russ Fowler, Vice President of Marketing Environments at Derse.
From his first role in experience design to more than three decades of shaping unforgettable brand experiences, Russ reflects on the defining moments, lessons, and leadership principles that have guided his remarkable 32-year career. He shares his perspective on how both briefing programs and live events have evolved, offers practical strategies for elevating customer engagement programs, and discusses how teams can demonstrate value and secure future investment.
Throughout our conversation, Russ’s passion for people shines through. He speaks with genuine appreciation for the GACEP community that has helped shape the industry and for his Derse family, where his visionary leadership, mentorship, and commitment to excellence have left a lasting legacy. Whether you're new to the field or a seasoned professional, this episode is filled with timeless insights from a man who has helped define what exceptional customer experiences look like.
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Guest Thought Leader
Russ Fowler, Vice President of Marketing Environments, Derse
Over 32 years Russ has helped global brands create immersive customer experiences through exhibits, experience centers, branded environments, and live events. He has helped expand the agency's capabilities beyond trade shows and championed the philosophy of "accountable creative". An active industry leader, Russ served on the GACEP board and is a frequent session leader. His contributions have earned multiple EXHIBITOR Design Awards, an EX Award, and the 2006 EDPA Designer of the Year honor.
Most recently Russ earned the 2026 GACEP President's Service Award recognizing more than three decades of leadership and service. To quote Elizabeth Simpson, President of GACEP, ‘his sessions and workshops have become must-attend events: creative, brilliant and always leaving people thinking differently than when they walked in.’ She continues, ‘It’s leaders like Russ who make GACEP not just an organization, but a community worth belonging to.’
Our first episode of the summer is an 'insightful' conversation with Dmitry Risukhin, a builder of world-class executive engagement programs at companies including Microsoft, AWS, F5, and T-Mobile. Dmitry explains why, as AI, LLMs, and speech-to-text eliminate traditional barriers to capturing customer feedback, the true differentiator is contextual listening; understanding what matters, why it matters, and how to turn insights into action. He emphasizes that collecting feedback without routing it for action is simply filing, underscoring the need for closed-loop systems that drive accountability. Dmitry also explores why effective customer listening starts not with data, but with business leaders committed to acting on what customers say. Tune in as he shares the Insight Flywheel, the current state of customer listening, and where it's headed next.
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Dmitry Risukhin, a builder of world-class executive engagement programs across some of technology's most iconic companies, including Microsoft, AWS, F5, and T-Mobile. Find more at dmitryrisukhin.com
Dmitry is a customer engagement leader whose career has moved through three lanes of enterprise technology: writing code professionally since the age of 16, running enterprise IT, and building executive briefing programs.
A builder by nature, Dmitry combines strategic vision with operational execution, whether launching programs from scratch, securing capital for world-class facilities, or running self-hosted AI models in his home lab. Today he is focused on helping companies build the executive engagement infrastructure that accelerates enterprise technology adoption.
Fresh from delivering his fantastic keynote address at the GACEP Spring Conference in April, Evolutionary Biologist, TV Host, Keynote Speaker, and Bestselling Author, Dan Riskin, Ph.D. shares how principles from evolutionary biology and human behavior can help organizations design more connected, memorable customer engagements. From the role emotion and curiosity play in how people learn and retain information to the impact of active problem-solving and diverse team dynamics, we discussed how brands can create experiences that deepen engagement, strengthen relationships, and influence buying decisions. Known for blending humor with science-backed insights, Dan brings a unique perspective on human behavior, communication, and connection that organizations can apply today
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Guest Thought Leader
Dan Riskin, Ph.D., Evolutionary Biologist, TV Host, Keynote Speaker, and Bestselling Author, Noctillo.com
Dan is an evolutionary biologist turned science journalist whose career spans research, media, and public engagement. Dan did his PhD at Cornell, studying how vampire bats move on the ground. Then he worked at Brown University, flying bats in wind tunnels, trying to understand how they fly, maneuver, and land. His research earned international recognition, and Dan took that opportunity to slide into science TV. He has since become a prominent television personality, hosting shows on the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Channel, and elsewhere. Beyond television, Dan is a bestselling author and sought-after keynote speaker known for using humor to translate science into insights people can apply to everyday life.
Our latest episode derives from a series of LinkedIn articles that highlight ‘Influences that Create Thoughtful Leaders.’ Amos Wampler, former Director of the Executive Briefing Program at Gore, shares how his life and career experiences shaped his leadership style and passion for the briefing profession. Building on principles like continuous improvement and beginning with a clear intent, Amos offers real-world insights showing how effective leadership is grounded in adaptability, trust, and self-awareness. He emphasizes the importance of identifying your team’s strengths while supporting their growth, embracing diverse viewpoints, and earning credibility through consistent action. At its core, strong leadership means elevating others' voices, fostering an environment where people can thrive, minimizing distractions, and having the courage to push boundaries, all while staying anchored in the values that shape meaningful outcomes.
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Guest Thought Leader
Amos Wampler, Former Director, Executive Briefing Program at Gore
Amos’s career has spanned classrooms, manufacturing floors, and analytical labs with a consistent track record of making meaningful contributions in each space. For the past several years, he led a high-visibility executive briefing program, overseeing thousands of interactions annually with customers, partners, board members, legislators, and media. His work operates in close partnership with senior leadership and spans strategy, operations, content, technology, facilities, and team development. It’s a role that demands sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to deliver high-stakes moments with consistency and impact at scale.
Born from a passionate presentation sharing his joy for creative technology, our latest episode features Matteo Mosca, CEO and Founder, at Leva (Impossible) Engineering. Matteo shares how crafting meaningful moments pushes their team to explore how people process the world around them; how the brain interprets movement, light, sound and space, shaping emotion and memory. He explains how each project begins by understanding what the client wants their guests to feel, remember and carry with them long after they leave. In our discussion, Matteo defines key elements to designing kinetic environments that bring guests into an ‘awake state of wonder’, capturing their attention and fostering greater participation. He also encourages us to think of this approach as a new language that speaks to both logic and emotion.
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Matteo Mosca, CEO and Founder, Leva (Impossible) Engineering
Matteo is a founder and media engineer working at the intersection of creative technologies, design and communication, with a focus on interactive environments that foster meaningful human connections.
At Leva, Matteo leads a multidisciplinary team of engineers and creatives designing custom kinetic and immersive installations that blend mechanical movement, motion content and spatial storytelling. Their work turns physical, brand spaces into responsive, participatory environments that people can explore and connect with, not just observe.
Matteo also spearheads Leva’s strategy, developing marketing and business growth initiatives, while building the structure that allows technical experimentation to become scalable, real-world solutions. With a background in computer engineering and a strong creative drive, he brings a structured, results-oriented approach to innovation, combining technical rigor with a strong understanding of customer and market needs.
His goal is to help organizations leverage cutting-edge technology to connect with audiences, support growth and drive long-term competitiveness – with the type of experiences that break through the noise and reshape the way people interact with brands.
In our latest episode, Imogen Broomhead, Senior Director, Global Executive Experience Program, shares how she and her team built ServiceNow’s global program strategy, with a focus on Location and Investment Strategy. From defining primary pillars and KPIs with executive leadership to establishing a six-element infrastructure, Imogen outlines the consistent, data-driven methodologies behind their approach. She explains new center eligibility criteria, her partnership with Workplace Services (WPS) to create Global Playbooks for new builds, and how red/amber/green assessments give executives a clear view of Innovation Center health and upgrade needs. The result is a scalable model for building and managing a global program that showcases ServiceNow’s value to current and prospective customers.
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Guest Thought Leader
Imogen Broomhead, Senior Director, Global Executive Experience Program, ServiceNow
Imogen is a dynamic technology leader and customer experience champion with over eight years at ServiceNow. She leads the vision and execution of the company’s global Innovation Centers, transforming them into strategic programs that help customers, account teams, and executives innovate faster. Recognized as a CXO empath, SaaS marketer, and technology specialist, Imogen blends strategic thinking with strong execution. Her leadership is rooted in empathy, collaboration, and delivering measurable outcomes that align executive experiences with business goals and drive meaningful transformation.
In our first episode of 2026, Spencer Waldron, CEO of Cenrox, shares a deeply personal story that led him to uncover ways of managing difficult situations with new behaviors and choices. He walks through many elements that contributed to creating his Resilience Roadmap. From understanding neuroscience and the power of our eight emotions to identifying new habits that offer self care that we need in challenging situations, Spencer offers ways to navigate these situations, i.e. driving our boat while not focusing on the river. He also reinforces the fact that resiliency is not about having it all together. It’s about moving forward anyways and making a daily impact. As he says, ‘we are capable of handling more than we think we can’.
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Spencer Waldron, CEO, Cenrox
As the founder of Cenrox, Spencer helps people show up as the best version of themselves when it matters most. He’s best known for his work in Conversational Presenting, helping leaders and teams move away from one-way slide decks and toward clearer, more engaging, audience-led conversations.
Spencer’s work isn’t just based on theory or technique. In the past year, his perspective on communication and leadership has been shaped by navigating a serious family crisis, which led him to explore what resilience really looks like under pressure.
Today, he brings those lessons into his work with organisations, combining clarity, presence, and human connection in high-stakes moments. He’s also a LinkedIn Learning instructor, a TEDx speaker, and a student of improv comedy.
In our final episode of 2025, Liat Scheffer Ben Yakov, Founder of Masters Academy and the CEO of Masters Creation Group LTD, shares the key elements of her Masters of Creation Method including examining the 4 realms, addressing our life purpose, embracing our core values and setting daily intentions that allow us to live our life as the Masters that we are. The perfect guide for evaluating our current path while looking ahead to the New Year!
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Guest Thought Leader
Liat Scheffer Ben Yakov, Founder of Masters Academy and, CEO of Masters Creation Group LTD.
Liat holds an MBA and a BA in Economics, alongside advanced studies in holistic psychotherapy, and brings more than 20 years of experience consulting with CEOs, senior executives, and entrepreneurs around the world - including leaders in Silicon Valley. She’s a best-selling author, an international speaker, and the host of a long-running podcast now in its fifth year. Throughout her career, Liat has helped thousands of people break through limitations, achieve their goals, and create the life they truly want.
She is also the creator of the Masters of Creation Method, a 12-step framework for conscious reality creation which has grown into a global movement. What began as Masters Academy is now expanding into a larger, bolder, international group with a clear mission: to empower millions with the knowledge, tools, and practical pathways to become the leaders and masters of their own lives. Liat’s work is dedicated to deep personal transformation, global impact, and elevating human potential.
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