Breaking Barriers and Busting Biases: Empowering Women in the Workplace and Beyond

Beth Ard is Vice President of Customer Experience and Journey at Lumen, where she is spearheading the company’s global CX transformation and driving a more customer-first culture. With 20 years in the technology space, Beth is an expert in building brand and customer loyalty via her extensive experience in customer-centric roles such as sales, marketing strategy, business development, vertical/segment marketing, and product marketing. Industry Analyst Forrester has recognized Beth’s work when researching Customer Obsession (How to Build Your Company’s Customer Obsession Strategy, Shar VanBoskirk, Forrester, January 2020. Beth was recognized as CX Visionary by Qualtrics in 2020 and featured in a blog on CX Culture Change. Gartner Analysts have recognized the Lumen CX Culture Change program (Case Study: Customer Experience (CenturyLink)- Gartner, 2019). Beth is respected both within Lumen and outside of the company, holding positions on several industry boards, including the Qualtrics Customer Advisory Board, the Forrester Customer Advisory Board and the UC Boulder CX Advisory Board. She often speaks at events like Executive Think Tank. Other Fortune 500 CX Leaders have also reached out to consult with Beth and her team to adopt the best-in-class practices created at Lumen in their businesses. Prior to Lumen, Beth held sales leadership roles at AT&T and BT. Beth has an undergraduate degree from Indiana University Bloomington, a continuing education certificate in Film from New York University and a business management certification from the American Management Association.

Seana Gilliland is the Vice President of Solution Architecture and Engineering. Seana has responsibility for the organization that architects and designs customer solutions across the North American Enterprise Sales and Customer Success organizations. Seana has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and previously served as Vice President of Lumen’s Public Sector Program Management Organization. She brings a breadth of experience that includes sales engineering, segment strategy, offer management, and program management. Seana holds a degree in mathematics from the University of Virginia. She and her husband live in Northern Virginia where they can be close to their extended families.

Annette Murphy is Regional President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) at Lumen. She is responsible for leading the EMEA region and business results in EMEA and APAC. Annette brings more than 20 years of experience in the telecoms and technology industries to her role, which includes all aspects of the company’s strategy, go-to-market and customer experience in EMEA and APAC. A people-first leader, Annette is passionate about fostering a diverse, inclusive and collaborative company culture. She currently serves as the Executive Sponsor for Lumen’s EMEA Women Empowered employee resource group. Previously, Annette was Managing Director, EMEA at Lumen. Prior to Lumen, she held several senior executive roles at Zayo leading sales, commercial and product teams. She also held senior management positions at Geo Networks and BT. Annette has a bachelor’s degree in commerce including strategic management and marketing from University College Cork, Ireland, and a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualification in management accounting. In March 2022, Annette was named in Capacity Magazine’s 20 Women to Watch power list which celebrates noteworthy women from across the wholesale telecoms and tech sector.