Customer Experience Leadership with AI Program

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Lead with insight. Design with empathy. Deliver with impact.

This Customer Experience Leadership with AI Certificate Program equips professionals with the strategies, tools, and leadership skills needed to design and deliver exceptional customer experiences. You’ll learn how to align CX with business goals, leverage data and AI to innovate, drive insights, and lead customer-focused transformation across your organization.
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Through hands-on projects, real-world applications, and AI-powered tools, you’ll build customer personas, map journeys, develop CX strategies, innovate, and create an executive presentation to influence change. Along the way, you’ll explore how to foster a customer-first culture, engage employees, and use innovation and empathy to create meaningful, lasting experiences.

About the Program

Learn what it takes to design customer experiences that build loyalty, drive revenue, and reduce costs. Develop deeper insights and leverage data and AI-powered strategies to help your organization see the world through your customers’ eyes.

The Gonzaga University Customer Experience Leadership with AI Certificate Program is designed by industry experts for professionals ready to lead meaningful change. From your initial CX maturity assessment, vision development, and goal setting to persona creation, journey mapping, empathy-driven innovation, and cultural engagement, you’ll gain practical tools you can apply immediately. Through hands-on projects and real-world applications, you’ll build the confidence and capability to influence your organization and deliver lasting impact. 

What Makes This Program Different?

Built for Action - Not Just Theory
This isn’t a passive learning experience. You’ll work on your own organization throughout the program – building a complete Customer Experience Portfolio with strategies, tools, and solutions you can apply immediately.

Leadership-Focused, Not Just CX Basics
Most CX courses teach what customer experience is. This program teaches you how to lead it – including influencing stakeholders, aligning to business drivers, and communicating with the C-suite.

AI-Enhanced for Modern CX
You’ll explore how AI can elevate customer experience, from insights and personalization to team engagement, while maintaining a strong human-centered approach.

Proven Frameworks You Can Use Right Away
You won’t just learn concepts – you’ll apply practical frameworks like:
  • HEART for customer-focused innovation
  • SHAPE for building employee habits and culture
  • PASSION for leadership and influence
These tools help you move from ideas to execution.

Real Business Impact & ROI Focus
Every part of the program connects back to business outcomes – revenue, retention, cost reduction, and customer loyalty – so you can clearly demonstrate the value of CX in your organization.

Culture & Employee Engagement at the Core
You’ll learn how to build a customer-first culture and even create an AI-powered employee engagement project. Because great CX starts from within!
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Executive-Ready Outcomes
You’ll finish the program with:
  • A complete CX Strategy & Portfolio
  • An Executive Presentation to influence leadership
  • A Personal Action Plan to lead change

Enroll Today!

For Individuals

8 Modules Online ($4,995)

For Teams & Organizations

Customized Corporate Programs

Rolling Admission - Start Anytime
  • Self-paced, flexible learning designed for busy professionals.
  • AI-enhanced CX portfolio & downloadable toolkit.
  • Hands-on, real-world projects you can apply immediately.
  • Interactive discussion boards and peer engagement.
  • Learn proven frameworks for strategy, innovation, and customer-first leadership.
Ideal for professionals ready to lead customer experience transformation in their organization.
​Contact Us for Pricing & Scheduling
  • Tailored to your organization’s goals, industry, and customer experience maturity.
  • Flexible delivery with live sessions available.
  • AI-enhanced CX portfolio & customized project work.
  • Hands-on, team-based activities and real-world applications.
  • Designed to align leadership, engage employees, and drive measurable results.
Perfect for teams looking to accelerate customer experience transformation and build a customer-first culture.

Program Curriculum

The Customer Experience Leadership with AI Certificate Program meets the high academic standards of Gonzaga University's graduate programs, with a dynamic, interdisciplinary curriculum designed to help you analyze, design, and lead exceptional customer experiences.

Each module builds your skills and equips you with practical strategies, supported by a robust CX Ultimate Toolkit featuring OVER 60 resources, including workshop booklets, team-focused activities, templates, assessments, planning guides, and culture-building tools. Throughout the program, you’ll apply what you learn directly to your organization – culminating in a complete Customer Experience Portfolio with real, actionable solutions.

Module 1 - Customer Experience Introduction​

Build a strong foundation by defining customer experience and understanding what differentiates beloved brands from the rest. Explore the elements that create emotional connections, drive loyalty, and influence customer advocacy.
  • Identify Customer Experience leaders and laggards.
  • Analyze what makes experiences memorable – or forgettable.
  • Create a comparison scorecard to evaluate critical CX elements.

Module 2 - Customer Experience Strategy for Success ​​

Learn how to position customer experience as a core business strategy, not just an initiative. Explore how organizations embed CX into their culture and operations, and how AI and data can enhance decision-making, personalization, and predictive insights.
  • Develop insights into what a truly customer-centric organization looks like.
  • Build your CX vision, strategic goals, objectives, and roadmap.
  • Explore how AI can support CX strategy, engagement, and business impact.

Module 3 - ​Your Customers, Their Journey​​ ​

Dive deep into your customers’ world by developing personas and mapping their journeys across channels and touchpoints. Learn how to capture both emotional and functional aspects of the experience to uncover meaningful opportunities for improvement.
  • Create empathy-driven personas that influence decisions and culture.
  • Map high-level and detailed customer journeys.
  • Identify key moments, pain points, and opportunities to enhance experiences.

Module 4 - Accelerate & Improve Decisions with Data​

Customer experience efforts must connect to real business outcomes. Learn how to link customer perceptions to operational performance, cost savings, and revenue growth using meaningful data and metrics.
  • Explore leading practices for data-driven CX improvement.
  • Connect customer insights to business drivers like ROI, churn, and loyalty.
  • Identify and apply the most relevant metrics for your organization.

Module 5 - Customer-Focused Innovation with HEART

Innovate by putting your customers at the center. Using empathy and the HEART framework, you’ll learn how to identify pain points, break through organizational barriers, and design meaningful, customer-driven solutions.
  • Apply empathy techniques to uncover customer needs and frustrations.
  • Use HEART to guide innovation from insight to action.
  • Develop creative solutions that enhance experiences and add real value.

Module 6 - Principles of Customer Relationship Building

Customer experience is built on the strength of your relationships. Explore the elements that define trust, engagement, and long-term loyalty, and learn how to manage relationships across the entire customer journey.
  • Apply modern relationship-building models and frameworks.
  • Develop a Customer Relationship Maturity Matrix tailored to your organization.
  • Align CRM, technology, and CX strategies to support relationship growth.

Module 7 - Customer First Culture

Great customer experiences start with engaged employees. Learn how to build a culture that prioritizes customers while empowering your team to deliver on your brand promise. You’ll explore how to translate values into consistent behaviors using frameworks like SHAPE to develop strong habits and a culture of service excellence.
  • Understand the connection between employee experience and customer experience.
  • Develop habits and behaviors that support a customer-first culture using the SHAPE framework.
  • Create an AI-powered employee engagement project to bring your culture to life.

Module 8 - Navigating Politics of Change

Driving customer experience transformation requires strong leadership and influence. In this module, you’ll bring everything together – connecting CX to business drivers, ROI, and operational execution while building the skills to communicate effectively with the C-suite. You’ll also complete your PASSION Leadership Assessment and Workbook to strengthen your ability to lead with purpose, clarity, and impact.
  • Connect customer experience initiatives to business drivers, ROI, and operational success.
  • Build and deliver an executive CX presentation to influence leadership and drive adoption.
  • Leverage AI tools like the CX Coach to strengthen your strategy, impact, and PASSION action planning.

Capstone Project: Your Customer Experience Strategic Plan

The program culminates in your own Customer Experience Strategic Plan, developed throughout the course. By integrating your learning across all modules, you’ll create a comprehensive roadmap to operationalize customer experience within your organization.
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You’ll leave with a complete Customer Experience Portfolio – equipped with practical tools, strategies, and insights to lead meaningful, lasting change.

​Program Instructors & Content Experts

​​The esteemed faculty serving as content advisors and instructors for the course are recognized experts in their fields. Whether their contributions come through teaching, creating innovative materials, mentoring students, or advising on course content, they bring a unique blend of vision, inspiration, and practical skills. Together, they challenge your thinking, enhance your performance, and help you excel in your role.

Carol Buehrens – Faculty Chair

Carol is a leading Customer Experience (CX) strategist, author, and educator, and the author of “Happy RAVING Customers! 6 Steps to Grow Your Business with Customer Experience”, “Customer Experience - PLAN IT. DO IT. LOVE IT!: The CX Playbook & Planner”, “Creative Workshops with AI: Engaging Business Teams in Dynamic Workshops Using Artificial Intelligence”, and “The Leading H.E.A.R.T. – Human First. AI Smart.”

With over 30 years of experience, she has designed and transformed customer experiences for major organizations including Liberty Mutual, Northrop, McDonnell-Douglas, Bechtel, GE, Mercury Marine, and ICW Group Insurance Companies.
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Carol’s passion for advancing customer experience has earned her numerous accolades, including the prestigious “CX Innovation Award” from the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), the ICW Group CEO Award, and the Liberty Mutual Star Award. She has also been recognized as one of the World’s Top 30 Customer Service Professionals.
A Founding Member and Expert Panel Member of the international Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), Carol is widely respected for her ability to connect strategy, empathy, and innovation – helping organizations build customer-first cultures and deliver meaningful, measurable results.

Michael Truett

Michael is known for creating, improving and executing Collaborative Design Thinking sessions and Customer Experience frameworks across diverse industries (Media, Streaming Services, Ed Tech, Health & Wellness, SaaS, PaaS) at different stages of growth - early-stage start-ups, seasoned companies looking to transform, high growth and declining businesses.

​His experience ranges from Professor, Board Member, Keynote Speaker to leading Global Business Transformation (B2B, B2C, B2B2C), Business Development/Launch Strategy, Customer Experience, Customer Success, Customer Engagement, Customer Retention, Customer Service, Lifecycle Management and AI Transformation at companies like Spotify, The New York Times, Dow Jones, Tech start-ups and Telecom providers globally.

​Erich Dietz

Erich is the Vice President of Worldwide Strategic Accounts for InMoment. He has over 15 years of executive experience spanning consulting, business development, and solutions architecture. He is also a designated CXPA Expert and regular contributor to the community’s Google+ Hangouts and other events.​

JP Saini

​As Chief Information Officer for TRC, JP focuses on leveraging technology to digitally transform business and support profitable growth through improving customer experiences. JP is passionate about the mix of CX and technology and the impact of ensuring infrastructure is reliable, maintainable, scalable, flexible, and secure for all customers.

Stephene Klein

Stephene Klein is a trailblazer whose academic and professional journeys stand as a testament to her relentless pursuit of excellence. She holds three master's degrees - an MBA, MPH, and MPHA - from Everglades University, Boca Raton, FL, where she graduated summa cum laude, marking her place at the pinnacle of her class with an unrivaled 4.0 GPA. This academic titan not only delivered the Graduate Commencement keynote address, inspiring a crowd of over 1,000 attendees, but she is also a notable faculty member guiding the next generation of leaders. Her profound insights and wealth of knowledge have shaped countless C-suite executives, fostering excellence and innovation on a global scale.

Outside of academia, Stephene has consistently made a global impact. She is a Gold Medalist, Storytelling Writing Award Winner (2024), and the recipient of the Global Vision Award for Brand Strategy (2023). She was also the featured cover story of South Florida Magazine (2021), and has etched her place in the global business echelons. Her dynamic role at Zschool, saw her spearhead over 500+ Advisory Board meetings, annually, shaping the strategic direction for over 10,000 CxOs and senior executives worldwide.

With 20+ years of award-winning business development and engagement marketing experience, coupled with 15+ years of senior leadership roles, Stephene consistently drives sustainable revenue growth for leading global companies. Her extensive experience across multiple domains, including sales, marketing, and partnerships, and her well-established global network, position her as a catalyst for success in complex business environments.

Tiffany Craft

Tiffany Craft is a global business leader specializing in international expansion, strategy, marketing, and advertising. She has successfully driven growth for brands like Calvin Klein across Latin America, Asia, and Europe, leveraging cultural insights to boost international revenue.
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With expertise in strategic partnerships, retail, media, and entertainment, Tiffany has developed innovative marketing initiatives that enhance brand engagement and visibility. Her ability to merge traditional and digital strategies has led to award-winning campaigns and impactful business growth. Tiffany excels in fostering partnerships, leveraging digital innovation, and integrating AI to enhance efficiency. A sought-after speaker and mentor, she champions a culture of belonging and strategic transformation in global business.​

What others say about the Customer Experience Program...

"Becoming a CX expert doesn't happen automatically or overnight. It requires on-the-job training AND taking a course at a reputable university. That's exactly what I did and recommend you take the same program offered by Gonzaga University​. Read about my CX class experience and how you can differentiate your brand, too!"
- Stacy Sherman, MBA, CUA, Customer Experience Leader

"This program has done a great job of putting customer experience front and center for our organization. The concepts and presentations in the program are engaging and easy to follow, and the worksheets allow me to easily apply the concepts to my daily work. I recommend this CX program for anyone looking to bring customer experience to the forefront of their business."
- Jenny Baranowski, Awards Director, SIIA

"The course has been great for me and my company. It has given us new ways of thinking, allowed us to look at different ways of doing things and pull from successes in other industries that have translated into successes in our business that we wouldn’t have explored before."
- Brett Fish, Cognizant,  Senior Director Business Development
​To learn more about the Gonzaga University Customer Experience Leadership with AI Certificate Program and how it helps companies and business professionals, schedule a call with the program manager.