AI-Driven Agents, Human-Centered Service
July 21 - 22, 2026
| Free CX Network Webinar Series
Heather is a transformational customer experience and sales executive known for turning large scale contact centres into high-performing engines of growth. As Vice President, Global Client Experience Centres at Scotiabank, she leads a team of 3000+ advisors, driving AI-powered transformation, elevating performance culture, and delivering standout client outcomes at scale.
Recognized as a Top CX Leader to Follow and a Top CX AI Leader by the CX Network, and a recipient of the Empowered Women Award, Heather has built a reputation for blending operational excellence with human connection. Her leadership philosophy is simple but powerful: when you unlock people you unlock performance.
A certified neuro-linguistic programming practitioner and host of the Say YES Movement Podcast, Heather brings a unique lens to leadership, combing neuroscience, mindset and real-world execution. On stage she is known for her high energy, storytelling and practical insights to help leaders move from intention to impact, fast.
Based in Toronto, when not transforming organizations, she is chasing travel adventure, wrangling her three French bulldogs (Loki, Mai and Tatar Tot), and always on a global mission to find the best pad thai in the world.
Day One - July 21
12:30 PM Why cultural transformation must keep pace with tech – and how
The contact center industry is in the grip of an AI arms race and CX and contact center leaders are investing heavily in AI and automation. This makes sense with the significant efficiency gains available and increased competitive environment. There is ,however, a creeping risk in going all-in on tech without putting the same energy into culture reform. The potential result is that every contact center ends up with the same tech stack and deflection rate with little left to differentiate them.
The human skills that will define tomorrow's contact center – namely curiosity and empathy - don't emerge from software deployments. They have to be hired for and trained for.
In this session, Heather Arthur, Vice President of Client Experience Centres at Scotiabank, will make the case for a parallel transformation in which investment in AI is matched by investment in the agents and wider culture surrounding it. We will explore what that looks like in practice, from rethinking hiring for a world where agents handle only the most emotionally charged calls, to redesigning training programs that prioritize connection and building feedback loops that make frontline agents feel seen and heard. We will also address the internal structural challenge that has held the industry back, in which technology lives in IT and culture lives in HR, and they rarely speak. This session will make the case for contact center and CX leaders to become the connectors between these two worlds to drive collaboration that serve customers better.
Attendees will learn:
- Why investing in AI without investing in culture risks a talent crisis and a race to the bottom on differentiation
- How hiring practices and training must evolve now that AI is handling tier-one interactions
- The role CX leaders must play in bridging IT and HR to build the contact center of tomorrow
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