Salena Scardina
Customer Experience Strategist & Keynote Speaker
Salena Scardina is a nationally recognized customer experience strategist, TEDx speaker, and the founder of HeroCX®. With over two decades of hands-on CX leadership across Fortune 500 brands and high-growth companies, she brings a rare combination of boardroom credibility and frontline insight to every stage.
TEDx Speaker
20+ Years CX Leadership
About Salena
Salena Scardina has spent more than 20 years helping organizations close the gap between the experience they intend to deliver and the one customers actually receive. Her work spans industries from retail, manufacturing, technology, foodservice, to professional services, giving her a cross-sector perspective that resonates with diverse audiences.
As the founder of HeroCX®, Salena developed a proprietary framework built on a simple but powerful premise: your customer is the hero, and your brand is the guide. That philosophy has shaped CX strategy for brands including Vera Bradley, Sweetwater, McDonald's, Autodesk, Crate & Barrel, and Helen of Troy.
Salena is a TEDx speaker, a conference keynote, and a trusted advisor to C-suite leaders navigating the intersection of customer loyalty, operational design, and business growth.
Speaking Engagements
Society of Association Executives ICON 2025
Leveraging AI and Human Connection
Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals
Human-Centered CX in an AI World: Finding the Balance
Bloomberg Live – Dubai / COP 28
Building a Green Economy for All
Inc. 5000
Enabling Founders through Indiana's People-First Approach
Autodesk
Building Relationships in a Technical Environment
TEDx Talk
A Defining Time for Human Connection in Customer Service
Founder of the HeroCX® Framework
TEDx Talk
Watch Salena's TEDx presentation on the future of customer experience.
TEDx — Salena Scardina on Customer Experience
Keynote Topics
Salena delivers high-impact keynotes and workshops tailored to your audience — from executive leadership retreats to industry conferences. Each presentation is customized with real-world case studies and actionable frameworks your team can use immediately.
Your Customer Is the Hero
The flagship HeroCX® keynote. Salena reframes how organizations think about their role in the customer relationship — shifting from vendor to guide — and delivers a practical roadmap for building experiences that earn loyalty.
The CX Gap: Why Good Intentions Aren't Enough
Most companies believe they deliver great experiences. Most customers disagree. Salena unpacks the root causes of the CX gap and shows leaders how to close it with data, design, and organizational alignment.
Measuring What Matters
NPS is a starting point, not a strategy. This session equips leaders with a layered measurement framework that connects customer signals to operational drivers to real business outcomes.
Voice of the Customer: From Listening to Leading
Collecting feedback is easy. Acting on it is hard. Salena walks through how to build a VoC program that actually changes decisions — and how to get the whole organization to care.
CX as a Growth Strategy
Customer experience isn't a cost center — it's a revenue driver. This keynote makes the business case for CX investment and gives finance and operations leaders the language to champion it internally.
Stability in the Storm: 5 Points of CX Leadership When Everything Is Changing
Disruption is the new normal — mergers, market shifts, workforce changes, and rising customer expectations don't pause for your roadmap. Salena shares five anchoring principles that CX leaders use to protect the customer relationship and keep teams aligned when the ground is moving beneath them.
What Event Organizers Say
Salena was the highest-rated speaker at our annual conference. She has a rare ability to make complex CX concepts feel immediately actionable. Our attendees were still talking about her session weeks later.
Conference Chair
National Retail Industry Summit
We brought Salena in for our executive leadership retreat and she completely reframed how our senior team thinks about the customer relationship. The frameworks she shared are now embedded in our strategic planning process.
Chief Operating Officer
Fortune 500 Manufacturing Company
Salena doesn't just speak — she transforms rooms. Her energy, credibility, and depth of expertise made our event unforgettable. We've already booked her back for next year.
VP of Events
B2B Technology Association
Book Salena for Your Event
Whether you're planning a keynote, workshop, panel, or executive retreat, Salena brings the insight and energy to make your event memorable. Fill out the form below and her team will be in touch within one business day.