Jodie Monger, PhD is the President of Customer Relationship Metrics (Metrics) and is recognized as a pioneer in customer satisfaction measurement for the contact center industry.  Prior to the creation of Metrics in 1993, she was the founding Associate Director of Purdue University’s Center for Customer-Driven Quality. 

Her formal education is in the disciplines of Consumer Behavior, Statistics and Research Methodologies, receiving an M.S. and PhD from Purdue University.  She received a B.S. from Juniata College where she now serves on the Board of Trustees and is a sponsoring Board member of the Juniata Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.  In 2006, Juniata honored her with the HB Brumbaugh Alumni Service Award for the work she has done over the past fifteen years to apply the principles of customer relationship management to the strategic direction of the institution.  She has supported an effort to facilitate a synergy between the alumni community and the leadership of the college.  Juniata has been highlighted on many occasions for its success in leveraging alumni relations to further the goals of the institution.

Customer Relationship Metrics is a research services company founded in 1993 and headquartered in Sterling, Virginia.  Metrics utilizes automated data collection solutions (Voice and Web) and research best-practices to implement scientifically valid Voice of the Customer programs to quantify service delivery.  Since our founding, we have used our CATs® (Completely Automated Telephone surveys) program to collect more than 7 million real-time surveys for the voice channel of contact centers.  Metrics is the standard in real-time surveying for contact centers and accurately generates report cards for the company, center, team, and agent by using a stringent Survey Calibration process. 

Dr. Monger’s papers and articles are frequently reprinted by numerous global media organizations and associations such as:

CRM Advocate, Contact Center World, Contact Center Strategy Forum, CRM Project, Call Center Magazine, Connections Magazine, CRM Today, eCustomer Service World, Frost & Sullivan, MindExchange, TMC net, CEO Refresher, Call Center Times, International Customer Service Association, (ICSA), AnswerStat Magazine, CRM Industry.com, Help Desk Institute, International Customer Management Institute (ICMI)

Dr. Monger participates as a subject matter expert on a number of Boards and Councils such as the Advisory Council for CustomerThink.com (formerly CRMGuru.com) and the CMO Council.

Metrics is dedicated to delivering research programs that follow a code of conduct that does not break the “Golden Rules” in consumer research:  to never create dissatisfaction when trying to measure satisfaction and to do no harm by poor survey creation and program operation that result in invalid and irresponsible reporting.  When reporting reflects invalid results, management teams make poor decisions that can affect the lives and livelihood of many.  Our mission is to prevent these and other Survey Malpractice issues to guide contact centers in doing more with less; to be positioned as a profit center and a strategic weapon; and to accurately transform customer Insights to Action! 

In 2004 Call Center Magazine expanded the scope of the annual award and added best-in-class services to complement the product awards.  In that first year, Metrics received the honor in the inaugural event.  Our reputation and influence on the industry stood as a testament of deserving the award and recognition. 

 In 2007, the EQM program was honored once again for being in the forefront of a movement to turn customer data into information that's useful, accurate and totally empowering.  Our commitment to continual improvements in measuring and analyzing First Contact Resolution (FCR) and our commitment on data integrity and reporting is unmatched in the industry.

In February of 2004, Metrics partnered with J.D. Power and Associates (JDPA) to conduct the Phase II (Voice of the Customer) audit for their Call Center Certification Program.  Metrics developed the survey that is used to determine Pass/Fail by the callers.  The JDPA Certification is uniquely different than any other contact center certification program in that the results from the Phase II Audit are the sole factor in the awarding of certification. 

Based on recognized industry expertise, the Call Center Industry Advisory Council has selected Metrics to conduct the VOC measurement for the new Agent Certification program.  With these two programs, Metrics has become the largest, global Voice of the Customer auditor in the contact center industry.  

In 2008, Frost & Sullivan, a global market research analyst firm awarded Metrics the 2008 North American Contact Center Applications Service of the Year Award for our eQM program.  They recognized the ease of deployment and the demonstrably superior technical underpinnings of our modeling. Also for our consistent efforts to deliver our clients a better hold on the customer experience.  

Jodie lives in McLean VA with her husband, Mark, and daughter, Emily, both who fuel the light and energy for her life.  Three real cats, compared to the survey system called CATs®, share their home and rarely remind Jodie that she’s really a “dog person”.

Dr. Debra Perkins

Debra Perkins PhD is a first generation college graduate—the first in her family on either side.  She graduated with a BA in English from the local college that has grown, developed, and changed its name to University of Southern Indiana.  While there, Debra added to her Hoosier Scholar and National Merit Scholar honors earned in high school by becoming the recipient of the following:

• Wahnsiedler Award for Excellence in Humanities 1973
• Indiana State University Evansville Scholastic Achievement Award 1973
• Department of Humanities Academic Award 1973
• Member of Alpha Psi Omega, Honorary Dramatic Fraternity
• Competitive Academic Scholarship 1970-1973

Wishing to attend graduate school to become an English professor, but being face with overwhelming expenses to earn the degrees and rather grim earnings prospects even if successful, Debra turned to making a living as a Caseworker for the Welfare Department in Marion County.  While not exactly financially rewarding, it did provide time for the discovery of the MBA and its potential for making a real living.

Moving from Indiana to Nebraska, Debra earned her MBA and University of Nebraska Regents Award 1979-1981.  But timing is everything and after double-digit inflation, the economy slid into a serious recession just at graduation.  Eventually Debra moved to Illinois and after a stint as a Technical Recruiter in an agency, took on Finance Chair for a congressional campaign.  We raised a lot of money and did well by coming in second in a nine-way race; but second place is not quite good enough.  From there Debra began working as a “gypsy” professor at three local colleges where she taught macro and micro economics as well as marketing courses.

Realizing that no benefits and low wages even earned from three institutes does not a living make, Debra was accepted to Indiana University where she completed all the course work for majors in management and marketing and a dissertation with a foot firmly in each camp.  She was inducted and remains a member in good standing of Beta Gamma Sigma, the Honor Society for Collegiate Schools of Business.

Debra was thrilled to be accepted by Purdue University and spent the next 5 years there teaching research and retailing studies to undergrad, masters, and doctoral students while publishing and speaking at conferences on consumer behavior – particularly on satisfaction and complaining behavior.

For the next ten years Dr. Perkins and her husband Frank Kirlin ran five small vehicle related businesses in Lafayette and the surrounding area in Indiana.  This provided hands-on real world experience in financial, advertising, the full range of human resources issues, as well as service and production in both retail and wholesale settings. 

Eventually we sold off the assets and businesses and moved to Florida to get back to Debra’s love of working with students and teaching.  She accepted a position as Associate Professor at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens where she teaches Business Law and Ethics, Human Resources, Marketing, and various Management courses to both undergraduate and graduate students.  She earned Scholar of the Year, School of Business, 2005-2006 in her first year at Florida Memorial and was and honorary inductee into Delta Mu Delta Honorary Business Fraternity the next year and which she currently serves as faculty advisor.

Dr. Perkins publications include 9 refereed articles in academic journals with 1 currently under review; 14 academic conference presentations; 15 articles in retailing management mostly co-authored with retailing students; 3 articles in contact center journals; 17 presentations in contact center conferences;  2 bibliographies and 3 contact center books in addition to Survey Pain Relief.