As AI, automation, and workforce transformation dominate the customer contact agenda, CCWomen at CCW Las Vegas will bring an important leadership question into focus: how can the industry modernize without losing the human connection that defines great customer experience?
Across its dedicated sessions, CCWomen will explore how women in customer contact are helping shape the next era of CX leadership. The agenda connects directly to the biggest themes at CCW Las Vegas, from agentic AI and self-service to workforce change, customer trust, and the evolving role of the contact center leader.
The timing matters. Women make up around 42 percent of the global workforce but just under a third of leadership roles. In technology, women held 35 percent of US tech jobs at the end of 2023, while women represent only an estimated 22 to 30 percent of the AI-related workforce. As AI becomes embedded in contact center strategy, ensuring women are involved in technology, transformation, and leadership decisions is no longer just a representation issue. It is a business priority.
Women in CX Leadership and the Future of Customer Contact
The CCWomen program begins with “CCWomen Connect: People First Bingo,” an interactive networking session designed to move beyond job titles and into lived leadership experience.
Featuring Cheryl China, CCWomen Hall of Fame Inductee; Kristina DeCarlo, Senior Manager, Customer Experience at DraftKings; Kacey Felila Tolua, CCWomen Hall of Fame Inductee; and Mandi Geary, Director, Customer Care at BSN Sports, the session reflects the value of peer connection in a high-pressure industry.
Customer contact leaders often sit between frontline complexity, executive pressure, technology change, and customer expectations. For women in CX, strong networks, visible role models, and shared experience can be crucial in building confidence, influence, and long-term career progression.
Humanizing AI in the Contact Center
One of the most relevant sessions is “Humanizing AI in Customer Contact,” which will examine how leaders decide where automation should take over, where it should support agents, and where human judgment must remain central.
This connects closely with wider CCW Las Vegas discussions around AI agents, self-service, and workforce transformation. Yet the CCWomen lens is particularly valuable because it focuses on leadership choices, not just technology deployment.
AI can reduce repetitive work and improve efficiency, but poorly designed automation can also increase customer frustration and agent pressure. As simpler interactions become automated, human agents are often left with the complex, emotional, high-value conversations that shape loyalty and trust.
That makes empathy, coaching, and human-centered leadership operational priorities. Not because they belong to one gender, but because they are now essential CX capabilities.
Closing the Technology Knowledge Gap for Women in CX
The session “Closing the Technology Knowledge Gap for Women in Customer Contact” will tackle another urgent issue: technology confidence.
As AI, analytics, automation, and data-driven decision-making become central to contact center operations, leaders need more than frontline expertise. They need the confidence to influence platform decisions, AI pilots, governance models, and transformation strategies.
The need is clear. AI is the top subject women want to learn more about, yet 63 percent report a lack of adequate skills and access to training. Meanwhile, C-suite executives expect around 46 percent of workers to require reskilling over the next three years because of AI.
For women in customer contact, closing this gap is about gaining influence over the systems that will define the future of service.
Future-Proofing Women in CX Leadership
“Future-Proofing Women in CX Leadership” will explore how women leaders are adapting to AI adoption, workforce instability, automation decisions, and rising efficiency pressure.
The modern CX leader must now work across IT, HR, finance, operations, product, and compliance. That requires technical fluency, commercial awareness, people leadership, and the ability to connect frontline realities to business strategy.
This session is especially relevant as leadership pipelines remain uneven. For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 87 women and 82 women of color receive the same promotion. Without deliberate focus, the next wave of AI-led transformation could reinforce existing gaps in opportunity and influence.
People-Centered Innovation at CCW Las Vegas
“Merging Tech Innovation with People-Centered Connections” will explore how organizations can embrace digital transformation without weakening trust, belonging, authenticity, and empathy.
This session will show that human-centered leadership is not a soft alternative to performance. It is how contact centers build resilient teams, make better automation decisions, and protect customer trust in an AI-enabled world.
As CCW Las Vegas looks toward the future of customer contact, CCWomen will make a timely case: the next era of CX will not be defined by technology alone, but by the leaders who know how to apply it responsibly, inclusively, and with people at the center.
CTA: Planning your CCW Las Vegas agenda? Read CX Today’s guide to Customer Contact Week Las Vegas and explore the essential 2026 conference calendar for contact center and CX leaders.
FAQs About CCWomen at CCW Las Vegas
What is CCWomen at CCW Las Vegas?
CCWomen is a dedicated program and community at Customer Contact Week Las Vegas focused on women and allies in customer contact leadership.
What are the key CCWomen talks?
Key sessions include “Humanizing AI in Customer Contact,” “Closing the Technology Knowledge Gap for Women in Customer Contact,” “Future-Proofing Women in CX Leadership,” “Merging Tech Innovation with People-Centered Connections,” and “Powerhouses of Customer Contact Women.”
Why does CCWomen matter for CX leaders?
CCWomen connects women’s leadership with major CX priorities, including AI adoption, reskilling, agent experience, operational performance, and customer trust.
Why is human-centered leadership important in CX?
As AI automates simpler interactions, human agents increasingly handle complex conversations where empathy, judgment, and trust matter most.
