Alison Bukowski
Chief Customer Officer · Author · Speaker · Coach · Trainer
Authority follows influence. Not the other way around.
Alison Bukowski spent 20 years building influence without a title — and earned the corner office anyway. Now she is sharing everything she learned with the practitioners still in the middle of that journey.
About Alison
From practitioner to Chief Customer Officer, Coach & Trainer.
The title came last. The influence came first. That is the whole point.
Alison Bukowski didn't start as a Chief Customer Officer. She started exactly where a lot of the people reading this are right now — accountable for outcomes she didn't have the title, budget, or authority to guarantee, and figuring it out as she went.
Over 20+ years across marketing, customer success, sales operations, and customer advocacy, she built something more durable than a title: influence. Expertise, consistency, access, and results that spoke louder than any org chart could. The CCO role wasn't handed to her; it was the natural endpoint of a career spent proving that the customer voice is one of the most underused business growth engines.
Today, Alison helps organizations translate what customers are actually saying into decisions that shape marketing, product, sales, and leadership strategy — turning customer advocacy from a marketing tactic into a core driver of customer-led growth. She's a recognized, award-winning voice in the field, and just as comfortable asking a hard question in a boardroom as she is coaching a practitioner through their first stakeholder meeting.
Her leadership philosophy hasn't changed in twenty years: people before professionals, always. At the center of it is empathy and a belief that organizations grow fastest when they genuinely understand the people they serve, and let that understanding shape every decision. It shows up in how she builds programs, how she treats the customers behind the data, and how she shows up for all practitioners within the industry.
Outside of work, she's the proud mom of two daughters, three dogs, and three cats. Her obsession with thrifting, antiquing, and online auctions is more about unearthing new stories than tangible decor. And she’s a devoted fan of spontaneous road trips with no destination in mind.
01
20+ years industry experience
learn the craft before leading the teams02
$3B+ influenced revenue
prove the impact03
Winner Multiple Industry Awards
showcase and celebrate the hard work04
Speaker, Coach, Mentor
share the lessons learned with the community05
Chief Customer Officer
earn the title that follows influence06
Author
write the book that defines the career
The Book
Customer Advocacy that Counts
A practical guide for professionals accountable for outcomes they do not directly control, and who are done waiting for permission to lead.
There is a gap between the language of customer centricity and the lived reality of the practitioners who deliver it. Alison has spent her career in that gap. This book is her instruction manual for closing it.
This is not a book about waiting for a bigger title.
Customer advocacy, customer marketing and CX professionals are expected to drive pipeline, retention, adoption and trust — without the authority, budget or organizational power to make those outcomes easy. This book is about closing that gap.
Written for practitioners who sit between teams rather than above them, it provides concrete frameworks to earn credibility without a title, translate advocacy into business language executives care about, and build long-term organizational authority through consistency — not position.
01
Introduction & Glossary of Terms
02
Delivering Results Without Controlling Resources
03
Authority Through Expertise & Outcomes
04
Defining Scope & Setting Boundaries
05
Using Data to Prove Value
06
Communicating in Revenue, Retention & Risk
07
Building Cross-Functional Influence
08
Responding to Pushback & Dismissal
09
Consistent Execution Earns Respect
10
Elevating Advocacy to a Strategic Function
Get Notified at launch
Publishing May 2027 · Kogan Page
Stop reporting what you did. Start reporting why it mattered.
Alison Bukowski — Be AWARE Metrics FrameworkSpeaking
Rooms where the work gets discussed honestly.
Alison brings flexibility organizations while still tailoring to the format and outcome each event needs. Whether the goal is to energize a conference audience, give practitioners hands-on tools they can use, or bring a candid outside voice into an internal team offsite, Alison adapts the format without diluting the substance.
Twenty-plus years of experience means Alison isn't teaching theory; she's teaching what actually worked, what didn't, and why. Audiences leave with language they can use immediately, frameworks to start getting the work done, and translation skills to collaborate cross-functionally. For teams specifically, that means practitioners walk away with tools, not just inspiration — and leadership walks away with a sharper business case for the function.
Every engagement is shaped around the actual audience in the room, not a one-size-fits-all deck — because the core belief driving the work is the same one driving the talk: people before professionals, always.
Invite Alison to Speak
Keynotes
set the tone for an event with clear, memorable frameworks that audiences can retain and repeat
Workshops & Masterclasses
participants build something real–a translation matrix, a stakeholder map, a metrics plan–not just hear about it
Panels & Fireside Chats
bring candor and specificity instead of safe, rehearsed talking points
Webinars & Virtual Sessions
when you want the content without the travel lift and logistics
Podcast Guest
skip the stage and go straight to impactful conversations that mean something
Work Together
Let us have a real conversation.
Whether it is a speaking inquiry, a media request, or just a note to say the work landed — Alison reads everything.
The best outcomes in this field come from relationships, not transactions. That applies here too. No gatekeepers, no form-letter responses. Just a real reply.