Ann Marie O'Donnell, Director of Customer Strategy at Actavo, has joined the judging panel for the Irish CX Impact Awards 2026, bringing over 20 years of customer experience strategy, journey mapping, and employee engagement expertise to a programme that has set the standard for CX recognition in Ireland since 2018.

O'Donnell's work at Actavo places her at the operational centre of customer experience delivery for leading international brands across Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean.

In that role she leads the development and execution of Actavo's customer experience vision, overseeing the full scope of CX framework design, capability management, and measurement systems.

That breadth of responsibility gives her an evaluator's understanding of what it takes to build, sustain, and scale customer experience practice within a complex, multi-market organisation operating across geographically and culturally distinct environments.

A distinguishing thread running through her career is a sustained commitment to designing experiences that serve customers with varying abilities, including those with mobility challenges, vision or hearing impairment, and elderly users.

That focus on inclusive customer experience extends her perspective beyond mainstream CX strategy into the question of what genuine accessibility looks like in practice, a consideration that sits within the scope of any awards programme serious about recognising transformative rather than merely polished customer outcomes.

The Irish CX Impact Awards draws its judging panel from across the CX community, with judges bound by strict confidentiality and required to declare any conflicts of interest throughout the evaluation process. O'Donnell joins a panel that includes Gavin Carpenter of Phonovation, Evin Conway of CSG, Rachael Corcoran of EPAM Systems, Jenny McCoy of the Irish Management Institute, Tara Martin of RentalMatics, and Brian O'Flynn of Capventis.

The 2026 programme spans 27 categories covering the full breadth of the discipline, from CX Champion and Best Use of AI in Customer Experience to sector-specific and people-focused awards including CX Manager of the Year and CX Rising Star of the Year. Shortlisted finalists and winners receive national exposure through The Irish Times Online.

The awards gala will take place on 4 November 2026 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry. Entries remain open until 24 July 2026.

Visit the official Irish CX Impact Awards website to explore past winners, review category details, and submit your entry. Subscribe to the newsletter for other news and updates.