Tara Martin, Vice-President of Customer Success at RentalMatics, has been confirmed as a member of the judging panel for the Irish CX Impact Awards 2026, bringing more than two decades of customer experience, business development, and digital transformation expertise to a programme that has benchmarked customer experience excellence in Ireland since 2018.

Martin's career spans two distinct but complementary environments. At Hertz International, where she served as Senior Director of Franchise Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa, she operated within one of the world's largest and most complex car rental organisations. It is a publicly traded Fortune 500 company with the scale and geographic reach to test any leader's capacity for strategic thinking and cross-cultural execution.

Her contribution during that period was recognised at the highest level: a Global Leadership Award presented by the CEO, an acknowledgement of performance that stood out within a demanding international peer group.

Since 2021, she has brought that accumulated experience to bear in a markedly different context. At RentalMatics, a fast-growing technology startup, Martin has designed, implemented, and evolved the organisation's customer success and experience strategy from the ground up, driving process improvements and leading both internal and external teams through the particular challenges that rapid growth presents.

The contrast between her Hertz and RentalMatics tenures, specifically corporate scale on one hand and startup agility on the other, gives her a perspective on customer experience that is rarely found in a single career.

The Irish CX Impact Awards draws its judging panel from across the CX community, with judges required to declare conflicts of interest and bound by strict confidentiality throughout the evaluation process.

Martin 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, Ann Marie O'Donnell of Actavo, and Brian O'Flynn of Capventis.

The 2026 programme spans 27 categories, 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. The submission of entries remains 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.