Karen Gurganious

From its inception, Percepta LLC has specialized in creating customer loyalty to its clients across the globe. Delivered in multiple channels, speaking multiple languages, we bring first-class service across each market we support.

Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 1,250 characters):

Karen Gurganious is a customer service leader who pairs sustained business growth with deep human trust. Since becoming President of Percepta in 2019, she guided the organization through a pandemic, industry disruption, and cultural reinvention-establishing a clear link between employee experience and customer outcomes in the complex CX and BPO automotive sector.

By Q4 2023, Percepta achieved its highest annual revenue in four years, capping a 75% increase since 2019 alongside expansion into new markets. During the eligibility period starting July 2023, global Customer Service Net Promoter Score rose by about 40 points, contributing to an overall 93-point improvement since Karen became President. Client NPS also increased by 13% between 2023 and 2025, part of a broader 52% gain since 2019. Karen reinforced these results by coining Percepta's mission, "elevating the customer experience is the call to action behind everything we do," as the organizing principle for investment and leadership.

Internally, she is regarded as a passionate, trusted, people-first executive whose balance of accountability and empathy enabled measurable CX, employee experience, and innovation outcomes. Karen will retire in February 2026, leaving a stronger, mission-focused, future-ready organization.

Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1, 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 1,500 characters):

Since July 1, 2023, Karen Gurganious delivered a rare combination of outcomes: global customer advocacy gains, stronger frontline effectiveness, and strategic investment in automotive customer service. Under her leadership, Percepta achieved a decisive turnaround for its largest OEM. Between mid-2023 and October 2025, Customer Service NPS rose 40 points worldwide (+68 South America, +26 Europe, +25 IMG). Percepta also achieved 76.2% retention, a 4.4-year average tenure, and a 15% promotion rate, reinforcing workforce stability in a highly technical automotive BPO environment where tenure and expertise directly impact customer outcomes.

Karen drove these gains by investing in technology and people. She sponsored a new Microsoft Dynamics-based CRM designed around agent workflows. As Jennifer Watts, Senior Director of Business Solutions, noted, "Karen made it clear that our agents' voices mattered. Her advocacy kept teams aligned around designing a CRM that truly supports the people who use it every day." Rolled out in 2024-2025, the CRM created a foundation for omnichannel service and analytics, reduced handle time by 3.5 minutes, cut training costs by 15%, and modeled a 15-point NPS uplift. Karen invested in Percepta's future while strengthening CX today. She expanded into future-ready areas such as EV customer experience, technical support, dealer and fleet enablement, and

CX-driven revenue programs, while extending delivery to South America (2023), Hungary (2025), and Spain (2026). Anticipating AI's impact on BPO, she championed data and analytics to drive growth and prepare the workforce for higher-complexity roles. DAISY, Percepta's first data analytics and voice-of-customer platform, launched in December 2023 and received a Gold Brandon Hall Award for Best Use of AI for Business Impact. The recognition reflected DAISY's dual impact: delivering business value while advancing Percepta's mission by equipping employees with insight to improve service, coaching, and outcomes.

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 1,500 characters):

Karen Gurganious's achievements reflect sustained excellence across customer service, employee experience, and leadership credibility-rare in an industry where leaders often trade off cost, speed, or people. Instead, she delivered results across all three, achieved simultaneously, sustained for years, and validated by customers, employees, and industry judges.

These gains were reinforced by consistent third-party recognition since 2023, with more than 20 industry awards spanning customer service excellence, analytics and training, and employee engagement, including honors from Stevie, Brandon Hall, and Awardco. Employees also independently validated this leadership, ranking Percepta #1 Best Company to Work For and #1 Best Outsourcing/Offshoring Company on InHerSight, while Comparably in 2025 placed Karen #33 in the Top 5% of CEOs based on nearly 700 reviews.

Karen's leadership is consistently validated by executives closest to the work. Merideth Evans, SVP of Operations, cited her "unwavering commitment to elevating the customer experience" and ability to empower teams through innovation. Scott Collins, VP of Global Operations, emphasized her balance of "deep operational focus with genuine empathy," shaping strategy that elevates both customers and employees. James Goldberg, SVP of Business Development & Customer Success, highlighted her "collaboration and relentless drive for results," noting that she "leads from the front because accountability matters." Darren Smith, CIO, underscored her broader impact: "Karen doesn't just transform customer experiences; she elevates the people, processes, and culture around her."

Taken together, Karen's achievements show a rare strength in customer service leadership: building a culture where leadership, employee experience, and customer outcomes reinforce one another at scale.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 1,500 characters):

The supplemental materials included with this nomination are designed to provide clear, multi-source evidence of the leadership, culture, and customer service outcomes described above. Executive leadership testimonials and anonymized employee comments shared following Karen Gurganious's December 2025 announcement provide firsthand validation of her impact from those closest to the work. These materials demonstrate a strong focus on trust, accessibility, and consistency in leadership across all levels of the organization.

Independent third-party recognition is documented through industry awards earned since 2023, including Stevie Awards, Brandon Hall Awards, Awardco recognition, InHerSight rankings, and Comparably honors. Together, these distinctions provide external confirmation that the results achieved under Karen's leadership reflect sustained excellence rather than isolated success.

Operational and performance artifacts illustrate how Karen translated people-first leadership into scalable systems and measurable outcomes. Materials outlining analytics enablement through DAISY and future-ready CX capabilities provide evidence of her targeted investments in new programs and differentiated services that strengthened Percepta's competitive position and credibility in the evolving automotive BPO landscape.

Finally, global performance trends and representative client examples show how these leadership decisions translated into real-world customer outcomes at scale. Trend visuals document sustained improvements in Customer Service Net Promoter Score and customer advocacy across regions since July 2023, while programs such as proactive outreach and CX-driven revenue generation demonstrate how Percepta expanded its service offerings without compromising the high CX standards established under Karen's leadership.

Together, these materials reinforce the nomination by connecting leadership decisions to employee experience, independent recognition, and measurable customer service outcomes.