115 Curious about...Getting to know CX industry group's (SOCAP) Board Chair Nicole Nutile a bit Better & her 2025 Vision.
Welcome to the My Curious Colleague podcast with me, Denise Venneri. I am a twenty year practitioner in the consumer engagement space having worked for two large CPG organizations. My intent here is really to share best practices
denise venneri:with particular focus around the specialist and analyst roles and to give back to this great community because CPGCX rocks.
denise venneri:Hello, my curious colleagues. This week, I'm curious about what the consumer affairs industry group known as SOCAP has planned for 2025, and I would love to hear it straight from their board chair. And to help me do just that is my colleague in CILCAP twenty twenty five board chair, Nicole Nutille. Welcome back to the podcast, Nicole.
nicole nutile:Thank you so much for having me again, Denise. It's always a pleasure to be here with you and your audience.
denise venneri:Aw. That's nice. Hey, folks. You all may remember Nicole from her episode last year on her leadership role on Wiley's Green Group, an employee resource community. So do check out episode one zero seven, curious about getting green at work if you missed that one.
denise venneri:That's my last plug. We have a lot to get into, but first, can can you share a little background on SOCAP? Just a refresher, what it is and what your vision and or platforms are for 2025.
nicole nutile:Yeah. For sure. So I wanna start by saying, SOCAP, a lot of colleagues in the industry don't know what it is. It's the Society of Consumer Fair Professionals. And I think it's really important to call that out, because, you know, SOCAP people, you know, haven't been in it, don't always know, but that's really what it is.
nicole nutile:It's been my professional hub for the last thirteen years. And over that time, I've I've volunteered in many of the local chapters and regions, eventually joining the national board of directors and then the executive board. So cap really serves as the key networking community platform for customer service trends. Those who want who wanna connect and stay on top of what's going on in their world, especially in the CX world. So we connect the top CX leaders from renowned brands and consumer packaged goods industries to CPG, retail, automotive, and travel.
nicole nutile:And I think with today facing rapid technological advancements, we're always worried about brand loyalty, right, concerns that we have from our consumers. And that shift back from even hybrid to in person, that focus being on in person events. So we have to remain relevant. I think that doing that, SOCAP has to evolve. We've been around for fifty plus years now, and that's a challenge when you have something with such rich history, how we bring that forward.
nicole nutile:So with technology, being at the forefront, it's going to be essential in how we continue growing. Besides leveraging technology, I think essential to our success is going to be ensuring transparency to our membership and the leaders that support the organization. And then, of course, the accessibility that we give to our members, so that way they're getting the best, most relevant content market. I hope that as the 2025 board chair, this approach is going to allow our members that are with us now and that happened with us for a really long time and the nuance coming on to really take, you know, advantage of their membership.
denise venneri:So I thought I think you touched on in there kinda what your platforms are. Am I correct? I think I heard transparency. Right. Which is, which is great opportunity right now, as you were saying, for folks to get to know you accessibility.
denise venneri:And was there a third one?
nicole nutile:Technology, I think is a big part of where we're going. Yeah.
denise venneri:Okay. Alright. So speaking of which, where does specifically within technology, because AI is really just a lever in technology, although we have it, like, you know, up a little bit higher for some reason. Where does that fit in? Or does it figure at all or predominantly with your SoCap vision for 2025?
nicole nutile:I think it's interesting, right? Like, how many times a day now we hear AI, artificial intelligence? Mhmm. It's really for me, AI is no different than when we think about when the Internet first launched. Right?
nicole nutile:And I always go back to that clip, that it's a classic. It's from the Today Show from the early nineties, and they're like it's like Katie Couric and them. They're like, what is the Internet anyway? And they couldn't figure out what the at symbol was. Was it at or about?
nicole nutile:And it was just great.
denise venneri:Oh my god.
nicole nutile:So I think what that is, you know, '94 wasn't that long ago, and we're thinking about this the same way. But I think if we just embrace where ETA AI is headed and seamlessly try to integrate it into our technology strategy, the best way that's gonna serve the members and the organization, I think it's something that we're really excited about.
denise venneri:Yeah. And I think that's definitely, you know, a great benefit of the industry group or any industry group is to learn from your peers, learn from the experts, especially as, you know, we evolve into this this part of the whole technology. Alright. We covered that and that. I do wanna get into the events for members in a bit, I promise.
denise venneri:But wondering if you could at first give us a little sneak peek as the chair. So folks may not know. In fact, I'm not even positive. What was your succession plan like to help you be the best leader you can be now in this role? And I also understand that the chair gets to select a SOCAP advisor for their year of reign.
denise venneri:Can you tell us more about that and who and why you may have selected them?
nicole nutile:Yeah. Yeah. That's a great question. So I'm I'm really fortunate to have had so much support and mentorship throughout the years from, you know, Beth Siff all the way to, you know, Chris Jury, who was the 2025 board chair. And he really made sure that I was ready to take on this role.
nicole nutile:Even now, he's the immediate past chair and also serves on the executive committee. He's backing the organization and supporting my vision for what, I want to have to be this year. I was on the board for a lot of the pandemic when, the leaders, you know, like Lisa Deal were like, she was serving as sheriff for quite some time because we were in this sort of weird gray area. And Marie Schubin, were sort of leading the charge. Being a part of that group, is just a priceless experience.
nicole nutile:And all of that helped build the vision that I have, helped build sort of ways that I see things and me as a person, my character. And I could be I couldn't be more grateful for for them. But when it comes to the advisers, I didn't know about this either until a few years back, but the incoming chair gets to appoint a nonvoting member adviser. And it's not mandatory, but it's definitely a fantastic opportunity. So I jumped on that when I took over as chair, and I sort of I used the SoCaps term voluntold.
nicole nutile:My incredible boss, and he's also a long time SoCalpper, Bob Weiss, to to join me, and he fully supported it. Bob's our corporate vice president of global customer service and sales support at Wiley. He's been a member of SoCap for, you know, so long. He brings over twenty five years of expertise in customer service, quality, reverse logistics. You know, not a lot of people know, but fun fact about Bob is he's an engineer, an electrical engineer by trade.
nicole nutile:So before joining while Wiley, he really took that customer focused lean six sigma, you know, approach to continuous improvement to so many organizations that he worked for. Sony, Motorola, Samsung, Barnes and Noble, and then Google. And from Google, he came to Wiley, and he's been there since. So he's just really great, and I think having him in this advisory role is going to add value to the organization. His knowledge in CX and especially automation and AI, he's really one of the leaders in that area.
nicole nutile:He's gonna help me to preserve that rich culture and history of SOCAP that we've had the last fifty years while, you know, really embracing what the future holds.
denise venneri:I'm jumping into an ad right now. This episode is sponsored by SOCAP, the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals. As the leading CX association, SOCAP is at the forefront of customer experience, trends, and innovation. Discover how SOCAP empowers its members to stay ahead in the evolving CX landscape, join the community where members come for the knowledge, stay for the network at socap.org. That's socap, s o c a p, dot org.
denise venneri:Speaking of that on Internet, when you receive an email from SOCAP or just peruse their website, socap.org, and just peek around the events and conferences section. There are some changes, some very big changes. Can I look to you to take me through those and some background, please?
nicole nutile:Yeah. For sure. Yes. I'm glad you brought that up. There are some changes.
nicole nutile:There's big changes, and, I think it's really important that we get to talk about this. We have a lot of exciting things going on this year, events. But what I really wanna highlight is the shift that we took two symposiums, and we made the the move to one major national conference. And I'm really excited about this. I know that the executive committee, with the board of directors' support, this is not something that was done lightly.
nicole nutile:We we took a lot of time and consideration, and work went into making this decision. So it is happening, from October, and it's going to be filled with so much valuable content, top tier speakers. We're thinking bigger, better. And I think that's what the membership deserves. I think that's what our business partners deserve.
nicole nutile:Right? Because we know we can't have one without the other. And I think it's important to say that there is a big announcement that's coming out about the location and all those amazing speakers. And then I want to just touch on we think about the impact that the organization wants to make. Having a single really content rich event was the best approach right now.
nicole nutile:It attracts more attendees, creates bigger impact, reaches a wider audience. It's going to help us really build a strong brand identity for for the Society of Consumer Fair Professionals. And I think this becoming the flagship event that everyone looks forward to to each year will enhance our reputation, build on that consistency, and allow for the regional events we have to have another focus, you know, that they can we have our members focus on those areas as well. They're not worrying about, you know, these two bigger events they have to go to. They can really use their resources and time wisely.
nicole nutile:So resources on that topic, we considered how much goes into this. Organizing two large conferences, let alone one, really requires significant time, money, staffing, and that sort of constant churn that, you know, our SOCAP staff goes through. Doing one main event, having the executive director and dedicated staff, volunteer committees that help support this and get it off the ground. They can really manage resources more effectively, ensure a better experience for everyone. There are some stand alone summits lined up, which usually we've seen them a part of the conferences.
nicole nutile:So I'm excited to see that. The auto summit is in February, February eleventh, I believe. The retail summit, May first. And they're going to be fantastic. And I think that I will tell you the CPG Summit is going to be attached to our national conference, along with an amazing sponsor, and it's going to be another stellar event.
nicole nutile:If you went to the one last year, you know. But having it connected to this first national conference, it's it's a big deal, and we're excited. And the CPG group is really robust. They have, a huge impact on so caps, you know, everything, DNA. So we're excited for this.
nicole nutile:And I think that goes back to, you know, tapping into SOCAP's roots, the local communities, and just excelling in these areas is going to take this event to the next level. And they've done such an amazing job. All the steering committees, the executive director Suzanne, our staff at SoCap, for putting this all together. So check out SoCap.org to definitely learn more on the events page.
denise venneri:Well, alright. I'm I'm gonna have to listen this again just to write down some of those dates, and it sounds like soon we'll know lots of the details. Love that. I I think that the reason I'm really excited about hearing about so let's say the summits in particular, the stand alone, is because I am a believer in sort of getting your head out of, in my case, the CPG cloud or consumer products goods. Right?
denise venneri:That's the company no. I guess that's the company type that I've supported for quite a while. And and check out some of these other summits. So you might be a CPGer, but maybe you check out your retail summit because you'd never know what is their channel strategy, what are the consumer learnings that you might be able to benefit from hearing in, say, another category or another vertical and using that to kind of test any hypotheses you may be having along the way or just getting inspired. So I do suggest you think about that.
denise venneri:If not this year, you know, next year for sure. Because it is beneficial in my my humble opinion. If anyone knows us, you know, we're both believers in participating in the industry group, we've both served on the local chapter. This is back in the chapter days, I served on the local chapter level as well as national level for the CPG steering committee and of course, your chair and you're taking us through your volunteering. Let me ask you this.
denise venneri:Why did you get involved along with having, you know, a pretty demanding nine to five? And if I may share a young family, what why did you get involved? And what if someone's listening to this and they're like, oh, you know, I wanna get involved. I'm nervous about the time commitment. How could I just kinda dip my toe in it?
denise venneri:What what tips or suggestions could we give them? So that's a that's a two parter.
nicole nutile:Yeah. So, first, I got involved because, well, for sure, we know that SOCAF is like no other community of professionals. We care about the same topics. We service the same customers across all the different brands and industries. And ultimately with SoCAT, it becomes not just your professional network, but sort of like a family, another family that you have to go and talk about things that are happening in your work life.
nicole nutile:And I think that's because of the years of tradition that this organization has built on. Beth Siff, I mentioned earlier, she was my introduction to Silcap. I know she's been on your podcast before, and Beth is just, you know, she's a gem. And she invited me to join her and Sam, at the Estee Lauder building in New York in 2012. I had started working for her earlier that year, and I think the rest is history.
nicole nutile:I just knew from meeting those people and seeing how connected they were and supportive of each other that from that day on, I wanted to be part of the SoCap, you know, tapestry, the story that we're writing. And I know we, to the second part of your question, like, there is so much going on and, you know, we think about time, there's never enough. But I really suggest if people are gonna get involved in any capacity, if you have the desire to really expand your professional network, have direct access to some of the top industry leaders out there, experts in their space, and then some of the the best events, I think go for it. I always say to people who ask me about joining the board or helping out, you should just tap into the local region. You know, we are Canada, Northeast, Southeast, Central, and West.
nicole nutile:And there's so many great people that I can link you with. Denise, I know you can, as well as SOCAP to get you in touch with them and see what time you're willing to put into it. And if you you could do something small, volunteer in one event, just ask about what's going on. But I think if you wanna get out of SOCAP, it's really what you're willing to put into it. And anyone who'll tell you what when they've invested into it and they're passionate about it, the possibilities it's look after are endless.
nicole nutile:And I didn't think twelve years ago going to that event at Estee Lauder, and just being sort of in awe of all these people and these amazing industry leaders that I would be here as the 2025 board chair. It was I wanted to be on the board as part of my own professional road map, what I wanted to do in my career, and to get here was just amazing. So I'm very grateful, and I think anyone who joins will feel the same way.
denise venneri:Wow. I am smiling so hard that my my cheeks are actually and I've got a lot of cheeks. Cheek are hurting me. That's a beautiful story. It real it really is.
denise venneri:Were you, like, president of your student council or back in high school? Or
nicole nutile:No. I It was not.
denise venneri:Was leadership always your calling and volunteer volunteering? No.
nicole nutile:Volunteering. Yes. I love volunteering. I volunteer, you know, on a lot of green stuff and I volunteer in my comp my community. But, no, I was an artist in all my things up until meeting Beth.
nicole nutile:So I went from gallery to ACC premier, and it was very interesting, the shift in in life. But, you know, it it worked out.
denise venneri:Interesting. Alright. Just just getting to know you just a little bit better. So what I was hearing was that, hey. If you're out there and you wanna get involved but scared not scared, but a little bit nervous about the time commitment.
denise venneri:It sounds like to me that the regions could use some help. We had a region meeting last month and got introduced to all the region members. And again, like, that's that's I just called you Beth. That's a compliment. Just as what Nicole said, we can hook you up if you need that.
denise venneri:But, you know, there's several events for each region. So you could just pick one event. Maybe it speaks to you the topic or you have connections that you could bring on in. You know, you don't necessarily have to lead and deliver that one event. You could be part of the support team.
denise venneri:Yeah. Because everybody's got a nine to five. So, and we're humans. We could all use a little help. Okay.
denise venneri:Well, that is a wrap. And I just wanted to thank you again for your time today to to share your vision and platforms and a little sneak peek into the chair role for SoCAD. Thank you.
nicole nutile:Thanks, Denise.
doug venneri:You have been listening to the My Curious Colleague podcast with Denise. Thank you for your time.
doug venneri:Time.
