Barbara A. Higgins — Chief Customer Officer & Senior Vice President at Duke Energy Corporation

Ms. Barbara A. Higgins has been Chief Customer Officer and Senior Vice President of Duke Energy Corporation since August 10, 2017. Ms. Higgins is responsible for designing end-to-end strategies for measurement, valuation and enhancing the customer experience for residential, business and commercial customers. She has been Senior Vice President of Customer Experience & Retention at Allstate Protection Company since June 2011. Prior to Duke Energy, she served as Chief Customer Officer for Allstate Insurance Company where she managed the customer experience organization to drive retention and implement successful multichannel strategies for improving service, sales, risk assessment and customer communication. She served as Vice President of Worldwide e-Commerce and Contact Centers at United Air Lines Inc. She served as Vice President of Customer Contact Centers of UAL Corporation since June 2008. Ms. Higgins led travel service delivery and customer solutions, managing the contact center groups and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of UAL's call center operations. She served as Vice President of Customer Experience - United Airlines at United Continental Holdings, Inc. (alternate name, UAL Corp.) since January 22, 2007, where she led digital and contact center functions and drove significant operational improvements through engagement with employees worldwide. She has spent her career building and leading global organizations that deliver exceptional guest service. Prior to joining UAL Corp., Ms. Higgins served as Vice president of Operations, Planning and Integration for Disneyland Resort Paris, where she was responsible for guest research, quality improvement, safety, industrial engineering, on-site communication and project and labor management. Ms. Higgins had 18-year career with Disney and held a number of leadership roles in operations and corporate strategy, including Director of Operations Task Force for Hong Kong Disneyland, where she was responsible for recruiting, training and leading more than 300 expatriates from all lines of business through the preparations and opening of Disney's first park in Asia. She also served as Director of Operations Integration for Walt Disney World. Ms. Higgins spent the first half of her career with the Walt Disney Company in operations at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort Paris and the latter half in executive roles leading strategy support and project management for hotel and theme park operations. She serves on the Board of the Lincoln Park Zoo and was selected to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs 2009-2011 Emerging Leaders Program. She is an active member of the Cornell Hotel Society and has been a frequent speaker at the university. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University and Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business.