David Rickard, Vice President at Everest Group, advises senior executives of global services on their strategic mandates and initiatives. David’s responsibilities include leading Everest Group’s sourcing and vendor management and customer experience management services offerings for EMEA clients as well as select global accounts. Prior to joining Everest Group, David held outsourcing and customer experience leadership roles. Most recently, he led the outsourcing practice for a CX consultancy, and before that, he was a Senior Procurement Director for Microsoft, where he was responsible for contact center outsourcing on a global basis. During his seventeen year-long career at Microsoft, David became a key member of the leadership team that successfully delivered one of the largest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) RFP’s in recent history and exceeded its business goals of savings and supplier reductions. Then in 2015, David won the prestigious IAOP Global Excellence in Outsourcing Best Practice Award. Additionally, David enjoys spending time as a volunteer mentor with EBP South, an organization that inspires and prepares local young people for the world of work, and he also volunteers with the Brain Tumour Research organization, assisting in collections and fundraising activities.