LivePerson Announces Executive Hires to Further Accelerate Conversational AI Growth, Scale, and Partnerships

Andrew Hamel, EVP, Operations and Emerging AI Businesses, and Shani Higgins, SVP, Global Partnerships, join executive team

LivePerson, Inc., a global leader in Conversational AI, announced the hiring of Andrew Hamel as EVP, Operations and Emerging AI Businesses, to lead day-to-day operations with a focus on optimizing the company’s ability to grow and scale, and Shani Higgins as SVP, Global Partnerships, to lead LivePerson’s holistic partnership strategy.

Consumers are driving a massive structural shift to remote, digital engagement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating brands’ adoption of Conversational AI experiences. Conversation volume on LivePerson’s industry-leading Conversational Cloud platform has increased by nearly 50% since the start of the pandemic.

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“We’re thrilled to bring Andrew and Shani onboard to extend our lead helping brands deploy the automation and AI they need to keep pace with overwhelming consumer demand,” said Robert LoCascio, founder and CEO of LivePerson.

Hamel will oversee the daily operations of the company, help accelerate growth and scale, reimagine the future of work from a synchronous office-centric model to an asynchronous employee-centric workforce, and steer its business-to-consumer strategy and execution. In addition to running large technical services and organizations serving hundreds of millions of customers on a daily basis, Hamel has extensive experience using AI to deliver improved, personalized customer journeys. Before joining LivePerson, he led the development of Amazon’s recommendation engines, search function, and other machine learning-powered experiences. Prior to Amazon, Hamel held leadership positions at tech companies including Tacit Software, Infoseek, and Tumbleweed. He graduated from California State University and is on the board of the A Breeze of Hope Foundation.

“I’m proud to join LivePerson’s team as we build the new operating model to scale to the next level,” said Hamel. “Conversational AI is bringing about a shift as profound as search and social did, and it’s an exciting time to join the industry leader in this space.”

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Higgins’ responsibilities include the selection and support of new global strategic alliances as well as the continued growth of existing partnerships. Through her work developing long-term partner ecosystems, brands will be empowered to accelerate growth in key areas including care, customer success, marketing, and commerce. Prior to joining LivePerson, Higgins gained over two decades of experience growing revenue and reach through strategic partnerships, business development, revenue optimization, customer success, and bringing to market innovative solutions leveraging data and machine learning at companies including Mozilla, Infoseek, and Ziff Davis, as well as in her role as CEO of Technorati. She graduated from Rutgers University, where she ran the school’s daily paper, The Daily Targum.

“It’s an important time in LivePerson’s history to turbocharge growth,” said Higgins. “I’m excited to join the company’s team of experts as we distribute and integrate our industry-leading tech and inject even more value into our partner ecosystems.”

Hundreds of the world’s largest brands build, run, and optimize AI-powered conversational experiences on LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud to engage with consumers over popular messaging channels such as SMS, WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, Facebook Messenger, Google RCS, LINE, WeChat, and native messaging on brand websites and mobile apps. By layering in the Conversational Cloud’s suite of automation and AI solutions to the messaging channels consumers prefer, brands increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and drive greater efficiency.

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