Chris Sutton is Vice President, U.S. Automotive Retail Practice at J.D. Power. He is responsible for the company’s U.S. syndicated retail studies, Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) and Customer Service Index (CSI). Additionally, his team conducts proprietary research and tracking engagements, including sales rejecter, service defection measurement, and sales, service and Internet mystery shops. The team also conducts strategic consulting engagements that support client customer experience improvement, as well as numerous in-dealership consulting engagements resulting in demonstrated improvement.

Prior to joining J.D. Power in 2005, Mr. Sutton spent 12 years at Ford Motor Company in various field and corporate positions, gaining experience in sales, marketing, dealer franchising, vehicle operations and customer experience program management.

Mr. Sutton speaks regularly at automotive industry conferences and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal; The New York Times; Automotive News; The Washington Post; and USA Today.

Mr. Sutton earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and an MBA from Miami University in Ohio.

Rich Bongiorno is Managing Director, Customer Service Advisory at J.D. Power. He is responsible for the management of the company’s Customer Experience Management product, including the Voice of Experience (VoX) data and analytics technology platform, which is  J.D. Power’s solution for customer experience management. In this role, he sets the strategic direction and product development road map in this space for J.D. Power. Additionally, he supports business development efforts as a subject matter expert within the organization. 

Mr. Bongiorno joined J.D. Power in 1998. Prior to his role in Product Management, he led a global business transformation initiative for J.D. Power, which focused on improving the way the company designs, executes and delivers its syndicated and proprietary data and insights products to the market. This initiative involved global teams across the company organized into work streams.

Earlier at J.D. Power, Mr. Bongiorno held several roles of increasing responsibility across several syndicated and proprietary research engagements. He was responsible for the management and execution of some of the company’s most respected and watched syndicated studies across the automotive industry. 

On the proprietary side of the business, Mr. Bongiorno has been responsible for some of J.D. Power’s largest and most complex proprietary tracking engagements across several different industries. During his tenure in this role, his team was nominated for and received the American Honda Premiere Partner Award multiple times.

Mr. Bongiorno received an MBA from Pepperdine University. He holds a certificate in Pragmatic Product Management and a Lean Six Sigma green belt certification. 

Scott Yamauchi is a Managing Director in J.D. Power’s Customer Experience Solutions practice. Scott is responsible for managing the implementation and ongoing execution of all Customer Experience research programs in the U.S.

Scott has 20 years of experience working with clients to help them achieve their CX goals. Additionally, he supports the strategic efforts to apply best practices in Customer Experience research across our global offices. 

Scott earned bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Sociology and Business Administration. He has received a J.D. Power Award of Excellence, a J.D. Power Technology Transformation Award, and the Honda Premier Partner Award.