Customer experience specialist Crescendo appoints Will Newman as VP EMEA to lead firm’s European expansion
Crescendo, an AI powered customer experience specialist, has announced the appointment of Will Newman as Vice President, EMEA, following the company’s European launch in April.
Newman joins with more than 12 years of experience building and scaling go-to-market organisations across AI, data infrastructure and edge-computing platforms. He was also one of the first 40 employees at Confluent, where he helped build the international revenue organisation through to IPO. Since then, he has launched and scaled EMEA operations at Rivery and Truera, before most recently leading worldwide sales and partnerships at Ditto.
“Will knows what it takes to build in new markets,” says Michelle Donnelly, Chief Revenue Officer at Crescendo. “He’s done it repeatedly at companies operating at scale and velocity, and he understands how to turn technical differentiation into commercial momentum. He’s a builder, and he’s bringing that mindset and energy to Crescendo as we continue to expand across EMEA.”
Newman says: “What drew me to Crescendo was the scale of the customer experience market and the team’s approach to solving it. Customer experience has become a board level priority, but most organisations are still trying to manage it through disconnected tools. Crescendo is taking a different approach, and that creates a compelling value proposition in a market that’s ready for change.”
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
