ELAINE BUXTON

ELAINE BUXTON

Confero, Inc.

Young Enterprising Women
Advisory Council
Co-Chair – Raleigh, NC

Elaine Buxton is President and CEO of Confero, Inc. a customer experience consultancy that has provided mystery shopping evaluations, customer brand support services, customer satisfaction research and employee incentive and recognition programs since 1986. The firm operates in North America and serves Fortune 500 and regional growth companies. The technology that drives customer experience data and understanding has changed dramatically over the years. A self-proclaimed “data geek,” Elaine loves learning about new technologies and strategizing about how to apply them to her clients’ projects. Her current data passion is AI applications for understanding customer sentiment.

Prior to joining Confero at start up, Elaine served as Retail Operations Manager for Wedgwood China Company’s European Concession Division, managing administration, buying, and logistics for thirty-two (32) retail stores in five (5) European countries. These stores operated on U.S. and NATO military bases as part of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).

Elaine earned her MBA from Meredith College and her BS in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her case studies or articles about customer experience have been published in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review, Enterprising Women Magazine, and the Southeastern Case Research Journal.

Her leadership and customer experience expertise has been recognized locally and nationally with the Greater Women’s Business Council Trailblazer Award, the Stevie® Award for Customer Service Consulting Practice of The Year, Enterprising Women Magazine’s Enterprising Woman of the Year, Women’s Foodservice Forum’s Executive Volunteer of the Year, Triangle Business Journal’s Women in Business Award, the Women to Know in North Carolina list and the Inc 5000 List.

Elaine currently serves on the board of directors of the BBB serving Eastern Carolinas, the Advisory Board of the Meredith College School of Business, and MSPA-Americas. In 2021, Elaine was elected to the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) International Governing Board of Directors and is currently serving as its Interim Chair.

Elaine lives in Cary, North Carolina, with three (3) grown children, two grandchildren, and three (3) rescue dogs.