50 companies have reserved their places so far at MAPconnected’s 6th annual Service & Warranty Lifecycle Summit.
The attendee roster spans a diverse cross-section of manufacturers and industry leaders including Ford Motor Company, PACCAR, Crown Equipment, Rotobec, Winnebago, Garrett, Nissan Motor Company, Cummins, Bridgestone Americas, Slate Auto and CARS Protection Plus in Southfield, Michigan, October 19–21.
For executives deciding where to invest their time, the attendee list offers a useful view of the conversations ahead. Warranty operations, technical assistance, field service, supplier recovery and customer quality are all represented, alongside the companies developing the tools those teams use.
Who you can meet
This week’s opening speaker announcements feature:
- Kristin Kolodge — Former VP Research Product Development, JD Power.
- Jennifer Jones Wheeler — Former Global Lifetime Warranty Chief, Ford Motor Company.
They join James Nardini, Warranty Operations National Manager, Kia America, for “Industry’s Blind Spots: What We’re Still Getting Wrong About Quality, Recalls, Warranty and Customer Trust.”
Every warranty claim, recall, technical assistance case, parts failure and repeat repair is telling us something about the customer experience. Why does the industry still struggle to turn all of that information into action?
- The Quality Blind Spot — We know something is failing, but do we know why? Jennifer Jones Wheeler.
- The Warranty Blind Spot — Are we managing claims or learning from them? Jennifer Jones Wheeler.
- The Dealer Blind Spot — Are OEM processes designed around the customer or the organization? James Nardini, Kia America.
- The Trust Blind Spot — When something goes wrong, who owns the customer relationship? Kristin Kolodge.
In case you missed Friday’s speaker announcements, the newly released speaker lineup also features:
- Paul Whitworth — Chief Strategy Officer, WarrCloud.
- Jim Holloway — Former General Manager Purchasing, Toyota Motor North America.
- Jimmy Bynum — CEO, Garde Solutions.
Other leaders from diverse industries you can meet there include:
- Lance LaCoe — President & CEO, CARS Protection Plus.
- Ben Bergman — Director of Customer Service, Crown Equipment.
- Uma Boddapati — Senior Warranty Manager, Sensata Technologies.
- James Kiriazes — Director Customer Quality Engineering, Bridgestone Americas.
It also includes senior managers responsible for advanced diagnostics, warranty compliance and dealer technical support, as well as leaders in field technical services, supplier warranty and warranty performance.
Their responsibilities give the discussions a practical starting point: how decisions made in one part of the service lifecycle affect the people working elsewhere in it.
A quality leader assessing a recurring failure can compare priorities with colleagues responsible for warranty recovery and technical support. A team considering AI can question providers about how a proposed tool would fit the work, while hearing how other manufacturers are approaching similar decisions.
Companies represented so far
- 3P Partners BroadView Warranty
- Advantage Technical
- Ally Financial
- BraunAbility
- Bridgestone Americas
- CARS Protection Plus
- Certum
- Circuitry.ai
- Consumer Reports
- Crown Equipment
- Cummins
- DEKRA North America
- DeNooyer Chevrolet
- EFG Companies
- ETAS
- Ford Motor Company
- Garde Solutions
- Garrett
- General Motors
- Hyundai Auto Canada
- Hyundai Motor America
- International Motors
- JD Power
- Kia America
- Kia North America
- Mack Truck
- MR Insights
- Nissan North America
- OwlSure, A Business Unit of ValueMomentum Inc.
- PACCAR
- Pegasystems
- Peterbilt
- Rotobec
- Sedgwick
- Sensata Technologies
- ServiceNow
- Slate Auto
- Sogefi
- STAR
- Stellantis
- The Car Conservatory
- Toyota Motor North America
- Truepic
- TruVideo
- Upstream
- Volvo NA
- Winnebago
Time to continue the conversation
The Summit combines leadership sessions and case studies with a Tech Expo, Leadership Xchange Group discussions and more than 12 hours of networking. Tuesday’s seven executive dine-around dinners create further opportunities to speak with peers beyond the formal sessions.
For teams attending together, the value is hearing the same discussion with different responsibilities in mind. A warranty leader may question the cost implications; a field-service colleague may see a diagnostic obstacle; a quality leader may identify evidence that needs to reach engineering sooner. Those perspectives can make the conversation more useful when the team returns to work.
The 6th annual Service & Warranty Lifecycle Summit takes place October 19–21, 2026, at The Westin Southfield Detroit. Group ticket discounts are available for teams of three or more.