EPAM Expands AI-Native Agency Empathy Lab in North America to Help CMOs Accelerate AI-enabled Business Growth & Transformation

Following a successful European launch, Empathy Lab enters North America to help CMOs unify marketing, product and technology through AI-powered platforms grounded in human insight

NEWTOWN, Pa., Feb. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading digital and AI transformation company, today announced the North American launch of Empathy Lab by EPAM, its AI-native agency designed to help brands build intelligent, human-centered growth systems in an era reshaped by AI.

As AI continues to transform how consumers discover, evaluate and buy, CMOs are under growing pressure to move beyond incremental automation and rethink how creativity, data and technology work together. Empathy Lab helps marketing and digital leaders orchestrate these as one connected system – enabling brands to protect differentiation, grow demand and build lasting customer relationships and scale.

The North America launch builds on a strong inaugural year in Europe, where Empathy Lab has partnered with global brands as well as with the world's leading agency groups. These organizations are seeking a new type of partner capable of designing and building agentic platforms that support next-generation marketing capabilities – combining EPAM's deep engineering expertise with a human-centered approach to growth, experience and decision-making.

"CMOs are now expected to use AI to bring product, technology, data and customer experience together in ways that simply weren't part of the job before, and many marketing organizations weren't built for that challenging shift," said Elaina Shekhter, SVP, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, EPAM. "We launched Empathy Lab to help CMOs navigate this change, reconnecting siloed functions and putting empathy at the center of every AI-powered experience. Bringing this proven approach to North America gives marketing and technology leaders a practical model to scale impact in an AI-driven economy." 

Marketing is entering a critical phase. As AI search and agentic commerce compress consumer journeys, brands face a growing risk of optimizing for speed and cost while eroding emotional connection, differentiation and long-term demand. Where 2025 was the year brands embedded AI, 2026 is the year where the next generation of leaders will re-architect marketing for orchestration, not efficiency.

"Most brands are already using AI to automate parts of their marketing, and that's an important first step. But the bigger opportunity is using AI to connect insight, creativity and execution so teams can respond with agility and precision to changes in the market," said David Billings, Chief Strategy Officer, Empathy Lab. "Over the past year, we've seen how powerful this becomes when teams collaborate across a single intelligent platform, making faster decisions, producing stronger creative and linking marketing activity more directly to commercial outcomes."

Following its European launch in 2025, Empathy Lab has developed and deployed a suite of AI-powered accelerators designed to support every stage of the marketing lifecycle, from insights and planning to content, commerce, media and measurement. Recent engagements include: 

• Synthetic Audiences helped product teams at Mars bring impactful new products to market faster by augmenting traditional research with AI-enabled synthetic research
• Agentic Retail Media Platform development for a major UK supermarket chain, helping the retailer rewire workflows and more efficiently orchestrate brand, commercial and customer value
• An integrated operating system of AI tools empowering 700+ Reckitt marketers to drive efficiency, consistency and growth across global markets

To drive its North American expansion, EPAM has appointed Ben Hall as Head of Empathy Lab for North America, where he will lead growth across the U.S. and Canada. Hall brings more than 20 years of experience in leading enterprise growth at several global creative and technology organizations, including Tata Consulting Services and R/GA.

"I'm excited to bring Empathy Lab's vision to North America at a time when marketing and technology leaders are under growing pressure to modernize how their organizations operate," said Ben Hall, VP, North America, Empathy Lab. "CMOs recognize the shift toward AI-driven marketing is happening, but many are overwhelmed by fragmented pilots, multiple vendors and the absence of a clear operating model. Empathy Lab brings creativity, technology and human insight together to enable marketing leaders to scale automation while building a deeper understanding of their customers."

With a focus on strategic consultancy, creativity and the development of AI and data-enabled capabilities, Empathy Lab offers CMOs and cross-functional leaders a set of integrated services and accelerators across marketing, commerce and loyalty. The result is growth that feels considered, not automated - delivering stronger demand, easier transactions and customer relationships that last.

For more information about Empathy Lab, visit: www.empathylab.com

For more information about EPAM, visit www.epam.com

About Empathy Lab by EPAM

Empathy Lab is an Al-native agency launched by EPAM, a leading global provider of digital strategy, engineering, cloud and AI-enabled transformation services. This foundation gives us something rare: world-class creativity paired with true technology mastery. 

Our passionate and curious team of data scientists, technologists, Al experts, strategists, and creatives are driven by the belief that technology should be used to make experiences more human, not less.  

We enable brands to listen to their customers at every touchpoint, understand their context, behaviors and preferences, adapt to the individual, and engage with them in the moment through next-gen marketing, omni-modal experiences, total commerce, and generative loyalty. 

Our goal is to help brands understand and serve consumers like never before, by building genuine empathy at scale. 

Learn more at www.empathylab.com and follow us on LinkedIn

About EPAM Systems
Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. has used its software engineering expertise to become a leading global provider of digital engineering, cloud and AI-enabled transformation services, and a leading business and experience consulting partner for global enterprises and ambitious startups. We address our clients' transformation challenges by focusing EPAM Continuum's integrated strategy, experience and technology consulting with our 30+ years of engineering execution to speed our clients' time to market and drive greater value from their innovations and digital investments.

We leverage AI and GenAI to deliver transformative solutions that accelerate our clients' digital innovation and enhance their competitive edge. Through platforms like EPAM AI/RUN™ and initiatives like DIALX Lab, we integrate advanced AI technologies into tailored business strategies, driving significant industry impact and fostering continuous innovation.

We deliver globally but engage locally with our expert teams of consultants, architects, designers and engineers, making the future real for our clients, our partners, and our people around the world. We believe the right solutions are the ones that improve people's lives and fuel competitive advantage for our clients across diverse industries. Our thinking comes to life in the experiences, products and platforms we design and bring to market.

Added to the S&P 500 and the Forbes Global 2000 in 2021 and recognized by Glassdoor and Newsweek as Most Loved Workplace, our multidisciplinary teams serve customers across six continents. We are proud to be among the top 15 companies in Information Technology Services in the Fortune 1000 and to be recognized as a leader in the IDC MarketScapes for Worldwide Experience Build Services, Worldwide Experience Design Services and Worldwide Software Engineering Services.

Learn more at www.epam.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statement 
This press release includes estimates and statements which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Our estimates and forward-looking statements are mainly based on our current expectations and estimates of future events and trends, which affect or may affect our business and operations. These statements may include words such as "may," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate" or similar expressions. Those future events and trends may relate to, among other things, developments relating to the war in Ukraine and escalation of the war in the surrounding region, political and civil unrest or military action in the geographies where we conduct business and operate, difficult conditions in global capital markets, foreign exchange markets, global trade, and the broader economy, the adoption and implementation of artificial intelligence technologies by EPAM and its clients, and the effect that these events may have on client demand and our revenues, operations, access to capital, and profitability. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general economic conditions, the risk factors discussed in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and the factors discussed in the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, particularly under the headings "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors" and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that these estimates and forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, they are subject to several risks and uncertainties and are made based on information currently available to us. EPAM undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities law.

SOURCE EPAM Systems, Inc.