Transforming your Frontline Teams into Living Brand Champions
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Jo Causon took up her appointment as chief executive of the ICS in late March this year, succeeding David Parsons, who held the post for more than eight years.

Jo joined the Institute from the Chartered Management Institute, where she had been director of marketing and corporate affairs since July 2005. She previously held director roles in brand and business consulting and prior to that was both head of group marketing and strategic executive to the director-general at City & Guilds. Jo also has over eleven years experience in the financial services sector.

Jo has indicated that under her leadership the Institute will work in partnership with its members and other stakeholders in realising the increased return on investment that excellent customer service can deliver and the role it can play as a motivator for those working within an organisation, enabling those organisations to keep their talent as well as their customers.

It is also her belief that by working to develop customer service excellence organisations will not only survive the current challenging economic conditions but will also prosper and help to lift the UK out of recession earlier than would otherwise have been the case.

Kate is Executive Director of International People Development for Time Warner. Based in London, Kate works with divisional colleagues across both the European and Asia Pac regions to support and facilitate development opportunities and organisationaldevelopment initiatives. Kate also works closely with the TW People Development team in New York in ensure the international community is supported appropriately. Kate joined Time Warner Corporate in January 2008, from IPC Media, the UK's largest Consumer Magazine Publisher, where she was Head of Learning and Development. At IPC, Kate was responsible for providing a range of development solutions to all levels of the business; from skills workshops and coaching, to consultancy advice and OD support.

Kate joined IPC in 2004, from the former media regulator, the Independent Television Commission. Her previous roles in the UK include work in development at a Further Education College and a number of contract roles across the private sector. Kate came to the UK from New Zealand, where she worked in development for New Zealand's national transport company, formerly known as Tranz Rail.

Caron Jones
Director of Human Resources
InterContinental Hotels

As Director of Human Resources for the InterContinental London Park Lane, Caron Jones is responsible for creating a culture where the associates are empowered to bring to life a great hotel guests love and be proud to work within the famous global flagship for InterContinental Hotels and Resorts. She is charged with proposing and leading the development, communication and implementation of human resource strategies aligned with the hotel business needs and the company’s overall human resources strategy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Following the hotel’s £76 million refurbishment in 2006/7, Caron’s appointment in April 2008 set up the foundation for consistent management in HR since the pre-opening. Upon joining, Caron re-implemented a full critical path for the hotel’s reorganisation of people and management development, and re-designed the learning and development structure for the hotel. This has included re-designing its orientation and training programmes to reflect the company’s core values, ‘Winning Ways’ and creating a proactive employee journey for the development of all associates in their hotel careers. One of Caron’s greatest achievements has been designing and implementing the Leadership Development Programme, an eight module unique training programme endorsed by the Institute of Hospitality to support and develop future leaders at InterContinental London Park Lane. Under Caron’s direction, the hotel’s learning and development opportunities have been recognised by Caterer and Hotelkeeper’s Best Places to Work in Hospitality for Excellence in Training.

Sarah Sargent
Director of Customer Service
Telefonica O2 UK

Sarah joined O2 in June 2006 heading up the new customer service centre in Glasgow. Since then Sarah has held a number of roles, including running the Customer Retention team. During her time in this role the department enjoyed record levels of customer satisfaction and O2 customer churn reduced to lowest ever levels. Sarah now runs the 1000 seat customer service site in Bury and is responsible for the customer service provided to over 7 million Pay & Go customers along with providing customer service for Tesco Mobile, O2 Retail helpdesk and Pay Monthly customers. As part of the Consumer Leadership Team for Telefonica O2 UK Sarah has played a key role in shaping the Customer Experience Blueprint Strategy which focuses on differentiating the customer experience at various stages of the customer relationship.

Before joining Telefonica O2 UK Sarah held senior customer service roles in AXA Sunlife, Greenflag Group and G E Capital. During her time with AXA Sunlife, Sarah developed a customer focused performance measurement system which moved away from traditional CSA measures and focused on the customer outcomes. This initiative won the People and Innovation award at the CCA in 2004.

Sarah is focused on delivering the best customer experiences through her people and creating a great environment for people to work in.

Oke helps organizations take a holistic approach to improving their customer service experience. He is an experienced Customer Service and Operations Director in Life and Pensions and in Healthcare and has been responsible for all aspects of Customer Service delivery, from the formulation of strategy through to multi-site operational management of both call centre and back office operations.

Most recently he was Customer Service and Operations Director for Bupa, the UK's largest health insurance company, where he delivered a number of initiatives for people, process and technology to maintain Bupa's reputation for first class service. Previously, Oke was Customer Delivery Director at Prudential, the UK's largest Life and Pensions company. In 2005, he led the Prudential to win the prestigious Management Today/Unisys Service Excellence Award for Financial Services.

Oke is an in-demand conference speaker and also a Vice President of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS).

Dale Smith
Managing Director
Bridge Training

Born and formally educated in Canada, Dale Smith has been an active member of the business community in the UK for the past 15 years. He began his business learning with event companies such as IIR, Marketing Week / Centaur Publishing and was Director of Seminars for Euromoney Publishing. He later turned his keen interest to behavioural science and training.

He formed Bridge Training Events in 2005 after an extensive career in working with many organisations in both the UK and abroad, including Royal Bank of Scotland, MBNA, Bank of Tokyo, Lombard, Parcelforce, Abbot Pharmaceuticals, Natwest, Vodafone, National Grid, Scottish Water and Orange.

Dale created Bridge because he wants to make a positive difference in business. He knows that the Bridge thinking behind its courses in Customers Service, Sales, Contact Centres and Brand can truly inspire course delegates. His keen interest lies in behavioural science, branding and ensuring that customer service is met from all tiers within an organisation. He is passionate about enriching the lives of business people and improving the customer service excellence with each organisation he works with.

Gordon Mutton
Product Excellence Director
Merlin Entertainment

Gordon Mutton was born on October 15th 1957, born in London, he grew up in rural Suffolk and his first job was working for Adnam’s Brewery in Southwold – very boring and just the job to make you ‘get on your bike!’

Gordon has since worked for multi-site Leisure and Hospitality companies including Grand Metropolitan and First Leisure.

He went on to join SEA LIFE Centres Ltd in 1992, which became Vardon Attractions later that year. Merlin was formed, via MBO, in 1999, and is currently backed by Blackstone. It is the largest attraction company in Europe and second largest in the world, with 59 attractions in 12 countries across 3 continents welcoming well over 35 million visitors a year.

Gordon has held various positions in his career ranging from general mgr to operations director. His current role of Product Excellence Director is focused on the delivery and measurement of consistently memorable experiences across the group. He travels the world visiting the attractions, looking at quality, discussing guest feedback and seeking ways in which the attractions can increase satisfaction and loyalty.

Rob has held a number of senior operational roles in Norwich Union and RAC over the past 12 years, and currently heads up the Operational Support Team in Aviva's UK General Insurance business, where he leads a team of Business Architects delivering major change projects across the Sales and Customer Service area. An experienced contact centre leader and insurance professional, Rob has also held previous roles in Claims Investigation and Business Development.

In 2009, Rob was responsible for leading the One Aviva programme across the 14,000 strong UK Insurance Operations team, as Norwich Union completed its high profile name change, described by the FT as 'the slickest rebrand in corporate history'.

Rob is a Companion Member of the Institute of Customer Service, and a regular judge for the National Customer Service Awards and Customer Contact Association (CCA) Awards programmes."