History and governance

History

The Institute of Customer Service was founded in 1996 and formally incorporated in February 1997. The aim was to improve customer service performance and raise the status of people working directly or indirectly in customer service roles. Up to then, customer service had for too long been seen as part of after-sales, but increasingly it was becoming the difference between success and failure for organisations.

We recognised the need to focus clearly on the key issues affecting customer service performance. As a result, we have tools to assess organisational performance and identify key areas for improvement. We also set up a professional framework to help people gain customer service skills and give them recognition for using them.

Governance

The Institute of Customer Service is a UK registered company (No. 3316394) limited by guarantee.

The board of directors meets five times per year. Members of the board are:

Executive directors

Jo Causon, chief executive

Non-executive chairman

Mary Chapman (commissioner to the board of the National Lottery Commission, council member of Brunel University, non-executive director, Royal Mint, council member of the Girls’ Day School Trust).

Non-executive directors

• Graham Clark, director of executive MBA programme and senior lecturer in operations management, Cranfield School of Management
• John Tomlins, former chief executive officer, shared services, Skandia
• Alison Ward, chief executive, Torfaen County Borough Council
• Giles Hawke, director of sales & customer services at Carnival UK plc

Company Secretary

Bill Leonard, Institute of Customer Service