Meet The judges

Formerly a Customer Relations Manager, Lauren is now providing analytic and consultancy services to businesses through her own company. Previous clients include Bupa and Morrisons.

Previous successes include the development of a multi channel/multi site customer relations function as well as the management and implementation of multiple remediation projects. This experience gives her a unique perspective on the customer journey.

Lauren is a firm believer in the benefits of systems thinking and root cause analysis when solving problems, whether through complaints or pro-active problem identification.

For the last 15 years, Neil’s been helping complaint handling teams to banish the blah, bull and bunkum from their writing – and create brilliant customer communications. Whether it’s helping Barclaycard write with empathy or helping the Ministry of Justice to develop a human approach to complaint handling, Neil gives clients inspiring and practical ways to write like real people, not corporate robots. The First Word team have previously won awards for their work in customer service transformation and tone of voice, and they are shortlisted in two categories for this year's Complaint Handling Awards. 

Jim is a seasoned Financial Services Consultant who has work for leading Consultancies and more recently providing interim support to firms facing regulatory challenges.

In his career Jim has worked on some of the largest remediation projects which have all included significant elements of customer complaint handling which has given him a fantastic insight into what good looks like.

With a passion for delivering a personal customer experience, Ben has worked in diverse roles and industries, driving improvements across multiple business functions, delivering end to end customer fulfillment, working within brokers, both B2C and B2B, driving sales, training, recruitment, management, product and service development, coupled with 5 years leading a complaints management operation.

I am passionate about service and all that it encompasses. I am a service management professional within the insurance industry whose focus is always on the customer and the level if service they receive.

With over 25 years’ experience I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to have worked in some of the top FTSE 100 organisations in the UK and globally.

My main areas of focus People Development, Service Excellence, Continuous Service Improvement and Complaint Management. I truly believe every customer deserves great service and that all complaints should be addressed!

I am currently working on taking the concept of service to the continent of Africa....no small task but very exciting!!

Rob is a partner at customer communications consultancy Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. The lorries help organisations improve customer experience through better communications. He’s managed customer engagement, cultural change and tone of voice communications projects for leading financial, retail, utilities and manufacturing clients. He has a background in public relations, branding and communications gained in technology companies in the UK and USA.

Bruce has more than 25 years experience within the financial services sector with over 20 of these dealing with complaints. He has worked as a complaints consultant, has worked at the Financial Ombudsman Service and is now a Complaints Manager within the pensions and employee benefit sector. He is passionate about delivering fair outcomes and ensuring that both the customer experience is enhanced and business improvements are delivered as a result of lessons learned from complaints.

In May 2014, Francesca joined NewDay as Director of Customer Service & Service Delivery where she is a member of the Senior Leadership team running the teams across Customer Service, Complaints, Underwriting and Fulfilment to drive a transformation of the business following the re brand of SAV Credit to NewDay and the acquisition of the Santander UK portfolio of co-branded cardholders. Prior to that Fran worked at GE Capital, Axa Life, Telefonica O2, Cable & Wireless Worldwide and BT.

Fran is an experienced Leader who has lead successful transformations and created award winning customer service experiences and teams. Her strengths lie in customer focus and insight, transforming service experience in a cost effective way, engagement, customer experience and implementing new technologies and applications to enhance the journey.

Michael is lead complaint management consultant for Resolver and has worked on projects, around the world, helping organisations to gain when customers complain. His experience covers a wide range of sectors including insurance, travel, transport, leisure, manufacturing, automotive, consumer lending, mortgages, property management, healthcare and government. He has written two books and many articles on how business benefits can be delivered through the effective handling and analysis of complaints. His other roles include being a committee member for the British Standards Institution's Customer Service Committee (SVS/0) as well as being a participating committee member in the development of international standards (ISO).

Nigel is Head of Service Recovery and Complaints for HSBC UK. He joined HSBC in 2015, and previously held a range of senior public sector roles in financial regulation, strategy, policy and enforcement. He was a Senior Ombudsman with the Financial Ombudsman Service, and a Director of the Office of Fair Trading with responsibility for competition and consumer investigations and enforcement. He has also worked on international and cross-border regulatory and policy development with the European Commission and the OECD.

Ricky is Associate Director heading up E-Commerce for Morses Club PLC. He has held numerous senior positions operating across all customer facing disciplines relating to consumer credit. He has designed and operated multi-site call centre operations and is currently managing all aspects of Dot Dot Loans, an online lender. He has a wealth of experience in ensuring that the customer experience is linked closely to policy and processes, so that high levels of customer satisfaction are embedded within the business.

I have worked in customer services for 34 years. 27 of those years in contact centres. Customers will always generate complaints. As an experienced complaint handler myself, working for an Ombudsman seemed like a perfect way to utilise my skills. What I hadn’t considered, was how challenging it would be when two different parties give you their individual perspective on the same complaint. This requires impartiality and attention to detail. Complaints should be viewed as a jewel not a dual – there is always something to learn.

Michael is the Tenancy Deposit Scheme’s Director of Dispute Resolution. Having trained as a solicitor, Michael has been involved in dispute resolution for over 20 years. His previous roles have included leading the consumer advice service for Hertfordshire Trading Standards; Michael was also the Chief Conciliation Officer for Qualitas, the Furniture Ombudsman, where he took a formative role in its transition to Ombudsman status. Michael has also led a number of key ‘behind the scenes’ innovations at TDS.

Rebecca’s love affair with outstanding service delivery began 30 years ago in the financial sector as a customer champion and complaint handler. Since then she’s worked with a wide range of organisations both in-house and as an external trainer and coach. Rebecca supports service professionals with their daily challenges - particularly ‘those’ difficult conversations. She also works with the strategists, leaders and line managers that shape policy, processes and delivery. Her view? Whatever your job title, you’re in customer service.

Helen Pettifer is passionate about Customer Service, having been a Customer Service Manager in the security industry. She now runs her own training company based in Buckinghamshire, bringing advice and support to companies on both internal and external Customer Service. She designs and delivers training, covering a variety of topics on customer engagement and is a public speaker on the subject. Helen is a Member of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Toastmasters International and a Young Enterprise Board Member.

Anthony has over fourteen years’ experience working specifically within the complaints and feedback software sector. Having implemented well over 70 complaints and feedback systems across the banking, insurance, government (local and central), travel and transport and social housing sectors, Anthony now helps firms review their current complaints processes and identifies possible areas for system improvements, whether that is in the initial capture, ongoing complaint management, quality assurance checks, identifying root cause analysis/learning opportunities, or the meaningful MI a dedicated system can provide.

15 Years experience in complaint handling across a number of firms, including 5 years working for the Executive Team at RBS. The last 3 years have been spent ensuring the RBS complaint policy is fit for purpose. Working with the regulators and internal franchises to focus on reducing complaints, overseeing the implementation of various regulations complaint elements. The design an annual pan bank complaint module and other training and competency aspects and a focus on external benchmarking.

Prerna is the Head of Operations, responsible for both building and running the bank activities for ClearBank®, UK’s first clearing bank in more than 250 years. She is passionate about building agile and well-controlled processes and has dedicated the last 12 years of her career to delivering strategic business outcomes by building customer-centric operating models.  She champions the use of digital channels to service customers and is focussed on leveraging technology to improve end to end customer experience.

Irene is the compliance Manager at ERV and is supporting the development and embedding of sound compliance practices and good conduct across the business units. Irene has a strong background in compliance, having also worked at the Financial Ombudsman Service and as a Risk and Compliance Manager for Home assistance UK and Compliance Leader for Simplyhealth. Irene has a diploma in Law and is a member of the CII.

John is Customer Experience Director at Optivo (Housing Association) managing 44,000 homes in S.E. England & the Midlands. John has 27 years’ experience in the housing sector and 5 years providing English language services to global businesses in Italy. John is passionate that social housing is as much a necessity as good healthcare and education. He’s driven by the idea that (increasingly vulnerable and disadvantaged) customers should enjoy a positive customer experience as professional as anything offered by the commercial sector.

Global responsibility for complaint handling gives me great diversity. The insights from the customer perspective when somethings gone wrong is a real opportunity to make a difference. I’ve 25 years’ experience driving and leading customer-focused change within operations,10 years in regulation has added great value to my perspective and approach. My mantra has never failed me “always consider the customers perspective at the heart of any decision you make and give your people the empowerment to make the difference”

With nearly 20 years experience in the residential property sector, Marion’s career has grown from front-line administrative roles to director of one of the country’s largest property firms providing residential survey and valuation advice. Specialising in complaints and claims, along the way she qualified as both chartered surveyor with the RICS and customer experience professional with the CXPA. Marion now advises leading property companies, education and training establishments and consumer bodies on customer experience strategy.

Lee Mostari, a previous winner of the UK Customer Experience Awards, is the Consulting Director for Ember’s Insight & Analytics division. Lee has an impressive track record of leading successful projects in analytics, specifically to apply the voice of the customer to improve the overall customer experience as well as deployment of speech and text analytics to deliver operational efficiency and quality & compliance automation. Lee has working in a senior consulting capacity helping organisations get the most from customer data for the last 8 years. Prior to that, Lee worked on the client-side for EE performing a number of customer insight roles in the UK and overseas and within the Santander Group, again focused on delivering projects that significantly improved the customer experience.

Brinsley is a Director in EY’s FS Managed Services Team. He has worked in consultancy for 11 years and in financial services more broadly for 20 years, covering most sectors including retail banking, insurance, stock broking and derivatives trading. Brinsley is experienced in managing and having oversight of complex large-scale regulatory remediation engagements and holds several industry qualifications including the CISI Certificates in Securities, CISI Certificate in Derivatives, CIB Certificate for Financial Advisers, CeMAP and CeRGI.

I have more than 30 years’ experience in Customer Service across a wide range of sectors. I am Head of Group Customer Service at Mulberry Company Design Ltd – the Luxury Retailer and Manufacturer. I have always been passionate about Customer Service and whilst it is understandable that things do go wrong in life, good service is best measured by the power of recovery and how far you are prepared to go over and above for the customer.

David joined NewDay (then SAV Credit) in November 2012 as Head of Service Delivery. David’s responsibilities include the management of all NewDay complaints, offshore back office functions and Underwriting. Prior to joining NewDay, David spent several years with HBoS/LBG in a variety of senior management roles.

David is an experienced leader who has created successful award winning teams, transforming operational processes to improve customer experiences. His strengths lie in operational excellence, customer focus and insight, transforming customer service in a cost effective manner.

Claire is Founder and Director of FIP Consulting Ltd, a company set-up to improve customer experience. With so few unique products and services, Claire believes that customer experience is now the key brand differentiator.

With a background in enterprise sales and account management, Claire completed an MBA thesis in 2012 on ‘How to improve Customer Satisfaction’ and has a track record of successfully challenging and optimising behaviour to drive change across all parts of a business to realise significant customer experience improvements.

Tarrina’s company Optimorph Ltd specialise in providing hands on consultancy support, coaching and training across many key business areas including strategy and change management, lean optimisation, operational excellence, staff engagement, rapid improvement teams and performance coaching.

Over the past 16 years Tarrina has worked with over 50 different companies across both the manufacturing and service sectors reviewing and helping them to improve a diverse range of processes and customer interfaces.

Tarrina is highly skilled in problem solving and root cause analysis and has provided support to numerous clients assisting them to improve their complaints process.

Tarrina is motivated by taking action to improve processes and service levels and achieves sustainability by ensuring full staff engagement is achieved en-route.

With a career in customer service which has spanned 25 years, I’ve been fortunate enough to work for some good organisations, with inspiring leaders and across a variety of industries.

Most of my experience has been working with customers in the Utility sector, new cars and latterly in the new homes sector. All three of these industries have customers who are often very emotional in the way that they complain, and complaints needs to be handled empathetically. In particular with new cars and homes, there’s a real emotive nature to any complaints as the product is something customers have often saved for long and hard, and often the single biggest purchase they have ever made.

I very much look forward to judging the UK Complaint Handling Awards 19 and to hearing and seeing the innovative ways that other companies deal with complaints in an ever-changing landscape of customer expectation.

Anthony has over 20 years of experience advising on legal and regulatory issues within the electronic financial services space including the successful lobbying and navigation of traditional laws to enhance innovation in related business models. As a legal officer at Remitly, Anthony oversees legal matters related to all levels of consumer customer care and dispute resolution in the regulated financial services market.

Jonathan Butler is a highly experienced, driven and hands on leader and trusted advisor. With a background in process and systems transformation Jonathan believes that getting the best out of people is the real differentiator for successful companies. His specialism for many years has been in turning around sales performance and driving high growth businesses. He has done this through building ambition and belief in people, supported by a focused and rigorous approach.

Jonathan now runs his own business and works with companies and individuals to transform personal and team performance. He applies the science of psychotherapy and hypnotherapy with his deep experience of managing and leading people to be the best that they can be.

Sam has nearly 20 years’ customer service experience spanning telecommunications, retail and energy sectors. Sam leads the Opus Energy Customer Solutions team who specialise in complaint resolution. Sam works closely with the Ombudsman Service: Energy, Extra Help Unit and Citizens Advice to collaborate on ensuring a first class customer service environment.

Sam is passionate about treating customers fairly and has created a team culture of collaboration and high engagement levels in order to best meet the needs of her customers.

Responsible for the delivery of Bupa’s Complaint Policy. Direct responsibility for the Customer Relations Team, managing all escalated complaints including FOS and VIP cases. Lead the improvement of complaint handling provision for Bupa UK establishing it as an industry leading company in this area.

Tracey joined Hitachi in January 2015 and designed and implemented a customer centric complaints strategy, fully transforming the customer experience. Bringing extensive financial service experience and proven leadership skills, she has built a successful department with the customer firmly placed at the heart of everything they do.

This success was formally recognised by the President of Hitachi Global, with a prestigious awards ceremony in Tokyo.

Dan has 20 years experience working in the IT delivery sector covering most verticals including 14 years in an executive role leading the SAP Data Delivery & IT transformation activities for Tier 1 clients globally. Dan is passionate about helping customers drive efficiency through automation and actionable Insight enabling them to maximise the capabilities of the latest analytics technologies.

Vicky has 22 years’ experience as a practitioner in organisational change. Having worked in contact centres, both as an employee and consultant for the past 22 years, she brings a depth of knowledge and experience from across sector. Vicky has a passion for improving performance through effective recruitment, training, coaching, mentoring and operational management. She understands and can identify greatness in people, capturing this and transferring it across the broader operation to make it the norm.

Joanne is the Customer Operations Director, Support for the Private, Third and Education Division within Advanced. She has worked in customer facing and regulated organisations throughout her career. She has delivered significant change and business transformation projects with enhanced customer experience at the heart of each change. She has a wealth of experience in ensuring that customer experience is linked closely to policy, processes and KPIs to ensure that high levels of customer satisfaction are embedded within the business.

Maria is the Commercial Director for Small Business in Barclaycard Payment Solutions. Her role is to help Small Businesses achieve their growth ambitions, providing value to both them and their customers. Having worked in Small business for the last 3.5 years she is really passionate about supporting their customers and helping them to succeed. She has worked in Financial Services for the last 18 years in both consumer and payments, these roles have provided her with opportunity to work both in the UK and with their businesses in Europe.

Having worked in contact centre improvement roles for twenty years, Matt now runs model offices on behalf of clients. This allows him to indulge his passion for using ideas to solve problems, and to use innovation to transform the performance and service of contact centres like never before.

Having worked in different Contact Centres in various management positions for 15 years I have a good understanding and passion for customer centric operations.

I have been the Complaints Manager at Sky Betting and Gaming for 4 years and built this team from bottom up. I am responsible for managing the escalation and specialised complaints process for the business. I am customer obsessed and passionate about delivering a ‘Barcelona’ service to our customers.

Susan is an experienced professional with close to two decades of experience specialising in financial receivables, with the last 15 at a senior management level. 

In her current role, she is responsible for leading the development and implementation of the company’s Compliance Program to ensure that Zinc meets its regulatory and legal requirements.

I lead our CX Practice that provides service design & delivery capability, underpinned by our CX Improvement Framework, helping our customers to realise the end-user experience ambitions.

Before Capita, I worked in Telecommunications for 20 years in roles spanning Operations, Service, Credit, Sales, Technology and CX Strategy & Transformation. Above all else, I relish the opportunity to connect customer experience with disruptive design and outstanding delivery.

"Elizabeth is a qualified compliance consultant, has her own consultancy and is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association. She has 20 years experience in Banking, Retail finance, Mortgages & Savings and Insurance and is passionate about compliance being an integrated part of any businesses. She specialises in Consumer Credit, Anti Money laundering and Data Protection compliance as well as general compliance with the FCA Handbooks. Elizabeth has previously held FCA Compliance Oversight and Money Laundering Reporting Officer positions."

Dr. Dayani-Fard is a business consultant helping clients with development and implementation of growth strategies. He has over 30 years of international experience spanning technology R&D, strategy consulting and large scale strategic transformation across financial services, technology and governments. He can be reached at homy@ywhltd.com.

Adam has spent the last 6 years working with organisations to deliver complaints and feedback solutions, with a particular focus on regulated markets. During this time, he has worked with public and private sector organisations, including regulatory bodies, to define and deliver processes and technology. Adam currently helps businesses utilise the benefits of digital technology to improve customer engagement processes and provide businesses with better insight to enhance the customer experience and reduce complaints volumes.

Highly skilled and determined Senior Customer Service Manager with over 19 years both agency and client experience, and a strong automotive background working directly for manufacturers in the UK and across Europe.

Experienced in CEX training for Recruitment, Retail and the Financial Sector. A passion for the Customer Experience, Journey, Measure and Insight to provide unrivalled experiences and loyalty reward.

An empowering and approachable leadership style inspired by finding a better way and a determination to exceed customer expectations, business goals and personal aspirations.

For over 15 years, Gareth has continually delivered strong results in several leadership roles spanning multiple industries including information technology, finance, and education. At Equiniti Charter, Gareth leads customers in the design and implementation of modern, effective complaints and case management solutions, elevating their financial and technological operations to greater levels.  He is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration to further advance his business management capabilities. 

Eve is an Executive Business Coach, passionate about helping companies ‘be better and do better’.

Having devoted 20 years of her career to supporting clients in their hour of need, Eve’s insurance claims background gives her direct insight into what truly makes the difference in client service.

Building on this front-line experience, Eve is now using her skills to consult for businesses determined to elevate their greatest asset – their people, in order to better serve their greatest purpose – their clients.

Martin has spent more than a decade in the customer services and complaints management sphere helping organisations of all sizes adopt innovative technology. He is Respond's Senior Product Manager, responsible for the running of the market leading complaints and case management solution. Having worked with hundreds of organisations, both big and small, he has a deep understanding of how technology can be used to deliver outstanding customer service experiences.

Capita is the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the UK, and has clients in central and local government and the private sector. We focus on unlocking value by designing and delivering services which can solve challenges and enhance services for our clients and their end customers. Capita is one of the most advanced software and service providers in the customer experience market today. Our spirit of innovation makes us a future-proof platform to our customers, and to maintaining our leadership as we strive to become a world class Digital BPO. Basia is a senior consultant with a passion for great customer service. Most interactions into a business come into the contact centre, the heart of the business operation, my professional aim is to help businesses transition from good to exceptional.

Adrian brings over 20 years of Global Banking experience in the field of retail banking and corporate strategy gained across Europe, Middle East & Asia. Adrian currently heads up Customer Performance, Policy and Complaint Management for HSBC in a global role from London, encompassing more than 25+ countries. Prior to this, he has spent time with the two largest banks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively and while in Asia, was with McKinsey in Singapore in both strategic and proposition roles within Retail Banking. He’s also a Non-Executive Director for Astral Asset Management in Singapore.

Adrian started his career as a university lecturer in Economics and was an Economist prior to joining McKinsey. He holds a MBA in Finance and a degree in Economics along with certificates in strategy from INSEAD and teaching respectively.

Socially, Adrian is a keen volunteer and will be starting his leadership programme with London Business School this summer. He’s passionate in his travels, enjoys the art and cultural events of London and keeping a work-life balance through running to keep in check!

Joel works for Ascenti, a nationwide provider of Physiotherapy that employs over 300 highly trained clinicians and works with more than 40 NHS organisations and 400 private businesses. Overseeing our clinical governance, Joel ensures safety, quality and patient experience. Having a Masters in Human Factors, Joel brings a wealth of knowledge in innovative concepts such as systems theory, psychology of human performance, human error and a range of other tools that manage risk, safety, quality improvement and optimal patient experience.

Having spent the last ten years working across the legal and investment bank sectors, Adam has significant experience in the design and implementation of a Continuous Improvement programme in a shared service environment. Skilled in Lean Six Sigma, Systems Thinking, Agile and Waterfall project management techniques, Adam currently runs strategic initiatives for a magic circle law firm.

Skilled in Lean Six Sigma, Systems Thinking, Agile and Waterfall project management techniques, Adam currently runs strategic initiatives for a magic circle law firm.

Ian has recently retired from BT where he held several executive positions, most recently as MD for Global Customer Services, MD for BT Business Customer Service & Transformation and MD Billing & Collections. His strategic leadership of all these major operational units required a strong customer focus and mindset, excellent people communication and engagement skills and a transformational approach to meet the relentless challenge for continuous improvements. Ian is also a qualified accountant, and a Fellow of both CIMA and CICM. His main interests currently are the long list of personal jobs post retirement!

With over 20 years experience leading award winning operational functions, his focus and personal drive comes from creating environments where genuinely putting the Customer and People at the heart of a collaborative business with the right leadership makes for organisational success and a thriving and engaging culture.

I have worked at LV= for over 29 years. During this time I’ve led and witnessed high transformation within the General Insurance business, including the recent Strategic Partnership with Allianz.

My enthusiasm and passion for customers and people over the years have played a key role in LV=’s internal and external engagement programmes achieving considerable results whilst also helping to secure the insurer’s place as a high performing organisation. Through my leadership General Insurance teams have generated ideas to considerably reduce failure and leakage, significantly improving morale and increasing customer satisfaction.

My expertise has significantly contributed to LV=’s cultural and strategic direction, including the Diversity and Inclusion programme.

Paul has over 20 years’ experience in customer contact and operations, in businesses of all sizes from start-ups to Global FTSE 100’s. Effective complaint management has always been key, and with exposure to both regulated and non-regulated sectors, Paul brings pragmatic, customer focussed and compliant insights to complaint management approaches.

Helen is a Client Partner for Risk Consultancy RFS, specialising in financial services customer operations. She works with clients to increase their operational efficiency and reduce operational risk. Helen is passionate about people, process and performance; and in maximizing the impact of complaints operations while ensuring fair customer outcomes.

David is Hospital Director at the multi award-winning The Holly Private Hospital and Management Development Lead for Aspen Healthcare Group.

David has a wealth of experience in the private healthcare and hotels sectors, managing several award-winning hospitals and hotels, and introducing high impact leadership development programmes across both.

He is also a qualified Franklin Covey facilitator and trainer and is currently working towards an ILM Level 7 qualification in Executive Coaching and Mentoring.

Most recently, David has steered The Holly Private Hospital through an innovative culture change programme, launched an award-winning employee rewards and recognition scheme and successfully implemented a five year business plan, resulting in three years of successive growth and increased patient satisfaction.

Dee Burrowes is a woman of authenticity and greatness on a mission to support others to accomplish their own greatness. She empower and motivate others to live life on their terms by stop settling to discovering a life of happiness and abundance. With more than 15 years of corporate managerial roles, Dee is a Certified Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, Speaker, Teacher and Author that help clients globally to walk in purpose. Her belief and dedication allowed her massive success.

A senior leader with over 15 years’ experience in complaint handling and remediation across a number of financial service organisations. Passionate about putting the wrongs right for customers through effective complaint handling and colleague engagement delivering customer retention. A true believer that complaints and voice of customer is critical to aiding a business to evolve for the better and develop brand advocacy and market edge.

Sarah leads a team of dedicated professionals who work passionately to improve the experience for Vodafone’s customers across all products and propositions. Using insight and analytics to understand how to wow our customers and fix their pain points, the team puts the customer at the heart of everything they do. Sarah has been at Vodafone for 9 years in a number of different roles and prior to that, started her career as a litigation lawyer, handling all kinds of commercial disputes.