July 2007
North Star, a consultancy specialising in customer service, operations and people strategies, has launched, claiming a unique pedigree.
Richard Brown, founding director of North Star, said, “The skill set within the North Star consultancy does not exist anywhere else. As a consultancy we can demonstrate through our track record that we can achieve outstanding results. As a team we have an unrivalled understanding of the rail and air sectors and in recent years have been responsible for building Heathrow Express into the nation’s favourite railway.
Recognition for our results was also received when Heathrow Express won the National Customer Service Awards overall team of the year in 2006.
We reviewed the market to understand which types of organisation had customers who could benefit from the services we provide. North Star has a unique offering which can enhance employee engagement, improve customer satisfaction and, in turn, raise business performance for the client.”
North Star will offer the following services: rail-air link strategy and service start-up advice, customer service strategies, change management, project planning and implementation, operational safety and security, training, auditing and coaching.
Richard Brown Biography
Richard Brown joined Heathrow Express in 1999 as the head of service delivery and was promoted to head of operations in June 2003. Educated to Masters Degree level and graduating as a Bath MBA, Brown led the operation of the company from the startup phase to one that is globally recognised as an award winning train service. Richard Brown is a founding director of North Star.
Robert Thrower Biography
Before founding North Star along with Richard Brown, Rob was service delivery standards manager at Heathrow Express. Prior to joining Heathrow Express, Thrower was operations director at Competence & Compliance Ltd, Crewe an industry leader in the development of competence based training programmes.
Thrower has over two decades experience in rail operations and was also a member of the Operations Team of the Year 2006, at the National Service Awards.
Heathrow Express scored 96% overall satisfaction rating in the January 2007 national passenger survey, the highest in the survey’s 8 year history.
Heathrow Express was awarded the Customer Service Team of the Year – Transport & Distribution and also selected as the best team from the winners of the nine other industry categories at the National Customer Service Awards.
