TSC Lands new chief executive
February 2004

TELECOM Service Centres, the Rothesay-based call centre company which employs 1700 staff across Scotland, has appointed Ken Hills of Thus plc as its chief executive. The move completes a radical management reshuffle which followed a £23 million management buy-in at TSC, Scotland’s largest contact centre company, in February 2003.

John Cole, TSC’s chairman said: “I am delighted Ken will join TSC as chief executive on April 1. He replaces Tony Thomas who has been acting as interim chief executive since June 2003. We thank Tony for his excellent contribution to the business.”

Hill has extensive experience of contact centres. Previously, he sat on the management board of Thus, where he oversaw call centre services. Cole does not believe there is going to be any mass exodus of call centre jobs to India, although he said he has not ruled out establishing operations there. He added that, after retaining the T-Mobile account last year, TSC is poised to announce a string of new contract wins in the near future. Current clients also include Royal Bank of Scotland and Vodafone.

Prior to joining Thus, Hills held senior management roles with Securicor and Thorn. He said: “I’m looking forward to working with the management team to develop TSC from its current strong position, as Scotland’s largest contact centre company, into a world-class organisation.

“This is an excellent opportunity for a Scottish company to become a leading player in the contact centre sector.”

TSC was founded by Lennie Moffat and Harry Summers in 1994, when they opened their first call centre in Rothesay. Today TSC also has sites in Dunoon, Greenock, Falkirk and Aviemore.

Last year’s MBI was funded by LDC, the venture capital arm of Lloyds Bank, in conjunction with the Bank of Scotland. Last financial year, TSC declared a profit of £3.67m from a £31.2m turnover. By basing centres in rural areas and areas of high unemployment, it has kept costs down.

Cole said: “This appointment completes and reinforces our senior management team which will further accelerate the pace of TSC’s growth.” Source: The Sunday Herald