Author Teri Yanovitch
Unleashing Excellence author Teri Yanovitch has been on the frontlines of the industry for nearly three decades – including as a vice president for the pioneering quality management firm, Philip Crosby Associates, and a customer service best practices ambassador for the Walt Disney Company. Widely regarded as one of the leading authorities in the field, Yanovitch has helped nearly 300 of the Fortune 500 companies in implementing cultural change and management systems, specifically targeted towards service excellence.
She began her career with the Hertz Corporation, starting out as the manager of their Sea-Tac Airport operation, supervising everything from the rental counter to fleet distribution. In recognition of her passion and talent for training, the company promoted Yanovitch to Zone Training Manager, then Regional Training Manager for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean.
Six years later, Yanovitch was invited to join the cutting-edge consulting firm of Philip Crosby Associates, founded by the bestselling author responsible for the influential zero defects movement – which played a prominent role in how American business learned to compete against the invasion of cheaper Japanese imports at the time.
Yanovitch was initially placed in charge of the division that educated their corporate trainers. From there she became a member of the team assigned to analyze manufacturing processes and counsel clients on how to eliminate waste and inefficiencies. Among the operations she helped advise were Imperial Chemical Industries’ plants in England, Scotland and Brussels; General Motors and Chrysler in Detroit, Johnson & Johnson’s baby products division in New Jersey, and Nissan in Tennessee.
Four years after she joined Crosby, Yanovitch was elevated to vice president and put in charge of a six-month intensive training program for the international consultants contracted to expand the Crosby philosophy into foreign countries.
In 1991, she formed her own consulting firm, T.A.Yanovitch, Inc., while continuing to work with Crosby for another six years. She also began a decade-long association with the Walt Disney Company for which Yanovitch played a significant role in both their internal and external training initiatives. For the Disney Institute’s Business Program, she served as a top keynote speaker and workshop presenter for the legion of corporate clients who travelled to Walt Disney World from around the globe to learn their incomparable approach to service, management and customer loyalty. She was also one of the few outside consultants given the responsibility of training Disney employees.
In 1999, Yanovitch became one of the first consultants to merge best practices in customer service and quality management into a comprehensive system for designing and implementing world-class service on every level. Much of what she has learned over the years is now available in Unleashing Excellence.
One of the field’s leading speakers on service excellence, Yanovitch has conducted workshops for such companies as AAA, Humana, Subway, Nokia, Rockwell Collins, Ernst & Young, Daytona Speedway, Marriott Host, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, Scania Trucks, America’s Blood Centers, Scholastic Inc., Leica Camera, and Rollins College.
For more information: www.TeriYanovitch.com