Mary Ann Soukup Contributes to Industry Education
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES - February 23, 2009 - Mary Ann
Soukup has made a valuable contribution to education for the
financial services industry by volunteering as a textbook reviewer
for the second edition of LOMA's Foundations of Customer Service.
In her role as text reviewer, Mary Ann contributed her expertise
and a great deal of time to an extensive review of the course
outline and chapter drafts.
"The industry experts who volunteer their time to review LOMA
textbooks play a crucial role in ensuring the accuracy and
relevance of our courses," notes Kathy Milligan, FLMI, ACS , ALHC,
Vice President of LOMA's Education and Training Division, "The
members of this text review panel included not only customer
service experts, but also representatives from many other
functional areas, such as information technology, new business,
insurance administration, broker/dealer operations, legal and
compliance, claim administration, and accounting. Through their
suggestions, advice, and varied perspectives, the reviewers made
many important contributions to the course's content and
presentation."
Miriam Orsina, FLMI, PCS , AAPA, ARA , PAHM, LOMA senior associate
and co-author of the text, states, "Mary Ann was an excellent
reviewer and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her. She provided
insightful comments that helped us improve many different sections
of the text. Her experience with customer service was valuable to
the development of interesting examples and figures. Also, her
enthusiasm for the project was greatly appreciated by the LOMA
staff."
By sharing her time and expertise, Mary Ann helped LOMA meet the
educational needs of current and future industry employees. Only
through the volunteer efforts of expert reviewers is LOMA able to
offer high quality, cost-effective materials on a timely
basis.
According to Mary Ann, "The review process reinforced for me the
importance of customer service. Without the ability to provide good
customer service, our customer base could be greatly reduced, which
would have a direct negative impact on company operations. Also,
because all employees interact with internal customers, external
customers, or both on a daily basis, Foundations of Customer
Service can be an excellent skill development tool for employees
across the company."
The textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the
knowledge, skills, and perspective every person in a financial
services company needs to know to work effectively with internal
and external customers. The text incorporates input from industry
experts to reflect current industry practices and standards for the
customer service activities of insurance companies, banks,
investment companies, securities brokerages, finance companies, and
other financial institutions. The second edition updates the text,
expands the customer service technology information, and adds
information on customer privacy issues.
Foundations of Customer Service, Second Edition, is assigned
reading for LOMA's globally recognized Associate, Customer Service
( ACS ) Program. ACS is a self-study, examination-based program for
professional, managerial, and staff employees who interact with
internal and external customers. Many ACS designees further their
knowledge of customer service by earning LOMA's Professional,
Customer Service designation.
About LOMA
Established in 1924, with 1,200 plus member companies in
over 80 countries, LOMA is committed to a business partnership with
its world-wide members in the insurance and financial services
industry to improve their management and operations through quality
employee development, research, information sharing and related
products and services. For more information, visit:
www.loma.org.