who is
certified by?
family
the wood family & co.
neil, cathy, leane & adam
the #certifiedby story is one of family business spanning 3 generations, and a company culture built around professionalism, accountability and personality.
long before the internet & social media, neil wood had a vision to unite the world of debt collection, so in the 80’s he founded tcm group, and later gcs credit, with a footprint of partners in more than 100 countries. credit management led to risk management, and gcs risk was later born, to provide verification, investigation and brand protection services to some of the world largest brands.
having also built the first of its kind “global case management system (gcms)”, it became clear compliance & technology were disruptive forces for change, and in 2016 adam published “the digital disruption of the debt collection industry”, foreseeing some of the trends that dominate business today (ai, chatbots, regtech, etc)
in response to evolving regulatory requirements & digital disruption, Adam and michael collyer developed the “global compliance requirements program” (gcrp), a compliance framework & assessment tool for our partners (mostly smes) to measure themselves against international best practices of governance, risk, compliance, cyber and data management.
as we rolled out this program to our partners and clients it became obvious there was a much greater need for such a program than just our own. Evidently smes across all sectors need help to mitigate risk & power growth, and bigger businesses need ways to better manage supply chains & vendor risk.
and so, after many iterations certified by was born. a freemium regtech solution for small and medium size businesses, and supply chain vendors to assess, report, remediate and certify themselves as trusted & resilient businesses.
a startup with a soul
celebrating over 100 years of experience in the international credit and risk management industries.
experience by the numbers
adam wood
ceo
leane maddren
coo
neil wood
chairman
a walk down memory lane
Founded Total Credit Management Services
(TCM) AU (Field services, debt collection and investigations).
Founded TCM Group
with like minded colleagues in South East Asia
Incorporated TCM Hong Kong
incorporated as sales office
Incorporated Global Credit Solutions Pty Ltd
in Australia to offer partners wishing to focus more on growth of the business and to introduce, an industry first, self-funded technology platform enabling the transfer and management of cases in a secure environment.
Launched GCS Risk Management Solutions
a focus on brand and intellectual property protection saw a growing demand for GCS to provide anti counterfeit services to global brand owners. At the same time the need for accurate due diligence reports on companies and individuals around the world became important for clients seeking information on those they were considering joint venture, agency appointments etc
Built the Global Case Management System (GCMS)
an ERP for the international case management and communication in over 100 countries
Co Founded GCS India
as a joint venture project with local partners, and Vishal Chowdhary appointed CEO. Services include both collections and investigations specialising in the provision of Brand Protection and Anti Counterfeit services.
Co Founded GCS Ukraine
as a joint venture with local partner, Vitaly Shevel appointed as CEO. Vitaly’s background as a lawyer and investigator has seen a sustained growth with the company experiencing growth in both its collection and investigation services.
Launched the GCS Credit Community
enabling credit and collection management companies the tools from which they could seek assistance, exchange views, obtain knowledge and information
Incorporated GCS Risk PL
As part of a restructuring plan developed by external consultants, GCS Credit & Risk operations were split into two companies
Published the "gcrp"
the ‘global compliance requirements program’ was the first of its kind, and the inspiration behind certified by’s GRCQ [Premium] program
Launch Certified By
hosting world conferences
as the head office to partners in 100+ countries, tcm and later gcs credit hosted conferences all over the world. Here’s a lost of countries visited since 2000…
2000
TCM Australia hosted global conference in Melbourne Australia
2007
Hosted world conference in Las Vegas, USA
2008
Hosted world conference in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
2009
Hosted world conference in Prague, Czech Republic
2010
Hosted world conference in Vancouver, Canada
2011
Hosted world conference in Beijing, China
2013
Hosted world conference in Chicago, USA
2014
Hosted world conference in Dubai, UAE
2016
Hosted world conference in Singapore
2017
Hosted world conference in Washington DC, USA
2018
Hosted world conference in Strasbourg, France
2019
Hosted world conference in Lisbon, Portugal.
meet the family
a unique blend of experience & youth.
adam wood
Adam is the founder & CEO of Certified By, a disruptive RegTech startup for SMEs and supply chains, with online programs [free & premium] to assess, report, remediate and certify themselves against best practice standards of privacy, cyber, data, governance, risk and compliance. (In case you hadn't worked that out already)
As the 2nd generation CEO of GCS Credit, an international credit & collections network in more than 100 countries, Adam went on to lead the creation of the ICCA, an initiative to bring together the leading credit & collections industry associations around the world, to drive international standards. Starting with Privacy & Data Protection.
As Covid hit in early 2020, and we were forced to embrace working remotely and digital transformation, like everyone it seems Adam started a podcast... “The State of Business, with friends around the world”, aka: #TSOBpodcast Check it out on YouTube, apple and spotify if you got the time 👍
leane maddren
Leane is part of the 2nd generation of GCS Credit , the groundbreaking network of over 100 country members of international credit & collection specialists. She has been with the company for over 30 years in varied capacities. Leane works with her brother Adam in the business started by Neil (Father) and Cathy (Mother) Wood - although it is a very different business from all those years ago. She has a strong sense of social responsibility, volunteering at schools, sporting clubs and is heavily involved in the Arts Sector on the Mornington Peninsula.
Neil wood
Neil is the founder and Chairman of GCS Credit , an international network of credit and collectors specialists with a footprint in more than 100 countries. Neil served sixteen years as a Director of ACA International the world’s leading professional association for collection and credit specialists and was responsible for establishing the International Unit, serving as its Chairman for six years, during which the Unit saw substantial growth. Neil consulted on the formation of the ICCA, an initiative to bring together the leading credit & collections industry associations around the world, to drive international standards, starting with Privacy & Data Protection. In addition, Neil serves as Chairman of Total Credit Management Services HK Limited, trading as Total Credit & Risk Management Group established in 1987 in Hong Kong - TCMG is a foundation member of Asiagate Credit and online credit reporting bureau.