7 minute read
A Homegrown Company with a Global Footprint
From Wilmington to London to Singapore, CSC is the business behind business®
BY PAM GEORGE
BIG BUSINESS HAS LONG RECOGNIZED Delaware as a corporate mecca—and with good reason. Fortune 500® companies come here to settle disputes in the renowned Court of Chancery. The state is also a jurisdiction of choice for incorporation. However, that wasn’t always the case.
The Delaware General Corporation Law was enacted in 1899, the same year two attorneys founded separate companies to facilitate incorporation and serve as registered agents. In 1920, they merged to become Corporation Service Company, now branded as CSC.
CSC started small, but by the late 20th century, the company had an international reputation. The firm has nearly 80 locations worldwide and a presence in every U.S. state. CSC is also a juggernaut in more than 140 global business-centric jurisdictions, including Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and Singapore.
Along with CSC’s heritage services, offerings include knowledge-based business, legal, tax, and digital brand solutions for 90% of the Fortune 500®, more than 90% of the Best Global Brands®, and more than 70% of the PEI 300.
“We have multinational clients who must comply with the laws and regulations of where they do business or have operations—and they must report in real time,” explains Rod Ward III, CEO, whose great-great grandfather, Christopher Ward, was a co-founder of CSC. “‘Are you following the laws, and can you provide that information in real time using technology?’ Our clients’ needs drive our growth.”
Despite being a global leader in a fast-paced industry, CSC remains dedicated to Delaware. “It’s a significant place for us in terms of doing business,” Ward says. “We have a vested interest in the community. We’re committed to attracting and hiring talented people and to delivering better ways of doing business. Many of our people live and work in Delaware, and at CSC, we’re about people, not things. Putting our people first is a natural extension of who we are and how we act.”
Getting Down to Business
Before 1899, companies seeking incorporation petitioned the Delaware legislature, a process that could take years. Many states had similar requirements. However, in 1896, New Jersey created a general corporation law to simplify the process and gain additional income.
Delaware influencers noted their neighbor’s increased activity and modeled Delaware’s 1899 legislation after New Jersey’s law. Attorney Josiah P. Marvel was among the Delaware authors. (The civic-minded Marvel later became the first president of what would become the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.) In 1899, Marvel opened the Delaware Charter Guarantee & Trust Company. Meanwhile, Christopher Ward, also an attorney, opened the Corporation Company of Delaware.
New Jersey remained the leader in incorporations until 1913, when Governor Woodrow Wilson cracked down on trusts. The outgoing governor insisted incorporation-related income would remain robust. He was wrong, and Delaware took the lead.
Marvel and Ward merged in 1920 to form Corporation Service Company, now CSC. Today, the company remains in the hands of the original founders’ descendants. Owners also include the family of Dan Butler, who became CEO in 1975. A financial expert, Butler made it his mission to expand the services and client base. “Dan was amazing,” says Jennifer Kenton, who joined CSC in 1986 as the company’s 13th employee. “I admired him.”
When Prentice Hall Legal & Financial Services courted Kenton, she told Butler, who agreed it was an excellent opportunity. He wrote to Prentice Hall’s president, praising Kenton, who promised not to go after CSC’s clients. When CSC acquired Prentice Hall in 1995, she returned to the fold and is now chief commercial officer.
Butler had a knack for spotting talent. In 1988, he hired Bruce Winn, who became president in 1998. Winn and Butler shared a common goal: Dominate the industry by 1999. Acquisitions facilitated the task. Growing through mergers was “transformational,” Rod Ward says. CSC focused on companies with expertise and an established client base, opening doors to new states—and countries.
The Prentice Hall acquisition, for instance, increased the number of employees to 1,000 and added 32 offices in 22 states. CSC’s 2022 acquisition of Intertrust Group, a Dutch company, more than doubled CSC’s size—from 4,000 to more than 8,000 employees.
Creating a Culture
Winn helped craft the company’s purpose, which has since been slightly tweaked to reflect CSC’s heightened stature: “To be a great, enduring, profitable company by enabling responsible business growth around the globe, while creating an environment in which our people, partners, clients, and communities will be better off tomorrow than they are today.”
About 65% of CSC employees work outside North America in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim. However, Ward says Delaware’s location provides access to remarkable talent such as Ian McConnel, a former Marine infantry officer and Delaware state prosecutor. He joined CSC in 2014.
“CSC is one of the best places I’ve ever worked,” says McConnel, who is responsible for legal, risk, and compliance as CSC’s chief legal officer. “The culture is collaborative, open, proactive, solutions-oriented, and positive. The people are hardworking, focused, intelligent, and capable.”
Kenton says that CSC trusts people to make decisions. She recalls September 11, 2001, when CSC had an office on the 87th floor of the World Trade Center’s Tower Two in New York. When the planes struck the buildings, people were told to go to the roof or stay put. Instead, CSC employees John Pelletier and Lou Giaccardo led the CSC team outside.
“They trusted their judgment,” Kenton says, “and that’s why the more than 40 CSC employees who reported to work that morning in the South Tower made it out safely.”
Clients and Community
At CSC, customers as well as employees are a top priority. “We talk with clients every day, and they tell us about the challenges they face so that we can find solutions,” says Ward, who became CEO in 2010 when Winn retired.
Indeed, customers often comment on CSC’s “fierce client spirt.” “We pursue client satisfaction with purpose and urgency, treating their needs as if they’re our own,” Ward says. “Our clients know we have the integrity and focus to do what will benefit them today and tomorrow.”
In many respects, CSC provides services to people who’ve never heard of the company. Consider a California teacher whose pension is invested in real estate outside the U.S. The pension fund manager would be an example of a CSC customer. While CSC’s tools make the manager’s job easier, the teacher ultimately reaps the rewards.
“We are a cog in the wheel of deals, commerce, growth, and the future,” Kenton adds. “It’s all in our backyard in Delaware.”
Speaking of backyards, CSC does not overlook the communities in which it does business. For example, Ward and Governor John Carney co-chair the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, a public-private economic development initiative. CSC is a founding member of Zip Code Wilmington, a software training program that targets students who otherwise lack resources. CSC also helped start Intern Delaware.
Smart Growth
Butler, Winn, and Ward significantly expanded CSC’s services in response to client needs and how they conduct business. Kenton, who has worked under all three CEOs, says Ward is a strategic leader. For instance, he hit the ground running by structuring the company into business units that continue to reflect the culture and brand. Recently, CSC refreshed its website with the clear message that CSC, in sum, is the “world’s leading provider of business administration and compliance solutions.”
Ward takes a long-term view that follows five-year defined missions. Thrive ’25, which will end in 2025, is focused on building (doing things that matter), leading (setting the standard), and transcending (going beyond limits). Solutions involving the intersection of artificial intelligence and compliance could be on the agenda for the 2030 benchmark.
As a privately owned company, CSC can practice patience. The board doesn’t expect instant results, Ward notes. Created over the past 125 years, the company stockholder agreement is solid. “We’ve been at this for a while,” Ward says.
And Delaware set the stage.
Indeed, outside the modern headquarters, built in 2017, is a 20-foot sculpture of a root. The piece was inspired by a tree that prevented a Trade Center beam from crushing Trinity Church on Wall Street on September 11, 2001.
Ward and his peers call the abstract piece “The Delaware Root.” “It all comes together,” he says of the artwork and its setting. “Our roots are here.”
