This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel PEOPLE MOVES in tourism and hospitality for July 2016.
Friday 29 July 2016
TUI Lab gets new boss
- TUI UK & Ireland has named Jo Hickson to the newly created role of head of innovation. Part of her role is running TUI Holiday Lab which was set up this March. Hickson has spent the past five years as head of innovation for the Home Retail Group, owner of brands such as Argos and Habitat.
Accor digital guru leaves and returns
- AccorHotels has announced that the man behind its digital transformation strategy - Vivek Badrinath - is leaving to join an unnamed international telecommunications group. However, he will be appointed to the Accor board to "remain associated with the pursuit of [its] digital ambitions". Accor will announce a new organizational structure when Badrinath leaves this October.
Travel tech vet joins
Travelport- Travelport's UK & Ireland team has named Guy Snelgar as commercial director. He has more than 25 years’ experience across the travel industry, having worked for a major airline, all three GDSs, an international hotel chain, a TMC, a corporate online booking tool and a payment provider.
TProfile gets new sales chief
- UK-based personalization specialist TProfile has named Russell Parr as its new head of sales. He joins from Attraction World.
Thursday 28 July 2016:Tomahawk Tourism Marketing heads state-side
- The nine-year-old, New Zealand-based digital marketing agency for tourism organisations is opening a branch in New Orleans, headed by Marica Mackenroth Brewster as the company's new accounts director in the US. Brewster was previously at Pelican New Orleans and Compucast Web.
Friday 22 July 2016:Flight Centre taps sister company for digital boss
- Student Universe managing director Atle Skalleberg will move within the group to become its overall global chief digital officer. Reporting to president of the group in Americas, Dean Smith, Skalleberg will continue to work with the exec team at Student Universe. Prior to Student Universe, Skalleberg was a consultant at Innovation Norway.
Thursday 21 July 2016:Travel Audience taps data guru
- Markus Muller joins the Amadeus-owned demand generation service as its head of data and analytics, based in Berlin. He was previously director of analytics at Hotels.com and has had stints with Lufthansa, IATA and Expedia Affiliate Network.
Wednesday 20 July 2016:Travelport board switch
- Scott Forbes joins the company's board of directors with immediate effect, as well as the audit committee. He replaces Blackstone's Gregory Blank who has resigned from the BoD. Forbes is currently also serving as chairman of Ascential and Rightmove, both based in the UK, and was chairman of Orbitz Worldwide until its sale to Expedia in 2015.
Tuesday 19 July 2016:Locomote green lights exec changes
- Bryan Carroll joins as chief operating officer and Pip Spibey-Dodd as chief financial officer, both moving over from majority owner Travelport where they previously worked for Locomote's new CEO Sandra McCloud. Aleksandra Bugajewska becomes people and culture leader, whilst co-founder David Fastuca moves from chief designer officer to become chief marketing officer.
Friday 15 July 2016:Hotel Internet Services get national sales boss
- The hospitality tech provider has recruited Jeffrey Smith to become the company's national accounts manager. He joins from Quadriga Americas where was senior director of sales, having had stints with various companies in financial services.
HotelsPro has a head in the UK
- Stephen Moffett is the new sales manager for the reservation system developer's expansion into the UK. He previously worked at Tourico Holidays, MSC Cruises, Unijet and Titan Travel.
Monday 11 July 2016:Travelport gets new Africa boss
- Douglas Jewson becomes the company's new managing director for the continent, having joined from The Unlimited where he was director of sales and distribution. He has previously worked for Blackberry, Nokia, Cell C and Sony.
Thursday 7 July 2016:New MD for Roomorama
- Singapore-based vacation and short-term rental aggregator Roomorama has named Nina Kubik-Cheng as its new managing director. Part of her brief is to develop its newly-branded B2B unit Bridge Rentals, which signed deals with Tujia and HomeAway this April. Her CV includes stints at Qunar, TripAdvisor and Expedia.
Wednesday 6 July 2016:Brussels Airlines onboards information chief
- Simon Lamkin joins the carrier and has responsibility for technology and innovation. He was formerly head of IT operations systems at easyJet and will now see Brussels Airlines through further investment in the passenger experience as well as wider operations.
Tuesday 5 July 2016:TripAdvisor brings in growth boss for APAC
- The search and review giant has hired Gary Fritz to be its chief growth officer and president for Asia-Pacific, with overall responsibility for expanding the business in the region. He joins from advisory firm Amanagawa (a company he founded) and previously worked at Expedia Inc where until 2012 he was president for its partner services group.
Monday 4 July 2016:Amadeus bolsters APAC distribution team
- Eugene Chan has joined the as chief commercial officer for distribution in the region, based in Singapore. He has previously worked for BCD Travel, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Global Blue, Thomson Reuters and EDS. He will report into Albert Pozo, president for Amadeus in APAC.
Skioo hires sales chief
- Coinciding with the company's new investment, Reto Wyss, former marketing and sales director of Zermatt Bergbahnen, has joined as sales director. Wyss has also held positions at Richnerstutz and Poscom Ferien.
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NB2: Travel image via Shutterstock.