Tourism Toronto has appointed Scott Beck as its new president and CEO. Beck comes to the post from Visit Salt Lake, where he has served for 14 years as president and CEO. He will begin his new role on October 15. Before joining Visit Salt Lake, Beck worked in the hotel industry for 18 years, most recently with Ocean Properties Ltd. (OPL) as the general manager of the Salt Lake Marriott City Center. In Toronto, Beck succeeds Johanne Bélanger, who left earlier this year to take a position with Marriott International.
Allison French has been promoted to the post of senior director at Broadway Inbound. She moves up from her role as director of sales, which she held for more than six years. She joined the Manhattan-based company in 2007 as a senior account representative.
The Travel Corporation (TTC) has appointed Vicky Billing as head of UK trade sales for Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Costsaver and Luxury Gold. Billing will join on November 18 from Royal Caribbean where she is Head of Retail North and will report directly in to Rachel Coffey, director of sales and business development for the UK and Ireland. Billing will be responsible for developing and delivering a strategic UK sales growth plan for the four brands, nurturing “key existing trade partnerships and developing meaningful new ones.” She will also take the lead on the training and development of the UK sales team.
Olly Nicholls has been named chief commercial officers at Birmingham-based Attraction World. He joins the company after nine years as director of global distribution, commercial partnerships and advertising at City Sightseeing Worldwide. In this newly created role, Nicholls’ responsibilities will include leading Attraction World’s product and sales teams.
Samantha Stimpson is leaving her post as head of retail for Thomas Cook to join STA Travel Group. She’ll join STA’s senior leadership team in November as group sales and distribution director. Torey Kings-Hodkin will be resuming her position as Thomas Cook head of retail, South, from Nov. 1, reporting to Kathryn Darbandi. This follows her temporary duty in the company’s commercial side, where she most recently covered Kelly Cookes’ maternity leave as head of commercial partnerships and sales planning. Stimpson will lead a team of STA’s country managers and the director of global partners.
Stimpson will join STA’s senior leadership team in November as group sales and distribution director.
Mark Churchill has been promoted to the position of director, partner marketing, at Expedia Group. Churchill joined the company in June 2017 as senior manager, partner marketing. Previously, he worked for 10 years at Caiman Consulting, a Redmond, Washington firm that provides business consulting services
Mathew Lepisto has been named head of sales, USA & Canada, at Jac Travel. He joins the firm from TBO Holidays, where he was the New York City-based country manager for the USA. Previously, he held senior positions at WebBeds Americas, Middle East & Africa, and Hertz.
The Travel Network Group has appointed James Neal to the newly-created position of head of external marketing services, effective immediately. He joins the company from Avios where he held the position of senior marketing manager, part of the International Airlines Group. Neal has also held including senior marketing positions with Royal Caribbean Cruises, TUI and Austravel.
Phil Newcombe has been promoted to the post of managing director at Bon Voyage Travel & Tours Ltd. Previously a director at the company, Newcombe has been with Bon Voyage Travel for more than nine years. Previously, he was director of the Visit USA Association UK.
Oliver Garner has been appointed CEO of both Classic Collection Holidays and Classic Package Holidays, the online agent-only booking portal launched by On the Beach earlier this year. Nick Munday, Managing Director of Classic Collection Holidays, will step down from his role, but continue to work with the business in a new capacity as Independent Director. A veteran of nearly two decades in the tourism industry, Garner has worked at TUI Thomas Cook and Expedia, before joining On the Beach in 2014 where he oversaw the business’ launch into Sweden and Norway as well as its acquisition of Sunshine.co.uk and Classic Collection Holidays. Classic has also expanded its senior management team with the appointment of Michelle Baillie to director of agency sales and Alexandre Gavalda to director of product and supply.
Alejandro Reynal has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of the Apple Leisure Group (ALG), replacing long-time CEO Alex Zozaya, who will now serve in a full-time capacity as executive chairman and lead ALG’s board of directors Reynal will oversee ALG which is comprised of a collection of leading subsidiary companies including AMResorts, Apple Vacations, Travel Impressions, and Funject Vacations, as well as other entities. Reynal previously served as CEO of Atento, a global provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing services.
Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch, currently commercial vice president of Latam Airlines Group, will move up to become CEO of the airline when current CEO Enrique Cueto Plaza steps down from the job March 31, 2020. The appointment follows a planned succession process, which began last year, which considered both external and internal candidates for the job. Robert Alvo has been with carrier for 18 years, serving in managerial positions in the areas of finance, fleet, planning and, in recent years, in charge of the commercial area.
Tom Muldoon has been appointed interim president and CEO of Discover Lancaster (Pa.). In his position, Muldoon, who served as president of the Philadelphia CVB 26 years (1985-2011) will help guide the organization as it continues its search to find a permanent successor to Kathleen Frankford, who left the position last February to join MMGY/NextFactor as vice president of marketing. Frankford had held the job for nearly seven years.
Jim Werner has been appointed chief tourism officer at Visit Philadelphia. A 14-year veteran of the organization, which was previously known as the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, Werner has previously worked for several years at the Philadelphia Housing Authority as a communications specialist.
Jason Dunderdale has been named head of UK sales for FCM Travel Solutions. the corporate travel business of the Flight Centre Travel Group, which is headquartered in Brisbane and operates a network spanning over 90 countries across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Dunderdale joins from car rental provider SIXT, where he was head of travel sales UK & Ireland for the last three years. He takes on the role at FCM from Graham Ross, who was promoted to UK general manager earlier this year.
Brian Simpson, former editorial director for the travel trade publication TravelPulse Canada, has joined CAA Club Group as manager, travel technology. Simpson will help manage the adoption, maintenance and future development of current and future technology tools used by CAA Club Group’s retail and call center travel agents in South Central Ontario and Manitoba. With more than three decades of experience in the travel and tourism industry, has held positions in different sectors of the industry, including technology support at Core Travel Technologies and a 24-year career at Sabre/Travelocity.ca, as well as his tenure at TravelPulse Canada.
Lucy Ellingham has been hired as a new business development manager for the UK-based luxury tour operator Lusso Travel. She was previously partner area sales manager at Kuoni working with key trade accounts and partner stores.
Fernando Candela has replaced is replacing Vincent Hodder as CEO of Level. Level is the low cost airline brand of IAG, operating long-haul flights from Barcelona and Paris Orly, and medium-haul from Vienna and Amsterdam. It serves nine North American destinations. Candela was previously director of planning and management control at Air Nostrum.
Tracey Brouillette has been named director of national accounts for Visit Spokane. Previously, she was with the Hiltons of San Diego Complex where she was assistant director of sales for more than six years. Prior to that, she was senior sales manager at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
AmériGo a European tour operator which specializes in product in the American continent, has hired Élodie Jankowski as commercial director for the South-East region of France. She will be in charge of thirteen geographical departments.
Alistair Rodger has been named the new head of European agency sales for the GDS operator Travelport. He joins the company from Hotelbeds Group, where he was retail director in the bedbank’s UK operation. Previously, he was chief commercial and operating officer at The LateRooms Group.
