Gold Medal and Travel 2 have announced their new UK B2B sales senior management team following the departure of five senior figures the previous week. Colin Currie has been appointed head of sales B2B, Gold Medal and Travel 2. Previously the senior key account manager, the role will see Currie lead the sales team across both brands nationwide. Currie’s direct reports will include the team of eight-strong key account managers. Karen Fletcher, formerly wholesale and Gold Medal agency sales manager, has been promoted to head of trade support for both Gold Medal and Travel 2 overseeing all sales support operations across the Preston and Glasgow offices. The actions follow the departure of five senior figures last week, including managing director Andy Freeth.
Sebastian Ebel (left) is handing over his interim post as head of TUI Germany to Polish-born Marek Andryszak (right) as of July 1. Ebel took over the TUI Germany role in addition to his TUI group-level responsibilities in mid-2015 in place of Christian Clemens, but only on an interim basis. He is responsible for the company’s Central Region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland). The turnover of responsibilities means that Andryszak, 44, will be in full charge of the German market leader just six months after moving to Hannover. Previously, he was managing director, TUI Poland.
55 Destinations, the leisure operator of the Alatur JTB group in Brazil, has new sales executives. For the Rio de Janeiro market, they have retained Fernando Moreira (left), and for São Paulo, Rogério Niita (right). A veteran of more than four decades in the tour and travel industry, Moreira he has served tenures with Lan, Air Europa, ADVtour, Receptive Travel Service and other companies. Niita, has had eight years of industry experience in Japan. He also had more than 20 years’ experience with the leisure operators Panexpress and Nascimento in São Paulo.
Air Berlin and its offshoot, Schwechat, Austria-based Niki airlines have appointed two new sales executives. At Niki, Armin Bovensiepen (left) has taken over the position of chief commercial officer. He follows Julio Rodriguez who, according to the company, left at his own request. Rodriguez had switched from the Air Berlin sales operation to the newly formed holiday airline in March. At Air Berlin, sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland will be managed by Tim Howe Schröder (right). The former CEO of Ryanair was appointed vice president, corporate sales last month.
John Lawn has been named the new CEO of Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company. He succeeds Bill Simpson, who is retiring at the end of the year and will hold the title of CEO Emeritus until his retirement. This announcement is the result of the succession plan established when Simpson announced his retirement in June 2016 and Lawn was named president in October 2016. Lawn joined HE&R in 2004 as director of food & beverage at Hersheypark Entertainment Complex. He rose through the ranks, become chief operating officer in June 2015 and president in October 2016.
In France, the tour operator Nationaltours continues to organize its sales structure and has made Vanessa Lesiourd project manager (chef de projet) responsible for sales promotion. Lesiourd joined Nationaltours in 1999 and has held the position of product manager for several destinations, including South Africa, Vietnam, Portugal, Madagascar and others.
Mike Testa, the current chief operating officer of Visit Sacramento, has been named its next president and CEO. Testa has been with the organization since 2001, when he was hired as director of public relations. He will take over as CEO on July 1, following the retirement of Steve Hammond, who has been with the bureau for 18 years.
Kristen Wenger has been promoted to the post of director of communications for the Pittsburgh CVB from her post as manager of communications, where she had served for five years. Wenger began working at the bureau since 2000 as a public relations liaison.
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K-based Back-Roads Touring has announced the appointment of a new global general manager, Daryl Raven, who joined the small group specialist earlier this year having previously held roles with Tourism Holdings and Magic Travellers Network in his native New Zealand, and ICEF in Germany.
Jane Atkins has joined Shearings Leisure Group as strategy director, and in her new role will report directly into Richard Calvert, chief executive of the group. Atkins came to the post from Superbreak UK, where she was international sales director. Meanwhile, Caroline Brown has decided to step down from her role as commercial director of Shearings Holidays.
