Greg Marshall, the senior vice president/director of marketing for Visit Rochester, has formally announced that he is leaving the service of Visit Rochester, which he joined in September 1978, although he will be connected to Visit Rochester’s full network for the next several months. His 41-plus years with the DMO of the destination in which he was born and raised is some kind of record in the travel and tourism industry, where portability is a defining attribute. But Marshall, of whom it has been said, “he knows every blade of grass in Rochester,” is singular. He is not leaving the industry per se; rather, he is following a decision he made more than a year ago so that he could pursue “other ventures and adventures that had been long delayed.”
Catherine Prather, NTA’s long-time executive vice president, will take on the job as president of the organization at the start of 2020. Prather, who has been with the association for 26 years, will succeed the outgoing Pam Inman, who served as president since September 2014. Prather had served as interim president of NTA following the departure of Lisa Simon from the position and prior to Inman’s appointment.
Charlene Leiss, current presidents of Flight Centre Travel Group-Americas corporate brands, has been appointed president of the company, effective Jan. 1, 2020, succeeding Dean Smith, who will be retiring at the end of the company’s fiscal year on June 30, 2020. Smith will spend six months in a strategic global leisure role through to June 30, helping to transition the business through various leisure-related transformation initiatives that are currently underway. Leiss has been with Flight Centre since April 2015. Previously, she was vice president, sales, TMS USA, she and served there for more than 24 years.
Also at Flight Centre Travel Group Americas, John Beauvais, current president of the Flight Centre Travel Group Canadian business, will become president, corporate brands, America. He will be responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the company’s corporate brands, including FCM and Corporate Traveller in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and the company’s network throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Matt Johnson, a leader in the events industry for nearly 15 years, is the new president of BizBash, a trade media company for event and meeting planners. Connect purchased BizBash in December 2019. Johnson, currently executive vice president at Connect, will work to grow BizBash’s brand and further develop the company’s four premier events, which now fall under Connect’s portfolio umbrella. With this position, Johnson assumes a new challenge but remains part of the Connect family—which he has been a member of since 2005.
Enterprise Holdings, Inc. (parent company of car rental companies Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, Alamo Rent a Car) has announced that Chrissy Taylor, the company’s president and chief operating officer, has been promoted to chief executive officer, effective next month. Taylor becomes only the fourth CEO in the company’s more than 60-year history and the third generation of Taylor family CEO leadership, preceded as CEO by her father Andy Taylor and grandfather Jack Taylor. The position has been held since 2013 by Pam Nicholson, who will retire at the end of the year.
TUI’s last-minute holidays specialist L’Turhas, has named Benjamin Jacobi as its new managing director from October 1. The 37-year-old, who previously held various managerial roles at TUI, is currently responsible for products and finances. He replaces Marek Andryszak who will focus fully on his new role of CEO at TUI Germany.
Topdeck Travel and Blue-Roads Touring has promoted Vicki Ioannou-Theophilou to director of business development for the Americas. In her new role, Ioannou-Theophilou, who was previously business management manager for Eastern Canada, will oversee key distribution partners and develop, coordinate and implement new strategic plans to advance existing business and secure new sales opportunities. Prior to joining Top Deck/Blue Roads-Touring, she worked for GTA and TMR Holidays.
Eva Freissmuth recently joined the sales and marketing area at the German study and adventure travel specialist Icarus Tours. She takes on the responsibilities of Shirin Russ, who is on parental leave, and takes care of the travel agency’s concerns, among other things. After studying tourism at the Fresenius University in Idstein, Hesse, Freissmuth gained experience in marketing, most recently as a consultant with Thomas Cook in Oberursel.
Martim Diniz has been named director of business development, LATAM, for Universal Orlando. He joins from SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment where he was manager of SeaWorld’s Sao Paulo branch. He had been with SeaWorld for nearly 10 years. Previously he was on the front desk and guest relations team at Walt Disney World.
Mollie Massari is the new president of the USA Luxury Shopping Consortium. She succeeds the departing Kathy Anderson, the consortium’s founder and president since its inception in 2017. The USA Luxury Shopping Consortium announced today that a new president and director will assume ownership of the organization in 2020. The Consortium’s founder and president since its inception in 2017, Anderson is retiring at the end of this year, but will remain active with the organization in an advisory capacity for the first year. The Consortium will now be based in San Antonio, Texas and led by Mollie Massari, an expert in the retail marketing industry. Massari was previously owner of her own consulting firm, specializing in strategic business planning, marketing and branding and public relations strategies.
CWT has appointed Charlie Sullivan to the position of product
manager for its airline distribution team.
He will report and work in close collaboration with
Erik Magnuson, vice president of air distribution capabilities at CWT. Previously,
he was senior vice president and general manager of e-commerce at Worldspan.
Senior travel specialist Saga has appointed former Superdry boss Euan Sutherland as chief executive. He will replace Lance Batchelor, who is leaving Saga at the end of January. Sutherland recently resigned from the struggling clothing company Superdry last April after five years following a boardroom battle with co-founder Julian Dunkerton.
Michael O’Callaghan, executive vice president and chief operating officer at the Detroit Metro CVB, is retiring at the end of this year. He helped lead the organization for 21 years, and now plans to travel and spend more time with family. A replacement hasn’t yet been determined. O’Callaghan began his career in the travel and tourism industry in 1975. Prior to joining the Detroit CVB, he held senior level positions at well-known hotel brands.
Simon Lloyd has been named chief marketing officer at the travel price comparison site icelolly.com. He replaces Ross Mathhews, who left the company to join Awaze UK’s Hoseasons brand. Lloyd, who starts his new position on January 6, has previously held the same position at Virgin Atlantic, from 2012 to 2013. He was most recently CMO at financial services company Auden, and he has also worked with the BBC, AXA and Superdry.
Tim Brady, who worked as the vice president of sales and marketing for the Charleston (West Virginia) Convention and Visitors Bureau for seven years, has been named as the next president and CEO of the organization. He’ll start his new job on January 1st. Before joining the Charleston bureau, Brady was executive director for four years of the Greater Bridgeport CVB in West Virginia
