In the UK, TUI has promoted Richard Sofer to the position of commercial director for the UK and Ireland. Sofer, who will begin his new job on Dec. 1, will have responsibility for the brand’s product offering, yield management and aviation planning. Sofer joined TUI UK in September 2016 as managing director of Thomson Cruises. Prior to joining TUI, Sofer worked for GLH Hotels where he held senior financial and chief executive roles.

 

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W2M Wordl2Meet, part of Grupo Iberostar, has signed Jesús Marín as director of W2M Pro for Spain and Portugal. Currently the manager of Tour 10—he will join W2M Pro in November—Marin has led the company’s tour operator and booking platform for travel agents. W2M was founded in 2008 as NT Incoming and New Travelers and is 100 percent owned by Iberostar. It has receptive offices in a dozen countries, including the USA.

 

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Funway Holidays has appointed Amy Shine to the newly-created role of product manager following a series of job changes at the tour operator. Her appointment follows the recent recruitment of Former Thomas Cook head of trade partnerships Audrey Brooks-Wiggins as head of sales and four other staff into newly created roles across the business, including Sam Robinson as marketing manager, Christian Brett as marketing executive, and Ayo Akinsala as operations executive. Shine most recently worked for Secret Escapes to develop its long-haul portfolio and previously worked for Cosmos and Your Golf Travel, heading up the group’s international product and commercial teams.

 

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Amy Drummond, formerly business development manager for Scotland at Funway Holidays, has taken a job with AMResorts, which has a partnership with Funway.

 

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Rachel Castaneda Mata has been appointed director of sales for Visit Santa Clara (Calif.). Previously, she was director of sales and marketing at the Hilton Hotel in Cupertino. Prior to that, she had worked at Visit Santa Clara s national sales manager, and served as a national sales manager for ARAMARK.

 

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Olympic Holidays has announced the appointment of Donna Allcock as director of product and commercial next month. She joins from travelsupermarket.com where she was most recently channels manager. Before that, she spent almost 20 years at Thomas Cook. She takes on her new position two weeks after Clare Tobin was promoted to the post as CEO of Olympic Holidays. Tobin had been the company’s chief commercial officer.

 

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Luciano Macagno, former country manager of Delta Air Lines in Brazil, is now director of Latin America for the airline, which has transferred its regional base from São Paulo to Miami. Macagno told the Brazilian travel trade publication, PANROTAS, that the new structure in Miami will allow Delta to be close to all Latin markets, large companies with regional headquarters in the city  and the operations of about 100 flights of partner companies.

 

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Marc Herrgott will take the helm at Windrose Finest Travel starting Nov. 1. Herrrgott comes from the IT provider Traffics, a well-known German firm that works with many tourism industry clients. Previously, he headed the product, service and fulfillment areas for TUI’s premium brands.

 

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Dominique Young has been named product development coordinator for the Entertainment Benefits Group, the venue, attractions and entertainment ticketing company with offices in Orlando, New York and Las Vegas. She comes to her new post from New York Water Taxi, where she served for eight years in several different capacities, lastly as sales account manager

 

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Lisa McAuley is moving to dnata Travel as managing director of travel of the operator’s Gold Medal/Travel 2 brands. She’ll be leaving her post as managing director for Silversea in the UK and Ireland. Previously, she worked for Avis for 15 years in senior commercial roles.

 

Thomas Cook has appointed Andrew Flintham as managing director for its UK business. He joins the company from Tui UK and Ireland, where he was commercial director. Flintham would take responsibility for the day-to-day operations in the UK beginning March 2018.

 

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Also at Thomas Cook, the company’s former UK managing director Chris Mottershead has been appointed chief of UK source market and group differentiated product. The company said the move would see Mottershead taking responsibility for the relationship with Thomas Cook Group’s “most important partners and hotel procurement.”

 

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Funway has confirmed the departure of national sales manager Andy Travis after more than seven years with the company. Travis, who worked for the tour operator for more than seven years, left at the end of September to “pursue new opportunities.” Travis had previously served in senior positions for The Holiday Team, Youtravel.com and Monarch Travel Group.

 

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Fabrizio Ciafrone is the new Bt2C sales manager for Groupe Paris of TUI France. He will oversee a team of 18 salespeople under the leadership of Ange Derment, director of groups and communities. Previously, Ciafrone was with Karavel / Promovacances, where he created the group and community service departments.

 

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Tamara Whiting has been named director of multicultural sales for Cincinnati USA. Previously, Whiting, who joined the agency in January as a national sales manager, had spent four years as national sales director for Visit Pittsburgh.

 

 

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Dnata Travel has appointed John Bevan (left) as the new chief executive of its trade division for Europe, including dnata’s Gold Medal and Travel 2 brands. A veteran of more than 25 years in the tour and travel industry, Bevan comes to dnata from Spafinder Wellness; he previously worked for Voyage Prive and lastminute.com. Also joining dnata is Nick Hughes (right), formerly of Attraction World. Hughes will be sales director for the trade division for Europe, with responsibility for the teams at Gold Medal and Travel 2.

 

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The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has extended the contract of its CEO, Mario Hardy, for another three years beginning Jan. 1, 2018. Hardy joined PATA in 2012 as chief operating officer and was appointed chief executive officer on Nov. 1, 2014. Before joining PATA, Hardy worked for 26 years in specialized aviation businesses with a focus upon data analytics and technology, serving in leadership roles in Montreal, Vancouver, London, Beijing and Singapore.

 

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Nevada tourism director to head Sonoma County Tourism: Claudia Vecchio has been named president and CEO of Sonoma County Tourism. Vecchio, who succeeds Ken Fischang—he abruptly resigned from the post last May after serving nearly 12 years in the post—joins the agency from the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, where she has been director for six years. Fischang went on to become executive director of the Saugatuck Douglas Area CVB in Michigan. Vecchio is scheduled to start on Nov. 1. Since 2011 she had been head of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. Her resumé contains tenures as Ohio’s state tourism director (2003-2006) and vice president of communications for the Branson Lakes Area Chamber/Convention and Visitors Bureau (1998-2002).

Nathan Claycomb, a long-time fixture at Sight and Sound Theatres, has left the organization and the tour and travel industry to pursue a career in higher education at his alma mater, Millersville University in Pennsylvania, where he was just appointed assistant director of alumni engagement. Claycomb spent a decade at Sight and Sound, working backstage as a techie, then for the past four years serving as business development manager for the attraction company, which has theatres in both Lancaster County, Pa. and Branson, Mo.

 

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In the UK, Clare Tobin has been promoted from chief commercial officer to chief executive of Olympic Holidays. Her predecessor as chief executive, George Michalias, has become chairman. A veteran of more than 20 years in the tour and travel industry, Tobin joined Olympic Holidays last February. Previously, she spent 17 years with Tui Travel and First Choice, where she held senior board roles and oversaw the group’s specialist premium family brands including Hayes & Jarvis and Sovereign Holidays.

 

 

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TUI France has announced the appointment of Caro Degryse as director of long-haul product. She has 20 years experience in working with large tour groups, as well as receptive and niche tour operators. Most recently, Degryse was director of development at Emirates Holidays. Previously, she worked for the TUI group in Belgium from 1997 to 2005.

 

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Visit Surfside, Miami’s “uptown beachtown,” has announced the appointment of Lindsay Fast as tourism director. Fast brings 10 years of travel marketing and management experience to the position. Prior to joining Surfside, Fast lead numerous upscale marketing programs, promotions and marketing events. Fast comes to the post from Club Med USA where she was trade marketing manager.

 

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After six years of successfully guiding Luxperience, founder Helen Logas has sold the luxury travel trade forum to the U.S.-owned company Diversified Communications. Logas created Luxperience in 2012 as a high-end B2B event based in the Southern Hemisphere. It has also sponsored pop-up shows in such destinations as New York City. The current Luxperience team will transition to Diversified, moving into a new home in its Kent Street offices in Sydney.

 

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Chris Oakes has joined Faremine, the UK-based online travel trade-only company, as head of sales following a short period of consultancy with the brand. Oakes has  nearly 30 years travel industry experience in senior roles at such companies as Hays Travel Independence Group, Holidaytaxis.com, Traveltek and Stella Travel Group.

 

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Brian McCartin has been named president and CEO of the Tempe (Ariz.) Tourism Office. He joins the organization after heading up his own consulting firm for a year. Previously, he was with Travel Portland, the tourism office for Portland, Ore., for 14 years, lastly as executive vice president. McCartin succeeds Stephanie Nowack, who recently announced her retirement after 18 years with the organization.

 

 

Barbara Richardson, chief of external relations for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) has been elected chair of the board of directors of Brand USA. The action took place at the board’s recent meeting in Washington, D.C. She succeeds Tom Klein, former president and CEO of the Sabre Corporation. Prior to joining Metro, Richardson had her own consulting firm and also served for 12 years at Amtrak, lastly as vice president of marketing and communications. She was appointed to the Brand USA board of directors in 2014.

 

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The San Francisco Travel Association has announced the addition of Tom David as executive vice president/chief sales officer, effective Oct. 16. The post was previously held by John Reyes, who has become COO of Visit Sacramento. David has worked with the Marriott organization since 1988, most recently as vice president of sales, Marriott Western Mountain Pacific Region, where he served as the business leader for the Area Sales (proactive), Group Sales (reactive) and property based teams including more than 300 sales professionals with responsibility for booking business into 70 Marriott and Starwood hotels across five states.

 

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Hubert Kluske will become chief commercial officer at TUI Germany next February. Kluske, who is currently managing director Mobilcom-Debitel Shop GmbH, will be responsible for sales and marketing.
Marek Andryszak currently holds this position in addition to his role as CEO of TUI Deutschland.
As the head of Mobilcom-Debitel Shop GmbH, Kluske has been responsible for several years for the entire area sales with its own shops, franchise partners and hundreds of sales partners from the retail trade.

 

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Delta Air Lines has appointed Shane Spyak as its new staff vice president of sales for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India (EMEAI). He will be working alongside Delta’s European joint venture partners Air France, KLM, Alitalia, and as well as Virgin Atlantic, he will be based at the Air France headquarters in Paris. Spyak joined Delta in 2006, and has held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility across the Global Sales and International organizations. Prior to his promotion to staff vice president, he served as managing director–Latin America & Caribbean.

 

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Sean Keliiholokai has joined Visit West Hollywood as vice president of business development for the organization. Keliiholokai will be charged with growing the local tourism industry through hotel and lodging occupancy, focusing on the city’s top international visitor markets. Keliiholokai was previously the executive director for Visit Dana Point, a destination marketing organization servicing South Orange County.

 

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Philippa Baines has joined Intrepid as its new business development manager for the UK Midlands. She joins the company from Wendy Wu Tours, where she had the same title. Baines also held the same title with The Global Travel Group and Explore Worldwide.

 

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Richard Humphrey, CEO/CCO of The Ride, LLC., has announced a management buyout of New York City sightseeing company that currently includes THE RIDE, THE TOUR and the recently launched THE DOWNTOWN EXPERIENCE with Virtual Reality. Partners joining with Humphrey in the buyout include Jeffrey McCormick, managing partner at Saturn Partners, a growth stage investment firm; former board member Alan McKeon, CEO of Alexander Babbage, a strategy and analytics firm for destinations; and Dan Rogoski, currently the President/CRO of Experience the Ride.As part of the transaction, Alan McKeon has joined the company as its COO.

Joe David Rice (left), the longest-serving state tourism director in the country—he has held the post for 29 years—has retired. Replacing him is former Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey (right). The announcement of the appointment came at the end of the Arkansas Hospitality Association’s recent annual Gala Dinner. Dailey was Little Rock’s mayor from 1993 to 2006 and is the current chairman of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission.

 

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Effective Jan. 1, 2018, Matthias Lange will take over as managing director of the DER Reiseik online travel operation. He replaces  Jomique de Vries, who has left the company at his own request. The 43-year-old Lange, who began his career as a salesperson and then worked for DB Vertrieb and STA Travel, will report to Dirk Tietz, chief digital and transformation officer of the DER Touristik Group.

 

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Loïc Prouff has joined the French tour operator Solea as sales manager for Paris and Île-de-France. His mission is to enhance the tour operator’s product to travel agents. A 20-year veteran of the industry, Prouff has previously worked with STI Voyages and Royal Caribbean.
 

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The Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation (OTMPC) has announced that Jim Marchbank will continue to lead the organization after being reappointed chair of the board of directors. The appointment was confirmed by Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor for a three-year period ending in September 2020. Marchbank has been a member of the OTMPC Board since September 24, 2008 and was first appointed as Chair in 2014. Previously he served as a director at Science North starting in 1982 before becoming CEO in 1987, a role he held until 2011.