Introducing the 2023 TTG 30 Under 30

Rising rapidly up the career ladder, Katie progressed from marketing executive to head of marketing at Invasion Camp Group within a year. Here she helped launch several sub-brands, weathered the storms of Covid and proposed and executed a rebrand.

Changing tack, she moved to a marketing manager position at Dharma – a start-up aiming to redefine why people travel. The company focused on passion-based trips such as yoga retreats, football matches and wine tours, partnering with a range of personalities.

Katie has recently started a new role at the World Travel and Tourism Council and alongside this has her own side project, Real World Runaway – a travel blog, community and photography business.

She says: “Living in Manchester, we often don't get the same networking opportunities as those in London and it can feel like a barrier when trying to progress in the industry. I'm always hungry for the chance to learn and grow and there's no better way of doing that than interacting with other curious minds in the industry.”

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Law graduate Connor completed a graduate product management trainee programme before landing the role of associate product manager at Holiday Extras while searching for opportunities in travel and technology.

He started out on a project called “Tomorrow’s Tech” – creating an in-house content management system, enabling content specialists to edit website text and imagery without engineering resource. Four months later he was promoted to his current role of product manager where he leads “Booking Experience”, striving to optimise the user journey on Holiday Extras’ websites.

Connor says: “I am a huge believer in the power of collaboration, and where better to network and exchange ideas than here? I would also like to inspire the travel leaders of tomorrow who, like myself, may come from an unrelated academic discipline or have no background in travel at all. Hopefully, I can open some more eyes to the exciting possibilities and opportunities of travel.”

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After achieving first class honours in his tourism management degree and winning the best undergraduate student award, James joined the European Travel Commission (ETC) as a research project manager. Advising and supporting European national tourism organisations, he worked on numerous reports, such as sustainable tourism implementation and the utilisation of big data, as well as helping destinations respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

James was also part of the working group that launched the UNWTO and ETC DataLab Europe initiative and reviewed the Code of Conduct on Data Sharing in Tourism.

In his current role at the Digital Tourism Think Tank, James is focused on contributing to consultancy projects and producing insightful content.

James says: “The 30 Under 30 programme provides a supportive environment to ideate solutions for improving the attractiveness of tourism careers for younger generations and the best approaches to further the implementation of sustainable tourism.”

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Jack’s career began aged 18 in the HAL/Seabourn reservations team at Carnival UK. Over seven and a half years, he took on roles including the air sea team at HAL/Seabourn, guest relations for Cunard/P&O and in the P&O Cruises sales team as a partnership executive.

He was also seconded as a loyalty & cruise sales manager on board Britannia in 2018 and supported emergency response at Carnival UK during the initial Covid-19 outbreak.

In October 2021 he became a business development manager for Virgin Voyages where he delivered significant growth with smaller accounts. Following a promotion to sales manager, he is accountable for driving growth with big volume driving partners through his own sales, training, and marketing strategy.

Nominating Jack, Sarah Jane Walker from Virgin Voyages said: “Jack has exceeded expectations after only 18 months in the business. TTG’s 30 Under 30 would give him the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded, talented individuals who he can impact, but can also learn from.”

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With a passion for travel ignited whilst on DHL’s HR graduate scheme and working on its contract with British Airways, Molly went directly into a human resource business partner (HRBP) role, partnering DHL’s aviation and travel sector.

She progressed quickly into a lead HRBP position at the age of 24, managing a team and a couple of years later she moved to Tui, partnering the retail and contact centre in the UK.

Since July 2022, Molly has been a Global HRBP, working in close partnership with the First Choice business, legal and the transformation and analytics team. She joined Tui’s diversity, equity & inclusion working group and is now one of the leaders of the company’s Women in Data network.

Nominating Molly, Hannah Edmonds from Tui said: “Molly is full of energy and enthusiasm and deserves to be recognised as a future star in our industry. She holds herself and others to high standards and her natural curiosity creates the momentum to challenge herself and the business to do better.”

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Passion, hard work and a drive to succeed have seen Amar progress rapidly at Cruise.co.uk since joining the digital team in 2018. His hard work saw him promoted three times in three years and he has now taken on a pivotal management role in growing the new Seascanner online brand. Here he has built his own team from the ground up and works closely with every department in the business.

During the first 12 months he has led the Seascanner brand to achieve an average of 40% growth month-on-month. Outside of the UK, he has assisted with launching the brand into Spain and Germany. Aged 23, he is the youngest ever manager at Cruise.co.uk and he was the winner of an “Extra mile” award at the business’ 2022 annual conference.

Amar says: “The opportunity to collaborate with the industry’s brightest minds will play a big part in continuing my personal and professional development, as well as helping others do the same.”

Amar's LinkedIn profile

As one of Tui’s first chartered management degree apprentices, Marcus experienced roles ranging from bedstock trading and travel advisor to mobile merchandising executive.

Graduating the programme with a first class honours in business and management, a Level 5 Diploma in management and leadership, and a distinction in his apprenticeship, Marcus was further awarded chartered management status by the Chartered Management Institute - the highest status that can be achieved in the management profession.

Now one of the youngest senior managers in Tui UK, he is a senior product innovation and ancillaries manager for Tui Hotels and Concepts.

Marcus says: “Being part of TTG’s 30 Under 30 will help me form relationships with like-minded individuals who are passionate about our industry, their careers, and the influence we have on shaping the future of travel. Having worked for Tui since leaving school, this opportunity will help me learn best practice from some of the cohort who represent other companies within the travel industry.”

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The youngest person to complete the Thomas Cook management development course, Courtney landed the role of branch manager at Sunlounger Travel’s recently opened Wisbech store in 2020. Rapidly exceeding expectations, she was asked to take on the company’s new King’s Lynn flagship store when it opened in September 2020, aged just 21. 

Since then she has taken the new store, with a new team, to over two million in retail sales in the last financial year whilst training and developing her staff and completing her own further education courses.

She manages multiple branches when required, trains staff to a high standard and understands the wider business needs over and above the basic day-to-day operation of her store.

Nominating Courtney, Sunlounger Travel’s Iain Kirkbright said: “Being able to mix with other high-flying young talent will put Courtney in a great position to pass on her own experiences, hints and tips as well as gaining an extended knowledge of other industry areas.”

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Molly’s first role in travel as a business development manager for Latin Routes saw her help the operator grow trade sales from 10% to 50% of turnover. Post-pandemic she re-entered the industry as a marketing executive for online platform TravelLocal. Here she helped increase newsletter enquiries by 60% via a Meet your local expert campaign and set up a sustainability & ethics committee.

Since then Molly has joined Intrepid Travel as an industry partnerships manager, supporting agents in trade sales through training, events, and growing engagement online.

A recent volunteering stint teaching English to a refugee family and helping them to integrate into the UK, spurred her on to become involved with Women In Travel, helping coach and support several women.

Molly says: “Being named one of TTG’s 30 Under 30 will provide the exposure to talk more widely about sustainable travel and female empowerment within our industry. The networking opportunities will also further the opportunity to bring more purpose-led, sustainable travel into the conversation.”

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Starting out as cabin crew, Harley quickly used her passion for people and service excellence to move into customer centres roles. Over time her people skills, engaging leadership style and eye for detail led to her a crew performance manager role. More recently, Harley has moved into the people team, where she is broadening her skillset whilst undertaking a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development HR qualification.

She has delivered in difficult times with examples including delivering a huge redundancy programme during the Covid-19 pandemic and moving the business’ payroll accuracy to the highest in its 39-year history.

Nominating Harley, Albert Thomas from Virgin Atlantic said: “Harley is exceptional at driving continuous innovation, identifying control gaps, building processes and leading people. It would be wonderful for her to be recognised amongst her peers. She truly role models hard work, determination and a passion for getting things right for our people. Harley would be an incredible ambassador and a valuable contributor to the 30 Under 30 programme.”

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Determined to explore 60 countries by the age of 30, Ella has also worked her way through a number of roles in the travel industry including with Travel Counsellors, First Class Holidays and Andorra Resorts before landing her current position as marketing manager at Exsus Holidays.

Her career in travel marketing began with an apprenticeship at First Class Holidays, where she remained for more than three years while pursuing a degree in broadcast journalism at the University of Leeds. Ella also secured a regular segment on talkRADIO to discuss travel during the pandemic.

Wellbeing is another focus for the young marketeer who recently completed her yoga teacher training in India. She hopes to create a platform for free yoga and meditation classes for the wider travel industry.

Ella says: “Being part of the 30 Under 30 programme would offer me a platform to grow, gain confidence, and contribute to creating a more sustainable and wellbeing-oriented industry.”

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While studying for his degree, Oliver undertook a placement year in Tui’s late trading team. During the Covid-19 pandemic he was seconded as crisis lead within the social media team, clearing a backlog of over one million customer cases in four months.

On graduating, Oliver secured a permanent role in late trading and within a year was promoted to commercial manager, responsible for the performance and channel management of a number of key ancillaries.

Alongside this he supports and mentors the current students in the Tui Commercial Placement scheme, and has secured a place in Tui’s HOW2 Global Leadership Development Programme.

Nominating Oliver, Tui’s Rebecca Gibbins said: “As part of the 30 Under 30, Ollie would be able to share the experiences he has gained at developing young talent while being part of a group of individuals from other areas of the travel industry will also help him gain more of an understanding of the wider market.”

Oliver's LinkedIn profile

Working her way up through the ranks at Thomas Cook from apprentice to store manager and working across a number of branches in the north east, Jade transferred to Hays Travel after the company’s liquidation.

After five months she spotted a vacancy with Jet2holidays as a trade sales executive and took on the role two weeks before the Covid-induced lockdown. Forced to adapt quickly, helping to train colleagues from other departments on systems without any training herself, Jade also helped develop a peaks campaign to ensure agents could access information needed to boost their social media presence and increase sales.

She was promoted to business development manager last year and is now trade operations manager.

Jade says: “Being part of TTG’s 30 Under 30 will offer exposure to other areas of the travel industry I’ve not yet explored, allowing me not only to better my own knowledge but also integrating this into my role and sharing the experience with my team and the wider company.”

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Samuel’s entrepreneurial spirit saw him selling confectionery to students and teachers at school aged 14. Since then, the 23-year-old has delved into various industries, establishing digital marketing agencies, creating a thriving events brand, and even successfully exiting an apparel business by the age of 19.

His current venture, Hands In, is a platform that revolutionises group payments in the online travel industry, enabling seamless transactions and driving incremental revenue for online travel agencies and airlines.

The company has secured significant seed funding of more than $500,000 at a multimillion-dollar valuation and has signed contracts exceeding $600,000 in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).

Samuel says: “Being part of this group would foster connections with like-minded professionals, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration. Ultimately, being named one of TTG's 30 Under 30 would empower me to inspire other aspiring entrepreneurs, share insights, and contribute to shaping the future of the travel industry.”

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While completing a masters degree, Tia began an internship at Attraction World Group (AWG) and she was hired on a part-time basis just a few months later.

A year later the role was made permanent and she took on responsibility for two key destinations, Poland and Iceland. Rave reviews from partners in the territories she handled saw her promoted to product manager for Europe in December 2022.

Tia has recently taken on a new project, using her own knowledge and experience to head up the AWG Internship Programme, searching for the next leaders in the industry.

She has also been asked by ITT Future You to be a panellist and speaker at the ITT Conference in Qatar 2023.

Nominating Tia, Attraction World’s Martyn Sansom said: “TTG’s 30 under 30 would provide Tia with the platform to inspire future generations and help to push for grassroots talent. It would also increase her profile amongst peers in the industry, allowing people to see the star she is becoming.”

Tia's LinkedIn profile

An international business management degree buoyed Morgan’s journey into the family business, Goodlife. After learning the ropes in an administrative position for six months, he progressed into a business development position, expanding agent partners through visits and trade events.

During the Covid-19 pandemic he focused on cancellations and rebooking impacted villa stays then progressed to learning more of the day-to-day running of the business dealing with agent/supplier payments and currency management.

Morgan has been running Goodlife from July 2022 when his father became ill and has owned the business since his passing in October 2022.

Recently he hosted his first travel agents out in Florida and following the mini-fam’s success he has organised two more trips. He also hopes to expand his knowledge of sustainable travel and how it can be incorporated within the business.

Morgan says: “The greatest benefit of being part of this group are the connections with peers who are in similar positions forming their careers in the travel industry.”

Morgan's LinkedIn profile

Since joining travel-focused social media marketing agency, Social Trinity, aged 24, Lauren has secured two promotions to become head of strategy. She has become a successful marketer, manager and industry leader, dramatically exceeding expectations by driving two thirds of new business, tripling the monthly recurring revenue and securing the company’s highest value campaigns and retainers.

Most recently, she created the #MyHappyPlace campaign for Marella Cruises, an influencer-led campaign, which delivered 270% of the KPI’s (key performance indicators).

Diagnosed with ADHD aged 25, and part of the LGBT community, Lauren also champions the neurodiverse and LGBT communities, and uses her platform to support and promote inclusivity in everyday life and marketing.

Nominating Lauren, Michael Simmons of Social Trinity said: “Lauren would be honoured to share her expertise – supporting the travel industry’s navigation of social media, collaborating with others to build the future of travel marketing, and developing her own growth by learning from the best and brightest in the industry.”

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Law graduate Tom worked in Shanghai in a variety of PR roles including managing the external communications for Shanghai Disney Resort during the Covid-19 pandemic. He went on to spend five years in the city, joining global PR agency, Finsbury Glover Hering, where he specialised in corporate and crisis communications.

Returning to the UK in 2022, Tom joined MMGY Hills Balfour where he is responsible for driving the PR strategy for his clients, overseeing the press office and managing a team of four.

Instrumental in nurturing junior talent within the team, Tom is always thinking of ways to encourage the PR team to collaborate and integrate both socially and professionally.

Nominating Tom, Lucy Campbell of MMGY Hills Balfour said: “Tom is passionate about empowering the next generation of travel PR professionals. We believe he would leverage being part of TTG’s 30 under 30 to do further mentoring work in universities and industry networks to encourage more young professionals to consider a career in the travel industry.”

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Taking on an internship with Limitless Travel after graduating university, Sarah led the operations department from facilitating 50 disabled high-needs passengers travelling in the UK in 2017, to 2,000 high-needs passengers travelling to destinations across the globe.

She has created a complex procedure capable of delivering holidays for that number of disabled people, something that comes with vast operational complexities.

The role has been created from the ground up as the business has grown so Sarah has achieved all this with no training. She also takes on finance responsibilities, manages bookkeeping, margin management and forecasting.

Nominating Sarah, Angus Drummond of Limitless Travel said: “Sarah has always excelled and I simply can't praise her enough. She would benefit greatly from increased integration into the industry, and I think she would be incredibly valuable to and supportive of other businesses that would like to improve their accessible travel offer and learn how to effectively deliver excellent holidays for disabled people.”

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Recognised as one of Thomas Cook’s Top 10 Travel Agents (Sales), aged 22, Stephanie‘s passion for cheerleading inspired her to join Travel Counsellors and set up her own business, CheerTravel. She found her niche, booking tailor-made travel packages for cheerleading groups. Within two years she turned over £3.2 million in sales and employed four full-time staff members.

In April she supported 2,300 athletes to travel to Orlando within a three-week period, flying out to Florida herself to offer an in-resort 24/7 personal service.

Stephanie is the youngest ever Gold Travel Counsellor and the sixth highest earner in the company.

Stephanie says: “I have admired and been inspired by the TTG 30 Under 30 since the 2018 cohort. My hope would be to inspire other young professionals to pursue their goals. Having been told aged 23 that I needed more experience, I feel this accolade would prove not only to myself but also others, that age is not a barrier to success.”

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Jack joined Travel Counsellors’ commercial department in a summer temp position after graduating university. Following a year out travelling around Australia, he rejoined the team as a data and insight analyst.

When Covid hit, Jack quickly became an integral part of the senior team, managing the business’ connected partner relationships alongside his usual responsibilities. His role is now broadening further as he takes on more senior responsibility in leading the commercial strategy. He has significantly contributed to the booking journey strategy for Travel Counsellors, which included improved efficiency, platform enhancements, filling product gaps and pricing insights, all driven via effective data analysis and synthesis. He has also supported several new graduates in the commercial team, acting as a coach and mentor.

Nominating Jack, Travel Counsellors’ Kirsten Hughes said: “Jack’s helpful, humble and approachable nature makes him a popular member of the team and he would relish the opportunity to network and collaborate with like-minded individuals who share the same ambitions to grow, develop and build knowledge.”

Jack's LinkedIn profile

Making his mark at Tui while on an undergraduate placement in the company’s commercial programme, Matthew was quickly able to make financially significant decisions as a trading executive in the early trading team. 

After graduating from university with first class honours, he returned to Tui and progressed within the trading teams. Now a senior trading manager he is responsible for the early market sales of summer 2024.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Matthew was one of only three people who worked in the early trading team whilst other staff were redeployed or furloughed. He now has a vast operating remit, including coordinating recruitment across trading, running long-haul sales campaigns and new system development and deployment.

He is currently spearheading a strategic growth initiative within Tui UK.

Nominating Matthew, John Lewis from Tui said: “Matt really can lend his hand to anything. He does all of this with no bravado, and in the most modest and genuine way. I think he'd massively benefit from the exposure and opportunities that 30 Under 30 would present him.”

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A 12-month placement in the national communications team at BMW during his university studies gave Leigh his first taste of marketing and led him to a role at his dream company, Royal Caribbean. 

When a global restructure almost dashed his dream he was offered an opportunity with Celebrity Cruises. He is now responsible for planning, designing, writing and building the cruise line’s consumer emails.

Driven by a passion for diversity and inclusion, Leigh has established and co-led the company’s generation-to-generation employee resource group, helping young professionals achieve their full potential through a range of social and personal development sessions. He has also mentored a university student studying a tourism degree through an Abta partnership, to help them get their first job in the travel industry.

Leigh says: “I believe the connections made through TTG’s 30 Under 30 will be for life, and with our collective talents and enthusiasm we can help drive the advancement of this industry forward, together.”

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Following an apprenticeship programme, Ashleigh started her own social media consultancy aged 21. Self-taught, using YouTube to learn to code and develop a website, Ashleigh drew in a variety of clients from fashion brand nobody’s child to architecture firm Newman Zieglmeier.

In summer 2022 she chose to specialise in travel. Joining Finn Partners as a digital account manager, she led the digital outreach for St Kitts, Capital Region USA, VisitMalta, The Landings and City Experiences plus projects for Iceland.

Alongside securing one million likes for the VisitMalta Facebook page, changing the look of the St Kitts UK channels and creating an influencer campaign for Reykjavik, Ashleigh is mum to a one-year-old boy.

She says: “There’s a voice that yells ‘more’ and champions me to ‘just try’ anything, but it’s always served as a blessing, because there is always something valuable to be gained from putting yourself out there. I am excited to see how this experience can help to drive me closer to my goals and represent Finn.”

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Working within the aviation development department at Newcastle Airport, Tom’s current role is to support the team with market research, analysis and insights to help develop the airport’s destination and airline network.

Graduating from Northumbria University with first class honours, Tom was awarded the Institute of Travel & Tourism’s Student of the Year for Northumbria University in 2020. His degree also included a one-year placement as an aviation development intern at Liverpool Airport and he was head-hunted to work at Doncaster Sheffield Airport as an aviation and marketing analyst in 2021. In November 2022, shortly before the closure of Doncaster Sheffield airport, he joined the team at Newcastle.

Nominating Tom, Chris Ion of Newcastle Airport, said: “Tom’s current role is mainly based in Newcastle and the North East. He would benefit hugely from the opportunity to network with a cohort of like-minded, ambitious and hardworking travel professionals and future leaders across the industry.”

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Starting out as a sales and marketing apprentice at Villa Select, Amy then took to the skies completing a season as cabin crew Thomson Airways (now Tui Airways). 

During a five-year stint at City Sightseeing Worldwide she increased sales by over 200% year-on-year with a key partner – closing a global marketing deal to become the preferred partner in the open-top bus tour market. Here she progressed from sales development executive to global sales manager. Since then she has held positions at Day Out With the Kids and Vox City before becoming Hotelbeds’ UK & Ireland strategic sales manager for its Beyond the Bed ancillaries arm.

Amy says: “I hope to use being named as a 30 under 30 future leader, to encourage and bring more young talent into long-standing global businesses such as Hotelbeds, where the under-30 representation is quite low. I am always the youngest in the room and I don't think that should be the case.”

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Starting out as a placement student with Holiday Extras, James discovered a passion for data and has risen rapidly through the ranks.

Contributing to large-scale migration projects and facilitating business acquisitions, he was selected as the sole member of a reduced team during the Covid-19 pandemic and undertook the essential task of maintaining crucial data and business reporting.

Post-pandemic he was promoted to a senior role then to tech lead, where he now oversees a team of data engineers and guides the business’ data strategy.

James has contributed to training four generations of interns, which led to two new data courses for aspiring engineers, and has become an eloquent public speaker, sharing his expertise at conferences and meet-ups.

Nominating James, Amanda Bishop of Holiday Extras said: “James is always looking for opportunities to drive improvements, challenge himself and support others. 30 Under 30 will provide a platform for sharing his insights and wisdom with the broader community, ultimately contributing to collective growth and development.”

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Amy joined the Avis Budget Group (ABG) UK corporate sales team, after completing a BTEC in travel & tourism. Building strong relationships, key strategic accounts began to request her as their point of contact.

A move to revenue management as a corporate pricing analyst, saw Amy create compelling rate proposals enabling the account management community to win and retain corporate accounts with annual revenues up to €17 million.

She joined the tour team as a senior tour pricing analyst to increase her knowledge of other segments of the business. Passionate about improving business results and processes she has created and implemented reporting for both the corporate and the tour operator business segments.

Amy has also become a member of the ABG Wellbeing Group and led the company-wide launch of its Vision & Values programme.

Her nominator said: “Amy is ambitious to progress within the travel industry, and we believe she would fully embrace the opportunities associated with being named as one of TTG’s 30 under 30.”

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After graduating Alex began his audit training with Macintyre Hudson before moving to Elman Wall travel accountants in 2017 where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

Currently a senior audit manager running audits of a number of high-profile travel companies, Alex has progressed quickly. Recently awarded his practising certificate by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, he is now working towards his responsible individual status, which will allow him to sign audit reports in his own name.

Alex has undertaken work helping clients with Abta and Atol renewals, using experience gained during the Covid-19 pandemic when he worked countless additional hours helping his clients to survive and then begin to recover.

Nominating Alex, Elman Wall’s Karen Gill said: “As one of very few accountants specialising in the travel sector, Alex would learn huge amounts through being part of the 30 Under 30, which would be invaluable as an advisor. He would form lasting relationships with his cohort, benefitting both himself and hopefully his peer group for years to come.”

Alexander's LinkedIn profile