Advantage, Intrepid Travel, ITC: all the latest travel trade people moves

Intrepid Travel is recruiting for two partnership manager roles in the North and South, after industry partnerships manager Molly Cofman-Nicoresti has moved to Expedia Group as senior partnerships marketing specialist. Joanna Reeve, Intrepid's head of partnerships, said: “Thank you to Molly for all her hard work," adding that the adventure specialist was "excited to further expand the support we offer to our agent partners”. Cofman-Nicoresti, a TTG 30 Under 30 Class of 2023 alumni, joined Intrepid in 2022, and said on LinkedIn that she will be working on Expedia's TAAP team. 

Nick Hughes will be returning to the role of chair at trade association Tipto from 1 September 2024. Hughes takes over from Richard Forde, who is taking a career break after stepping down from his role as head of trade at Newmarket. Hughes is currently sales, strategy and partnerships director at Scenic and Emerald Cruises and previously held the chairman role at Tipto between 2019 and 2022, a stint that he comments "has always felt like unfinished business".

ITC has restructured to form a new luxury division comprising of its Inspiring Travel, Private Clients and luxury sports tours operator Spectate brands. The division will be led by former Inspiring Travel managing director Lisa Smith, who joined ITC in 2020 as its chief operating officer. The restructure means the reshuffling of many roles in the company, with Judie Hinkson named chief operating officer of ITC and Di Selby named business partnership director in a role encompassing both trade and business teams. Kathryn Robinson has been named head of sales, Natalie Russell-Blackburn Perkins has taken on the newly created role of head of business development and client partnerships and Paul Smith becomes chief financial officer.

Louise Baxendell has been appointed recruitment manager at Aquilium Travel and its homeworking division The Travel Directors. In this newly created role, Baxendell will look to increase both the number of homeworkers who are looking to move into the specialised luxury market, and bring in more franchisees for its Luxury Travel Franchise brand. Baxendell has had previous recruitment roles at Holidays Please, Travel Franchise and Global Travel. 

Louisa O'Neill has been appointed senior worldwide travel expert by luxury tour operator Exsus. O'Neill started out at Thomas Cook where she became one of the South Wales region's top sales consultant. She has worked for Sam Smith Travel and most recently Classic Collection Holidays. During her 26-year career in the industry, O'Neill commented she had worked with "virtually every aspect of travel. I’m excited to bring my knowledge to Exsus Travel and continue delivering outstanding journeys for our customers".

As part of its bolstered senior management team, Advantage Travel Partnership has appointed Pelin Dede to a newly created role of head of accommodation for the consortium’s Global Accommodation Programme. Dede will lead the transition as Advantage and Hickory Global Partners launch strategic joint venture  Global Stays in 2025 and will drive the strategy for the Advantage’s global accommodation proposition. Dede moved to London from Chicago to join Expedia Group, where she worked for six years, before joining CWT in 2018 as senior manager within their global suppliers team.

Clare Collins has been named CT Travel Group's new chief operating officer, as part of the group's aggressive growth strategy. Collins, who joined CT Travel in 2004 and moves from her previous role as managing director, corporate travel, will oversee CT's tailor-made leisure travel arm Pettitts Travel alongside its Business Travel, Group Travel and Trade Missions brands.

Dee Shahzad has been named InteleTravel's first ambassador in Ireland. Shahzad, who has more than 20 year' experience in travel will mentor advisors, support training and co-present at InteleTravel events. InteleTravel now has more than 700 agents in Ireland and has recently recorded bookings for June as well as revenues for the month up 57% on 2023.