Carrier takes on new head of trade partnerships
April HutchinsonCarrier is to give a permanent role in the business to Lee Marshall in a newly formed position of head of trade partnerships.
Strategic changes to the luxury operator’s leadership team also include Carrier’s head of sales Rick Milne taking on a broader role as sales and commercial director, also a newly-created position in the business.
Carrier’s managing director Natasha Towey said: “While Rick will continue to manage our highly valued strategic partnerships and oversee our trade channel, our B2B strategy and agent partners could not be in better hands with Lee, and I’m thrilled to welcome him to our leadership team.”
“Lee has been a strategic consultant for us for the last three years, but from day one he quickly became a much-loved part of our family,” she added “Along with the rest of our agency sales team, he has been pivotal in helping us grow trade sales to record breaking levels.”
Marshall has more than 30 years’ experience in luxury tour operating within the senior management teams of Thomas Cook Signature, Gold Medal Travel group and ITC Luxury Travel.
He said: “In 2019, I took a sabbatical to recalibrate my home and work-life balance; something that’s incredibly important to me. But since January 2021, I have worked quietly alongside Rick and Carrier’s agency sales team on helping refine, define and deliver an already exceptional trade strategy.”
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping Carrier grow their trade business, through my own established personal network and supporting the team to deliver a calendar of elevated agent events, including the overseeing of this year’s A-List Awards, hosted at BAFTA Piccadilly,” he added. “I feel privileged to have been invited to join the senior team at Carrier. For me, it feels like the last 30 years have been leading up to this moment.”
Rick Milne joined Carrier as a sales manager in 2009, becoming part of the leadership team in 2011, operating at a strategic level and as a “figurehead in the trade”, Towey said.
Under his direction, she added Carrier’s trade business “has gone from strength to strength, establishing a unique community of partners where relationships are cemented with mutual trust”.
In 2018, Milne became responsible for all sales channels including the company’s own retail sales, with a focus on “protecting core agent business and partnerships”, with 2023 delivering Carrier’s most successful trading performance in its 40-year history under his lead.
Milne said: “I’m thrilled to not only fulfil personal aspirations with this role but having been at Carrier for 15 years I am emotionally invested in the company’s success and can’t wait to help shape our commercial approach. I’ll be working closely with Natasha and the other department heads to bring our strategic partners even closer to the business, while ensuring our sales, product and marketing plans support all our booking channels.”
Towey said 2024 has been a year of “investing in additional areas that are also crucial to supporting our trade partners”, such as product, marketing and agency sales, as well as concierge, where two team members have been added.
Simon Jeffries, head of product, will be leaving Carrier this month after almost seven years with the business to pursue new opportunities.
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April Hutchinson
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Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
