Dr Steven Freudmann, ITT Chairman 2001 - present

Steven opened Majestic Travel in 1967. He sold three of its offices to Airtours in 1995 and the remaining office was sold in 2008.  He was a director of ABTA for eighteen years and was its President from 1997 until 2000. In 2007 he was appointed Chairman of Alpha Prospects plc which owns a number of travel agencies and tour operators. Steven was elected Chairman of The Triton Travel Group in 2008. In July 2009 Steven was awarded a Doctorate by Leeds Metropolitan University.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.

Lawrence Assock, 6th Dimensions Consultancy

After a spell in the Civil Service, Lawrence was lured into the travel industry and now has over 27 years experience which he puts to good use as a consultant. Throughout his career Lawrence has worked for major comapnies such as Cosmos, ILG, Sunworld (Thomas Cook), Inspirations (Carlsons), Thomson and Mark Warner. Lawrence's skill sets cover a broad range including Sales, Marketing, Commercial, Yield & Revenue Management, Online travel industry and people development. Lawrence is very passionate about the industry and is now on the Board for a second term. He is determined, along with the rest of the Board, to take ITT to the next level and bring more to the membership. Currently Lawrence has a number of consultancy projects running through 6th Dimensions Consultancy.

Jane Dunham, Rail Europe

Mike Greenacre, Managing Director, The Co-operative Travel

Mike is Managing Director of The Co-operative Travel Group, which he has been involved with since he joined the travel industry in 1987. He has overseen an incredible growth in his business during the past two decades  taking it from a small local 12 shop business to the largest national multi channel travel distribution company that it is today with over 400 shops nationwide, over 500 homeworkers, is the fastest growing Independent Consortia, and has a top 10 place for its business travel division and a number of call centres. Mike also has responsibility for CTTG, the national buying group that handles the supplier negotiations for the whole of the Co-operative travel sector with sales in excess of £1.3bn. Mike is a Fellow of the Institute, an ABTA Main Board Director and a member of the IoD. He is passionate about training and education, believing that ITT and ABTA can play a key role in developing future talent for the industry as a whole.

Wendy Hartley, World Travel Market, Reed Travel Exhibitions

Wendy started her career in travel 19 years ago with National Car Rental where she was initially responsible for the national account team within the UK, focusing on the corporate travellers within major blue chip organisations. She became Senior International Account Director for EMEA, where she developed and managed business across the region. She joined Stena Line in 2001 as Head of Sales GB, responsible for sales and marketing ex GB for the Travel Trade. Her role was broadened to include management of the Stena Line Call Centre and sales ex Ireland. Following her departure from Stena Line in April 2005 she has worked on a number of projects including 6 months at The Network., and is now employed by Reed Travel Exhibitions as Head of Sales for World Travel Market.

Giles Hawke, Sales & Customer Services Director, Carnival UK

After ten years in the travel industry, seven of which were spent at the “front line” working overseas, including roles as Sales Director for Specialist Holidays Group (Crystal Holidays and Jetsave) and Commercial Director for Highlife Breaks, joined P&O Princess Cruises in 2002 as Head of Sales. In the ensuing period, steered the sales team and sales efforts through a corporate merger (to become Carnival UK), through massive growth and the introduction of an enhanced product portfolio. Currently Sales and Customer Services Director for Complete Cruise Solution, the umbrella brand for P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line and Ocean Village, and responsible for the sales team, documentation, the reservations department, customer services and sales support systems departments. He has just completed his ICS Innovations Award. The next few years look set to continue to be exciting as the cruise industry and Carnival UK have further ambitious growth ahead in a challenging environment. Giles is keen on active challenges to raise money for charity, an avid skier and father of two boys aged 4 and 2 and a little girl shortly coming up to 1 year old.

Neil Herbert

Neil's career in the industry has been interesting and varied, spanning many sectors including retail, ancillaries, airlines and tour operating. Commencing in retail travel with Premier Travel, he then spent time working in FMCG before returning to travel with the International Leisure Group. His career within the travel industry has also seen him working for British Airways, Airtours, Keycamp and Cosmos before becoming MD of The Independent Holiday Company in 1997. He then moved to Holiday Extras as Sales Director and, after six and a half years, left to join Holiday Taxis as Managing Director. After relocating geographically, Neil joined Travel Buddy as Marketing, Sales and Distribution Director. He is a music buff and a self-confessed 'egg chaser' (a rugby union fan) and is an avid supporter of London Wasps. He has been a deejay and radio presenter, loves live music and sings in a gospel choir.

Simon Johnson, P&O Ferries

Simon’s career to date has covered sales, marketing and operational roles inside and outside the shipping and travel industry. He’s currently Director of P&O Ferries’ tourist business with a responsibility for around 500 staff attracting £140m turnover a year from 8.5m customers. He was directly involved in a Fundamental Business Review which delivered a turn-round of annual business earnings by £25m. More recently he’s been responsible for the launch of P&O’s low-cost pricing model through re-engineering the online tourist proposition and communicated through a brand new marketing campaign. He’s currently working on a project to build two of the largest ships ever built for the Dover straits with a view to launching them in time for the Olympics in 2010 and 2011. In 2006 he was elected to the Passenger Shipping Association Board and is currently the Chair of the ferry section; he will become the President of this Association in 2012.

Sue Kavanagh, HR and Training Consultant

Sue started her career as a graduate trainee with Lunn Poly. In 1988, she moved to Pickford’s Travel (now Carlson Wagonlit Travel) and within a year was promoted to Group Personnel and Training Manager. She then became Human Resources Director with responsibility for personnel, training, payroll and administration issues in the UK. On leaving CWT in 2008, Sue set up her own HR consultancy business. In November 2009 she joined Qatar Airways where she is responsible for HR issues across UK and Ireland.

Barbara Kolosinska, C&M Travel Recruitment
 
Barbara has had a career in travel spanning over 15 years. Prior to working in the industry, she travelled and worked extensively throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, South and Central America, and it was this that spurred her into working in the industry she is very passionate about. After studying a travel and tourism degree, Barbara worked for Air Jet, selling the French airline to Travel Management Companies. She then joined Holiday Autos in another account management role, where she continued to make a large number of travel industry contacts. Barbara moved to C&M Travel Recruitment in 1999 - their second year of trading. At C&M she has worked her way through the ranks, from Recruitment Consultant to Sales Manager and in 2008, Business Development Director, sitting on the Board. Barbara has been instrumental in taking C&M from strength to strength, helping the company become the success it is today. She has a real passion for the travel industry and the people in it as well as being a huge supporter of the ITT. As a Board Director, Barbara wants to help secure ITT's future working closely with the other Board Directors and all the Members.

Bill Maxwell, ITT Treasurer

Bill has 30 years experience in the travel industry specialising in contracting and business relationships. He started his career with the National Bus Company and worked with Wallace Arnold Group as Trade Relations Director. He has a long history of liaising with hoteliers and various other suppliers in the United Kingdom and Europe. Bill sits on the ABTA Code of Conduct Committee, as well as ABTA's Members Committee and UK Tourism Advisory Committee.

Martin Roberts, PropertyQC

Martin Roberts is one of the UK’s most respected Property, Travel and Lifestyle TV presenters and journalists. Over the past 20 years he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio, ITV, CNN and SKY TV. He was a regular presenter on ITV’s top rated travel show ‘Wish You Were Here..?’ for 8 years and the travel editor of ‘Woman’ magazine for 15 years. For the past Seven years he has written and presented the hit BBC property auction show ‘Homes under the Hammer’, which is shown on BBC1 and UKTV Home and is now in its 14th series. He is also the BBC’s UK and Overseas Property expert, appearing as expert speaker on programmes such as ‘BBC Breakfast’ , ‘BBC News 24’, the Jeremy Vine Show and BBC Radios 2, 4 & 5 Live.

Ande Soteri
Commercial Director, ITT

Ande has been responsible for managing ITT's commercial initiatives since 2004, including sponsorship. Her career in travel began when she joined ABTA in 1992 where, as Executive Officer, she worked closely with ABTA's Board, Councils and Committees. She developed ABTA's alliances with trade suppliers (car hire, hotels, ancillary services, coach, rail, tours, shipping, aviation and education and training and in particular travel insurance industry and jointly produced the 'Be Sure About Insurance' manual with the ATII/ABI, designed to help travel agents sell insurance more professionally. She was involved in the preparation and implementation of the ABTAC exam and ABTA Gold Training Award, attaining an increase of 3% for the insurance element within the ABTAC exam. Ande was also part of the team that developed the ABTA Travel Industry Partner scheme and the Single Payment Scheme.  Before joining ITT, Ande was Head of Communications at the Travel Protection Group.

Claire Steiner, Consultant
Chairman — ITT Education and Training Committee

A CIPD qualified HR & Training Consultant, Claire has worked in the HR field, predominantly in the travel and tourism industry, for nearly 20 years. After seven years as Head of HR for the Travelbag Group, she became an independent consultant working with a variety of clients, including People 1st, lastminute.com, ABTA, Elman Wall and Taxi Media.

Claire represents ITT on a number of industry committees – she is Chair of the Steering Group for the Accredited Travel Professional Scheme, a member of the National Advisory Council for T&T at City and Guilds and chairs the reviewing board for the National Occupational Standards. Since 2007 she has been actively involved with the Diploma in Travel and Tourism as Chair of the Quality Group and member of the Steering Group working closely with People 1st, Go Skills and other stakeholders. In January 2010, ITT became programme partners for the Global Travel and Tourism Partnership, a multi-country educational programme to introduce students to career opportunities in Travel & Tourism and Claire is delighted to have been appointed UK Director.

Kristina Wallen, HARP Wallen Executive Recruitment

Kristina has more than 20 years experience in executive recruitment for the travel, leisure and tourism sectors. In 1995 she joined the board of HARP Design and Advertising where she set up their recruitment division. In July 2000 she led a management buy-out and set up HARP Wallen as a specialist boutique independent executive recruitment business. Kristina is passionate about ensuring the travel industry does all it can to attract and retain the best suited and skilled personnel. She is an active member of the ITT, and is also founder of the Shine Awards which recognises the achievements of women in the travel, leisure and hospitality sectors. She was recently appointed a Trustee for the Family Holiday Association.