At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Tourism space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
David K. Dingle
Chief Executive Officer , P&O Cruises (UK) of Carnival Cruise Line
David Dingle was appointed CEO of Carnival UK in June 2007. In this capacity, he has full operating responsibility for the UK-based brands P&O Cruises and Cunard, and also is responsible for the UK sales and marketing of Princess Cruises. He is also Chairman of the Carnival plc Management Committee responsible for Carnival Australia. Dingle joined P&O Cruises (UK) in 1978 where, after holding a series of commercial positions, he became managing director in 2000. At the time of the merger of P&O Princess Cruises plc and the Carnival Corporation in April 2003, he became managing director of Carnival UK. Dingle is past chairman of The UK Chamber of Shipping and the European Cruise Council and continues to serve on the boards of both groups. In 2009, he joined the board of the European Community Shipowners Association. He has previously served as a director of the Association of British Travel Agents and The UK Passenger Shipping Association. He is a Younger Brother of Trinity House and was awarded a CBE in the 2009 New Year’s Honours. Dingle attended Jesus College, Cambridge, where he attained a Master of Arts in Classics.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
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Michael Thamm
Chief Executive Officer , Costa Crociere S.p.A. of Carnival Cruise Line
Michael Thamm has been chief executive officer of Costa Crociere S.p.A. since July 2012. In this capacity, he has full responsibility for the following brands: AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises and Ibero Cruises. He previously served as president of AIDA Cruises from 2004 to 2012 and Senior Vice President Operations of AIDA Cruises from 1993 to 2004. Prior to joining AIDA Cruises, he held various management positions within the cargo shipping division of Deutsche Seereederei (DSR). Thamm, who holds a master’s degree in Economics, is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Cruise Council (ECC), which represents the interests of the world’s most important shipping lines in Europe. He was named North European Cruise Personality of the Year 2011, an award selected by Seatrade and V. Ships. In March 2012, the international cruise associations ECC and Cruise Lines International Association appointed Thamm spokesman for the cruise industry in Germany.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Arnold W. Donald
President and Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Cruise Line
Arnold W. Donald has been a director of Carnival Corporation since 2001 and a director of Carnival plc since 2003. Mr. Donald has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation & plc since July 2013. He is also Principal of AWDPLC LLC, a private investment company. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Executive Leadership Council, a professional network of African-American executives of major U.S. companies, from 2010 to June 2012. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International from 2006 to 2008. From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Donald was the Chairman of the Board of Merisant Company, a manufacturer and marketer of tabletop sweetener products, including the Equal® and Canderel® brands. From 2000 to 2003, he was also the Chief Executive Officer of Merisant Company. From 1998 to 2000, he was Senior Vice-President of Monsanto Company, a company which develops agricultural products and consumer goods, and President of its nutrition and consumer sector. Prior to that, he was President of Monsanto Company’s agricultural sector. He has been a member of the boards of directors of Bank of America Corporation since January 2013 and Crown Holdings, Inc. since July 1999. He was a member of the board of The Laclede Group, Inc. from January 2003 to January 2014, Oil-Dri Corporation of America from December 1997 to January 2013 and The Scotts Company from March 2000 to January 2009.
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About Carnival Corporation, Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Stein Kruse
Chief Executive Officer , Holland America Group of Carnival Cruise Line
Stein Kruse has been Chief Executive Officer of the Holland America Group since December 2013. In this capacity, he has full operating responsibility of Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn and Holland America Princess Alaska Tours. He was president and chief executive officer of Holland America Line from 2004 to November 2013. Kruse joined Holland America Line in 1999 as senior vice president, fleet operations with overall responsibility for all Holland America Line’s operations. Kruse joined Holland America Line from “K” Line America, where he was senior vice president and chief financial officer. He also oversaw financial activities in seven U.S. subsidiary companies for the global Japanese shipping company and served on the company’s board of directors. Prior to that, Kruse held several executive positions in the cruise industry. He was executive vice president and chief operating officer for Radisson Seven Seas Cruises and president and CEO for Seven Seas Cruise Line. He is a former vice chairman of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and presently serves as a director on the board of the United States Coast Guard Foundation and on the board of governors of the World Trade Center Seattle. Kruse, a native of Oslo, Norway, holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Gerald R. Cahill
President and Chief Executive Officer, Carnival Cruise Lines of Carnival Cruise Line
Gerald R. Cahill joined Carnival Cruise Lines’ parent company, Carnival Corporation, in 1994 as vice president – finance and in January 1998 was promoted to senior vice president – finance and chief financial officer. In December 2003, Cahill was named executive vice president and chief financial officer for Carnival Corporation & plc. In July 2007, he was appointed to his current position, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines. Before joining Carnival, Cahill spent six years with Safecard Services, Inc., a NYSE-listed company, where he served first as chief financial officer and then as chief operating officer. From 1979 to 1988, Cahill held financial posts at Resorts International, Inc., and, prior to that spent six years with Price Waterhouse. Cahill graduated from the University of Miami, earning his B.B.A. degree in 1973.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Ann Sherry
CEO , Carnival Australia of Carnival Cruise Line
Ann Sherry was appointed CEO of Carnival Australia in July 2007 following a diverse career in banking and public sector. Sherry has played a leadership role in the expansion of the Australian cruise industry including the growth of P&O Cruises’ fleet and the Australian customer base across all Carnival brands. Recruited to Westpac in 1994, Sherry commenced a 13-year career with the organization. Her first eight years with Westpac spanned senior leadership roles within the HR and public affairs functions, and working through key acquisitions (including Challenge Bank and Bank of Melbourne). Sherry’s success as Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Melbourne led to her appointment as Chief Executive of the New Zealand and Pacific banking business. Sherry made a powerful impact in the New Zealand operation, resuscitating the brand in business and retail sectors, as well as turning staff morale around and delivering a real and highly visible Westpac presence in a tightly congested, diverse and participant-rich financial services market. In addition to her business contributions, Sherry instituted some major cultural initiatives at Westpac. In particular, Westpac became an industry leader as a result of the paid maternity-leave policy and the focus on women in business. She has also been instrumental in initiating and delivering an internationally renowned CSR program at Westpac. Sherry was awarded a Cententary Medal in 2003 by the Australian Government and then awarded an Order of Australia in 2004.
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About Carnival Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Line offers an online platform that enables travelers to plan and book cruise tours from a range of packages.
Timothy Davis
CEO and Co-founder of Butter.co.uk
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About Butter.co.uk, MassChallenge: Butter lets you spread the cost of shopping from any online store with a simple monthly instalment plan. Download the app now!
David Burling
CEO Markets & Airlines of TUI Group
David Burling has been a member of the Executive Board since 1 June 2015. He is in charge of UK & Ireland, the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark), Canada and Russia as well as Hotel Purchasing and Aviation Platform. Prior to this appointment, David Burling was a member of the TUI Group’s Executive Committee as well as Managing Director for TUI UK & Ireland from October 2011 until June 2015. In April 2012 he joined the Group Management Board for TUI Travel PLC. David previously held the position of Commercial Director for TUI UK following the merger of the Tourism Division of TUI AG and First Choice in September 2007. David was key to the successful integration of the businesses, ensuring that both brands had clear strategy for growth. David started his career at Thomson Holidays in 1990.
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About TUI Group: TUI Group is an international tourism and hospitality organization that offers a range of tour, flights, cruises, and more.
Nick Varney
Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Merlin Entertainments
Nick has over 24 years’ experience in the visitor attractions industry and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Merlin Entertainments in 1999. He was appointed a Director of the Company on 20 October 2013. Nick started his career in fmcg marketing, first with Rowntree and then with Reckitt Colman. He went on to hold senior positions within The Tussauds Group (Pearson PLC), including Marketing Director of Alton Towers and Head of Group Marketing, before becoming Managing Director of Vardon Attractions and a main board director of Vardon plc. In 1999 Nick led the management buyout of Vardon Attractions to form Merlin Entertainments and, in 2005, initiated the process which led to its acquisition by Blackstone.
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About Merlin Entertainments: Merlin Entertainments is the largest European entertainments company operating in Europe.
Tom Valentine
Marketplaces CEO & Co-Founder of Secret Escapes
Secret Escapes has seen explosive growth since its formation in 2010, with turnover forecast to hit £100m in 2014. Tom Valentine, alongside his co-founder and CEO Alex Saint, has catapulted Secret Escapes into a well-known and respected brand in the UK, with a 60% net promoter score and 95% post-stay satisfaction. Much of the company’s success is down to a robust digital and TV acquisition framework, built and managed by Tom, which has allowed the company to confidently spend over £10m annually at a consistent, predictable and positive ROI. This has led to a profitable UK business and huge confidence in international expansion. Tom has scaled the team from less than 30 to over 100 across the UK, Germany, Sweden, Poland and the USA and recently secured GBP39m from Google’s venture arm to fuel global expansion plans.
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About Secret Escapes, Smart Pension: Secret Escapes is a members-only travel club offering discounted rates on luxury hotels and holidays in the UK.
Alex Saint
Co-founder & CEO of Secret Escapes
Alex Saint is the Co-founder & CEO of Secret Escapes. Prior to this, he worked as Chief Executive at DMC Digital Ltd. He was the Consultant of Teletext Holidays. He served as Publisher at ThisisTravel –Associated Newspapers. Before that, he worked as Publisher at Associated New Media. He also worked as Sales Marketing Management at Unilever.
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About Secret Escapes: Secret Escapes is a members-only travel club offering discounted rates on luxury hotels and holidays in the UK.
Jan Spaticchia
Chairman & CEO of Energie Group
Jan Spaticchia is the Founder and Chairman at Empowered Brands.
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About Be Military Fit, Empowered Brands, Energie Group, Hedgehog Concept: Energie is genuinely like no other fitness club group.
Nena Chaletzos
CEO of Luxtripper
Nena Chaletzos is Co-Founder & CEO at Luxtripper.
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About Luxtripper: Luxtripper is a luxury travel company that operates an online travel booking site which matches users with suitable holiday destinations.
Steve Domin
CEO & co-founder of Duffel
Steve Domin is the co-founder and CEO of Duffel. Prior to co-founding Duffel, Steve served as the head of platform engineering at GoCardless.
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About Duffel: Duffel provides an online platform that allows users to search, book, and manage flights from multiple airlines.
Blake Reddy
Founder and CEO of easyGuide
As a Sir Stelios Scholar, Blake graduated from Cass Business School in 2012 with a Masters in Banking and International Finance. Blake spent the next 6-years building an investment management firm in London before taking on a new venture with Sir Stelios with the objective of creating an end-to-end customer journey across the tourism industry.
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About easyGuide: Discover and book tickets to top attractions, activities, experiences, tours and theatre shows in your favourite locations around the world!
Jacob Wedderburn-Day
Co-Founder & CEO of Stasher
Entrepreneur, co-founder & CEO of Stasher.com. Studied at Oxford & UCL. Passionate about startups, economics, the sharing economy, game theory and football.
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About Stasher, Treepoints: Stasher is the world’s first luggage storage network.
Elnur Seyidli
CEO of HalalBooking
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About HalalBooking: World’s No1 search website for halal-conscious travelers
Francesca Howland
Co-founder, CEO, Director of Bimble
Entrepreneur and all that jazz.
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About Bimble: Bimble is the app for great, little places. Peer-to-peer place recommendations from around the world.
Jack Jenkins
Founder and CEO of Resooma
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About Resooma: We’re building an end-to-end rental marketplace with simplified payment solutions that serves both tenants and property owners.
Samuel Rason
Co-Founder and CEO of Viva City
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About Viva City: Viva City offers guest experience, discovery, and analytics software to help businesses thrive with the Chinese Inbound market.
David Hosking
Chief Executive Officer of Veeve
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About Veeve: Characterful homes. Dedicated service. Memorable stays.
Christopher Moon
CEO & CTO of Tribe Travel
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About Tribe Travel: Tribe Travel is a marketplace and club for youth travelers.
Jean Michel Petit
Co-founder and CEO of VizEat
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About EatWith, VizEat: VizEat is a European startup that operates a “social dining platform.
Maxime Leufroy-Murat
City Relay Founder and CEO of City Relay
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About City Relay, FG Properties, Outswitch: London’s premier short let management company. Short lets, but smarter.
Callum Hemsley
Founder & CEO of eola
Entrepreneur and founder
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About eola: eola is an operating system for experience providers
Graeme Risby
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Hiyacar
Graeme Risby is Co-Founder and CEO of HiyaCar. Simply put, HiyaCar is the Airbnb for motor cars with all the insurance barriers overcome, matching car hirers with car owners and changing the way we use cars forever. Graeme is a social entrepreneur who believes strongly in using technology and peer-to-peer networks to improve people’s lives, make new friends and bring communities together.
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About Hiyacar: Hiyacar is a UK peer to peer car sharing platform.
Nicolas Huss
Chief Executive Officer of Hotelbeds
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About Hotelbeds: Hotelbeds is a travel technology company that operates a hotel distribution platform.
Constantin Catalin Dascalu
CEO and Chairman Of The Board of The Luxury
Constantin Catalin Dascalu is the CEO and Chairman Of The Board at The Luxury.
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About The Luxury: Concierge – Lifestyle Management, Financial Technology, Entertainment & Tourism
David Radcliffe
CEO of Hogg Robinson Group plc
David was appointed Chief Executive of Hogg Robinson Group plc in 1997, and has led their successful repositioning as a focused corporate services group. He was appointed to the board in 1989, having joined the group originally in 1978. David is also a non-executive director of Wincanton plc, the transport and logistics services provider, and a member of its Audit, Nominations and Remunerations Committees. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management, and a Companion of the Institute of Management.
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About Hogg Robinson Group plc: Hogg Robinson Group is a global corporate services provider, travel management company and technology company.
Rebecca Fielding
CEO of Travel Unwrapped
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About Travel Unwrapped: Travel Unwrapped Group create the most personal journeys in the world.
Thomas Ableman
Founder & CEO of Snap
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About Freewheeling, Snap: Snap is a technology marketplace that aggregates and fulfils travel demand
Tom Stapleton
Co-Founder and CEO of TravelLocal
Tom is originally from Kent, in England and loves real ale and trains. In hindsight, TravelLocal wouldn’t have worked without this unique combination – he and Huw talked strategy on long train journeys and got creative at the local pub, all in the service of this travel revolution. Tom does many things for TravelLocal, but spends much of his day choosing and communicating with the amazing local travel companies with whom we work. He has worked in the travel industry since 2005 so knows where to look and what questions to ask. Tom’s favourite travel memory took place on the Trans-Asia express between Istanbul and Tehran where he shared a compartment and a bottle of wine with an Iranian couple. The scenery in Eastern Turkey was spectacular, and the train crossed Lake Van by ferry(!), but it was the mix of people on board that really made this journey special.
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About TravelLocal: Global managed marketplace for tailor-made holidays.
James Mannings
Co-Founder & CEO of The Top Villas
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About The Top Villas: The Top Villas is a firm providing rental services for luxury vacation properties.
Matthew Fox
CEO and Co-Founder of Snaptrip
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About Snaptrip: Snaptrip is a marketplace for people to discover the best last minute cottage holiday deals in the UK.
Reto Bolliger
CEO & Co-founder of Follow Alice
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About Follow Alice: We make adventure travel a truly holistic and personal client experience by blending technology with human interaction.
Hazzaz Imtiaz
Founder & CEO of Ghuri
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About Ghuri: Ghuri is a smart travel marketplace for travelers and various travel businesses.
Denis Cucek
CEO of Shuttle Planet
Entrepreneur, founder @ Shuttle Planet. Love to Travel and solve transportation and software issues.
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About Shuttle Planet: A 2 sided marketplace for long distance shared road transportation, where the traveller can join an existing ride or crowdsource a new trip.
Jamie Reece
Founder and CEO of Booking Spaces
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About Booking Spaces: Booking Spaces Disruptive venue booking platform, connecting those looking for spaces with the spaces available for hire.
Merilee Karr
Founder & CEO of UnderTheDoormat
Merilee has travelled the world to over 60 countries – and feels at home in many of its major cities. A strategist, property management and partnership expert formerly working for a global energy company, she has always been inspired by authentic and memorable travel experiences. When she’s not feeding her own wanderlust, she loves hiking, cycling, skiing and taking part in the occasional triathlon. Merilee has a passion for changing the world. 12 years working for Shell and being able to observe different cultures around the globe, gave birth to her desire to actually start making a difference in the way things are done. Combining her drive for initiating change with her love of travelling, Merilee realised the potential for tourists to experience a new destination like a local while allowing homeowners to earn extra income with piece of mind through the growing sharing economy.
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About UnderTheDoormat: Our mission is to redefine the future of accommodation.
Philip Callow
CEO of OAG
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About OAG: OAG is a leading global travel data provider with the world’s largest network of flight information data.
Matti Fruhman
Co Founder & CEO of Azooki
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About Azooki, Unbound Global: Azooki helps you book & discover amazing things to do in South East Asia’s most enchanting destinations
Gregory Geny
Co-Founder & CEO of BeRightBack
Gregory is the Founder & CEO of BeRightBack, the world’s first travel subscription service billed as the ‘Netflix for Travel’ by The Telegraph. BRB is an early stage travel start up whose mission is to remove all the hassle for travellers by delivering 3 surprise trips per year to Europe, with flights and hotel included, for a fixed monthly cost. The company was voted by Skift as one of the ‘Top 25 Startups to Watch in 2019’, was featured on the CNBC documentary ‘The Edge’ about the ‘Future of Travel’ and made it to the final of the PITCH competition at Web Summit in 2019. Originally from France, Greg has spent the last 17 years building and growing start-ups in a range of dynamic industries including Sports & Fitness, Media / Publishing, Music Publishing, Financial Services, Fintech, Education and has spent over 10 years in Travel tech.
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About BeRightBack: The world’s first fixed price travel subscription service.
Jason Michael Gregory
Founder & CEO of CaddyX
Jason Gregory is the founder and CEO of CaddyX®. CaddyX delivers worldwide, world-class golf bag logistics for traveling golfers from doorway to fairway and back.
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About CaddyX, Microsoft: CaddyX empowers every golfer to travel lug-free via on-demand touch-free transport of golf bags from doorway to fairway and back.
Mauricio Villamizar
CEO of Pop & Rest
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About Pop & Rest: Our platform connects local workers and travellers with sleep & meditation pods. Book by the hour to recharge
Richard Sinclair
CEO of Sno
Founder and entrepreneur building SNO to win the World Snow Awards in its third winter. Passion for Customer experience born of producing flagship consumer journalism programme “Watchdog”, and love of Travel fed while running BBC “Holiday”. Love of technology indulged while making “Tomorrows World” and building SNO. Talent for Editorial judgement and devotion to excellence ingrained over a decade making factual programmes for the world’s leading broadcaster.
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About Sno: SNO is the UK’s fastest growing travel company.
Tim Elder
Co-founder & CEO of Fromigo
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About Fromigo: Fromigo is a marketplace of authentic experiences by local people.
Gordon Hamilton
Founder & CEO of Torszo
Gordon Hamilton developed the concept for the Torsorest, or mini flight bed He was inspired, firstly, by years of observing international travelers struggle during the one part of their journey when they should have reasonably expected to sleep (…in the seated and passive part of their journey). And, finally, by the personal focus that one 24 hour coach journey to ski in the Italian Dolomites can bring. In 2012 Gordon completed the acquisition of the global IP for the Torsorest, setting the scene for the introduction of a standalone version of the product to the market. This will be the first step towards the longer term objective of integrating the torsorest into the multi-billion dollar hand-luggage market. Previously, Gordon has enjoyed a successful 22 year international career spanning shipping & logistics in the UK, Canada and USA. He was deputy MD and Chief Accountant within the P&O group, and held a variety of senior management roles with Canadian Pacific, leading the implementation and global role out of a number of groundbreaking projects. Gordon’s educational background is in Pure Maths, Natural Philosophy and Accountancy at Glasgow University and Caledonia University.
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About Torszo: Torszo designs, develops, and commercializes the Torsorest mini flight bed.
Michael Harkins
CEO & Swimming Specialist of Turtle Pack
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About Turtle Pack: Turtle Pack is revolutionising the way children learn to swim with our innovative, patented and multi-award winning swimming aid.
Itay Levin
Chief Executive Officer of Ask a Local
Highly motivated, Itay Levin is an experienced project manager and business analyst with a strong technical background.
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About Ask a Local: Ask a Local provides a mobile app that specializes in bringing a personal approach to the industry of travel.
Itay Levin
Chief Executive Officer of Ask a Local
Highly motivated, Itay Levin is an experienced project manager and business analyst with a strong technical background.
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About Ask a Local: Ask a Local provides a mobile app that specializes in bringing a personal approach to the industry of travel.
Stuart Anderson
CEO of eTravelSafety
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About eTravelSafety: eTravelSafety is a software company.
Susi Wisniewski
CEO of TripLinks
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About TripLinks: TripLinks is a social travel network helping business travelers to connect and meet with others.
