Internal promotions at Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook has announced internal promotions in three business areas following the appointment of Salman Syed as UK MD earlier this month.
Three senior positions have been created in product and yield, marketing, and transformation.
The group said the management changes further strengthen the UK operation, and mirror the changes chief executive Harriet Green made at Group level whereby ‘a third should be promoted from within, a third brought in from outside, and a third be in place already’.
Stefanie Berk has been promoted to product and yield director. She has worked for Thomas Cook Group for several years and has held a number of senior continental roles including managing director of SENTIDO Hotels and Resorts and VP international hotel contracting.
Thomas Cook said since joining the UK team in May as head of business development, Berk has made a ‘significant impact on the business and been instrumental in driving forward a number of initiatives including the enhancement of differentiated product concepts’.
Reporting into her, Rob Rospedzihowski has been named as head of merchandising. He was formerly head of product for Central Med and North Africa.
Uli Sperl, who has led the UK product and yield team for the last two years, will return to Germany where he become head of transformation, Central Product Unit, reporting into Christian Funk, group head of product.
Meanwhile, Jamie Queen has been promoted to the position of marketing and e-commerce director.
Queen joined the business earlier this year as head of e-commerce and will now take on the leadership for UK marketing alongside his digital responsibilities.
Finally, Milan Wadher has been named as UK director of transformation, driving the ‘Cost Out, Delivery, Lean and Project Management’ focus across the business.
Prior to Thomas Cook, Milan held senior roles at a number of well-known brands including Dixons Retail and Tesco.
"These internal promotions are an important part in our move towards a management structure that reflects where we are in our transformation as we continue to drive the results required," said Syed.
"I look forward to working alongside such a strong, diverse and, above all, talented team as we look to further improve the performance of the UK business."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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