Terry Williamson to quit JacTravel
JacTravel’s CEO Terry Williamson will quit following the completion of the sale of the company to Webjet at the end of this month.
He will be replaced by deputy CEO Peter Clements, who joined the company following its acquisition of the TotalStay Group in 2015, a company he founded 16 years earlier.
Williamson said he plans to retire from full time executive roles, and to seek non-executive director and chairman positions within the industry.
During his stewardship since 2009, the company has achieved compound annual growth in revenue of over 26% and profit growth of 30%, whilst successfully executing an organic and acquisition-led strategy, said a company spokesman.
Williamson also led the sale to its current owners, Vitruvian Partners, in 2014. "Since I joined the business in 2009, I have been very fortunate to work with so many excellent people at JacTravel," he said.
"The team has grown from 130 people back then to more than 550 today. A business which had £72 million turnover has grown to over £400 million, and now distributes in 92 countries, with 14 offices worldwide, serving 17,000 customers and 170,000 hotel partners.
"This could never have been achieved without the energy, passion, spirit and customer service ethos that is special to JacTravel. It is thanks to the combined efforts of every member of staff, that the business has done so well and achieved so much.
"I have every confidence that the company under Webjet’s ownership and Peter’s leadership will continue to prosper and go from strength to strength.~ I expect the success story to continue."
JacTravel won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2013 and has won several industry awards for excellence and customer service over the last few years. It has also featured consistently in surveys of high growth companies.
In 2014, Terry led the sale of JacTravel to Vitruvian Partners for £80 million, netting its former owner, Bowmark Capital, more than a four-fold return on its original investment.
Prior to joining JacTravel, Terry was CEO at the educational and student travel company School Travel Group and led the sale of the business in 2008 for £97 million.
Previous roles included CEO of tour operations for Monarch Travel Group and MD of UK Tour Operations for Thomas Cook Group.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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