I joined ITC in 2004 as Head of Marketing, and over the past 14 years it has been my privilege to facilitate not only the growth and development of the company, but also of the amazing team members I have the pleasure of working with.The late noughties was a turbulent time, with recession hitting hard. It was in this context in January 2009 I was appointed Chief Operating Officer by founder Drew Foster, who sadly passed away later that year. At that point the business was making a loss, and I was entrusted with implementing a new vision, and relaunching ITC with a new management team and business structure in place. I'm happy to say that, with hard work from the whole ITC Travel Group family, these changes worked! By April 2010 I was the Chief Executive Officer and the business was turning a small profit again, and we have seen huge growth year on year since. I believe the passion and engagement of staff across the company - as well as our client-centred, personal service - has played a huge part in this. In 2014 I bought out the ITC Travel Group in partnership with Paul Pindar. Less than a year later we acquired the Western & Oriental travel group: Western & Oriental, Regent Holidays, Rainbow Tours and Villa Select. Other exciting developments included ITC Luxury Travel – now the Inspiring Travel Company - being featured front-and-centre in the 2016 BBC2 documentary, 'The Millionaires' Holiday Club'. During the second half of 2016, ITC Travel Group enjoyed new investment from NorthEdge Capital. Then in 2017 we welcomed onboard Mal Barritt as Chief Operating Officer. I stepped up into the role of Chairman in May 2018, with Mal taking the reins as CEO. In June the same year, our planned brand strategy saw the integration of Western & Oriental into Inspiring Travel Company; strengthening our position in the market and broadening our offer to customers under one banner.