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Collette MD and head of marketing set to leave
Collette managing director Carl Burrows and head of marketing Michelle Laverick are expected to leave the escorted tours specialist next week following a management restructure.
In future, the UK team will report to US-based senior vice president of global business Christian Leibl-Cote.
He said the company had entered a period of consultation with Burrows and Laverick, who are both expected to leave the company following a meeting next Tuesday.
Speaking from London this week, Leibl-Cote said the company had decided to dispense with the role of managing director in the UK and implement a new management structure that would mirror that of its companies in the US and Canada.
"This has nothing to do with performance," he said, "it is about putting in place a different structure."
He said the US and Canada businesses had seen double-digit growth in 2017 following the implementation of a new management structure, whereas the growth in the UK had been slower.
"We have been working on this new structure for over a year now and it is working extremely well in Canada and the US," said Leibl-Cote. "In the UK, we want to expand even more and become even more successful."
In future, the UK business will be led by head of UK sales Neil Sehmbhy, who joined last November, and Stephen Mills, who joined only three months ago as head of partnerships UK and Europe.
One other person in the marketing department has also been made redundant, but Leibl-Cote said the sales team and calls centre would be further expanded in the future.
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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