“I hope – and think – it’s not too late for Thomas Cook to get itself back to the strong position it’s had” MIKE GREENACRE
Mike’s CAUSES
Charity work at The Co-operative Travel included raising £5,000 for The Donna Louise Children’s Hospice
Mike Greenacre is well-known as a charity champion and he will continue to throw his energy into not-for-profit causes in the coming years. “I get a lot of pleasure personally in that support. We are privileged in the jobs we have and it’s nice to give something back to communities in the UK and abroad,” he says.
ACADEMY SCHOOLS WITH THE CO-OPERATIVE GROUP Greenacre is chair of governors at one of the five academies that the Co-op is sponsoring. “I am looking forward to helping the group to support the development of Stoke on Trent, which is a city where I have worked for a good 20-25 years. The new £25 million investment opens in September 2012 and we have already spent a lot of time on the curriculum. I am going to be very supportive of that and it will take a fair bit of my time,” he says.
growth in online trading, which will continue as technology improves,” he says.
Looking ahead The lack of innovation in realising synergies between online and the high street is a particular frustration – and interest – for Greenacre. “I can’t think of anyone that is doing that and in some cases it’s the reverse.
With some larger companies that have a retail presence and an online presence, internally there is a view that the online business is constantly competitive and aggressively pricing against the rest of the retail company,” he says. “There has got to be a way to
embrace them both. There is nothing more frustrating for customers than when they have booked in an agency
and they go and look online and see the same holiday priced cheaper by £100,” he says. Working with companies on how to
overcome these types of dilemmas is just the challenge Greenacre will be seeking in about a year’s time, but for the moment he is looking forward to more time off. “I’ve got some more ‘me’ things that I have been contemplating for about
JUST A DROP
He will be ambassador for the water charity, looking at ways to raise more money for its cause, which is based around a simple principle. “You raise the money, you give them the money and they have a number of fantastic people, retired engineers, who give up their time to go out to a country,” he says.
MENCAP The Co-operative Group has supported this charity for the past two years. “The Co-op has done a fantastic job with its 125,000 staff to raise £5.5 million so far for Mencap in the past year,” he says.
THE TRAVEL FOUNDATION Greenacre is vice-chair of the organisation. “The Travel Foundation is well supported by Cook and the Co-op, as well as Tui and one or two other larger companies. And even in these tough times those contributions have continued to come in,” he says.
four years. My son has bought me a brand new bike as he thinks I will go out riding. There is also a house extension I have been thinking about,” he says. His travel interests will continue
however, including a role as vice- chair of the Travel Foundation and as a board director of the ITT until June, so no doubt Greenacre will remain a leading figure in the industry for the foreseeable future.
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