The Interview Gary Lewis
The Travel Network Group
The consortium’s chief executive tells Lucy Huxley about its tech-driven plans after changes at board level
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n 2016, Gary Lewis led a management buyout of The Travel Network Group with four fellow directors and
shareholders. Two left, in 2017 and 2019, while
a third, chief operating officer Lisa Henning, this month announced her plans to depart, which will leave just Lewis and finance director Vim Vithaldas from the original line-up. Lewis has brought in Julie Pinkney
as retail director to absorb some of Henning’s duties and promoted Stephanie Slark to membership services director. Both will join Lewis and Vithaldas on the board, alongside operations and risk director Emily Sutton and communications director Alexis Coles-Barrasso. “A couple more announcements”
were due in the coming weeks, Lewis added. “The team we had in place for the MBO were absolutely fit for purpose for that part of the journey and I thank them for the part they played. But we are fit now for a very different story for the next
30 JANUARY 2020
two to three years. What we have coming down the road in terms of technology, scale and automation has different requirements. “We made some personnel
announcements in January, but we have been planning these next steps for some time. We knew Julie was coming in to take a core part of Lisa’s role at a director level, and Steph has been working in membership for more than six years, so it was natural for her to step up.” Henning is in a “transitional phase
doing her final handovers” and will go on gardening leave in July, Lewis said.
New technology Investment in new technology is the key pillar in the group’s strategy. “People follow strategy and
our strategy is to keep helping our members grow their businesses,” said Lewis. “Without a doubt, what doesn’t go away is our emotional connection and relationships with members. “This goes back to our conference
in Monaco in 2017, where Sir Clive Woodward told us ‘Those who win
at tech, win’”, said Lewis. “We tried to get [technology] off the shelf in the past but we were struggling to get it in the right format and scale. “So we brought in a consultant and
have taken an off-the-shelf proposition from a travel tech specialist that tailored it to our requirements. It will help members search and book, with back-office finance functions, and with reporting and data collection to help with marketing. And it’s all bespoke.” The kit, currently known
internally as ‘the new retail platform’, was installed in the group’s eight owned shops on December 14 “to allow us to test how it works before we roll it out”, explained Lewis. Throughout January, February
and March, it is being extended to the consortium’s 30 managed services members. “This is setting us up to roll it out to the pipeline of 1,030 other members’ shops,” he said, adding that 80 were “ready to go”.
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Members have to pay extra for the new retail platform, but Lewis said: “It’s at a price that allows them to get big technology at a manageable cost for even a small member without going through a tech company. “Lots of our members are working
from really old, legacy systems and know they should be moving on, but haven’t got the time, money or skill. Now we have a solution.”
Lots of our members are working from old, legacy systems and know they should be moving on, but haven’t got the time, money or skill. Now we have a solution
travelweekly.co.uk
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