TORONTO — The Travel Agent Next Door (TTAND) has restructured its executive and management teams to set itself up for future growth.

Travel industry veteran Jeff Element has been appointed Chief Operating Officer, overseeing Marketing & Training, Finance, Support & Operations. Based in Toronto, he comes to TTAND from The Travel Corporation, where he served as President, overseeing the Contiki, Insight and Trafalgar brands as well as the call center and accounting departments. He is also a past chairman of CATO and has been a TICO board member for many years.

From l-r: Flemming Friisdahl, Jeff Element and Chris Senior

“I have very much enjoyed these last five months getting to know this business. I particularly enjoy the positive atmosphere and the level of dedication and integrity of the TTAND team,” said Element. “I look forward to being part of this team and contributing to TTAND’s continued success.”

Joining Element on the executive team is Chris Senior, who takes on the role of CFO. Senior has been in the travel industry for many years, holding finance roles at TICO, TTI Travel as VP Finance, and HRG North America as Director of Financial Analysis.

Rounding out the appointments are Rhonda Stanley, VP Talent Development; Kuldeep Gautam, Manager, India Division; Raj Gautam, Technology Head; Christine Ufniak, Director of Marketing & Training; Nicola Gowe, Director, Finance; Roxanne Jeffries, Senior Accounting Manager; and James Nguyen, Senior Manager, Agent Support Team in Canada.

Flemming Friisdahl will continue as Founder and CEO and will have Supplier Relations, Technology & IT, Talent Development reporting directly to him.

“Our company grew organically over the past 10 years where we saw consistent growth, adjusting our organization and processes as we grew the company – including the addition of our India division. But to get ready for the next 10 years, we will be looking at even more support for the staff and our agent partners through this restructuring,” said Friisdahl. “With the retirement of our VP Agent Experience, Penny Martin, this coming July, we believe now is a good time to reorganize the company to prepare it for the future.”