Corporate Traveller Appoints New GMs in Australia

Australian business travel specialist, Corporate Traveller, has adopted a new leadership structure involving a dual approach to national management.

Vivian Gard has been appointed to the role of General Manager for Corporate Traveller’s operations in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, while Astrid Richardson is taking on the role of General Manager Queensland, New South Wales and ACT.

Both roles will oversee the sales, operations and account management functions of Corporate Traveller in their respective regions.

The new approach to national leadership for the company follows a period of rapid growth. The company now has 102 offices across Australia and almost 450 frontline staff.

Vivian, who started in the travel industry in 1991, said the twofold management approach would create more consistency across the business.

“This change for Corporate Traveller will result in more collaboration across the business when it comes to customer servicing, products, technology and systems,” Vivian said. “For our clients this means there will be more opportunities available to them to drive cost and productivity efficiencies, which are critical for businesses in the small-to-mid market.”

Astrid, who brings to the role extensive experience in sales and account management within the corporate travel industry, said the move to dual leadership nationally rather than the State-based leadership structure that was previously in place for the business, was a win-win for clients and staff.

“Corporate Traveller is a rapidly growing business with changing needs and in order to keep pace with future expansion, we need the right management structure in place to be able to support staff and drive new initiatives for clients that can be uniformly implemented,” Astrid said.

Astrid moved into the new role having previously lead Corporate Traveller in New South Wales and ACT. She has worked with parent company Flight Centre Limited since 2006 and has extensive experience in business travel management, account management, sales, negotiations, budgeting and business strategy.

After working in the retail travel sector for a few years, Vivian moved into FCL’s corporate division in 1993 where she has forged a highly successful career in operations, management and training. Vivian has extensive senior management experience having recently held the role of Corporate Traveller leader in Victoria and Tasmania.