Travel Counsellors has appointed Mark O’Donoghue its first ever chief operating officer.
Digital specialist O’Donoghue joins the homeworking giant in its 25th year from AVADO Learning, where he was chief executive.
He brings 20 years’ experience in "disruptive digital" platforms across sales growth, talent development, digital marketing and data science.
It follows Travel Counsellors’ £7 million investment in its technology, including development of its My TC app.
Improvements have also been made to the business’s in-house booking platform, and Travel Counsellors have also added a "recommendation engine".
Travel Counsellors chief executive Steve Byrne said O’Donoghue’s expertise would contribute to development of the homeworking firm’s digital community platform.
“Mark’s previous experience leading the growth of digital learning and technology-focussed businesses, and passion for empowering talented people with the latest innovations in technology, offers the perfect blend as we continue to support travel professionals to redefine what personal service means in the travel industry," said Byrne.
O’Donoghue added: “Travel Counsellors has developed a highly innovative and successful business model, built on the company’s passion for putting people first. The potential for adding to the brilliant human engagement that lies at the heart of the Travel Counsellors model, with a wider set of digital platform functions, is incredibly exciting.
“I’m looking forward to working with the driven, ambitious support and tech teams to enable our Travel Counsellor business owners to be the very best they can be, through the continued development and improvement of the company’s technology platform, including the application of data science and enhanced customer insights to further support the growth of their businesses.”