ANYONE who has met the man will know Leigh Barnes is a passionate individual.
So enthusiastic about sustainability is Barnes, that Intrepid created a whole new role as Chief Purpose Officer for him in 2018.
Since then, he has moved into the role of Chief Customer Officer (officially, but includes leading marketing efforts too), a position he has been in since just before the pandemic.
But just yesterday it was revealed Intrepid has formally started to recruit for Barnes’ replacement, while he jets off to grow the brand in the world’s largest travel market.
Speaking with Tb about the move, Barnes said he had many fond (and challenging) memories from his time working with the operator in Australia.
“Our biggest achievement was moving on from COVID and posting a record result last year,” Barnes recalls.
“COVID really was a brutal time, especially being an Australian company and the way things were shut down, so it was great to redirect the business and focus in on brand and get more people to know and care about Intrepid.”
His departure will leave a gaping hole at Intrepid, with Barnes’ larger-than-life presence online, and deep marketing prowess to be sorely missed.
Commenting on the opportunity left in the Australian office, Barnes said the new CMO recruit will need to be able to work with a global brand in a global environment, given Intrepid operates trips in more than 100 countries.
“The person will need to be able to focus on growing a brand that people really care about because we are trying to change the world through travel, and ensuring the brand is always trying to do the right thing is key,” he said.
Intrepid’s CEO James Thornton added the vacancy arrives at a “super exciting time” in the company’s growth trajectory, with the role to report directly to him, describing the remit as “a huge opportunity to make an impact across brand, product (experiences), marketing and PR and deliver our customer experience and sales on a global scale.”
When asked why he loves working with Intrepid, Barnes didn’t have to take too much time to ponder the question.
“I love working with the people,” he enthused.
“The people I work with are amazing and we get to have lots of fun.”
Among Barnes’ many achievements was the delivery of a great presentation for Travel Daily’s Sustainability Summit in 2018, where is was clear his passion for wrestling and the environment were strong in equal measure (there were many wrestling analogies made).
We are confident Barnes can give the US market one very effective suplex.
