The departure of BCD Travel’s Australian Managing Director, Tass Messinis, has come as a surprise as many, with Messinis recently heavily engaged with the wider industry including an appointment as Chairman of the Association of Travel Management Companies and his nomination as a candidate in the current Directors election for the Australian Federation of Travel Agents.
The company confirmed that he had left BCD to “pursue new opportunities,” with BCD instead creating a new Managing Director, Australia and Singapore role which will be filled by industry veteran Andrew Yeo. BCD says the management reshuffle “brings together two key markets with natural synergies, where we see opportunities to streamline the way we work to maximize commercial, process and technology efficiencies”.
It’s unclear at this stage exactly how having a single leader for the two widely separated countries will work, but in a mouthful of rhetoric BCD believes the new structure will “streamline our business operations and support continued alignment in the areas of technology, reporting and resource allocation”.
Yeo’s long experience in BCD will “enable him to step quickly into this new position and promptly drive results,” a BCD Travel spokesperson told travelBulletin.
Messinis’ departure leaves the ATMC potentially in limbo, with its constitution specifying that it can only have members who are principals of a corporate travel agency. He was also in the process of a reform agenda for the organisation, with further details expected to be announced imminently. His bid for election as an AFTA director will also now potentially be invalid, although all votes have now been cast and the results are expected to be announced at the AFTA AGM next week.
