WELL-KNOWN travel and media executive Nic Cola appears to be moving on from the travel sector, following news the former Cruiseco chief is taking up a CEO role with university organisation RMIT Online.
TravelBulletin was able to confirm the role will be a full-time position starting on 03 April, suggesting it will mean a departure from his current role with Helloworld, where he holds the key senior leadership position of Group General Manager – Retail and Commercial.
Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University, Alec Cameron, said Cola will bring with him extensive experience in the travel sector to lead the expansion of RMIT Online’s solution for lifelong learning, and help businesses upskill in high-demand areas.
This isn’t Cola’s first foray into the education sector, having previously held the role of Managing Director for Open Colleges Group for four years between 2015 and 2019.
Cola is also the Co-Chair of consumer group Choice, and he took up a role as head of cruise wholesale with Helloworld when it purchased the Cruiseco business from majority owner Australian Pacific Holdings in November 2020, and was subsequently appointed Head of Retail and Commercial Australia in 2021.
MEANWHILE Helloworld announced a 34% purchase of Oslo-based B2C business Australiareiser, which the travel agency group said would be used as a staging point for its ResWorld system in Europe.
Founded by Rolf Kjeseth in 2005, Australiareiser is the largest travel wholesaler from Scandinavia to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, with brands including Fijireiser, Private Travel Lab, Gruppe Rundreiser, and Workations.
“We are delighted to announce that Australiareiser will become the launch customer for our mid-office system ResWorld in Europe,” Helloworld CEO Andrew Burnes said.
The ResWorld product is now deployed in more than 160 agencies across Australia and New Zealand, with more rollouts planned later this year.
