JacTravel has announced chief executive Terry Williamson is to leave the business following the completion of the sale to Webjet.
The £200 million deal, which was revealed last week, is due to be finalised at the end of this month.
Williamson plans to retire from full time executive roles, and to seek non-executive director and chairman positions within the travel industry.
During his time in charge, JacTravel achieved compound annual growth (CAGR) in revenue of over 26% and profits growth of 30%, while growing organically and through acquisition.
Williamson, who was appointed in 2009, led the sale to its current owners, Vitruvian Partners in 2014.
Peter Clements, JacTravel’s deputy chief executive will replace Williamson. He joined JacTravel following its acquisition of the TotalStay Group in 2015, a company he founded sixteen years earlier.
Williamson said: “Since I joined the business in 2009, I have been very fortunate to work with so many excellent people at JacTravel.
“The team has grown from 130 people back then to more than 550 today. A business which had £72 million turnover has grown to over £400 million, and now distributes in 92 countries, with 14 offices worldwide, serving 17,000 customers and 170,000 hotel partners.
“This could never have been achieved without the energy, passion, spirit and customer service ethos that is special to JacTravel. It is thanks to the combined efforts of every member of staff, that the business has done so well and achieved so much.
“I have every confidence that the company under Webjet’s ownership and Peter’s leadership will continue to prosper and go from strength to strength. I expect the success story to continue.”
JacTravel won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2013 and has won several industry awards for excellence and customer service over the last few years. It has also featured consistently in surveys of high growth companies.
The 2014 sale of JacTravel to Vitruvian Partners valued the company at £80 million, and made its former owner, Bowmark Capital, a 4.6 times return on its original investment.
Prior to joining JacTravel, Williamson was chief executive at educational and student travel company School Travel Group and led the sale of the business in 2008 for £97 million, achieving a 3.7 times return in two years.
Previous roles included chief executive of tour operations for Monarch Travel Group and managing director of UK tour operations for Thomas Cook Group. A qualified accountant, he has spent over three decades in the travel industry.