Leger Holidays and Shearings have a new chief executive, with Liam Race taking over from majority owner Ian Henry as head of the newly formed Leger Shearings Group.
Henry, who led a management buy-out of Leger Holidays from the MyTravel group in 2002, will become executive chairman.
Race has been commercial director of the escorted coach tour operator since 2019, having joined Leger Holidays as commercial manager in 2017.
Yorkshire-based Leger acquired the Shearings’ brand in June 2020 following the collapse of former owner Specialist Leisure Group.
Race joined finance director Andrew Oldfield and operations director Chris Plummer in acquiring a 30% stake in Leger Holidays in December 2019, with backing from NatWest. Ian and Kathleen Henry continue to own 70% of the company
The new chief executive said: “Ian Henry successfully led Leger Holidays for many years, including during these challenging pandemic times.
“When I committed to the company by acquiring a stake-holding, the intention was for me to step up and Ian to be less involved in the day-to-day running of the company. That time has now come.”
Race added: “I have learnt so much from Ian and am pleased the Leger Shearings Group will continue to benefit from his strategic thinking.”
Henry said: “Liam has led the digital transformation of our business while working closely with the rest of the board on the development of our product offering, including the acquisition and integration of the Shearings brand.”
Race previously held positions in travel at Apollo Direct, Alpharooms and Clickstay, but he spent almost five years at retail giant Maplin before joining Leger.
He described it as “an exciting time to take the reins”, saying “pent-up demand” would see the business in a strong position “as the ability to travel increases”, adding that “combining the sales potential” of Leger and Shearings would make 2022 “the biggest year in the group’s history”
Race said: “We are working on ways to make the most of this opportunity.”
The Leger Shearings Group was set up this month and Leger announced a switch in financial protection arrangements for Shearings’ customers from bonding to a ‘gold standard’ trust account.