Noel Josephides is to step down from his role as managing director of Sunvil and will take up the position of chairman.
Operations director Chris Wright will take over as managing director.
Josephides, who is currently in the running to become Abta chairman, plans to continue to play an active part in the business.
He intends to focus on researching new destinations and on his chairmanship of the Travel Foundation, as well as his work as a director of both Abta and Aito.
The move will also allow him to dedicate time to canvassing for the Abta chairman role, for which elections are being held this month.
Wright (pictured left), who will take over the day-to-day running of the business, has acted as Josephides’ right-hand man since his appointment to the Sunvil board in 2006.
He has been with the group for over 15 years and was instrumental in overseeing the integration into Sunvil of specialist villa operator GIC The Villa Collection when it was acquired in March 1998.
Wright said: “I am thrilled to take on the role of managing director of Sunvil. I intend to uphold and strengthen all of Sunvil’s core values – its pioneering approach to new destinations and environmental initiatives, its expertise in and dedication to quality holidays – while driving the Sunvil brand forward.
“As the business increases in complexity, just one of the things I will be looking to grow and improve is our online strategy.”
Josephides said: “I am as passionate as ever about Sunvil but the time has come to relinquish some of my responsibilities. Chris is exceptionally well-placed to move the business forward in this web-based travel age: he has a different skill set that is well-suited to the current challenges of the industry.
“Chris and I have worked alongside each other for many years – he knows Sunvil intimately and I’m absolutely confident that his transition into the role of MD will be a smooth one. I wish him every success.”
John der Parthog, Josephides’ long-standing business partner and one of the original founders of Sunvil, 43 years ago, will relinquish his long-term role as chairman to become the company’s founder director.