Former Air Miles and BA Miles chief executive Drew Thomson has been named as non-executive chairman of Statesman Travel.
Current chairman Eric Brannan will step down from his role after seven years but will remain a non-executive director of the travel management company.
Statesman also recently recruited David Thomas as sales director, bringing more than 15 years of senior sales management experience in the sector to the business.
Joint managing director Mervyn Williamson said: “Drew’s appointment and the expertise he will bring to the group will add significantly to our ability to grow the business and continue winning new clients. He has an enviable track record of nurturing high-growth businesses which will be invaluable to Statesman.
“As he approaches a significant birthday, Eric had indicated his desire to reduce his working commitments, but we are delighted that he has agreed to remain as a non-executive director of the group and support us through the next stage of our development.”
Thomson added: “I see this as a very exciting time to be joining Statesman which has shown impressive growth over the past few years and my appointment also coincides with exciting developments in terms of clients wins and senior management appointments.
”I hope my background as an entrepreneur, who has founded and grown a series of businesses across a number of sectors, will provide the team with the strategic support to continue Statesman’s growth.”
Thomson was founder and former chief executive of Starcount, a social analytics company which uses mathematics to track the tastes and trends of 1.7 billion people and 126,500 celebrities across 12 major social media networks.
He was also executive chairman of digital media agency Iris Worldwide, where he led the development and international growth of the business.
Statesman raised £4.2 million of growth capital in October 2011 from Business Growth Fund, funding the strategic acquisition of Commodore Travel.