US-headquartered homeworking agency group InteleTravel has promoted James Ferrara from president to chief executive and managing partner of its parent holding company, Intravel.
Ferrara said the move will enable him to focus more on acquisition, expansion and growth – with a new president soon to be announced to focus on day-to-day operations.
InteleTravel was founded in 1991 by Joseph Traina and Ferrara, who served first as the company’s executive vice-president and chief marketing officer and then as president since 2005.
Ferrara said Traina, the majority owner, has acted as chief executive of InteleTravel since its inception and will remain as chairman.
“It is not an overnight change, this has been an evolution,” said Ferrara.
“I have found myself, over the last couple of years, focused on the growth of the company as a whole, particularly through acquisition and geographic expansion, and those strategies require a great deal of time and effort. I have felt drawn away from the attention to the day-to-day detail of operating the business.
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“So we’ve made the decision for me to really focus now on acquisition, expansion and growth.
“This change frees me up to do that, without guilt that I am leaving the company unattended.”
Acquisitions include corporate travel alliance Hickory Global Partners, in 2023, and MGME, a meeting and events agency in January 2024.
InteleTravel has also expanded into the UK and Ireland over recent years and earlier this year took a majority stake in UK tour operator Major Travel.
Furthermore, Major Travel is scheduled to enter the US tour operator market in early 2025.
Ferrara added: “My plan is to aggressively pursue new initiatives for products and services, geographic expansion, advisor education programmes, new technologies and more.”
Traina said: “[James] has dedicated endless hours to leading the team that has grown InteleTravel to the global travel giant it is now, and he has been the architect of the recent mergers and acquisitions that have propelled us further.”
In a statement about Ferrara’s promotion, the company said: “InteleTravel as a host agency will surpass $1 billion in travel sales this year, while the whole group will be responsible for more than $3 billion.
“The ongoing integration of the portfolio companies allows each to benefit from cost efficiencies, shared technologies and services and cross-selling strategies.
“For example, InteleTravel advisors are gaining new access and training in the unmanaged corporate and business travel market in partnership with Hickory, and advisors, Hickory agents and corporate travel management company members can earn from selling new meeting and event services supported by MGME.”
Established in 1991, InteleTravel now has more than 120,000 independent travel advisors worldwide.