North East independent travel firm Hays Travel has appointed three new directors to take forward the business forward, following the sudden death of its founder.
John Hays passed away last Friday while working in the company’s Sunderland head office, 40 years after first setting it in motion in the back of his mother’s clothes shop in County Durham.
Tributes have flooded in from the business community following Mr Hays’ death, which happened just over a year after he and his wife Irene, Hays Travel’s chair, were thrown into the national spotlight when they saved more than 2,000 jobs by acquiring shops and staff from collapsed holiday company Thomas Cook.
Over his career Mr Hays took the business from first year annual sales of £812 to in excess of £1bn in 2017/18.
It has now emerged that the company has been in the process of making new appointments to strengthen its board as part of a succession plan.
Hays Travel has today announced the promotion of Jonathon Woodall to chief operating officer, to work with the board and the senior leadership team to take forward its two-year business plan, as John and Irene Hays intended.
Mrs Hays, the company’s chair said: “John was proud of the career success of our loyal, committed and talented people.
“Jonathon has excelled since he started, and while the circumstances of his promotion are not what anyone would have ever wanted, he has the confidence and support of everyone in the business.”
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Mr Woodall joined Hays Travel in 2004 and worked closely with John for more than 16 years.
He has held positions across the group, including finance manager, head of independence group and head of commercial, and has played a key role in major acquisitions.
He said: “I am privileged to take John’s legacy forward alongside all of the people in Hays Travel who want to do the same.
“Although these are challenging times for the travel industry, we have strong plans in place. Irene and I will continue to reach for excellence in the way we look after our people, our customers and our suppliers.”
The board will be further strengthened with the appointment of John Milburn, currently head of homeworking and telesales, who will become marketing and homeworking director, and Mark Hatton, former senior partner at Ernst & Young, in a non-executive role. They join Mrs Hay and Jane Schumm, director of retail and Claire Maith, group finance director.
Following Mr Hays’ death, an online fundraising page has been set up to raise money for the Hays Travel Foundation in his memory and the total now stands at almost £17,000.