Festive Road co-founders and joint managing partners, Caroline Strachan, and Paul Tilstone will each step into new roles.
Festive Road, the global consultancy on a mission to create better travel and meetings management, announces the separation of its supplier business from its buyer business as of 29 March 2024.
The move sees Festive Road co-founders and joint managing partners, Caroline Strachan, and Paul Tilstone, amicably part company to create two businesses, each with a focus on a differentiated service offering and customer base.
Strachan and Tilstone took the strategic decision to separate buyer and supplier businesses having reviewed how best to embrace and capitalise on the growing demand for Festive Road services. The division creates clear delineation and presents exciting growth and career development opportunities for the businesses, their team and each other.
Caroline Strachan becomes CEO of Festive Road, which will focus on Buyer Consulting and Outsourcery services. She takes a majority shareholding in the business and is supported by the talented senior leadership team. Festive Road will continue to grow by working towards its ambitious vision for 2030 of enabling Purposeful Travel and Meetings Management across all the T&E categories.
Caroline Strachan, CEO, Festive Road, comments: “Paul and I have created an amazing people-first company together. We’ve experienced unimaginable growth and success over the last eight years. As we planned and examined what the industry, our clients and our people need going forward, we could not escape the significant commercial opportunity we were turning away due to restrictions around potential conflict between buyer and supplier services.
“This move makes logical and commercial sense and opens significant opportunity for Festive Road to forge ahead and become the largest independent T&E consultancy, working towards a purposeful travel and meetings management world across all T&E categories. We are incredibly excited by all that is to come, while, of course, wishing Paul all the future success with his new venture.”
Meanwhile Paul Tilstone will depart Festive Road, fully divesting his shares, to form a new business, temoji. The company will focus on Supplier Consulting, with Tilstone and his team focusing on marketing, communications, and advisory services in the supplier sector to build “social and intellectual capital” between suppliers and their audiences.
Tilstone says: “Caroline and I, together with the extraordinarily talented team we’ve developed at Festive Road, have had an amazing run since founding the company in 2016. It’s been a wonderful partnership and I’m proud of all we have achieved together.
“temoji gives me the opportunity to create a single-minded service offer that is dedicated entirely to supplier consulting and removes restrictions that were preventing service expansion before. I am extremely excited what is now possible and still to come for everyone involved in both Festive Road and temoji, by what is now possible and still to come.” Tilstone concluded.
Strachan and Tilstone believe this to be a logical next step and direction for all involved, re-energising, refreshing, and refocusing after a period of enormous success.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
