CWT strengthens UK MICE team
Carlson Wagonlit Travel has strengthened its UK meetings and events team with three new appointments.
Russell Bodycomb joins from the Thistle and Guoman Hotels group as meetings and events director. He held a similar position with Thistle and, previous to that worked at the Cumberland Hotel in London.
Justin Cole becomes business development manager meetings and events. He joins from rival TMC American Express where he worked for 13 years in a variety of roles, the most recent as client general manager - business travel account manager.
The third newcomer is Selina Grocott who is CWT UK's new meetings and events manager.
She joins from hotel company Expotel where she was international conference and events manager.
Paxton new Malev ceo
Former BA executive Lloyd Paxton has been appointed the new ceo of Malev Airlines.
He takes over from Janos Gonci who is leaving by mutual consent but will stay on as a board ember of the Hungarian carrier.
Mr Paxton, a Briton, was also founder and president of Air Astana, the national airline of Asian republic Kazakhstan.
The Hungarian government sold a 99.95% stake in Malev earlier this year to AirBridge, a Hungarian company backed by KrasAir, one of the largest carriers in Russia.
Malev also joined the oneworld alliance this year.
Epps joins ITP
Industry stalwart Ian Epps has joined International Travel Partnership (ITP), an alliance of independent travel management companies around the world, as its new director of membership relations.
Mr Epps has worked in the industry for more than 30 years with companies including Thomas Cook, American Express, Galileo and TQ3 Travel Solutions.
He was involved in the establishment of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives in Europe and served on its board and EMEA regional committee.
Labonde new marketing director at Germanwings
Thomas Labonde has been appointed the new marketing director of no frills carrier Germanwings.
Mr Labonde, 36, was previously sales team leader at Worldshop, a subsidiary of Lufthansa.
He starts his new role on September 1 and will report to Gregor Schlueter, senior vp marketing and sales.
Forte appoints new group sales director
Rocco Forte Hotels has appointed Patrizia di Patrizio as its new director of group and incentive sales.
Ms di Patrizio has ten years' experience in the industry and most recently worked as regional sales manager for the conference and incentive market for Mandarin Oriental Hotels in London.
Previously she has worked in group sales at the Four Seasons Canary Wharf and at the Hotel Concorde La Fayette in Paris.
New appointments at Lufthansa
Lufthansa has appointed Christian Tillmans as the new managing director of its regional airline Lufthansa CityLine.
He takes over from Dr. Thomas Dräger who is leaving to pursue new interests.
Mr Tillmans has worked at Lufthansa since 1991 in a number of posts, most recently with responsibility for pricing and revenue management.
The German carrier also announced that Jacques Aigrain, ceo of insurance company Swiss Re, was joining its supervisory board.
He succeeds Dr Gerhard Cromme who stepped down last month.
Hurst steps up at Continental
Michelle Hurst has been appointed the new head of corporate sales for the US by Continental Airlines.
She takes over from Stephen Craven who has left the airline to pursue other interests.
Ms Hurst, who will be based at the carrier's UK office in Surrey, has worked for Continental since 2003 as a corporate sales executive.
* see BTE's recruitment site www.businesstraveljobs.com