This article has been published with the support of Jenni Joynt’s family and industry friends
UPDATED: Jenni's funeral will take place at 2.30pm on Thursday 31 March at Stockport Crematorium's Rowan Chapel.
Friends and acquaintances from across the UK’s business travel industry have paid tribute to Jenni Joynt who tragically passed away last week.
The death of the popular and well-respected travel manager has saddened the industry, whose tributes to Jenni praised her abundance of energy, warmth and candour, and described her as “someone who would simply light up a room.”
Her family is in the process of establishing the Jenni Joynt Foundation which will help others faced with similar mental health challenges to which she succumbed.
Jenni was a well-known and hugely popular figure across the business travel industry and a great friend to many. Based in Manchester, she had worked as a travel manager at NatWest Group/RBS since 2016 and previously at Hilti Great Britain as travel and meetings manager.
.jpeg "Jenni Joynt open water swimming")
Earlier roles in the travel industry included stints at Emirates and British Airways. In her spare time she enjoyed a range of fitness activities, from open water swimming to skipping, and was an amateur bee-keeper.
Her commitment to the travel industry was also evident. Jenni was an insightful and regular contributor to BTN Europe and had served on the judging panel of the Business Travel Awards Europe since 2020 as well as Business Travel Show Europe's advisory board.
She had also contributed to the Business Travel Association’s buyer advisory board.
However, Jenni was best-known as a long-time member of the Institute of Travel Management (ITM) and as an active and passionate member of its Northern Regional Committee.
ITM said many members have contacted the organisation expressing their gratitude for the support they had received from Jenni at various events, for the time she took to introduce them to her industry friends and contacts, and for the genuine interest she had taken in them.
The organisation is planning to celebrate her life at its annual conference in Birmingham next month.
“Jenni was an incredibly special, vibrant and energetic member of the ITM community. Her natural desire to make everyone feel welcome and valued set the tone at our events and struck anyone that she met,” said Scott Davies, ITM CEO.
“Jenni’s warmth, humour, empathy and talent were admired by so many of us. Jenni would simply light up a room and any situation you can imagine – a business meeting, an education session, a conference, a gym class, an evening in a bar – was just infinitely better if Jenni was there.
“We miss her so much already and we will always remember her, and we will look to find positive ways to help those facing struggles any way we can.”
Details of Jenni's funeral are yet to be confirmed.
• If you are struggling with mental health challenges there are a range of organisations which can offer support and advice including Mind and Samaritans. In addition, Sam Cande, a close friend of Jenni’s, is hosting a webinar on 11 March in which a panel of experts will address mental health matters and discuss how to identify the early stages of suffering.