Where we started

Back in the early nineties, before Brit Pop had taken over the nation, a then unknown Mr Brent Hoberman, eager to impress the ladies, would try his luck with several flash hotels to get the top suite at a knock-down price for that evening.

By calling on the day of the booking Brent was successful in his quest, so not only did he get the room but he got the girl too. From here the idea for lastminute.com was born, he decided everyone should be able to live a five-star lifestyle for three-star cash.

Brent then joined forces with entrepreneurial dynamo 'in-the-making' Martha Lane-Fox and lastminute.com became more than just an idea, growing to sell a full range of lifestyle and travel products when it started trading in October 1998. Anything from theatre tickets to holidays was available to the public.

Now in its tenth year lastminute.com has grown into a worldwide business employing 1981 staff and is one of the most successful travel corporations on the planet.

In March 2000, lastminute.com floated on the London Stock Exchange. The funds raised were used to fund an acquisition shopping spree, which included:

• France’s leading travel company Degriftour Group
• Car broker giant Holiday Autos
• Travel agents' best-kept secret medhotels.com
• Leading travel technology company OTC
• lastminute.de

In May 2005, lastminute.com was purchased by Travelocity, part of the Sabre family of travel companies. Sabre, now owned by venture capitalist Texas Silverlake Partnership, is a leading travel technology companies that powers the travel industry with its fleet of products including its flights distribution tool.

lastminute.com founder and inspiration Brent stepped down as CEO in May 2006 to become company chairman handing the pink reins to Ian McCaig.

Ian joined lastminute.com as Chief Operating Officer from Nokia in August 2003, where he ran the communications company’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Handpicked by Brent to ultimately be his successor, Ian oversaw the purchase and implementation of 13 businesses before taking the top job.

Ian has steered lastminute.com to its most successful period, with the online business fast approaching an incredibly impressive 2.5 million visitors a week all looking for that inspirational deal to surprise a loved one (or maybe even someone else’s)...just like one young visionary with an eye for the ladies was doing at the beginning.

ian mccaig
chief executive officer

Ian joined lastminute.com as Chief Operating Officer in August 2003. He arrived after six years at Nokia, where he’d worked across Europe, the Middle East and Asia – launching some of the world’s first 3G networks in the process.

Joining Brent Hoberman (co-founder and CEO) on the Board of the plc, Ian quickly focused on structuring the company to deal with the high growth it was delivering. Within two years, the company’s sales had grown by almost 300% and its portfolio had grown to include fourteen other leading online brands across 11 countries, ensuring that a true pan-European business of scale had been built. The industry was watching closely, and in 2005 lastminute.com was bought by Travelocity for £577 million.

After the deal, Ian was charged with bringing both Travelocity in Europe and lastminute.com together into one business. When lastminute.com began looking for a new CEO in 2006, Ian was the natural choice – and, in May of that year, he was appointed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Since then, he's been working with his team to ensure that lastminute.com and Travelocity Europe remain amongst the edgiest, most different, most fun and most successful businesses in the sector.

When he isn’t working, Ian enjoys spending time with his family. He also trades antiques, is no mean cook and enjoys watching a bit of rugby and football. He happily dishes out pearls of philosophy to anyone who’ll listen: 'Never trust a man who wears a wee vestie under his shirt!’, is a personal favourite.

simon thompson
group managing director & chief marketing officer

Joining lastminute.com as Chief Marketing Officer in April 2007, Simon brought with him an armful of marketing know how gleaned from just about every industry you can imagine (and a few more besides).

Simon originally graduated in Computer Science – 'a cool thing to do back then', he assures. He then worked through a few (extremely mind-numbingly boring!) jobs in computing before settling down at Honda in 1991. Travelling the world courtesy of their corporate expense card, Simon's career covered sales, business management, franchising, R&D and branding – earning numerous Cannes Lions (poncy global marketing award) for his work. Moving to Motorola, his time as European Marketing Director brought the highest sell through of phones to the consumer in recent company history – and, according to Simon, 'a slight deafness' from the twenty hours a day spent on calls.

Since joining lastminute.com, Simon – who is ranked among the UK's top creative talents by the Marketing Society – has managed the company's marketing, taken on the mantle of Group Managing Director and, to the relief of his colleagues, successfully recovered his hearing. Well, for those who agree with him, anyway.

When not at work, his time is divided equally between being told what to do by his wife, being told what to do by his children and being constantly disappointed by the performance of his 'extended family' (known to outsiders as 'Newcastle United Football Club').

ed kamm
chief operating officer

It's not easy finding your ideal company. Credit to Ed, then, for landing his right away.

With finance degrees from the best institutions he could afford, Ed went straight into Sabre Holdings – the company that would go on to own both Travelocity and lastminute.com. His passion for travel and technology business took him steadily through the ranks, and Ed wound up working in just about every department Sabre had going. But, whether he was working as a financial analyst or VP for the entire Northern US, Ed’s final commitment was always towards the customer.

That dedication was crucial for helping Travelocity back to into the black, where Ed worked as CFO (chief financial officer) from 2003-2005. And that same dedication continues to drive up standards at lastminute.com, where Ed now resides.

As COO (chief operating officer), it's Ed's responsibility to make sure lastminute.com is headed in the right direction – both for the company, and the customer. He manages the agency’s portfolio, plans product development and oversees customer care. He loves working in a multi-cultural environment and, taking a leaf from the customer’s book, isn't averse to a little travelling himself.

vic darvey
vice president of distribution and business development

Vic joined the lastminute.com team in 2004 and brought with him a wealth of experience in ecommerce and multimedia services.

Having graduated in Theology 12 years ago Vic made the obvious jump into ecommerce, cutting his teeth at the UK’s first ISPs (Internet service provider). After a year he left to set up his own travel and technology provider Online Travel Corporation(OTC), pioneering the market entry strategy of third party affiliate and white-labelling multimedia services.

Within seven years, Vic had an industry leader on his hands – providing travel and technology solutions to some of the largest travel and retail brands in Europe.

lastminute.com bought OTC in 2004, and Vic's experience at the helm made him the ideal candidate to lead lastminute.com's own distribution and affiliate strategies across EMEA.

Under his guidance, the company now works with over 10,000 partners across the globe including the likes of supermarket giant Tesco, BAA, Iberia, Air France, Emirates and over-50s specialist company Saga.

Outside lastminute.com, Vic likes to wind down by kicking a rugby ball around with his kids.

sanjay lobo
legal director

Sanjay took on his current position in late 2005.

A law graduate from University College London, Sanjay trained at Olswang (a new-media focused law firm where he 'sweated lots' before leaving) before joining Sabre Legal EMEA in 2001. Sanjay then started working for Travelocity Europe in 2004, assisting with the lastminute.com merger. He now employs his experience in e-commerce law as lastminute.com’s Legal Director, and in that role Sanjay was named one of the 'Hot 100' lawyers in 2007 by The Lawyer magazine (we think for his work and not his looks).

When not at work, the self-confessed arm-chair sports fan likes to spend time with his wife and 'baby Lobo'. Sanjay is currently reading his son's Baby Einstein Mirror Book – 'unputdownable' – and rather triumphantly lists his guiltiest pleasure as 'Pies'.

satu henson
programme director, emea

Satu joined lastminute.com in August 2004 as a Programme Director for Business Transformation. More recently, she's taken charge of convergence initiatives and resulting change across EMEA.

Graduating in Business & Marketing from her native Finland, Satu has worked across Europe and the US in business development, sales, marketing and business transformation. Her 'bricks 'n' mortar' era came to an end after 3+ years with toy gurus Tyco and Mattel UK (cool brands including Tyco R/C, Matchbox and Barbie), where Satu finished her stay by helping manage the merger between the two companies. Then, in 1997, Satu took another translatlantic trip – this time to Seattle, to embrace all things new media (while the knowledge sharing was still free and fun). Over the next 11 years, Satu experienced the ups and downs of the fast-paced web and mobile industries – working with Razorfish, BT, Sonera and Telefonica before settling at lastminute.com.

Away from work, Satu is an 'active adventurer' – with a few creature comforts and a good book thrown in.

alistair rodger
vp of partner marketing

With 17 years worth of experience in the hotel industry, Alistair settled straight into the team as VP for partner marketing.

He first found his feet at Swallow Hotels, in 1992. Alistair began in regional sales, progressed into national sales and, within five years, had created the company's first agency sales department.

From Swallow Hotels, Alistair then moved to Marriott International. He joined Hilton several years later, remaining in sales until his appointment as the company's VP of Partnerships. Alistair then spent the following years accompanying the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 Team from Grand Prix to Grand Prix, making sure their sponsorship returned value for money (and finding time for some fun along the way).

Alistair's favourite travel moment was, much like his season ticket for Wolverhampton Wanderers, a mix of 'spectacular views but sheer pain' – trekking 45km to 'catch the sun rise over the lost Inca city of Macchu Pichu...amazing!'

james donaldson
chief finacial officer europe

Having lived in a caravan for a year and a day, James decided that the life of a tinker was not the path for him. His mathematical intellect and deft analytical and forecasting skills lent themselves more tightly to a career in finance rather than itinerant metal mending.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1995, James begun working his way up the career ladder starting as an Audit Senior at Arthur Anderson. He then spent the next 13 years improving finance functions for Virgin Interactive, EMI Music and News International before joining lastminute.com group as CFO in October 2008.

A father of three children under the age of four, when not watching CBeebies or playing Barbie tea parties, James loves watching cricket and reminiscing on his favourite holiday ever – 5 weeks marooned on a Bali beach with absolutely nothing to do…for a serious amount of time.