Ian McCaig, CEO, lastminute.com
Ian joined lastminute.com as chief operating officer in August 2003. He led the online agency’s aggressive acquisition strategy that saw the purchase of 14 businesses - including leading brands Holiday Autos, medhotels.com and OTC. The acquisitions were central in almost tripling lastminute.com’s total transaction value before it was purchased by Travelocity in 2005.
Ian then led the integration of lastminute.com’s and Travelocity’s European businesses before taking over from lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman as Chief Executive Officer of the merged group in May 2006.
He joined lastminute.com from Nokia where he ran businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Asia and in 2002 launched some of the world’s first 3G networks.
Alfonso Castellano, Senior Vice President, Travelocity Europe and Group Managing Director, Consumer Brands
Alf took up his latest role at lastminute.com as Senior Vice President, Travelocity Europe and Group Managing Director, Consumer Brands in 2007 following seven years with the leading online travel and leisure retailer.
Alf’s previous seven years with the lastminute.com group, saw him hold a variety of senior management roles including General Manager Global Hotels and Head of Travel in the UK.
In his new role, Alf is responsible for development and trading performance of all consumer brands (including the flagship lastminute.com brand).
Before joining lastminute.com, Alf spent 10 years at TUI in the destination management and incoming business.
Ed Kamm, Chief Operating Officer
Ed joined lastminute.com from parent company Sabre in December 2003. Starting his career with Sabre back in 1994 as a Financial Analyst, Ed rose up the ranks to the position of Director of Business Planning and Operations for Latin America and the Caribbean before being appointed Vice President US Northern Division in 2000.
Ed is responsible for driving ‘shared service’ excellence, creating efficiencies and best practice across the business. He is also responsible for all change management projects.
Simon Thompson, Chief Marketing Officer
He joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer in April 2007 and is responsible for Pan European marketing strategy and implementation.
Simon arrived at lastminute.com from Motorola via Honda.
His career at Honda covered all aspects of the business from marketing, sales, product development, franchising and strategy across diverse markets such as the UK, Japan and the US.
His professional recognition includes numerous Cannes Lions Awards for outstanding creative work.
Simon, who is ranked among the UK’s top marketers by the Marketing Society, says his favourite holiday destination is “Majorca up in the hills and away from the sea and sand” and his dream destination is “Anywhere with 24 hour child care, 24 hour room service, 24 hour satellite TV and a free tennis coach”. Simon’s favourite night consists of “a meal followed by theatre and a stay in a local 5* hotel in my home town, completely pointless relaxation - perfect!”
Josh Feuerstein, Chief Product Officer
Josh Feuerstein joined Travelocity in March 2002 as Vice President of Hotels, based in the US. In October 2005, Josh moved to the UK, where he is now based in the lastminute.com European head office in London.
In his current role at lastminute.com, Josh is responsible for Europe-wide product strategy, development and optimisation across all categories. Josh is also responsible for hotel and resort supply for the EMEA region. Josh also serves as Hotel Segment Manager for Sabre Holdings.
Prior to joining Travelocity, Josh was a founding member of Site59, an industry-leading last-minute travel packaging company which was acquired by Travelocity in March 2002. At Site59, he was a key contributor to defining strategy, assembling the Site59 team, designing the consumer product and developing industry-first TRACE packaging technology.
Josh’s favorite Holiday destination is Kauai and his dream holiday destination is a safari/beach trip in Tanganyika
Vic Darvey, Vice President of Distribution and Business Development
He joined lastminute.com with the acquisition of travel technology company Online Travel Corporation in 2004. Vic co-founded Online Travel Corporation in 1997 and as Sales Director, grew it into the travel industry’s leading white label business.
Vic has built upon OTC’s foundation and continued to grow and expand the lastminute.com white label and affiliate businesses with major partners including supermarket giant Tesco, leading social networking site WAYN.com and over-50s specialist company Saga.