Mega travel management company HRG today announced that Ian Flint, head of its global consulting unit, will leave the company this month "to pursue a new business venture." HRG consultant Mike Orchard is now overseeing the consulting division.
"Ian wanted to get back to where he was most comfortable," said HRG North America president Tom Gleason. "He ran his own business for many years and he did a good job for us. I enjoyed working with him. He is a very knowledgeable guy. He built the team and the team is in place. It will run perfectly well."
Flint joined HRG in 2006 when the travel management company acquired Ian Flint & Associates for £152,000, according to HRG's 2007 annual report.
The announcement is the latest in a series of changes at the TMC's consulting unit. In July 2007, the company announced the appointment of Lee DeVet to lead North American consulting operations as regional vice president of HRG Consulting
(BTNonline, Aug. 13, 2007). DeVet later left the company. "It wasn't a perfect fit for both sides," Gleason said.
The U.K.-based team, according to Gleason, has been handling consulting for North American clients. "We're just taking our time," he said. "Because we have such a capable team over in the U.K., it's not like we need to rush into adding a consulting team over here. They've been more than able to handle our requests, and they've handled them very capably. The customers really don't care where the people are. It's the quality of the product and the quality of the product of the U.K. has been very strong. Why add any expense to the business if you don't need to add any expense?"
In April, former Eos Airlines executive Andrew Menkes repurchased the rights to Partnership Travel Consulting, a consulting firm he co-founded that HRG purchased in 2006 for £141,000. As part of the deal, the PTC brand was to be integrated into HRG with Menkes serving as president of the newly created consulting division. In June 2006, the unit was rebranded to HRG Consulting and Menkes joined startup Eos.
Before he departed HRG for Eos, Menkes agreed to "repay the majority of the cash received for selling Partnership Travel Consulting," he said. On April 28, Menkes paid his last installment to HRG and regained PTC's naming rights. The day before, Eos ceased flight operations.
HRG wouldn't disclose whether it has agreed to a similar naming rights arrangement with Flint. "He is a well-known name in the business," Gleason said. "I don't think he necessarily needs to have a specific name as long as Ian Flint's name is behind it."