Industry veterans will continue to lead Protravel International and Tzell Travel Group with departure of Gail Grimmett

New York, NY (April 26, 2018) – The leadership of Travel Leaders Group’s luxury brands, Protravel International and Tzell Travel Group, will transition to long-time industry veterans with the announced departure of Gail Grimmett, who has served as President of the brands for the past two years. Grimmett today announced her intention to leave Travel Leaders Group later in May.

Becky Powell will continue to lead Protravel International, now serving as President. Cindy Schlansky and Monty Swaney will continue their senior leadership roles at Tzell Travel Group, now serving as Co-Presidents. All three leaders will take on additional responsibilities for strategic direction of the brands working with Travel Leaders Group CEO Ninan Chacko, CTC.

“Gail further developed a highly-seasoned team of executives at each of our luxury brands who will continue our focus on leading the industry in the luxury sector,” said Chacko. “We are grateful to Gail for her work in integrating our luxury acquisitions, expanding our UK presence and strengthening a great executive team of outstanding professionals,” said Chacko. A long-time airline industry executive with Delta Air Lines, Grimmett joined Travel Leaders Group in May 2016.

While leading Travel Leaders Group’s luxury brands, Grimmett successfully created and helped implement a strategic plan which focused on increasing agent profitability and growing their business. She also oversaw historical highs in recruitment of independent contractors to the Tzell and Protravel brands and expanded the number of Tzell Travel branches.

Grimmett worked to create synergies between the brands which include Protravel, Tzell, Andrew Harper Travel, R. Crusoe, Colletts Travel and All Star Travel Group. She also oversaw the growth of Travel Leaders UK and introduced new marketing initiatives including Protravel’s sponsorship of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and the New York Wine & Food Festival.

Powell joined Travel Leaders Group as Senior Vice President at Andrew Harper Travel and became General Manager and COO of Protravel in January of this year. Schlansky has served in various leadership roles at Tzell since 2000 overseeing branch acquisitions, projects, process and change management, while Swaney, who joined Tzell in 2009 handles relationship management, leads independent contractor support, oversees sales efforts and coordinates UK operations.

Travel Leaders Group is a leader in both consumer retail travel and global corporate travel with more than 52,000 travel agents under its umbrella within the U.S., Canada and internationally.

About Travel Leaders Group

Travel Leaders Group (www.travelleadersgroup.com) is transforming travel with a commitment to our vacation and business travel clients through our progressive approach toward each unique travel experience. Having already assisted millions of travelers, Travel Leaders Group manages leisure, business and franchise travel operations under a variety of diversified divisions and brands, including All Aboard Travel, ALTOUR, Andrew Harper Travel, Colletts Travel, CruCon, Cruise Specialists, Nexion, Protravel International, SinglesCruise.com, Travel Leaders Corporate, Travel Leaders Network and Tzell Travel Group. With over 7,000 agency locations, Travel Leaders Group ranks as one of the industry’s largest retail travel agency companies.

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Travel Leaders Group has named 2018 Year of the Travel Agent. Over the last decade, the travel agency industry has flourished through technology, the growth of travel options and personalized service. Travel Leaders Group represents more than 52,000 travel agents worldwide with unmatched expertise in 135,000 destinations and 53,000 areas of interest. Travelers and suppliers have rediscovered the value a professional travel advisor delivers to the travel experience. Travel agents help to move people around the world, and keep our economy growing.