Staff News

Tourplan Welcomes New Staff

	Shaddy Phiri Shaddy joined Tourplan Southern Africa as a Systems Consultant in November 2007. Shaddy has extensive experience in the ICT industries, having held various Training and Consultancy positions for more than 10 years, 4 of which have been spent in Project Management and managing medium to large-scale software development projects. Shaddy holds the NCC International Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies and he is in the process of completing the final year of his BSc. (Hons) Degree in Information Systems, as well as studying towards attaining the PMBOK credential from the Project Management Institute.
	Lorraine Davies I joined the Tourplan South African office in May 2007 as a Support Consultant. Prior to this I worked for a South African Inbound Tour Operator as a Tourplan Administrator for approximately 4 years. In total I was with the company for 10 years involved with various areas of the Travel Industry: Product Development, Incentives & Conferencing. Before the children were born I worked in Advertising and at the Stock Exchange. After the children had grown up (is that ever possible) I worked with a Turf Accountant both on the Race Courses and in Tattersalls. I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge of my new venture with Tourplan and am looking forward to the years ahead.
	Colin Grealy I’ve just started with Tourplan as a .Net developer. I’m originally from Ireland and I’ve been working as a software developer for about 8 years since I left university. On the technical side, most of my work has been in C++ and object-oriented design, and on the business side I’ve worked in several industries, including medical, broadcast and by happy coincidence, travel software. Away from the office, I try to injure myself in various different ways including snowboarding, mountain-biking, scuba-diving and Aikido. Thus far, I have yet to succeed on the injury front, but I’ve had a lot of fun trying. I came to Tourplan because it offered an opportunity to learn some new skills and to provide some useful input into the software development. I’m excited about the challenge of learning a new system and I’m looking forward to working with you all.
	Justin Barton I'm working as developer/teamleader for Tourplan Application Services (TAS) in Christchurch. Despite coming from Auckland I've been here since historic University days - where I toiled aghast at assignments from our own Paul Ashton (being an Ensoc member didn't help my cause). After the obligatory OE with my girlfriend (in our case to SEAsia) I worked in Sydney for almost 2 years cutting my teeth in C++ as part of a small Scada objectbase team. We returned to Christchurch for health reasons and I joined HP (then Compaq) where I worked on a fairly large Vodafone team for over 6 years. I then moved from developer to architect for the team, and commuted to auckland for a few years. It was very interesting and diverse work (C++,Corba, J2ee, Rating-Billing- Provisioning, CRM etc). I'm especially pleased to now be in a less Corporate & Kiwi owned environment and look forward to working with you all in the not-to-distant future.
	Joanne Enlander Joanne has joined the Tourplan Europe office as a Support and Training Consultant. She is 29 and was born and grew up in Leeds, England. After completing a Tourism Management degree at Leeds Metropolitan University, she moved to London and has spent the last 6 years working for two large incoming tour operators (Globus and Kuoni) as an Operations Executive. There Joanne mainly looked after American leisure groups coming to the UK.
	Pedro Guzman Pedro joined Tourplan Latin America Office in October 2006. He has worked in computers and tourism for the last 8 years. Previously he worked as a programmer and technical support, and developed several systems for different travel companies in Costa Rica. His hobbies include cycling (he was an elite cyclist for 5 years), travel and photography. Pedro loves dogs and one of his dreams is to make a refuge for street dogs and other animals. In Tourplan, he’s working in support for our Latin American clients and learning how to be a trainer for new clients.
	Esdras Madrigal Esdras started working with our Latin America Office in January 2006 as a support consultant. For the last 11 years Esdras was a white water river rafting guide plus a tour guide for several different tourism companies in Costa Rica. He also did some in-office work during that time. He is a huge enthusiast of Tourplan and hopes to become a trainer as soon as possible. He likes sports such as kayaking, surfing, canopy, diving, football as well as sharing a night of poker with his friends.
	Sandra Barron Sandra has recently joined the Tourplan Pacific office as Financial Controller. She is a CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) and has recently arrived in New Zealand from Sheffield in the UK. Sandra spent the last five years working as an accountant for an e-learning and design services company. Her interests include running, cycling, scuba diving and skiing. This weekend Sandra is competing in her first half marathon in preparation for the Hanmer half marathon at end of March.
	Lankie van Wyk Lankie is the newest member of the Tourplan Southern Africa branch. She wrote her matric at Wordsworth High School last year, where she achieved a distinction in Travel & Tourism. She is now working as the accounts and admin clerk and hopes to become a Tourplan consultant. In her spare time Lankie enjoys reading, movies, needlework, tapestry and knitting.
	Jaco Serfontein Jaco has joined the Tourplan Southern Africa office as a Support & Training Consultant. Jaco is 30 years old, married to Melissa with a 19 month old son Duan and a second baby due in February. He has an extensive background in IT specialising in software support and training. For the last 7 years he has been a Support Specialist for an accounting software package called Pastel and this included data fixing using SQL, on-site client training and training support consultants.
	Amanda van Niekerk Amanda has started working at the Tourplan Southern Africa office as a Support & Training Team Leader. Amanda's background is in project management and accounting, and she worked in the manufacturing Industry for 10 years. She obtained a Web Development diploma through her interest in computers and the internet. What started out as a hobby has turned into a great career opportunity! Amanda's hobbies are very creative, and include painting, art, interior decorating, web development, graphics and music.