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.
	Stan Kozar I have recently joined the Tourplan Europe office as a Support and Training Consultant. I am originally from Slovakia and came to London 4 years ago after finishing University. I worked for a London based incoming tour operator for 3 years and involved myself in different aspects of the travel industry. The most exciting part was the IT and a tailor-made back and front office system. This is a great opportunity to learn Tourplan in depth and explore the world of IT. I am a big fan of Ice-Hockey and I love IT books.
	Charlotte Newton I have joined the Christchurch office as a Senior Support Consultant. Originally from Auckland I moved to Christchurch 6 years ago. My background includes 14 years in wholesale travel starting with Passport United Holidays, Go International Holidays then Air New Zealand agency sales all in Auckland. Then came the move to Christchurch to work for the House of Travel wholesale division. Three years ago House of Travel installed Tourplan and this is where my leap into IT began, for the past 3 years I have worked on system support & development within the House of Travel business.
	Stuart Charles I have recently joined Tourplan Europe as Sales Manager. My background is travel, inspired by a trip to Kenya when I was fourteen and I went on to do Travel & Tourism at University. Following this I did the classic gap year taking in South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and America. I then worked for Travelbag as a reservations consultant for 4 years, before cashing in on Y2K and moving into the area of disaster recovery for a couple of years. My last 6 years has been as Sales Manager at Illusions Online who also specialise in Travel Technology. On a personal level I live with Jodie down in Basingstoke, about an hour south west of London and we are getting married next year. Other than travel my main interests are sport related - playing footy for the local team and getting a round of golf in most weekends.
	Sally Purtle I have joined the Tourplan Pacific support team and everyone has been very welcoming. I am from Christchurch and have a BA degree from Canterbury University majoring in Psychology as well as a Diploma in Management. I spent five years in Auckland working as a team manager in an Outsource Contact Centre, then spent some time in the UK and Europe before moving back to Christchurch and working for MYOB. I was at MYOB for almost four years (just down the road from the ChCh Tourplan office) where I spent a large proportion of my time working in, and then managing the Technical Support Team. I look forward to working with you all.
	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.
	Megan Cumming I am new to Tourplan and currently working as a Senior Support Consultant in the Christchurch office. I was born in Namibia but later moved to Cape Town, South Africa, where I attended school and studied Computers and Finance. I then worked for Old Mutual and Woolworths as a software developer. I moved to the UK about 4 years ago where I worked as a software developer for travel companies Virgin Travelstore and Lasminute.com. During my time in London, I met my fiancé who is a New Zealander from Christchurch. We always knew that the UK was temporary and because of the political issues in South Africa we decided to settle in New Zealand.
	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.
	Silke McGrath Silke has recently joined the Tourplan UK team as a Support and Training Consultant. She is 29 and comes originally from Germany, where she studied Tourism before coming to the UK in 1999. Silke worked in the Hospitality Industry in London for a number of years and has come to Tourplan from JAC Tavel where she worked as a Key Account Supervisor dealing mainly with the American market.
	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.
	Lee-Ann English Lee-Ann is the newest member of the Tourplan Pacific support team. She hails from Cape Town, South Africa, and has worked in the Inbound Tourism industry for the past 18 years. Her experiences in the industry range from Accounts to Tour Consulting to Marketing and finally, for the past 7 years, as a TourPlan Administrator for an Inbound Operator based in Cape Town. When not at work Lee-Ann can be found in the kitchen whipping up a batch of something, outdoors somewhere enjoying the fresh air or just relaxing with a good book.
	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.