Angela Iacovazzo

I am an experienced travel professional with international sales, marketing, operations, product development, and partner management experience.  I am a strategic, collaborative leader who strongly focuses on revenue generation and building quality teams, improving efficiencies to drive service, grow and retain clientele.  I am analytical and have years of experience working with data from multiple sources. I enjoy working with people and delivering value to help achieve organisational and client goals. I am used to working in a multicultural environment, and my sales and marketing experience includes working within Africa, the USA, EMEA, and European markets -  managing partners, global consortia, tourism bodies, clients, and other entities.

I country am responsible for 40 International markets globally

I am ethical and passionate about all the travel and tourism industry facets.

Airlink:  November 2021 – Current

Sales and Marketing Officer: International GSA and Corporate

• Manage the international sales and general sales agents in 32 countries, encompassing Europe, North America and South America, Asia, the Middle East, and Australasia.  
• Monthly meetings with the GSAs per country and ensuring activities align with growth and brand objectives across all channels.
• Meet key international agents virtually to grow the business and ensure direct contact, e.g., Audley, Amaway, Jambo, Grand Circle, etc.
• Liaise tourism bodies internationally - ATTA. 
• Represent the airline trade and road shows as per original JD –  have attended,  We Are Africa in 2022.
• Account manage selected inbound ground handlers and operators.
• Work with the GSAs to determine and drive the growth of the international travel, corporate, OTA, and marine segments.
•  Analysis of figures and reports, market information for my portfolio.  
• Work within a team framework to manage and negotiate (pre-determined rates) and implement contracts for the general sales agents until the end of 2022 at the Executive’s discretion.
• Work with finance and a team to ensure the general sales agents are timeously and accurately paid -till mid/late 2022 and as part of a team.
•  Ensure all activities comply with the company/executives’ ROI guidelines.
•  Implement all new general sales agents, including training and set-ups working with internal and external stakeholders. 
• Collaborate with the marketing team to expand the brand's presence in the GSA markets to ensure GSA has the necessary material.
• New business acquisition and management of accounts in the corporate sector.
• Target corporate business and ensure they are signed. 
• Designed and implemented processes via templates for new business: Set up the templates and processes to draft and offer corporate agreements that can be used to comply with internal communication for the Accelya system. Please note that this excludes the actual contract.
• Quarterly reviews for corporate and management of the signed corporate agreements up to renewal. I set up the review format.

Airlink list of achievements

Corporate: 

Develop the structure for new business and implementations – by drafting three corporate documents to streamline and communicate information to the client and internal departments, including for Accelya.

Initiate the format of the quarterly reviews and minutes for clients.

Sign the corporates within the corporate desk and corporate program in 2021 and 2022.

Re-write the government contract to align it with an already accepted competitor contract look and feel to have it speedily taken by the government.

Executed the corporate desk setup and documents and assisted the reservation consultant from inception to mid-2022 with design or reporting. I still do the odd presentation where necessary.

GSA:

Initiate and develop the implementation framework with GSA, a 32-point framework with set deliverables across six departments.

Create and standardise the monthly report format and the business plan format to ensure focused sales and marketing activities across all the channels and take the business forward.

Initiate and implement international motivation of post tradeshow report to ensure  ROI is addressed and aligns with the Executive’s reporting requirements.

Directly negotiating the GSA contracts within the executive’s guidelines for 2022 – these contracts included: AviaReps  Group: Australia, Nairobi,  Dar es Salam and  LATAM market. Please note that the percentage and guidelines all date back to the first correction with the AviaReps Group negotiated by the Executive. 

Rewrite the agreements to have a standardized format for Uganda and Mozambique – in April and May 2022 – The docs were edited, and the team corrected the formatting and spelling.

NEWMARK:  October 2020 – Jan 2021

Group Sales and Marketing Director   - October   2020 – Jan 2021

• Managing 18 properties (2 in Zanzibar, 1 in Mauritius, three game reserves, two country hotels, and the balance city/ beach hotels) reactive and proactive sellers. 
• Plan and execute robust sales strategies to grow MPI across all segments. Leveraging and consulting sales tools such as STR hotel intelligence reports and relevant industry-related statistics. 
• Support and executive global account strategies on the property level and report performance monthly, reconciling it to the budget.
• Manage a team of 3 local staff and five international external staff. Support and mentor in achieving company objectives. 
• Monitor, manage, and present on sales and marketing departmental expenditure and ensure expenses are. 
• Support digital field marketing teams with updates on property strategies and changes necessary on local property sites. 
• Maintain strong partnership relations with local tourism authorities to ensure accurate national tourism destination marketing plan representation.

NEWMARK 

The above was in the planning phase. In certain instances, borders were closed, so activities included reaching out to  Eastern Europe( Russia and Ukraine as there were travel opportunities into Tanzania. There was also a focus on getting into local packages for the RSA market to obtain business.

TOUCH DOWN DMC:  

Head of Global Sales and Product Development – June 2018 to September 2020

International Sales and Marketing:

• Head of Sales – Sell the DMC, tours, and hotels ( B2B) 
• Manage a team of 4 sales managers (remotely) located in the USA, Indonesia, Croatia, and Hungary, mentor the team, set goals, and manage. Recruit staff for the DMC, ops, sales, and product.
• Develop and implement sales strategies for the various markets by understanding traditional and target needs using multiple data sources.
• Maintain strong partner relationships with local and international tourism bodies for marketing and sales plan data and trade exhibitions/ marketing opportunities.
• Trade shows both nationally and internationally: ITB, WTM, ASTA, Meetings Africa, Indaba, etc
• Overseeing, drafting, and maintaining all sales and marketing collateral and material. 
•  Establishing solid relationships with local corporate event/meeting planners, DMCs, incentive houses, and agents.
• Managing all contract management, tracking signed contracts, securing deposits, and final client payments according to policies.

International and Local Product Development:

• Head up product development, manage and mentor a team of 4 product managers in the USA, Indonesia, Croatia & Hungary. Set goals, mentor, and manage the employees remotely. 
• Develop and manage a portfolio of tour programs, including product planning and development, contracting of included services and products, costing and pricing, sales performance measurement, and yield management. The countries included South Africa, Sub-Saharan and East Africa, Croatia, Hungary, and Indonesia. 
• Communicate, work with sales and operations to identify new products and improvements, and train staff on products and tours, including recruiting necessary staff.
• Tours, Incentives, and FIT Travel: creating and marketing inbound programs and local packages to attract FIT and group travel.
• Work with the marketing and media team to produce and plan all product sales materials, print and electronic –itineraries - website – banners – brochures.
• Continuously develop recommendations and implement initiatives that improve product P&L.

XL SANDOWN TRAVEL: January 2011 – October 2017

General Manager: Client Services – August 2016 to October 2017

National Business Manager – January 2011 to July 2016 

• Partner manages the ATG (atgtravel.com) – Work on global tenders, implementations, contracts, and account management and represents ATG RSA at conferences in the USA. Implement and manage to brand.
• Create, implement, and manage the business sales and account management strategy for my JV and ATG accounts. 
• Manage operations, develop business, and increase the profitability of all accounts about the JV.
• Manage supplier relationship and client relationships.
• Compile and manage relevant SLA
• Cross-team integration.
• Mentor and guide the business development team. 
• Develop budgets and forecast as well as monitor sales activity.
• Projects: Workflow process assessment. 

SPECIAL PROJECT

Digital Marketing and Website– Feb 2014 – Dec 2016

A project I undertook to increase Leisure Sales and Corporate Presence while I was the National Business Manager at Sandown Travel.

• Head up a team to develop a new website for leisure, corporate, and cruise corner –ensuring relevant stakeholders were engaged internally and externally.
• Managed and worked directly with the appointed marketing agency on the social media strategy ensuring competitive research, platform determination, benchmarking, messaging, and audience identification for the XL Sandown Travel, leisure, corporate, and VIP brands used.
• Worked with the appointed agency to devise the campaign, the creation editorials, and agree on metrics.
• Collaborated with selected suppliers to obtain products for marketing and opportunities for monthly promotions and annual competitions.
• Drafted press releases, social media articles, and scripts for the video content.

XL Sandown list of achievements

I developed my joint venture portfolio of clients within the national top 10.

Instrumental in Sandown obtaining a global footprint, (ATG) implemented, nurtured, and grew the relationship over four years. She retained set global connections.

I used print media to cross-sell other brands within the group.

Social media strategy and content Feb 2014 – March 2016 Developed and managed 

Campaigns – The Win a Dream competition increased our database from 2000 to 16000.

HRG RENNIES TRAVEL:   2000 – 2010 

Regional Business Manager   - East Rand Region – July 2008 – September 2010 

• Managed the retail business of all in-houses in the East Rand region. There were nine satellite offices with a turnover of over R150 million. 
• Ensure all operations, budgets, systems, people, and customers are managed effectively across nine satellite offices in the region, i.e., PepsiCo, Pick n Pay, Aveng, Reckitt Benckiser, Novartis, Safair, Tetra Pack, ABB, Multotec and the relief pool of staff. Manage 24 people.
• Partner management of the global HRG EMEA team working on solutions, travel products, policy, costings deliverables, and implementations.
• Relationship management: clients and suppliers and global partnership. 
• Secure all business and cross-team integration to meet and exceed targets.
• Draft nine budgets and strategies for each in-house annually.
• Negotiated and drafted customised fees and ensured profitability concerning costs and budgets.
• Development of strategies to drive the profitability of accounts and budget management for the region.
• Recruitment and coaching for the East Rand In-house region.

Strategic Account Manager: 2000 to July 2008 

I joined Rennies Travel as an Account Manager and, after that, was promoted to Key Account Manager before being appointed Strategic Account Manager.

• Establishes productive, professional relationships with key personnel in assigned customer accounts, i.e., liaise with multi-level vital contacts within the client organization to attract, grow, and retain the clients.
• Coordinates the involvement of company personnel, including support, service, partners, and management resources, to meet account performance objectives and customers’ expectations.
• Meets assigned targets for profitable sales volume and strategic objectives in posted accounts.
• Proactively leads a joint company-strategic account planning process that develops mutual performance objectives, financial targets, and critical milestones for a one and three-year period
• Proactively assesses, clarifies, and validates customer needs continuously.
• Lead solution development efforts that best address customer needs while coordinating the involvement of all necessary company personnel. Solutions include benchmarking, contracting, implementations, risk management, SLA, travel policy,   re-engineering processes, changing traveler behavior, introducing new technology, fee solutions, models, etc.
• Work closely within the HRG partner network
• Read and research information to remain abreast with changes within the market.

HRG RENNIES list of achievements

National Account Manager of the Year in 2004.

 As a Regional Manager, an annual cost saving of budget targets exceeded in the first year by 20% and in the second 12% 

Consolidated/ obtained the MICE business into all global accounts in my portfolio.

98% retention rate on all accounts over ten years.

We consolidated the PnP account, where we had 85 % of the business – a 35% increase in market share.

Grew the market share of average by over 50 % 

Directly responsible for HRG consolidating Novartis globally into the HRG umbrella internationally.

KELLY PERSONNEL

Senior Recruitment Consultant: 1998 to July 2000 

• Work and form relationships with key clients to know the ins and outs of their departments and better understand their hiring needs and job specifications
• Develop and release job postings on a platform, print media, and job boards.
• Utilise knowledge of multiple sources and execute innovative recruiting strategies to find quality candidates and prospects for new business.
• Screen resumes and prospects, qualify, interview, and manage candidates throughout the interview process, from interview preparation to assisting with final offer negotiation.
• Maintain a database of candidate records, including active and passive prospects.
• Build solid relationships and acquire new clients 
• Management of project and relief staff, including Wage and leave management. 
• Project Management using the PMBOK methodology.

Other

• RENNIES FOREIGN EXCHANGE – July 1992 – December 1996

COZENS RECRUITMENT –1992

Education

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL – 2004

ICDL – Executive Management Development: Modules completed

Managing Virtual Teams. Productive Business Dialogue. Decision Making. Coaching for Results. Service Success.

Managing Across Differences. Managing Direct Reports. Managing Change. 

IPSC – 1999

The Education Institute of Personnel Service Consultants

APSO- 1998

Basic Conditions of Employment

Labour Relations Act

Disciplinary Grievances and Procedures

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG – 1991

Higher Degree in Education – incomplete