A former board director who was instrumental in the rapid growth of travel tech business Skyscanner has joined holiday rental agency Sykes Holiday Cottages.
Shane Corstorphine became the chief financial officer of Edinburgh-based Skyscanner in 2012 and helped it grow over his seven years as a senior executive, playing a role in multiple investment rounds during that time.
He has now been appointed as a non-executive director at Sykes, where he hopes to apply his expertise in scaling up businesses to support Sykes’ continued expansion both in the UK and internationally.
With more than 22,000 holiday homes available across the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, Sykes is already one of the UK’s best-known travel brands.
Graham Donoghue, CEO at Sykes Holiday Cottages, said: “Shane is an experienced leader in the travel tech world, and we’re thrilled that he has agreed to come on board as a non-executive director.
“We’re no strangers to rapid growth ourselves and I’m sure he will have a wealth of experience that he can use to help us continue that path both here in the UK and further afield.”
Shane said: “When you’re a fast-growing business and well-known as a best-in-class employer, it can be difficult to sustain both, but Sykes has achieved just that.
“Britons have really fallen in love with the staycation over the past few years so the opportunities for Sykes and its holiday home owners are huge and it’s a great time to join them on that journey.”
Shane’s appointment comes just weeks after the business bolstered its leadership team with a number of promotions and key hires.
Luke Squires joined as operations director from Virgin Holidays; Stephen Joyce was appointed as people director, having performed a similar role for Your Housing Group; and Adam Platt was promoted to chief technology officer, 14 years after entering the business as a graduate developer.
The leading vacation rental management company, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, currently employs 1,000 people, with the majority based at its HQ in Chester city centre.
Last year, Sykes ranked at number 44 within the Sunday Times’ Profit Track 100, an annual list of Britain’s private companies with the fastest-growing profits over their latest three years.
