Chief Executive Officer
HF Holidays
Borehamwood, Hertfordshire

HF Holidays are a British Institution with 110 years of heritage, a co-operative with over 47,000 members, offices in Hertfordshire and Cumbria as well as 16 country house hotels dotted around the UK. They also offer over 240 guided and self-guided walking holidays across 40 destinations and 6 continents, catering for 55,000 annual guests and an enviable 80% repeat customer rate. Their defining principles of its founder are friendship, fun, fresh air, and the feelgood factor.

CEO Purpose and Responsibilities

• Provide vision and inspirational leadership to the entire organisation.
• Define and implement the strategic direction, competitive strategy and goals of the organisation.
• Ensure the society remains independent and self-sustaining with a growing and engaged membership base.
• Use market insight and competitor awareness to identify opportunities for growth.
• Develop and implement strategies that add value to the customer experience.
• Optimise the society’s financial performance including annual surplus, member investment, property portfolio, asset base and digital transformation to ensure a sustainable future.
• Ensure the society complies with the Co-operative and Benefit Societies Act of 2014.

CEO Person Specification and Skills Required

• An experienced CEO or Deputy with involvement at board level gained in a complex organisation of similar size.
• Senior leadership experience gained in a tour operating business. Wider leisure and hospitality experience would also be desirable.
• A strategic business leader with vision, drive, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial insight.
• Affinity to co-operative values and principles.
• Able to demonstrate evidence of involvement with the strategic development of a travel/leisure business which drove profitable growth.
• Able to demonstrate success in strategy development and implementation, business improvement and financial delivery.

CEO Additional Details

• A highly competitive basic salary to be discussed on application.
• 25% Bonus potential, £5000 car allowance, 8.5% pension contributions.
• The main hub for this role with be Borehamwood Hertfordshire, but regular travel can be expected to visit the portfolio of UK properties.
• HF Holidays have retained the services of C&M Travel Recruitment on an exclusive basis to manage the search and interview process so any interested parties will be directed here in the first instance.

Don’t keep a good thing to yourself
We grow our business through referrals, so please don’t keep us to yourself. If you think we’re doing a good job and know of someone who would benefit from our services, please pass on their name and number to me and I promise we will follow it up. Many thanks.

C&M Travel Recruitment is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all candidates. For more opportunities, please visit www.candm.co.uk