Henry Nigoghossian, Airliners, with Jamal Nasir, Flight Centre
Lynda Sinclair, Vision 2000, with Coralie Belman, Coralium Consulting
Ed Bennington, CITC's National Chair Manager
The recent shocker of Steve Gillick’s unforeseen departure from the CITC, along with the release of their financial coordinator, Ruby Shepard, caused a buzz among members at last week’s 44th annual AGM. Gillick had been CITC’s President & COO for the past 17 years and Shepard was also a veteran with 15 years experience. So why the sudden and drastic change?
CITC is adapting a fresh new approach to “Re-tool, Re-Brand and Re-connect. We are going to be doing some new and exciting things,” said Ed Bennington, CITC’s National Chair Manager.
As such, Ryan DiMarco has recently been recruited as CITC’s Business Development Manager. He has been with the non-profit organization for the past 7 months. “I have 100% confidence in the decisions that the Board has made and am eager to get to work in this rebuilding process,” said DiMarco. “We are both – the Board and I, committed to this process and I look forward to the challenges ahead.”
With a focus on recruiting new members, retaining existing ones and building corporate partnerships, DiMarco outlined CITC’s 3 year business plan during his presentation.
The Board is still in the process of restructuring, but has decided it will not be replacing Gillick’s previous role. Instead, they are in the process of hiring an operations manager. The news of Gillick’s release broke on the morning of the meeting, which caused for some controversy among CITC members. Considering the organization’s financial woes and the stagnant membership numbers, which have remained at the 2,000 level for years, Bennington said that a fresh approach and new vision for CITC was imperative. Bennington assured attendees that the Board’s unanimous decision to move forward without Gillick and Shepard was not taken lightly and was in negotiations for months prior.
“Thursday was a long day for the staff at CITC but I think we are all looking forward to some fresh ideas and a fresh start,” said DiMarco.
Read Steve Gillick's Open Letter To The Travel Industry here.
