AFTA Board re-elected

BIDS to join the Board of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) from Simon Te Hennepe of TRAVLR and Michelle Emerton of the Australian Travel Agents Co-operative (ATAC) (TD 09 Sep) were soundly defeated at the AFTA Annual General Meeting this morning, which saw six incumbent directors of the organisation re-elected.

It was the first time in over a decade that Board positions had been contested, seeing AFTA commission Computershare to conduct an electronic ballot.

Votes were received from members who represented 848 of the total of 1,050 votes available under the AFTA constitution, with the outcome revealed from a sealed envelope by AFTA CEO Darren Rudd.

Re-elected directors include Helloworld’s Julie Primmer with 802 votes and Andrew MacFarlane with 814; Tom Manwaring from Express Travel Group with 843 votes; Flight Centre MD Graham Turner with 840 votes and Company Secretary David Smith with 832; and Consolidated Travel’s Spiros Alysandratos with 819 votes.

ATAC’s Michelle Emerton received 56 votes, while Simon Te Hennepe of TRAVLR received 51.

Tom Manwaring, who was re-appointed as AFTA Chairman along with Vice-Chairs Christian Hunter from Travellers Choice and Flight Centre MD Graham Turner, thanked Te Hennepe and Emerton for nominating.

“We applaud your participation within the group at large as members of AFTA, so don’t think that goes underestimated.”

The meeting took place at The Travel Industry Hub as well as via Zoom, with just three members attending in person alongside Rudd, AFTA staff and the Federation’s auditors.