Thomas Cook boss in villa scandal ‘lands top IBM job’
FORMER Thomas Cook boss Harriet Green, whose handling of the case involving the deaths of two children in Corfu prompted outrage when exposed by The Mail on Sunday, is poised to take a lucrative job at American computing giant IBM.
Green is reportedly set to become the boss of one of IBM’s divisions with the appointment expected to be announced in the US tomorrow.
The job marks Green’s return to business after she quit Thomas Cook last year. She left after disagreeing with colleagues over strategy.
Later the 53-year-old became embroiled in a scandal over the way the tour group had dealt with the family of two children who died while on a Thomas Cook holiday and the inquest into their deaths. Christi Shepherd, seven, and her six-yearold brother Bobby were overcome by deadly carbon monoxide fumes from a faulty boiler at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel in 2006.
Green was not at Thomas Cook at the time of the tragedy, taking over as chief executive in 2012. But under her leadership Thomas Cook pursued a vigorous legal action against the hotel, while refusing to pay any compensation or even offer an apology to Sharon Wood and Neil Shepherd, the parents of the two children.
At the same time Thomas Cook tried to have the inquest into the deaths blocked and, according to the bereaved parents, refused their requests for a face to face meeting. Despite quitting Thomas Cook in November 2014, Green continued to receive her salary, earning £500,000 in the first six months of this year. She was awarded a £5.5 million bonus at the end of June, half the expected amount after the company concluded performance targets had not been met. She agreed to pay £1.9million to charity.
Responding to criticism earlier this year, a spokeswoman for Green said she felt ‘enormous sympathy’ for the family of Christi and Bobby Shepherd. She also said that Green had offered to meet the parents in 2013. When that meeting did not happen she had planned to apologise on behalf of the company at the inquest. However, she left before the inquest took place in May this year.
Green could not be reached for comment last night.