Comment: Londregan departure a blow for JTG

Comment: Londregan departure a blow for JTG
By admin


To lose one senior executive may be regarded as unlucky, to lose two is surely careless.

And more could fall by the wayside if industry speculation is anything to go by.

A week after JTG chief information officer Peter Beveridge called it a day, news emerged yesterday that wholesale group general manager Michael Londregan has also decided to walk.

The reason for the latter’s resignation is unclear although officially it is to “pursue personal interests”, a well worn, catch all explanation that sheds no light on the real circumstances behind the split. He was unavailable for comment to elaborate on his decision.

But there is no doubt Londregan’s departure came as a surprise to many. After just 15 months in the role, seven under the stewardship of Rob Gurney, it is almost inconceivable that his role in developing a new-look wholesale division at JTG was complete, not with Boston Consulting still conducting a review of the business.

Londregan left ahead of his time, his parting the likely result of a fundamental difference of opinion in the direction the company is heading.

Gurney was always going to ruffle feathers when he took over from Peter Lacaze last September.

He spent years at Qantas doing just that, and the notion that he would change his modus operandi at JTG was always remote. That’s not meant as a criticism, just the reality of Gurney’s approach.

Londregan, let’s not forget, was a Lacaze appointment and one who came highly regarded having spent several years working for Qantas Vacations in the US.

History tells us that senior executives do move on when a new chief executive is installed in a business. New strategies, cultures and ideas can unsettle the existing management team and the management style of Gurney and Lacaze could hardly be more different.

But with one senior travel agent describing JTG’s wholesale brands as a “dog’s breakfast”, it was clear it needed someone of Londregan’s calibre and reputation to turn things round and implement a new structure.

Working alongside people you have no personal connection with – as may have been the case here – can be overcome when you share the same vision.

What is quite likely is that Londregan’s vision may not have been shared by his chief executive, or vice versa.

And when that happens, the writing is on the wall. By all accounts his resignation will be a loss to JTG

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