James Ferrara has been named CEO and managing partner of Intravel, a holding company that includes host agency InteleTravel. Ferrara is stepping away from his current role as InteleTravel president.
While the name "Intravel" has been in use for some 15 years internally, it hasn't been in use with the trade, Ferrara said. Intravel is home to InteleTravel as well as corporate agency consortium Hickory Global Partners, McVeigh Global Meetings & Events and U.K.-based tour operator Major Travel.
"The truth is that I have not been able to stay in that day-to-day operational role consistently for the last couple of years," Ferrara said of his transition away from direct leadership at InteleTravel. "I've been really busy with acquisitions, the integration of those acquisitions and that overarching strategy. The financial matters and legal matters related to all of that have really pulled me away, which is why we've made this decision to make this change."
Ferrara co-founded InteleTravel with chairman Joseph Traina Sr. in 1991. Ferrara was first InteleTravel's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, and he became president in 2005. Today, InteleTravel sits at No. 23 on Travel Weekly's Power List with 2023 sales of $1.06 billion. The host agency said it will again surpass $1 billion in sales this year, and the entire Intravel group will exceed $3 billion in sales.
InteleTravel said it will make an announcement about its new leadership before the year is over. Ferrara said there will be a transitional period.
With Intravel, he said, his strategy is simple: "Make the enterprise, the whole family of brands, bigger, better, stronger. And we're doing that through acquisition."
Intravel's acquisitions of Hickory, McVeigh and Major Travel are all relatively recent, having occurred since April 2023. More acquisitions are coming, Ferrara said.
He's focused on two kinds of acquisitions: Adding travel retail businesses like Hickory in the corporate space and McVeigh in the meetings space, and vertical integration of new travel products like its acquisition of Major Travel.
Further vertical integration is coming in December, Ferrara said.
Intravel also has a geographic expansion strategy in play. Right now, Ferrara said the company is working on European Union expansion.
The final piece of his strategy involves technology.
"We're looking for uniquely positioned, leading-edge technology in the travel space that can impact our operational efficiency, our ability to service our growing network of companies and InteleTravel's growing network of agents," he said.
Like many travel companies, Intravel is bringing AI programs and products to advisors through its proprietary tech stack, Ferrara said. But he is also looking to adopt the work of others considering how fast the space is moving.
For InteleTravel in particular, Ferrara is eyeing educational innovations for advisors, whether that comes in the form of a person, some kind of new approach, or a new platform. It's been a big area of focus, he said, with Bethany Webster-Grant joining InteleTravel at the end of last year as director of sales and agent success. Improving education will help advisors sell more, he said.
Correction: James Ferrara has been InteleTravel's president. An earlier version of this report mistakenly said he was CEO.