INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS - Red Savannah

04
ouR
team
ouR team
GeoRGe
moRGan-GRenville
foundeR & ceo
A commission in the Coldstream
Guards and fast-stream pass in
the Foreign Office exam were
sacrificed for a career in luxury
travel where he became Group
Managing Director of Abercrombie
& Kent. Milestone adventures
include travelling through Central
Asia by private saloon railcar
in 1990, and accompanying
HRH Prince of Wales walking in
the Himalayas and on safari in
Tanzania. George is a keen skier,
diver and pilot.
nick WeStWood
diRectoR of pRoduct
& contRactinG
Not many people can claim a call
from the French Foreign Secretary
when in urgent need of a summer
villa. But then Nick knows his
game. A linguist who has lived
and studied in Florence (where
he perfected his Italian working in
the San Lorenzo Market), Bologna
and the French Pyrenees, Nick’s
entire career has been devoted
to seeking out Europe’s most
beautiful villas and hidden gems.
chaRlie StephenSon
manaGinG diRectoR –
villaS & Ski
Shortly after birth Charlie was
shipped out to Jamaica where
his life as a travel devotee began.
During a stint with the Scots
Guards, he became part of the
Cresta Run team in the Army
winter sports championships in
St Moritz. He joined Powder Byrne
before moving to Abercrombie
& Kent, where he ran the Cape
Town office and later established
the global luxury villa division.
albee Yeend
ReGional manaGeR – afRica
Albee’s first love of Africa started
on a canoeing trip in Zambia down
the Lower Zambezi. This was
followed by three years running
luxury safari camps including
Jack’s Camp in Botswana’s
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. She
successfully developed the Africa
department of Steppes Travel for
13 years, and still occasionally
throws herself out of a plane or
dives with Great Whites to keep
life in perspective.
SaRah-leiGh Shenton
maRketinG diRectoR
Sarah-Leigh happily fell into the
travel industry while working in
the South of France. What started
as a summer job led to a Masters
degree in Tourism Management
and 20-year career working with
some of the industry’s most
respected names. Never one to be
afraid of a challenge, she has been
a pioneer of social media, has slept
in the Sahara, riddled targets with
an AK-47 in Vietnam, and ridden
the length of Monument Valley.
ed GRanville
chief opeRatinG officeR
Drawn by the allure of Spain’s wild
sierras, Ed managed to condense
a lifetime’s worth of exploration
into a few adventure-packed years
after completing a degree from
Oxford in modern languages. He
has since developed a European
concierge villas programme and
co-founded an award-winning
walking holiday specialist. Making
an ascent of Chamonix’s terrifying
Cosmic Ridge still counts as one
of Ed’s greatest travel moments.
bea SeaRle
ReGional manaGeR – aSia
Few people have been known
to combine Coco Pops with a
masala dosa for their breakfast,
but Bea is no cliché. A highflying
mathematics and German
graduate, Bea’s interest in Asia
began with backpacking through
India followed by teaching in
a Sri Lankan school for Tamils.
She spent many years working
for Audley Travel and has visited
Nepal, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka
more times than she can count.
JameS pook
manaGeR – SoutheaSt aSia
Despite gaining a physics degree,
James couldn’t quite choose the
laboratory over travel. He has
ventured all over the world but
many moons ago his heart was
lost to Southeast Asia, an area he
is irresistibly drawn back to each
year. Whether he is camping on
the rim of an active volcano in
Indonesia or chatting with locals
around Myanmar’s Inle Lake,
his knowledge and passion
are inspirational.
mel mattheWS
ReGional manaGeR – maldiveS
Never one to shy away from
skiing the narrowest of couloirs,
Mel’s terrific sense of adventure
translated perfectly into a 20-year
career in luxury travel. As our
Maldives expert, she knows every
pertinent detail of every resort
that’s worth knowing. A keen sailor
and passionate about competitive
bridge, Melissa has that rare
and instinctive feel for matching
the right personality with the
right resort.