The Life of a CEO
- What drives the CEO of a travel management company?
- How can you have a successful career in business travel?
- What might the future of the travel industry look like?
Our CEO Suzanne Horner recently chatted to Paul Richer on the ‘Parlez with Paul’ webinar series from the Travel Technology Initiative (TTI). The candid interview took viewers on a journey through Suzanne’s remarkable career, focusing on her rise through the travel industry ranks and the philosophies for success she defined along the way.
Suzanne spoke openly about her formative roles in travel at Airtours and British Airways and how, in 2011, she joined Gray Dawes with the promise of generating a turnover of £100m in five years. It was a bold statement, but not without conviction. After just four years, Gray Dawes’ turnover increased from £28m to hit the £100m target.
But her ambition didn’t stop there. As a self-confessed straight-talking businesswoman who likes to set tough goals and achieve them, Suzanne has steered Gray Dawes to an annual turnover of £250m and overseen the development of a new, global strategy which focuses on offering a service that ‘follows the sun’.
Watch Now
Watch the interview to hear Suzanne’s advice for aspiring leaders, her take on the future of AI-driven travel technology, and her insights into company growth after acquiring offices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Miami.
TRAVEL TALKS
If you like webinars, then be sure to check out Travel Talks. It’s our very own webinar series in which we discuss all the latest business travel trends and topics.
Each episode offers insight, how-to’s and top tips on subjects such as building traveller confidence, implementing a sustainable travel policy, creating successful corporate travel programmes and more! It’s even available as podcast to listen to on the move.
Related Articles
Bengaluru: A Business Traveller’s Guide
From its early days as a fortified settlement to its transformation into the capital of the state of Karnataka and one of India’s most important technology powerhouses, Bengaluru has built a reputation as a city with one foot in the future and another in the past. In this comprehensive guide to Bengaluru for business travellers, we’ll take a closer look at navigating the city’s unique corporate landscape, share our top tips for getting around, and pick out three of the best things to see or do when you have some time away from the meeting room.
Insights From the Innovation Hub 2026
Five joined us from the UK and four from the Netherlands for our latest Innovation Hub, representing a wide mix of industries. The aim was simple: to listen and share insights. What do travel programmes need to deliver today, and where should we focus next? Despite the variety in the room, the same themes came up again and again. In this article, we take a look at the key talking points and what we learned from them.
Flying Further with Lufthansa Group
We recently spoke to our friends at Lufthansa Group about their global reach, WiFi powered by Starlink, how they’re celebrating 25 years of PartnerPlusBenefit and so much more, including their expanding SWISS Senses A350 fleet.