Calderwood searches for PATA CEO all over again

A FEW days into his role as interim PATA CEO for six months, Bill Calderwood has started the search all over again for a new chief for the organisation after a candidate – an executive with a western NTO who was offered the job – ditched it weeks before Gregory Duffell left at the end of February.

Calderwood, in a phone interview with TTG Asia e-Daily, said his immediate three objectives were recruiting a CEO, ensuring the success of the forthcoming PATA 60th Anniversary and Conference in Beijing, and formulating the business plan.

Asked “why not stay?”, Calderwood said: “No, that’s never been an option. I’ve been asked by different people at different times, but I’ve issues back in Australia and this is going to be just an interim position.”

Calderwood said it was unfortunate that the earlier search identified a candidate but the individual changed his mind. “That’s a reality and can happen in any search,” he said.

This time, “we’re looking at using external resources and cast the net wider for a potential candidate”, he said.

A source said the task would rest this time only on Calderwood and a headhunting firm to prevent, in the words of another source, “too much politicking, too much backstabbing, too much airing in the media…”

PATA chairman Hiran Cooray had earlier instituted a committee of four people headed by him to find a replacement in time for a smooth transfer by end February. The search started after the PATA Travel Mart in Macau last September when the board was informed of Duffell’s resignation.

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