About Us - Staff Profiles

Our Staff

Craig Ritchie ( Director)

Craig has been involved in various aspects of the travel industry. He has worked with several airlines, which has given him good internal knowledge of the industry as well as establishing strong airline contacts. Craig began his long standing commitment to New England Travel in 1993 and then took over as co-director in 2001. Craig’s speciality is corporate travel and complex fare construction. Of all the destinations in the world, Craig is most enthusiastic about Scotland as this is the origin of his and his wife’s family history.

Sue Mann ( Director)

Sue and her family have a long standing history in the Armidale area. She began her long career in the travel industry after a 12 month back-packing and working holiday to the UK, Ireland and throughout Europe. Sue has travelled to the far corners of the globe and experienced countless diverse cultures from Kashmir, Bhutan and China to Turkey, Croatia and Africa - she has even completed a gorilla trek in Uganda. Joining the original New England Travel team over 29 years ago, Sue became a co-director of NETC in 2001 after the retirement of Graham Wyles and Ross Fraser. A 6 week stint in France as caretaker of an historical farmhouse gave Sue a unique experience of a new culture. This has become a very important part of her travel philosophy and she endeavors to take trips that focus on one country in order to better explore and learn about what is often a completely unique culture.

Glenys Williams (Groups Specialist)
Glenys was employed by New England Travel over 21 years ago after several years of experience in the airline industry. She has worked in all aspects of travel consulting and dedicates the majority of her time to group travel. Glenys has organised over 150 group trips from business, sporting, agriculture and special interest tours, to people who simply enjoy travelling for pleasure. Glenys also escorts many of the group tours she organises, both in Australia and abroad. She believes that the best thing about working in the travel industry is that every day is a new learning experience.Glenys has recently returned from an extensive tour of Turkey and Greece and is very excited by both these countries.

Kay Endres

Kay began her travel career in 1983 and has pursued various avenues of the industry, including creating and teaching various study modules for Travel and Tourism certificates at TAFE over a period of 8 years. Having travelled the world extensively, Kay acknowledges South America, in particular the countries of Chile and Peru as being among the most memorable. Kay has recently returned from a trip to Canada and was astounded by the natural beauty of the country and the warmth of the Canadian people.

Kathryn Blake
Katie has been working in the travel industry since 1999 and has completed a Bachelor of Business in Tourism Management. She has travelled extensively throughout her life. Destinations visited include Russia, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland and most of Europe, Dubai, the Canadian Rockies, Central America, the South Pacific, parts of Asia and all over Australia. Katie enjoys scuba-diving, sky-diving and adventure travel. Katie’s favourite destinations include Russia, Myanmar and South America, particularly Peru and Bolivia. Katie has recently travelled to South Africa , including Capetown and Kruger National Park where she was lucky enough to see "the big five". Understandably Katie is now extremely enthusiastic about Africa.

Claire Hanson
Claire has recently started with New England Travel and is already proving a valuable member. Claire has extensive travel experiences thoughout the UK, Spain, Portugal, Africa, various Asian countries and New Zealand. The main role for Claire at New England Travel is in accounting, although she is venturing into other aspects of the travel business as well.

Verni Ainsworth
Verni grew up with the travel bug, having lived in Canada, the US, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. She has travelled through Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, NZ and North America. She studied arts/law at university, is studying theology, and has completed a certificate in retail travel. Combining her passions for ministry and travel has recently taken her to Africa. Her dream is to travel the world, meet the people and experience what it has to offer.

Christine Matthews

Christine started work with New England Travel in 2005 and is part of our leisure consultants team. She has travelled to the UK, Pacific, USA, New Zealand, Thailand and extensively within Australia. Recently, Christine returned from a family trip to Cambodia and has also had a brief visit to India in late 2009 and returned absolutely in awe of what India had to offer .

Kylie DunnEver since she can remember, Kylie has always wanted to be involved in the travel industry. Kylie completed her Diploma of Tourism in 2006 while working part-time at New England Travel. Kylie has since visited Japan, Fiji and explored New Caledonia and Vanuatu on a P&O cruise of the South Pacific. Most recently Kylie spent 4 weeks exploring the UK and travelling throughout Europe. Kylie was also lucky enough this year to sepnd two weeks touring Turkey and gained extensive first hand knowledge of this country which is very much a part of Australia’s history.

Jacqui L’hostis

Jacqui has had the opportunity to live, work and travel extensively throughout the world including much of Europe, UK, Canada, USA, various countries in Asia, the South Pacific and most recently China. Her love of France and the French language is apparent as she draws on her experiences working with various travel and tourism companies in both France and Australia.

Jessica Vannucci

Jessica had completed her Tourism Operations Certificate 3 when she first came to New England Travel. Jess has recently returned to us after spending a year in Italy discovering her family heritage, working and experiencing what this industry thrives upon - travel itself. Understandably, Italy is currently her favourite destination.

Jessie Brown

Jessie has come to New England Travel while completeing University studies in Primary Education. Her eagerness to travel and experience other countries will begin in January 2011 when Jessie will spend 3 weeks visiting Thailand. Jessie is mainly concentrating on Business accounts and visa processing and has proven her adaptability to the many different areas required for these processes. A valued member of New England Travel already.

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