Travel Daily | TMS Asia-Pacific Renaissance

Asia-Pacific has been sold to a joint consortium consisting of current CEO, Helene Taylor and Asia-based business entrepreneur Steve Hamblin.

Hamblin has strong experience in the recruitment sector having founded the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand-based The Parker Bridge Group in 1988.

He currently has interests in Parker Bridge Recruitment, a New Zealand and Thailand-based executive search outfit and CWA Talent, a call centre recruiter operating across Asia and part of international call centre business and direct market services provider, Caelan Wright & Associates,

Hamblin is also involved in fast growing online training company Recruitment Training Productions along with UK-based, internationally renowned recruitment expert Mike Walmsley.

Taylor, who rejoined the company this year as general manager, also has a background in business development and coaching.

Announcing the news, TMS founder Gary Marshall said making the decision to sell the company he established in 1994 had proven a very hard decision.

“The reality is I have been standing very much on the sidelines for the last five years, becoming more of an inactive shareholder along with Phil Hoffman rather than having a day to day hands-on management role in the business,” he said.

“I found myself even less involved when Mark Rizzuto came on board as Managing Director last January.

“I knew it was time to move on and focus on the other business interests that tend to dominate my time these days.”

These interests include his role as Publisher and Managing Editor of the Travel Daily Media Group, formed in 2006, which now has four major online publications in Asia, the UK, India and the Middle East.

Taylor and her Australian team were given the opportunity to meet and discuss forward planning with the company’s new co-owner in Bangkok over the weekend, the visit coinciding with TMS’ annual conference.

Hamblin said his intention was to immediately re-open TMS offices in Bangkok and Auckland before turning his attention to China.

There are no plans, he said, to re-open the TMS operation in Singapore.

“TMS will continue to operate under its current branding,” he said.

“The brand was what attracted me in the first place, along with a desire to work alongside Helene Taylor and the TMS team who will spearhead the push into expanding the Australian side of the business.“

Attached pix shows new TMS owners Steve Hamblin and Helene Taylor.