Trafalgar USA’s Paul Wiseman Steps Down

The Travel Corporation today announced that Paul Wiseman, president of Trafalgar USA and Brendan Vacations, will relinquish his role after 10 years in order to run his own training business focused on leadership and development.

Wiseman will be succeeded effective June 5 by Melissa da Silva, president of sister company Contiki Holidays USA (see today’s story). Da Silva has 20 years of experience at Trafalgar and Contiki.

Wiseman, meanwhile, will work alongside Trafalgar to deliver enhanced collaborative support for trade partners, the company said.

“This last year has been extremely rewarding and 2017 will be the best year in Trafalgar and Brendan’s recent history,” he said in a press release this morning. “I hand off the baton knowing I have achieved as much as I can, and I leave a respected colleague and a newly expanded team to take the brand further forward. I will be forever grateful for the opportunities afforded me across these wonderful travel brands. I leave to pursue my passion for learning and development and I look forward to working with Trafalgar and our retail partners in the near future.”

Trafalgar CEO Gavin Tollman said “professional learning and development has always been a great strength” of Wiseman’s and “we are grateful to further leverage this knowledge for the benefit of our trade partners. We are also thrilled to welcome Melissa to Team Trafalgar; she has outstanding credentials for this role, given her extensive industry and brand expertise, proven leadership skills and exceptional business acumen.”

The United States is Trafalgar’s most important market, Tollman said.

Wiseman will remain with Trafalgar until July 28, and his new business venture will commence July 31. Da Silva’s successor at Contiki will be announced shortly, the company said.