Travel Finance Conference

Aisha Anwar is Finance Director at On the Beach (OTB), a UK-based online travel agency generating £1.2bn total transaction value annually.

A Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) since 2016, Aisha earned two international Orders of Merit during her qualification. She brings experience from audit and manufacturing before joining OTB in 2020 during the pandemic. Since then, she has led the implementation of new finance and payroll systems, introduced data analytics capabilities, established tax and treasury policies, and driven significant improvements in forecasting, reporting and cash conversion. Aisha also served four years on the ICAEW Business Committee, contributing to the development and implementation of the institute's strategic initiatives.

Michael joined Travel Trade Consultancy as Group CFO in December 2023, leading the financial operations of TTC, The Travel Vault and Stonecot Trustees, as well as supporting clients with M&A and strategy projects.

Michael previously led finance teams in the media, advertising, tech and consumer sectors in both start-up and large corporate environments. This includes three years running a craft beer company, which really was as much fun as it sounds.

When his head’s not in a spreadsheet, he can usually be found knee-deep in mud – either dog walking in the Kent countryside with the family or trying in vain to keep on top of the patch of weeds that passes for a garden.

Moustafa is an Economist in KPMG’s Macroeconomics team, working closely with the Chief Economist to analyse the near- and medium-term outlook for the UK economy. He is also the Lead Economist covering the Middle East region. In addition, he is responsible for leading the team’s monetary policy analysis

Farina is a leading travel law expert, specialising in regulatory compliance, commercial contracts and technology agreements for the travel sector. With 15 years of experience, she has built a strong reputation as a trusted advisor to online travel agents, corporate travel management companies, tour operators and travel associations.

Farina is known for her pragmatic and commercially focused advice, helping clients navigate complex legal and regulatory challenges. Her expertise spans the Package Travel Regulations, ATOL Regulations, IATA rules and global licensing regimes, making her a go-to lawyer for businesses looking to structure their operations efficiently and expand into new markets.

Farina has a significant profile within the travel industry, frequently speaking at major conferences and contributing to leading industry publications. She is Band 1 ranked in Chambers & Partners for Travel: Regulatory & Commercial and is also named in the Legal 500, where she is described as “an exceptional lawyer specialising in the travel industry.”

Before joining Fox Williams in May 2023, Farina was Head of Travel at Deloitte UK, where she advised on high-value, strategic projects for major global travel businesses. Her blend of private practice and Big Four consulting experience provides clients with a unique perspective that combines deep legal expertise with commercial insight.

Farina’s experience, industry standing, and ability to deliver clear, practical legal solutions make her a highly sought-after advisor in the travel sector.

Will Baker joined Literacy Capital in March 2023. He has a background in Corporate Finance and Transaction Services, advising entrepreneurs, corporates, and institutional investors on lower-mid market buy and sell-side transactions. Will has experience across M&A advisory and financial due diligence, having worked at FRP Corporate Finance, Dow Schofield Watts, and BDO, and is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW).

Maya Beyhum is Finance Director at Byway Travel, the UK’s leading slow travel technology company and a certified B Corp. A Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) with experience across startups and global firms including Morgan Stanley, she specialises in financial control, operational resilience, and compliance. At Byway, she has led the setup of the company’s European operations, built its financial frameworks, and driven improvements in automation, reporting, and forecasting. Her focus is on helping growing businesses balance innovation with strong financial controls and sound governance.

Simon is a solicitor and ABTA’s Director of Legal Affairs and Company Secretary having joined ABTA as a Legal Adviser in 1996. Simon’s team is responsible for the provision of legal and regulatory guidance to Members; the advice and alternative dispute resolution services to customers of ABTA Members; and for the operation and enforcement of ABTA’s Code of Conduct. Simon the European Travel Agent and Tour Operator Association and is co-author, with Professor David Grant and Stephen Mason, of Holiday Law - The Law Relating to Travel and Tourism 6th Ed.

Richard Buxton is Owner and Chief Financial Officer at Inspire Europe Limited, a leading travel and sales promotion business based in Cheshire. Since joining Inspire in February 2013, Richard has overseen remarkable growth, with the business expanding from a gross booking value (GBV) of £3.8 million to £38 million this year, and an ambitious target of £50 million by the end of March 2027. Today, he is a joint majority shareholder, driving Inspire’s strategic vision and financial performance.

A qualified accountant (FCCA since 1997), Richard has held senior finance roles across a variety of industries, including TDG, Compass Group, and Linden Homes. Before joining Inspire, he spent seven years as a Senior Manager in IBM’s Global Financing division, where he specialised in structuring complex financial deals and building strong client relationships.

With a proven track record in financial leadership and business growth, Richard brings deep insight into operational resilience, strategic planning, and the evolving challenges of the travel industry.

Simon Cooper, a Partner in KPMG’s Accounting Advisory Services team, leads our Regions business and has extensive experience in providing accounting and reporting advice to various groups across multiple sectors. Simon will lead you through the key financial reporting updates including the upcoming amendments to FRS 102 and provide an overview of other areas of change in governance, controls and reporting. 

Jake is a qualified accountant with extensive experience in UK travel regulatory matters.

Prior to joining the Travel & Leisure Team at White Hart Associates in 2021, Jake was with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for almost 14 years, working as a Manager in the CAA’s professional team responsible for overseeing the financial health and regulatory compliance of the Top 100 largest tour operators under the ATOL Scheme.

During his time at the CAA, Jake also participated in overseeing high profile leveraged buy-out and refinance transactions of ATOL holders and was deputy-lead of the CAA flight repatriation exercises for passengers affected by the failure of Monarch Airlines and Thomas Cook Group.

Jake now uses his experience to provide hands-on support and advice to a range of stakeholders across the travel sector that require solutions to finance, strategic and regulatory issues (often relating to ATOL, ABTA Membership and/or IATA Accreditation).

In his spare time Jake enjoys spending time with his young family and watching live sport, being an NFL fanatic and Arsenal season ticket holder.

Matt brings over 20 years of deep-rooted expertise in payments and eCommerce to the ABTA Finance Travel Conference. As a Global Senior Sales Manager at Checkout.com, Matt has spent the last five years specializing in the travel sector, helping everyone from high-street mainstays to global PLCs navigate the complexities of the travel payment ecosystem.

His expertise spans the full transaction lifecycle, with a particular focus on optimizing deposits and streamlining supplier payments. Known for his hands-on approach to digital transformation, Matt has a proven track record of helping travel brands align their payment strategies with long-term business objectives, ensuring they remain resilient and scalable in an evolving digital landscape.
 

Chris leads the Scottish phase of CFGI’s expansion into the UK. Chris has 12 years of experience in auditing and technical accounting and assisting companies through a number of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, disposals and refinancings.

He was previously an audit partner with EY based in Scotland. He has managed global teams from his time at EY including working for 18 months in Washington DC and New York so is well versed in working in an SEC-regulated environment too.

Chris has significant experience in a number of technical areas. Areas of particular interest are revenue recognition, leases, impairment & acquisitions/disposals. He has a detailed knowledge of both IFRS and UK GAAP.

Chris is an ACCA-qualified accountant and holds a bachelors degree in Actuarial Science from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh.

Alastair Donnelly is the co-founder and Director of InsideJapan Tours, now part of Inside Travel Group, which he launched in 2000 with university friend Simon King after three years teaching English in Toyota City, Japan. From its roots as a specialist Japan travel company, Inside Travel Group has grown into a multi-destination ‘cultural adventure’ tour operator with offices in the UK, US, Australia and Japan, attracting investment from both Private Equity and a Japanese sovereign wealth fund, Cool Japan. Over the years, Alastair has taken on a wide range of roles—from tour leading and brochure design to IT systems and data analysis. Today, in his role as CEO he focuses on long-term strategy, identifying new opportunities, supporting company culture, and helping tackle complex business challenges. He is a strong advocate for customer-centric thinking and ensures the voice of the traveller remains central to decision-making.  Alastair also contributes to industry conversations through commentary in the travel and trade press, sharing insights on destination development, sustainability and the evolving travel landscape. 

Yasha joined Piper in 2012 and leads on Piper’s commercial due diligence in assessing the growth potential of investments by better understanding why customers love a brand and why the brand is better and different versus the competition.

Post-investment, he works closely with investee entrepreneurs and management teams to put the customer at the heart of what they do in order to help them better understand how consumers think and behave before growing the brand into new channels or products, redesigning their packaging, and opening new stores and restaurants. More specifically, he assists our brands in answering key business questions by analysing market data, running focus groups, launching online customer surveys, creating rollout strategies through catchment and geo-demographic analysis, and segmenting customer databases.

Friendly and approachable, Matt is part of the leadership team at Travlaw. His day-to-day work see Matt proud to serve a vast array of tour operators, travel agents, trade associations, insurers and their underwriters. His skill-set encompasses all levels of work, not only the complex multi-track matters which he attracts so many instructions for, but also various other civil litigation cases which clients trust in the firm to handle. His well-established defendant personal injury practice revolves around two main aspects. Firstly, single party claims for trips, slips and more complex cases such as serious and fatal injuries. Secondly he has a long history or successfully dealing with illness cases. Examples of such cases are legionnaire’s outbreaks as well illness group and class actions involving norovirus, salmonella, cryptosporidium and other types of food poisoning. Long before the infamous rise in illness claims in the ‘tweens, Matt was dealing with gastric cases! His work in this area has seen Matt ranked as a leading travel lawyer in Chambers & Partners for a number of years now.

Matt has contributed to various publications including Travel Law Quarterly and Solicitors Journal. He has blogged on various issues, featured in various newsletters and has commented on industry issues in leading trade press publications Travel Weekly and Travel Trade Gazette as well as national and global media such as BBC News. A popular trainer and speaker, Matt is often asked to deliver in-house seminars, appear on panel debates and has also spoken many times in the UK and abroad at conferences. These include speaking at The ABTA Legal Seminar, ABTOT, PEOPIL, ECC-NET, AGTO, AITO, UKInbound, the Clarity Travel Management conference, BTA conferences as well as at various Travlaw events.

More recently Matt has headed up Travlaw’s “Brexit” team, advising the travel & leisure industry on the various potential issues arising from everybody’s favourite referendum and also helped lead the firms advice and support to travel businesses following Covid-19.

Ross is CFO of Newmarket Holidays, one of the UK's leading escorted tour operators, offering an extensive range of guided holidays from fascinating European tours and long-haul adventures across Asia, the Americas, and beyond, to relaxing river cruises, all with a focus on quality, value, and expertly curated itineraries.

Bringing over two decades of finance leadership across the travel and leisure sector, his career spans senior roles with some of the industry's most recognised brands, including the Emirates Group, TUI, and Holiday Extras, giving him a broad perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing travel businesses today.

With deep experience in financial strategy, business transformation, and launching and scaling new ventures, Ross is passionate about translating numbers into meaningful commercial direction, whether that's through smarter systems, sharper planning, or building something sustainable for the long term.

Outside of work, Ross practises what he preaches. A keen traveller, he spent several years living in the UAE and has explored destinations across Asia, the Middle East, and beyond. When he's not planning his next trip, you'll likely find him on two wheels, cycling through the Kent and Sussex countryside.

Matt is a member of Grant Thornton’s Consumer M&A team, focusing on the Travel & Leisure sector. He supports owner-managed businesses, investor-backed companies, and private equity houses sell, buy, and secure investment.

Matt is based in the firm’s London office, having returned in the summer from a two-year stint in Toronto with Grant Thornton’s Canadian M&A team.

Away from work, Matt lives in north London and enjoys playing squash, going sailing and taking every opportunity to head abroad to explore a new destination. 

Jo Heath is Managing Partner at Green Park and leads the consultancy practice known as DICE (Diversity, Inclusion, Culture & Ethics). She is a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) auditor, specialising in Human Rights, Equality Law and Cultural Change and has worked in this field for over 20 years. She has worked both nationally and internationally with global organisations in the private, public, and third sectors carrying out complex inclusion audits and cultural impact assessments. Her clients have included Linklaters LLP, HSBC, Sky, Nationwide, Ernst & Young, Office for National Statistics, TFL, The Home Office, Edelmans, John Lewis & Partners, Aldi, Sainsburys, B&Q, BT Group, Vodafone, EDF Energy and Yorkshire Water.

She advises on all equality legislation related issues and designs and delivers a range of cultural initiatives and diversity and inclusion solutions for businesses. Jo also leads on the deployment of Green Park’s bespoke culture and inclusion audit tool and delivers inclusive leadership development programmes and coaching to executive teams and boards. Before joining Green Park, Jo was an integral part of EY’s commercial (D&I) consultancy team, leading on the commercial practice and was the architect of the methodology of the National Equality Standard (NES) and audit process. She managed the EY cultural audit team and trained all NES auditors, thereby ensuring quality and consistency of the NES brand.

Jo leads a number of “inspiring women” panels, empowering women to advance their careers and for many years was the European representative for the Global Women Fast Forward initiative. She also supports domestic violence, hate crime and anti-social behaviour teams in London to engage and develop successful intervention programmes and was instrumental in the design of Mayoral Gold Standard for Equality and Diversity and the Mayor’s Diversity in Procurement Standard.

Michelle Heywood is easyJet holidays’ Finance Director and, alongside being a founding member of the business, sits on the holidays management board. Prior to joining easyJet holidays, Michelle worked at easyJet airline for seven years leading the operations finance function. Michelle started her career at Centrica and has a wealth of experience in travel, having held positions at First Choice, Thomson and Tui.

As Director for SME & Growth at Airwallex, Ben works with travel operators, tour businesses and online travel brands to scale internationally without eroding margins, by tackling the practical finance challenges that come with global growth. Ben partners with CFOs and finance leaders to reduce cross-border payment friction, manage FX exposure and modernise finance tooling and processes.

Lisa joined ABTA in 2020 and has been managing the Financial Protection team since July 2022. The team’s main role is to help members comply with their financial protection requirements under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 as well as ABTA’s requirements. Lisa works closely with the Director of Membership and Financial Protection on business planning and related activities, anticipating and preparing for potential regulatory change.

Rohan has over 10 years’ experience in drawing insights from big data. His team brings together product, analytics, and data science to leverage Barclays transactional and demographic data to produce regular insights on a range of consumer trends, empowering Barclay’s corporate clients to make data-led decisions. Trained in Operations Research, Rohan started his career in commercial analytics in the agri-tech industry in New Zealand before moving to the UK.

David is a strategy consultant with >20 years’ professional experience – addressing issues such as strategy development, growth, performance improvement, and M&A. He is based in our London office, where he leads KPMG UK’s Deal Strategy practice. His clients are primarily in Consumer-facing markets, with particular exposure to the Travel & Leisure sector and related services and technologies, and include Multinationals, SMEs, Start-ups and Private Equity investors.

As CFO of Flash Pack, Oliver Lee combines financial stewardship with commercial strategy to power FlashPack's travel platform for solo travelers. He has spearheaded Flash Pack’s shift to real-time financial management and integrated global payments, navigating post-pandemic volatility while managing complex FX and cash flow. By aligning operational excellence with the brand’s high-growth trajectory, Oliver plays a pivotal role in sustaining the company’s triple-digit expansion and market-leading position. 

Having joined Hays Travel Group in January 2021 as Non-Executive Director, Lisa took up the position of Group Strategy Director in July 2023, with responsibility for driving strategic initiatives as well as leading the product, marketing, tour operations, events, and communications functions within the organisation.

With a 38-year career in the travel industry spanning retail, cruise, touring and ski, prior to Hays Travel, Lisa spent four years with dnata as Managing Director of B2B Tour Operations, responsible for the much-loved and respected brands Gold Medal, Pure Luxury, Cruise Plus and Incredible Journeys.
Before then Lisa held the role of Managing Director UK and Ireland at ultra luxury cruise line Silversea Cruises, having seen the launch of their ninth ship to the fleet Silver Muse, Lisa also sat on the CLIA executive board.

Mike co-leads KPMG’s UK consumer M&A team and is a senior member its global consumer and leisure team.  He has been advising on acquisitions and disposals across the consumer, travel and leisure sector for the last 20 years and has extensive experience in the UK mid-market and on cross border acquisitions and disposals, undertaking transactions in France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Czech Republic, Latvia, North America and Latin America.   

PC Povilas Petrauskas is a seasoned Metropolitan Police officer working in the Cyber Crime Unit. After putting car chases and early morning arrests behind him, Povilas has dedicated himself to protecting the businesses of London from Cyber attacks. With experience in incident response, project management and delivery he’s designed and run training exercises and presentations across different  industries and companies part of critical national infrastructure, focusing on incident response planning and overall behaviour change across London and nationally. He still occasionally gets to drive a police car.

Zoe is a Director at Xeinadin, specialising in Travel regulatory advisory.

Prior to joining Xeinadin Zoe worked at the Civil Aviation Authority as a portfolio manager for 2.5 years undertaking financial assessments on the largest ATOL holders within the UK travel industry. Undertaking refinances, restructures and acquisitions from a regulatory perspective. Prior to the CAA, Zoe worked for 9 years at Santander Corporate Banking as a Relationship Director specialising in Travel and leading on the banks Travel Trust Account proposition.

At Xeinadin she helps clients navigate their complex regulatory needs. As well as overseeing the sector strategy. 

Sue is an Indirect Tax specialist with more than 30 years’ experience of VAT, Insurance Premium Tax, excise and customs duties. She joined MHA in April 2017 and heads up the Indirect Tax services in the Kent region.

Sue spent 5 years as in-house Indirect Tax Manager at Saga plc. Before that Sue worked for a Big 4 firm in London and in Central Europe and initially she worked for HMRC. Sue is a Chartered Tax Advisor.

With experience with over 50’s tour operator Saga under her belt, Sue is a travel VAT specialist, helping tour operators understand the Tour Operators’ Margin Scheme (known as TOMS) which calculates how much VAT is due on holidays. TOMS is also used in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) world.

Outside the office, Sue enjoys travelling, particularly island hopping in Greece in search of the perfect beach and the perfect taverna.

Caroline Rennie is Chief Product Officer at felloh, where she leads product strategy focused on practical automation, operational resilience, and responsible use of technology in travel payments. With a background spanning SaaS, serverless platforms, and Tech for Good organisations, Caroline brings a grounded, delivery-led perspective to how technology should be applied in complex, regulated environments such as travel.

Over the past decade, Caroline has led cross-functional product teams across fintech-adjacent platforms, non-profits, and B Corp-certified organisations, with a consistent focus on simplifying operations, reducing manual effort, and building systems that scale sustainably. At felloh, she works closely with travel operators to help them reduce operational cost, improve data quality, and meet financial protection and compliance requirements through thoughtful automation rather than unnecessary complexity.

Caroline is a strong advocate for focusing on fundamentals first. In her session, she will explore the difference between AI and automation in practice, why many organisations overlook high-impact basic automation, and how getting the foundations right can deliver measurable gains in efficiency, cost reduction, and environmental impact.

Mark Skehill is an expert in business development in the payments space with 20 years of  expertise in the industry. He specialises in Payment Services, Buy Now Pay Later and Point of Sales Finances.
At Trust Payments, Mark is a Senior Business Development Manager focused on merchants in the travel sector. He joined the company a year ago and has a proven track record of international success working in both entrepreneurial and corporate business with high profile organisations on financial and retail projects at both a strategic and tactical level. Mark is acknowledged for exceptional team leadership skills in Sales and Operations teams across the UK and Western Europe, with P&L responsibility for customer and partner relationship in development of international sales operation.
 

In the UK, Paul leads the provision of KPMG VAT advisory services in the travel sector.

He also heads up a KPMG EU Travel Sector network of VAT specialists.

Paul has considerable experience in advising on UK and EU TOMS matters and providing technical support on TOMS in the context of UK VAT Tribunal cases.

Paul advises a number of clients in the travel sector including tour operators (UK and non-UK), travel agents, travel management companies and event organisers.

Paul was also heavily involved in the 2017 European Commission project on the review of EU TOMS and options for reform.

Greg is a Partner and founded our Banking & Finance Team. His role is to support directors and shareholders with their strategic thinking from a working capital and debt advisory perspective.

Having worked in excess of 25 years in the financial services industry, Greg has advised Corporates & SMEs on matters such as new strategic initiatives, growth and expansion, as well as raising new and additional funding lines. He works with businesses across a range of sectors, including; Manufacturing & Engineering, Wholesaler, Retail, Recruitment, Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Technology plus Property Investment & Development.

Greg prides himself on offering honest, tailored advice and works closely with clients to become an integral member of their team.

Living in Surrey for the majority of his working life, Greg is a dad to two daughters, and he supports West Ham United.

Experienced finance leader with a proven track record in strategic planning, cost optimization, and business transformation. As Finance Director at Barrhead Travel since 2015, Stuart drives financial performance and supports sustainable growth for Scotland’s largest independent travel company.  After couple of months in the business through to 2018, instrumental in preparing the business for sale to Internova Travel Group.

Previously held senior finance roles at BAE Systems, including Finance Director and Financial Controller of the Regional Aircraft Division, leading restructuring, and governance initiatives. Chartered Accountant (ICAS) with a Commerce degree from the University of Edinburgh.

Shortlisted for CFO of the Year (Turnover £50m–£200m) at the Scottish CFO Awards 2024, reflecting excellence in financial leadership and business impact.

Chris is the Head of Finance for InteleTravel UK, Ireland and Intele Travel Agency & Tours UAE.

With a strong focus on budgeting, financial performance and commercial finance reporting, Chris has played a key role in developing and enhancing global reporting structures across the organisation.

A qualified accountant, Chris recently expanded his working knowledge by completing a Chartered Qualification in Financial Forecasting, Budgeting, and Modelling.

He remains heavily involved in InteleTravel’s continued innovation, working with the IT team to develop effective AI solutions for the  business, and identifying improvements to support the company’s significant growth .

Chris brings extensive leadership experience within the UK travel sector, having held Head of Finance positions at JTA Travel and Solmar Villas. His background also includes senior finance roles in the wider private sector, where amongst other roles he served as Finance Lead across four Bosch UK business entities.

Outside of work, Chris is a passionate and active cricket coach. He coaches on the Derbyshire County Cricket Club Pathway, runs his own cricket coaching company, and is currently completing his ECB Level 3 Advanced Coaching qualification.
 

David is a Chartered Tax Adviser and Chartered Accountant and has 17 years experience in VAT advisory.  David has advised a wide range of travel clients including EU and non-EU tour operators, travel agents, travel providers and events businesses, alongside a variety of UK and multinational retail and manufacturing clients. David worked as a key part of the KPMG team on the 2017 KPMG European Commission project on the review of EU TOMS and options for reform, and is a member of KPMG’s EU Travel Sector network of VAT specialists. 

Josh joined Blandford Capital in March 2022 from Trillium Flow Technologies, where he spent a year in the M&A and Corporate Development team. Josh previously spent six years at Grant Thornton, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant before gaining experience in the corporate finance team.

He is part of the investment team focusing on new deals and has board observer experience including Inside Travel Group and G2 Energy. Josh holds a First Class BSc (Hons) in Geography from Nottingham Trent University.

Kuba Zmuda is Director of Strategy at Modulr, the payments automation platform that streamlines money movement with accuracy, control and reliability – built to scale.

Since joining Modulr in 2015, Kuba has helped shape the company’s product and strategy, supporting its mission to drive the future of finance operations through automation. Today, Modulr processes more than 200 million transactions and over £180bn in annualised payments value and is trusted by more than 6,000 businesses to automate payment and reconciliation workflows. 
Through a single platform, Modulr automates how money moves into and out of a business – including payroll, supplier payments, spend management and payment collection – reducing manual work, lowering operational costs and improving accuracy.
With over a decade of experience as a regulated payments provider, Modulr delivers the reliability required to run mission-critical finance operations at scale.

Kuba brings deep expertise in payments and automation and is a regular contributor to discussions on operational efficiency, payments automation, and building scalable financial infrastructure for modern businesses.