BANGKOK, 4 February 2020: PATA’s CEO Mario Hardy has tendered his resignation after serving the association for six years. He will leave in December when his current contract expires.
This report has been updated 0830 Tuesday, 4 February, with responses to questions sent to Mario Hardy the PATA CEO.
In a statement by the association’s chairman, Chris Bottrill, PATA acknowledged and thanked Hardy for his leadership.
“We have been fortunate to have Mario at the helm of this organisation as our industry and the association has dramatically evolved and grown over the past few years,” the chairman said in the message to members.
“He has been especially effective in helping our association transition its digital communications and operations effectively, and he has been a strong advocate for sustainability which has become more critical to us all with the impending climate change challenges on our planet.”
He confirmed Hardy would continue his duties and assignments at PATA during the search for a new CEO.
Hardy had informed the executive board that he intends to leave at the close of his current contract with the association that ends in December. But it is also likely that he could leave earlier if a suitable replacement is available before December.
Commenting on the recruitment process, Bottrill promised more details on the process for selecting a new CEO.
“This will be a transparent and competitive process to select the best candidate possible as we enter another period of dynamic change for our association, he concluded.
TTR Weekly emailed questions to Hardy asking for more details. Here are the responses.
On your departure timetable?
“My term ends on 31 December and I plan to be here till the end. I’ve given a long notice to the board to provide them sufficient time to identify the ideal candidate and help through the transition and do a proper handover.”
On your resignation?
“Technically it isn’t a resignation as I’m on a fix-term contract and simply decided not to extend to another term. By the end of the year, it will be 7 years spent at PATA (1 year as COO and 6 years as CEO). I think this is long enough with one organisation. My goal was to reshape PATA into a younger and more dynamic organisation and rebuilt its finances. PATA is now in a much stronger position.”
On future plans?
“The benefit of having multiple nationalities is that a large part of the world is open to me. I’m Canadian, French (European), UK resident and a Singapore Permanent resident; so deciding where to move to will be my biggest challenge in the coming months. My initial plan is to focus more attention on my Venture Capital Fund and help the 15 privately owned businesses I’m a shareholder of. I also hold shares in a large number of publicly traded companies; so plenty to do.”
On standout achievements at PATA?
“I think the list is very long, but to name a few: First would be having rebuilt PATA’s reserve and having achieved long term financial sustainability. The other is having successfully advocated for countries to implement strategies to disperse tourists beyond gateway destinations.”
