Our People - Shannon Cooper

Name:         Shannon Cooper

Title:            Corporate Travel Manager

Location:     Sydney

A scholarship to the Sir George Seymour National College of Travel, Tourism and Business in New Zealand set Shannon Cooper on the pathway to a successful career in travel. Now with five years in the travel industry behind her, Shannon has exceptional customer service skills and she has already gained valuable experience with well-known names in the business, including Singapore Airlines and Emirates. In 2018 Shannon joined FCM, after honing her corporate travel skills while working with another major TMC.

Based in Sydney, Shannon is part of a five strong team of travel managers looking after a portfolio of large multi national clients. She is responsible for booking domestic and international travel, for a diverse range of customers, including airfares, transfers, car hire and accommodation. While much of the travel revolves around doctors, executives and VIPs travelling to international company meetings, Shannon also arranges travel for mining clients visiting remote sites in Australia, Papua New Guinea and other international locations.

Drawing on her strong verbal and written communication skills and her commitment to going the extra mile, Shannon has built an excellent rapport with the travel arrangers she works with on a daily basis. Shannon uses her understanding of their objectives to prioritise her workload to meet their goals and to stay one step ahead of her clients’ needs.

While Shannon likes the fact that no two days are ever the same, she said the role requires her to maintain a flexible mindset to deal with a lot of unavoidable travel changes. With her hands-on experience in all areas of the travel industry, Shannon has an in depth knowledge of the entire travel process. Dedication, attention-to-detail and follow through are also essential to ensure traveller preferences are met and their trips are seamless. The advancements in Online Booking Tools, which Shannon has seen just in the past five years, have also made general bookings easier for customers who wish to have some control themselves.

But come the weekend, when Shannon is not playing competitive netball, she enjoys playing the guitar and spending time with family and friends. Shannon also tries to get outdoors and out of the city regularly – especially to places with no mobile phone reception!