NEWS
FCM Strengthens Commitment to China’s Greater Bay Area Through Duo of Leadership Appointments
2 MAY, 2023
FCM is pleased to announce several key leadership appointments within the Asia region. Annemiek van Bemmel has been named Director of Customer Operations Asia, while Mainland China’s General Manager Calvin Xie sees his responsibilities extend to Hong Kong.
As business travel continues to ramp up at a rapid pace and new challenges and priorities for travellers emerge, Bertrand Saillet, FCM Managing Director in Asia, commented on the importance of these new roles.
With the wider Asia region now fully reopened for travel, this is fuelling demand for business travel and the need for our travel management solutions and expertise in this evolving travel environment.
“I am thrilled to appoint Annemiek and Calvin to these new positions, as both bring unique skillsets to their respective roles to further enhance our capabilities to deliver superior service and maintain a positive trajectory in the year ahead,” added Saillet.
Annemiek started her Flight Centre Travel Group journey nearly a decade ago and most recently was Head of Account Management in Hong Kong, where she was directly responsible for overseeing the travel programmes of some of FCM’s largest clients across Asia. As Director of Customer Operations, Annemiek will focus on the service delivery to corporate clients in the region by personally managing the operations while enhancing customer success strategies to ensure efficiencies and customer satisfaction.
Previously the company’s CFO for North Asia, Calvin joined the company in 2018 from the financial management and consultancy sector. As the General Manager for China and Hong Kong, he is responsible for driving FCM’s business through strategic and digital transformation, with a key objective to increase growth through new wins while overseeing implementations. With record business account wins of over 300% and a rapid uptick in demand for business travel, he will be particularly focused on delivering a consistent client experience across China’s Greater Bay Area.
Commenting on her promotion, Annemiek said:
Professional, high-quality customer service forms the cornerstone of our offerings, alongside our superior technology. Whilst the business travel industry is rapidly digitalising, having local consultants who know our clients' requirements and travel policies inside and out allows them to make meaningful recommendations to corporate travellers – this is still vital. It will always be part of our core delivery to our valued clients.
Calvin added:
My extended responsibilities solidify an already strong alignment I have with our commercial team in Hong Kong. Given the numerous synergies across China’s Greater Bay Area, there are many advantages of bringing China and Hong Kong closer and under my management. Hong Kong has grown by over 150% in the last 12 months, hence why I’m very excited to be overseeing the youngest region in China that’s full of growth potential.
FCM delivers corporate travel management services to clients across Asia through a local network of expert consultants in 18 countries. Most recently, the company officially marked a successful decade of Japanese operations by establishing a new, dedicated Tokyo office to bolster the company’s Asian capabilities.
FCM is one of the world’s largest travel management companies with a 24/7 reach in over 100 countries. As a trusted travel partner for thousands of national and multi-national organisations, including many household brands, Fortune and FTSE 100 companies, FCM’s agile and flexible technology platform anticipates and solves client needs supported by expert teams who provide in-depth local knowledge and duty of care as part of the ultimate personalised business travel experience. While as the flagship business travel division of the ASX-listed Flight Centre Travel Group, FCM is able to negotiate and deliver access to the widest network of airfares, hotels, and ground transport for unique and best-value solutions. The company recently debuted its new omni-channel platform featuring a ‘first of its kind’ customised end-to-end user experience that will be available to new clients from 2022. Discover the alternative at www.fcmtravel.com