The Ski-Direct Team
David Tonks
David has worked in the travel and tourism industry for 25 years, 15 of which have been with either a ski tour operator or specialist ski agent. A keen skier, David has visited many of the main and smaller ski resorts alike.
Charged with developing sales of Ski-Direct, he says he is immensely proud of the continued expansion of the company and the number of repeat customers. He appreciates that many customers still prefer the high levels of Service that they will find by booking through a specialist agent like Ski-Direct rather than booking through other channels.
His hobbies apart from skiing include music, hiking and seeing as much of the world as possible. The latest adventure was a year long sabbatical around the world in 2008/09 with a 6 month circular tour of South America, then the South Pacific, Australasia, Indonesia, Japan and China.
Helen Furlong (nee Williams)
Helen has worked for over 25 years is the travel industry,
18 of which were spent working overseas for British tour operators
such as Airtours, Crystal and Neilson. She has lived and worked in
many European Ski and summer destinations as well as Australia,
North America, Egypt and Barbados! One of her most demanding roles
was operating school ski trips to California, New England and Canada -
including one February Half term in Quebec, at minus 30, with 25
schools and 1800 children.
Helen is a keen skier, her husband snowboards and her 6-year-old daughter has been skiing for 4 seasons. Helen feels that these factors and her experience working in resorts enable her to meet the specific needs of Ski-Direct clients - whatever they are looking for.
Julie Bowden
Julie has worked in the travel industry in the UK for 20 years and before that spent many years travelling the world, living and working in several countries including Japan and Denmark.
She has been a keen skier for 25 years and has skied in most main ski resorts around the world. She is also an experienced hiker having trekked in the Himalayas, the Karakorums and the Alps and has climbed Mount Fuji (twice!). Always ready for a challenge, she's never been known to shy away from the most complicated itinerary so if you want to combine skiing in Japan with the beaches of Hawaii, she's your girl!
Angela McCallum
Angie has worked in travel for over 20 years and spent many years working overseas for British tour operators such as Thomson, Inghams and Erna Low. She has lived and worked in many European Ski and summer destinations including Austria, France, Switzerland and what was Czechoslovakia during the velvet revolution!
A keen skier she was a ski guide for Thomson. Her favourite spot to ski so far is Zermatt where she lived and worked for 2 years. Angie has also spent many years on the road as a Tour Manager touring with groups around Western and Eastern Europe.
She now prefers to spend her time at home with her family but still enjoys taking the odd group abroad and her last tour was to China. Angie also works as a volunteer befriender for a children’s charity providing positive role models to children who have experienced trauma or difficulties in their young lives.
Gina Meredith-Wright
Gina has been in travel for the majority of her working life. From organising holidays to the Channel Islands from over 70 different airports for a specialist tour operator and travel agency, to creating travel packages for Wales' largest provider of rugby supporter tours, her knowledge of the industry is well grounded.
The past 12 years however have been spent as Operations Manager for one of the UK's leading school ski operators creating bespoke ski holidays to Europe and North America. It was in this role that Gina soon learnt that when it comes to ski, the key to a successful vacation is to understand exactly what the client is looking for, matching that to the ideal accommodation in the ideal resort. It is this expertise that Gina brings to Ski-Direct clients.
