Pizza chain boss becomes commercial chief at Great Rail Journeys

The UK leadership team at Great Rail Journeys has been bolstered with two senior recruits and two promotions.

Rob Payne (second right) joins as chief commercial officer from pizza firm Papa Johns where he was UK managing director.

He will focus on driving digital change globally as well as growing the UK business.

Richard Macklin (right) moves from Jet2 as director of escorted product and contracting.

Neil Sabey and Paul Evans have been promoted to new leadership roles.

Sabey steps up to become director of cruise and tour management after joining the escorted tours specialist earlier in the year. 

Evans, who was also recruited in early 2023, assumes the role of director of go-to-market and change as the business continues to expand via multi-source markets as customer needs evolve in a more digital fashion.

Group chief executive Dave Riley said: “Rob and Rich are fantastic additions to the leadership team both bringing a customer centric and digital first mindset to the organisation. 

“Our increased focus on giving customers the choice of how and what they consume is invaluable to supporting the continued growth we are seeing.”

He added: “Being able to support Neil and Paul stepping up into business critical areas demonstrates our focus on internal development, and the strategic importance of developing both our breadth of programming in multi-source markets.”