Saga has announced the appointment of Nick Stace as CEO of its travel business. He is currently Saga’s Chief Strategy Officer and will take up his new role with immediate effect, the company said.

In his new role Stace will oversee Saga’s Cruise and Tours businesses; he will retain responsibility for strategy.

The key focus in both Travel businesses is ensuring a safe return to service as soon as government restrictions on travel are lifted. In his current role, Stace has been leading Saga’s work with government and all other relevant authorities to ensure provision of the very best safety operating protocols for a COVID-19 world.

Before joining Saga, Stace had held a series of senior leadership roles across charities, consumer-facing organizations and financial services as well as in regulation.

He joined Saga from The Prince’s Trust where he was CEO. Before that, he was CEO of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and CEO of Choice, Australia’s largest consumer campaigner and publisher.

Stace started his campaigning life with Age UK, leading their work on countering age discrimination, including achieving legislation to that end and spent eight years at Which?, the UK consumer group, where as Deputy CEO he led successful consumer campaigns across financial services, health and education. 

He replaces Robin Shaw who left Saga in June.

Euan Sutherland, Saga Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am delighted that Nick is moving to head our Travel business after successfully driving our strategic reset. With a new strategy in place and a significantly enhanced financial position, we see a wealth of opportunities ahead of us as we position Saga to deliver sustainable growth and create significant long-term value. Nick brings a wealth of experience that will be invaluable for the next phase of development of our Travel business.”

Stace said: “My number one priority in my new role is ensuring that our Travel businesses are ready to provide exceptional experiences to our customers when the current restrictions are lifted. We know that the demand is there, because our customers are enthusiastically re-booking in both Cruise and Tours and we have worked to ensure we have detailed, industry-leading procedures ready for a COVID world.”