Simon Spellicy has more than 24 years' experience consulting to major clients in the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. A business turnaround and change management specialist, he has spent most of his career reforming and revitalising under-performing businesses.

Where it began
Simon’s early career was spent helping to build the Hotel Dynamics Group from a small, loyalty-marketing agency in Australia into the industry leader, operating in more than 30 countries. He has held a variety of senior executive roles, with regional responsibility for operations in Asia, Europe, Middle East, Pacific and Latin America. As Senior Vice-President of Operations, Asia Pacific, he had budget responsibility for more than $55 million in annual revenues.

In 1999, Simon and a small group of senior executives purchased Hotel Dynamics in a venture capital-backed MBO, corporatised it and sold it in a trade sale three years later.

After Hotel Dynamics, Simon and a partner launched Impact Marketing Solutions, a Singapore-based boutique marketing agency that was one of the first to introduce smartcard technology into hotel loyalty. Impact’s client list includes hotels throughout Asia and the Pacific. Simon remains a director of the company.

Simon is a strong communicator with convincing advocacy skills. His empowering leadership style complements a proven record of developing high achievers in individual and team environments – skills strongly suited to turn businesses around and to create fresh strategies and new approaches for entrenched problems.

More recently, Simon was responsible for restructuring and revitalising the Tourism business of the Sydney Opera House, growing revenues by 60 per cent and profit by more than 200 per cent. He achieved this by restructuring and refocusing sales and marketing activity to grow demand, aggressively repositioning pricing to optimise yield and driving operational efficiencies to maximise return. As a result, Tourism is now a major contributor of profit to the Sydney Opera House, underpinning the performing arts program.

Simon has spent three years on the Board of the NSW Tourism Industry Council, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, an Executive Associate of the Institute of Independent Business International (IIB) and a Governor of WWF Australia. And he has a Bachelor of Science degree.

With an array of experience in business start-ups, acquisition and sales, and senior postings in Australia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Simon's core specialties are business management; change management; business strategy; negotiation; strategic planning; team building; and motivation.