Festive Road, the travel and meetings management consultancy, announced the separation of its supplier business from its buyer business as of March 29, 2024. The move, according to the announcement, will see co-founders and joint managing partners, Caroline Strachan and Paul Tilstone, “amicably part company” to create two businesses, each with a focus on a differentiated service offering and customer base.

Strachan and Tilstone took the strategic decision to separate buyer and supplier businesses, according to the announcement, having reviewed how best to embrace and capitalize on the growing demand for Festive Road services. The division creates clear delineation and presents growth and career development opportunities for the businesses, their team and each other.

Strachan and Tilstone will each step into new roles. Strachan becomes CEO of Festive Road, which will focus on buyer consulting and outsourcery services. She takes a majority shareholding in the business and is supported by the senior leadership team. Festive Road will continue to grow by working towards its vision for 2030 of enabling purposeful travel and meetings management across all T&E categories.

Strachan said that as she and Tilstone planned and examined what the industry, clients and associates needed going forward, “we could not escape the significant commercial opportunity we were turning away due to restrictions around potential conflict between buyer and supplier services.”

Meanwhile, Tilstone will depart Festive Road, fully divesting his shares, to form a new business, temoji. The company will focus on supplier consulting, with Tilstone and his team offering marketing, communications, and advisory services in the supplier sector to build “social and intellectual capital” between suppliers and their audiences.

Tilstone said the new company gives him “the opportunity to create a single-minded service offer that is dedicated entirely to supplier consulting and removes restrictions that were preventing service expansion before.”