Director since May 2008

Jamie Pherous founded Corporate Travel Management Limited (CTM) in Brisbane in 1994. He has built the Group from its headquarters in Brisbane to become one of the world’s largest travel management companies.

Prior to establishing CTM, Jamie Pherous was employed by Arthur Andersen, now Ernst & Young, as a qualified Chartered Accountant, specialising in business services and financial consulting, notably in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the United Arab Emirates.

Director since December 2015

Laura Ruffles is CTM’s Global Chief Operating Officer and, in late 2015, was appointed an Executive Director in recognition of her leadership contribution. She has significant local, regional and global industry experience and, in a career of more than 20 years, has led teams across sales, account management, operations and technology. Laura Ruffles is responsible for all aspects of CTM’s business performance. She joined CTM in 2010 and has been a key contributor to its successful growth. She is also a Director of the Australian Federation of Travel Agents.

Cale Bennett joined CTM in August 2019, before becoming Global CFO in March 2021. Prior to joining CTM, Cale held senior finance roles in ASX-listed entities in the banking, entertainment, and transportation industries. Cale’s corporate background includes five years spent as Group Treasurer of an ASX-100 company, driving a commercial approach that resulted in significant financial outcomes. A strong interest in technology has also led Cale to both co-found and advise start-ups in the fintech industry.

Cale holds a Bachelor of International Finance, Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment, and Master of Business Administration qualification. Cale is a Fellow of CPA Australia.

Shelley Sorrenson joined CTM in November 2021 as Global Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary. Shelley is a pragmatic and commercially driven corporate legal and governance practitioner with over 14 years of experience. She has served as General Counsel and Company Secretary of ASX-listed and unlisted financial services companies and held roles at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and in private practice.

Shelley holds a Bachelor of Justice, Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws. Shelley is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an Associate of the Governance Institute of Australia.

In her personal time, Shelley is also a Non-Executive Board Director of several not-for profit organisations with a focus on supporting women and disadvantaged youth.

Eleanor Noonan joined CTM in August 2022 as Global Chief of Staff. She has held various roles within travel, government and financial services, and most recently was Chief Operating Officer of a superannuation fund.

Eleanor is commercially driven, values focused and passionate about leading high-performance teams and inspiring stakeholders to support a clear people and business growth agenda. Eleanor is skilled in developing and executing customer-centric business strategies, leading large-scale change initiatives, and achieving operational excellence.

Eleanor holds a Master of Business and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Richard Goldberg joined CTM in 2022 as Global Chief Data Officer. His responsibilities include leading the data strategy, data governance, data quality, MIS/BI reporting, and data management for the organisation. Richard has over 25 years executive data management and technology experience. Prior to joining CTM, Richard was the Managing Director and Chief Data Officer at the Bank of China where he was responsible for standing up the Chief Data Office and positioning data as a corporate strategic asset.

Over his career, Richard has held various senior data leadership positions for many organisations including Bank of China, GE Capital, Citibank, and IBM.  Richard is a champion for leveraging the use of data to optimise the business experience for customers and enhance data capabilities for internal stakeholders.  Richard’s extensive accomplishments and experience in data leadership and management was recognised as he was selected as the 2022 dataIQ Top 100 Most Influential People in Data.

Karen has worked in the travel industry for 20 years. Starting out as a travel consultant, she progressed through her career in nine key positions across three different countries before finally becoming CIO with a major travel management company.

In March 2016, Karen joined Corporate Travel Management (CTM) as Project Manager MI and was promoted to Chief Information Officer Europe less than six months later. Since then, she has successfully overseen the implementation of CTM’s Global MI system and been a pivotal member of the organisation’s technology transformation project team. In January 2022, Karen assumed the role of Global Chief Information Officer.

Annabel Ausmus is an experienced marketing and communications professional with more than 15 years’ experience managing digital and traditional marketing strategy and implementation in both B2B and B2C disciplines.

Annabel brings a wealth of travel industry marketing experience to CTM, having worked across corporate, leisure (luxury to budget brands), events, wholesale and loyalty travel for privately owned, listed entities and not for profit organisations.

During her time at Corporate Travel Management, Annabel has worked across global growth strategy and entry into the ASX, including a highly successful IPO and the acquisition and rebranding of a number of international companies.

Annabel holds a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism, is a Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM), an Associate Member of the Australian Marketing Institute (AMI), and sits on the AMI Industry Advisory Group.

Mike Kubasik was appointed to Global Chief Technology Officer following the announcement of CTM’s acquisition of Travel and Transport in late 2020.

Mike has more than 25 years of industry experience and 20 years of executive technology leadership. Having joined Travel and Transport in 1993, Mike has held critical positions with increasing strategic leadership responsibilities, eventually being named Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Director of Travel and Transport in 2012. His collaborative leadership style, extensive industry insight, customer-centricity and commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation enables CTM to maintain its reputation as a global leader in travel technology solutions.

Mike holds a number of travel and technology advisory board positions, helping drive solutions, advancements and technology strategies for the industry. Additionally, Mike works with many technology start-ups, and is involved in a number of philanthropic and charity causes in his personal time.

John Nicholls joined CTM in 2022 as the Global Head of ESG & Sustainability, bringing extensive national and global Sustainability and Environmental expertise and a wealth of experience across public and private sectors including Defence and Government, Social Infrastructure and Infrastructure Services, Transport, Telecommunication, Oil and Gas and Construction industries.

Prior to joining CTM, John gained extensive Sustainability and Environmental experience across focused roles to successfully deliver value-added operational excellence and to enable the achievement of business goals and objectives. John is widely recognised for his strategic approach to improving Environmental and Social Sustainability outcomes, including the creation of carbon reduction initiatives through technical frameworks and social benefits which improve sustainability visibility and performance. He is technically astute with qualifications in Environmental Science, and is an accredited professional within Infrastructure Sustainability (ISAP) along with validated capability in alignment of various sustainability performance standards including UNSDGs, CDP, NGERS, S&P Global, and GRI Reporting.

Tracey has been with ETM since its inception in early 2011 and brings more than 30 years’ experience in the travel and event industry managing operations around the world, including three years living, establishing and growing an event business in China.
Over the past 8 years the ETM team, under Tracey’s leadership, has evolved from a localised specialist Sydney office to a global offering with more than 100 staff across the world, providing a range of expert event, meeting and group travel services. Tracey ensures the team are delivering event solutions that meet our clients’ diverse needs and are at the forefront of technological efficiency. These achievements have been recognised by the industry, including winning the AFTA award for ‘Best Business Events Travel Agency’ multiple times.