Bob O’Connor, managing director at The Aspinall Foundation’s Howletts and Port Lympne estates in Kent, England, is to leave the organisation to set up a new consultancy/mentoring company.
His departure comes after 15 years with the operator of the Port Lympne Reserve and Howletts animal parks. After a successful career in retail, O’Connor has been an operator in the leisure sector since 1989, including holding senior executive roles at Butlin’s holiday park in Minehead and Butlin’s Metropole Hotel in Blackpool.
He has also served on the steering committee of Natural East Kent, a DEFRA advisory committee and been a business advisor to Hadlow College, a tourism champion for Folkestone and Hythe, and a judge for Visit England. He is currently a non-executive director for Tourism South East, a non-executive director and past chairman of UK parks association BALPPA and chair of Folkestone and Hythe Business Tourism Group.
In his new venture, “I want to differentiate myself from other consultants by firstly calling myself a mentor,” O’Connor tells InterPark. “So rather than being yet another consultant producing business plans or master planning, I want to work with small to medium sized attractions to help them critique their business, explore opportunities and carry out operational reviews, adding capacity to teams, either as part of a team or as an external resource in non-executive roles.”
O’Connor, who is due to leave the Aspinall Foundation in late spring 2019, has extensive knowledge of catering, retail, ride operations, yield management, marketing and team building. He believes the work he has done at Port Lympne over the last 10 years, transforming the site from a day visit attraction to a resort, is where he can add the most value.
More information on the services O’Connor will be offering can be found at www.boboconnor.co.uk
