Ovation Expands West Coast Presence With New Hire

Ovation Travel Group has announced plans to expand in the western United States, where it will increase the number of independent advisors throughout the region. To develop and lead Ovation’s anticipated growth there, Beverly Hills-based Aanchal Gandhi is joining the company in the newly created role of vice president of leisure and independent advisors, West Coast. She will report to Gina Gabbard, senior vice president of leisure and independent advisors. 

Advisor recruitment on the West Coast, along with the expansion initiatives, will be overseen by Gandhi, who officially joined the company on January 6. Having grown to become one of the largest U.S. members of both Virtuoso and BCD, Ovation Travel Group said it is actively seeking to invite qualifying advisors—throughout the United States, and especially on the West Coast—to consider joining the organization. Qualifying advisors should possess travel expertise in luxury leisure, entertainment and/or corporate travel, the three prevailing travel disciplines for which Ovation is best known, the company said.

In a written statement Paul Metselaar, CEO and chairman of Ovation Travel Group, noted that the company has long had a West Coast presence with a number of advisors based there. As the number of West Coast advisors has grown, the company is looking to formalize its presence there in order to better serve those advisors’ needs. “We have great expectations that our new Los Angeles area focus will ultimately rival our thriving operations in New York and London,” he said. 

Gandhi comes to Ovation directly from 11 years as an independent advisor with Protravel International. There, she served in its offices, first in New York, then in London, and most recently in Beverly Hills. In 2009, Gandhi was honored with our sister publication Travel Agent magazine’s prestigious 30under30 award.

Prior to entering the travel industry, Gandhi was in equity sales for Goldman Sachs from 2004 to 2008. Born in Mumbai and raised in Hong Kong and Singapore, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Ovation’s luxury leisure travel division is inviting independent advisors to learn how to qualify for its program by visiting OvationTravel.com/Become-an-Independent.

This article originally appeared on www.travelagentcentral.com.

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