Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> April 7, 2003
TIM IRWIN is President and Chief Executive Officer of Pleasant
Holidays, LLC. After nearly 35 years with the Automobile Club of
Southern California (ACSC), Mr. Irwin was appointed President and
Chief Executive Officer of Pleasant Holidays, LLC. He is
responsible for this $500 million-a-year company that produces
and markets travel holidays to Hawaii, Mexico, Tahiti, Fiji,
Australia, New Zealand, the Orient, the Caribbean (fall 2002),
and Europe. In 1967, he joined AAA as a domestic travel
counselor, helping Automobile Club members with their domestic
vacation plans. He soon became a Travel Counselor Trainer and,
later, Trainer Supervisor. Next, he was promoted to Regional
Travel Manager, providing liaison between the AAA corporate
office and AAA insurance and travel agencies in Southern
California. He later served as AAA's Personnel Manager, handling
personnel matters for some 5,000 employees. He subsequently went
back into the field to manage district offices for AAA that
included retail travel agency operations. In 1997, he became
Group Manager for Travel Products charged with development of
strategic plans for AAA's travel group. During that time, the
Automobile Club of Southern California became the largest travel
club in the AAA federation. Mr. Irwin was elevated to Vice
President of Travel responsible for long-term planning in 2000.
On January 1, 2002, he resigned his position at AAA and joined
Pleasant Holidays as its President and Chief Executive Officer.
Pleasant is owned by AAA of Southern California but operates as
an independent company, serving over 30,000 travel agencies
nationwide. In January 2003, he was named Tour Wholesaler of The
Year by Travel Agent magazine. Mr. Irwin attended California
State University, Los Angeles as a Business School major. He has
served on the AAA/Walt Disney Corporation Advisory Board and was
a member of the Travel Advisory Committee to the National AAA
Travel Board of Directors. Separately, he was on the advisory
boards for Holland America Lines and the California State
University, Fullerton School of Business, Entertainment and
Communications. Profile
Holidays and then an overview what you're doing at the present
time?
Mr. Irwin: Pleasant Holidays was established by industry
