Fiona Jeffery, right, joins Debbie Flynn, chief executive of Brighter Group and Steve Dunne, executive chairman

Brighter Group, one of the UK’s leading travel and leisure marketing and public relations consultancies, has appointed former World Travel Market chief, Fiona Jeffery, to its board as a non-executive director.

Jeffery steered World Travel Market for over 20 years developing it into the global brand it is today.

She created the WTM World Responsible Tourism Day as a cross industry initiative to harness social, environmental and economic principals in driving the tourism agenda globally and launched the Ministerial Summit aimed at improving engagement across public and private sectors at the most senior level.

In 1998 Jeffery set up the international water aid charity, Just a Drop, as a practical way to encourage industry and business to give back to communities in need across the world and to ensure the sustainability of community development in destinations.

Commenting on the appointment Brighter Group executive chairman Steve Dunne said: “Brighter Group is undergoing tremendous growth at the moment and we have, for some time, been looking for someone to join our board to give us a wider perspective of business and industry expertise.

“Fiona’s credentials speak for themselves and the Brighter Group board felt she is just the person to help us in our next phase of growth. She will provide the board with a deep level of insight, knowledge and experience.” 

Jeffery sits on the UN World Ethics Committee for Tourism, chairs the WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards Programme, is a board member of the Tourism Society and African Travel & Tourism Association and sits on the Advisory Board for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey.

She received the Shine Women of the Year Award in 2008.

She was awarded the Hall of Fame Ambassador’s Award for her work on responsible tourism and Just a Drop in 2012.

In 2013 she was awarded the World Tourism Award and TTG Lifetime Achievement Awards and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 New Year Honours list for services to the travel and tourism industry.