Viewpoint: Caroline Jowett-Ive, group vice-president reward at Travelport

For Caroline Jowett-Ive, group-vice president reward at Travelport, a global role was always her preferred destination.

After starting her reward career in a UK reward and benefits post at Virgin Mobile, she was offered the chance to move to Virgin Management, the holding company for all Virgin’s operations, in a global position three years later.

Jowett-Ive believes internal progression is the surest route to the top. “It would be very difficult to walk away from a UK-based company and go to an agency and say ‘I want an international role’,” she says.†

“By joining a multinational, even if it is a UK subsidiary, you have a much better chance. Most people who move into global roles do it through internal career progression.”

Two years on, the opportunity arose to join Travelport in a broader international position with a heavy US focus. “It is quite unusual to have a role that is very [US]-focused based out of the UK, but that really appealed to me because I wanted that true global remit,” she says. “I now have employees in 48 different countries, so there is an obvious progression there.”

Caroline Jowett-Ive is group vice-president reward at Travelport

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