Robert Sullivan, President & Chief Commercial Officer, NorthStar Travel Group, interviewed by Dorothy Dowling

Robert's early career was influenced by several mergers and acquisitions that had him quickly gain experience in the travel industry. He was fortunate to encounter many champions and mentors who crossed his path and helped him advance. He outlines the value that the M&A environment provided to him in understanding value creation through strategic fit and having a
 strong implementation plan but to also be agile in evolving your plan to be responsive to the market. Bob is a believer in the value of diverse talent and the richness of entertaining different viewpoints, as they result in better outcomes. The value of listening to others and challenging yourself to be open to new experiences and viewpoints has been a key to his success.

Transcript

Dorothy Dowling: 0:02

Greetings. I am Dorothy Dowling, a principal of D E I advisors. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to personal empowerment. I am delighted to welcome Bob Sullivan to our d e I Advisor Show today. Bob is the Chief Commercial Officer and president of North Star Travel Group. Bob, welcome. It's truly an honor to have you with us today,

Robert Sullivan: 0:22

Dorothy. It's great to be here with you. Wonderful.

Dorothy Dowling: 0:27

So let's get to it. Bob, you have dedicated your career to our industry helping support business development to all of the suppliers across the travel category with the buyer community, and developing solutions to really support the industry in telling their stories and ensuring the industry is informed on important industry news. I'm hoping you can share with your journey at North Star and how you have built this company into a powerful global industry business partner in media events and technical solutions.

Robert Sullivan: 0:59

Dorothy, it's been quite a journey indeed, as I look at three and a half decades of being in the media space. First joining starting my career at sif Davis. Where I spent two years in their training program, which was a phenomenal experience, great way to start a career in media. Then moving on to C M P where I joined Jerry Landers and Michael Leeds, who was the father founding father of business travel news to help launch turn travel news, a leisure travel retail Publication and C M P was just a wonderful company to be a part of. We had a terrific run with Turn Travel news. We had 20, 25% growth year over year. And in the early nineties, Michael called me into his office and said, Bob, I've got some news for you. I just sold the travel group to Miller Freeman. So that was my first experience with mergers and acquisitions, and little did I know there was a lot more of that come in the course of my career. And he said, Bob, you're gonna have your choice. If you wanna stay with C M P, we'd love to have you here, but I want you to meet the gentleman who is acquiring the business from Miller Freeman, which was Tom Kemp, who would go on to be my boss. For 20 years over the course of my career, so I made the right move in joining Miller Freeman and going with the acquisition. Quickly moved into a role of leadership at Miller Freeman where I ran their travel group from the early nineties to 2000. We grew to about a$40 million portfolio, combination of turn travel, news business, travel news meetings. Meeting news, also events and conferences. In 2000, it was decided by the owners of Miller Freeman that we were gonna go to market and sell the business. So that was my next experience with m and a, where I was a part of the leadership team responsible for helping to sell the business. We went through an auction process. The winning bidder was V N U. We sold that business I believe it closed in October of 2000, and then something unforeseen completely happened to me. I became a merger benefit along with the other senior leaders at Miller Freeman where we had such a great run. We figured we're all gonna be part of the next iteration of growth with the new owner. You know what? They had factored all the senior leadership out and having had a lot more experience with m and a in the next part of my career, it's understandable how it happens, but here I was early on in my career, father of five saying, okay, what am I gonna do next? Within literally two or three days, I got a phone call. Firm read Elsevier saying We've got a job open as publisher of Travel Weekly. Are you interested? Went into discussions with them and before my last day had come to pass at Miller Freeman, I had already accepted my next role as VP Publisher of Travel Weekly. So here I was thinking, okay. One door closes, slammed in your face because you wanted to go with a business that you helped to build, and now you've got a completely different course. So stepping into Travel Weekly was a great opportunity for me. Travel Weekly had a tremendous heritage, but there was also a lot of work to be done. Reed Elsevier had told me that when they were hiring, by the way, we're also gonna go through a sale process. So here I was, I just finished one. Now I was about to embark on another journey where I knew we were gonna get sold and where would Faith take us next? So September of 2001, we sold the business to Boston Venture Group, which was my first experience with pe. Certainly you think back to that time, September of 2001, among the darkest days in the travel industry with September 11th and the impact that was gonna have on all of us in how we move forward. So here the deal closes. We have September 11th, which just had an unbelievable impact. Our country and certainly the travel industry, unprecedented times five of our top, top 10 partners went outta business. Forget going into bankruptcy. They just closed their doors and we literally had to rebuild the business as we went forward. And we probably did some of the best work in the history of Travel Weekly, navigating it. From nine 11 on where we got to a point where we were back to growth, 20, 25%, 30% of the business were launching our digital products and services. We had also embarked on a few of our events the Leadership Forum at Pebble Beach, as well as the Reader's Choice Awards dinner. We're getting ready to put the business back out to market again because with P okay, you do your five or six years and it's time to move on. We go out in oh 8, 0 9. We're having great discussions with potential partners. Then the market, financial market just, and there we were on the other side of the cliff once again. So the process was pulled off the market. We go into another traumatic period for the travel industry. We bring in a new C E O, Mr. Tom Kemp, who was my boss from our previous life at Miller Freeman. One of our new board members at Boston Ventures is no other than Jerry Hobbs, who was the chairman of V N U when he bought Miller Freeman and put his pencil through my name. We would sit in board meetings and laugh and joke about it and about the opportunities that we had in front of us at North Star, and that's where we really started to make our move into acquisitions, into events and conferences. And our first acquisition was Cruise World, which we bought for a couple hundred thousand dollars. We literally closed it on December 31st. I kid you not, and within six months we took that event platform and launched our cruise growth conference. Over the next period of four to five years, we acquired Focus, right? We went back in and bought from V N U, the travel group titles that we had sold them and brought them back into our family with business travel news and the meetings group. And it's just amazing to me how in a short period of time how things can just go 360. And so here we were moving forward. We now had business travel news, which was a shell of what it once was. And we were thinking, how do we rebuild this business? And a big part of what was missing was the talent. And that talent had left to go to pro media. So Tim Reed, Lou Ro, Beth West, and others. And we got into conversations with them. We acquired Pro Media, put the business travel news team back together, refortified that brand. And that brand is now back off 200% stronger than what it was at its peak in the early days. And it just was it was just an unbelievable ride. So we get to 2012. And it's time for us to go to exit. We sell the Wix group, another PE group, and their opportunity that they saw for us, let's double down on events and conferences. Let's look to do more in other parts of the world. So we expanded into Asia, we expanded into parts of Europe. We also acquired Focus, right? And Mountain Travel Symposium and Focus Wright brought a completely different dimension to North Star Travel Group because of the research, because of the prestige they had in the marketplace for business intelligence, market intelligence, and because of their iconic event. So we had a great run at Wix in 2016. We sold to our next PE partner, Eagle Tree, who we're currently with, and I will tell you it's Even with Covid and another really dark period for the travel industry, Eagle Tree has been a fantastic partner, and I look where we were pre Covid and where we are now. Our business is stronger than ever, and I've had the great fortune of working with great companies, great brand leaders, and great owners over the course of my career. Very fortunate.

Dorothy Dowling: 11:06

It's a remarkable story, Bob, and there's a couple things that. Really speak to me. One is that we always speak about the one degree of separation or industry, but just the fact of leadership that you had worked with and had such high regard for you that you were able to maintain and grow those relationships through various journeys on that career path is really a testament to you. But I think it's a lesson for us all in terms of. Working to make sure that we establish our personal brand in a really positive way because individuals will cross over our lives on many occasions. And I think the other statement that you made in terms of reassembling the business Travel news group,'cause it is an incredible brand, but it is recognizing that talent is everything. You being a leader, that they had respect, that you were able to engage in those discussions again and bring them back. I think again speaks to your relationship equity and the kind of leader that you have been in this industry in terms of respect and your ability to drive great outcomes. So congratulations. It's an amazing story.

Robert Sullivan: 12:17

Yeah. I could have never scripted it in a million years,

Dorothy Dowling: 12:20

I'm

Robert Sullivan: 12:20

sure. I'm sure. And you just never know where the next opportunity's gonna come from.

Dorothy Dowling: 12:26

You don't, and that's one of the things that we always talk about, never burning bridges with partners or teammates because one never knows where our lives will intersect again. So again, a very important lesson. I'm just wondering if we could shift a little bit, because as you were talking about your journey, north Star has made some. Very strategic acquisitions during the last several years, and you have always approached in terms of looking very strategically at your business portfolio to how to really create the value proposition, not only for the investors, but obviously for the suppliers and the buyer community that is so dependent on you as a news source. But I'm wondering as you go through those processes, and you've made a lot of global acquisitions through this journey as to how you approach those negotiations to make sure that you drive the best outcome for all

Robert Sullivan: 13:20

concerned. I think the first thing is it's being a strategic fit into where you're looking to go and. Will these assets be able to provide value? And that value can come in a lot of different components. Is it talent? Is it market position? Is it products and services? Is it all the above? And I look at an acquisition like B H N, where we acquired B H N, which is one of the leading. Hotel investment conference groups in the world owning the Alice Conference which is the largest hotel investment conference in the world. And I look at how we've taken that business since we acquired it, and we've added on media platforms like Hotel Investment Today and Alice Design plus. Which is a co-located conference which we're launching for the design, architecture, and construction segment of the hotel investment. I. Market and there's just enormous opportunity. And we've also expanded into Australia and New Zealand with an acquisition. And we just see it as such an incredible footprint for growth and opportunity as we go forward. And then you look at other sectors like UK and Europe and how we've acquired the Cent travel assets. Cat media buying business, travel news. We now own the Business Travel show, which is one of the largest global corporate travel conferences in the world. And it's such a great fit with our B T N portfolio because not only do we have that strong brand presence, In North America, but we also have it in Europe with B T N UK and soon to be expanding into Asia as well, because we see great opportunity. So I think first and foremost, it's said strategic fit. I will tell you, you write up your integration plans and get ready because it's gonna be a bit of a rollercoaster ride because what you thought was gonna go in one direction might go in another direction. So you've gotta be agile. You've gotta be a great listener. You've gotta be willing to accept great ideas, great products that are coming from the products that you're acquiring, and being able to leverage that to your benefit for your other brands. And there are just some great lessons to be learned. But boy, I'll tell you, they're all different. They're all bringing their different challenges and opportunities. But boy, we've been really lucky because we've had a front row seat to some great acquisitions, which have turned into just great brands for North Star. And as we look at our overall business of provide, providing the travel industry with unique content, market intelligence, and great opportunities to connect with buyers and sellers, with our events, conferences, and even virtual events like this.

Dorothy Dowling: 16:44

And I do think that strategic fit is a really important component because I do think all the adjacencies and spinoffs that you've been able to drive in terms of really making sure that you were able to create the value for all of your different audiences. Bob has been exceptional and I do think it has really strengthened. Your positioning as a premier brand in terms of your ability to really bring all that business intelligence under one roof and become a go-to source for the travel community. I appreciate you outlining that whole component of the strategic focal point, and then obviously having a plan and being able to continue to evolve your plan as the market conditions as you

Robert Sullivan: 17:28

learn. Okay. You gotta go in with eyes wide open. Yeah. And I have learned as much. From my colleagues who we've acquired as I think they've probably learned from myself and all of North Star. So it's, but I think that's a, it's that great synergistic relationship.

Dorothy Dowling: 17:44

But I think that again, speaks to your leadership, Bob, because I think I. Really being able to approach talent on that level playing field and be open to learning from them as well as imparting learning is what good leaders do exceptionally well. So congratulations again,'cause it truly has been for me watching from the outside, it has been a brilliant journey. I'm wondering if you can speak a little bit about your private equity investors.'cause we all know that private equity has very high expectations when they make an investment. You have to have a really, a strong culture of accountability to ensure that you're driving those returns. So I'm just wondering if there's anything you can offer to the audience in terms of how you've approached being able to meet all of those expectations.

Robert Sullivan: 18:32

I think first and foremost I look at it and I've, we've now worked with three PE firms. We've been incredibly fortunate to work with great PE companies. Tremendous leadership, guidance, insight, value add, which they've provided to us. And I think one of the experiences I've learned, and I've certainly sitting alongside my my colleague Tom Kemp, is we've gone through a lot of those meetings. Most important is being candid, transparent, what's happening in the businesses. What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? And if there's bad news, give it to'em right away. If there's good news, celebrate that and share with them as well. And we found that in the best of times, we've had great relationships with our PE partners and in some of the most challenging times, certainly 9 11, 0 8 0 9, And the covid period with our PE partners that they were incredibly supportive and their capital has just been a game changer for us, whether it be getting through some of those difficult periods, but also looking at acquisitions new organic launches. And we've been very fortunate and every time we've gone into those difficult environments, we've come out of it as a stronger company. With stronger brands and poise for more growth.

Dorothy Dowling: 20:12

I think that really speaks to this whole element of mutual respect, Bob, in terms of recognizing how you both bring value to your business. And I just think the way you have been able to share and be very straightforward and honest about challenges and opportunities have really. Spoken to the kind of great results you've had with each of your PE partners. So I think that is great advice because I know that some folks are sometimes nervous when there is a PE investor because there is that expectation of very high growth numbers and how you're gonna get there. But you have have done it very admirably across many and obviously your success speaks for itself.

Robert Sullivan: 20:56

I'll share with you that. The expectations that the PE firms have had, we have of us, we have of ourselves in terms of producing best in class products, best in class results, in a real pursuit of excellence, where we wanna do everything in our power to strengthen our leadership position with our brands and whatever investment that makes, and as. Certainly they look to growth in the next iteration, as do we. And so it's been very much of a partnership. Yeah. And I'll tell you when you get to some of those tough times, you really find out what kind of partner they are. And I will tell you, Eagle Treese, certainly going through Covid has been a phenomenal partner

Dorothy Dowling: 21:50

for us. Yeah. That is very encouraging. And I do think that using that word partnership and understanding about that mutual value creation is a very powerful tip for all of us to pay attention to when we're working with investors because they want our success as much as we want our own. And I think you establishing right from the get go that your pursuit of excellence was always at the top of your list. I'm wondering if you can also tell us a little bit about mentors that may have shaped you mentioned several names at the beginning when you were talking about your career journey, but Bob I'm certain that there's some folks that have really stood out as important in shaping your career.

Robert Sullivan: 22:34

I think about Ziff Davis and even my early days with the training and how they challenged us just to continue to learn. And improve every day. And I think that kind of set a foundation for how you take that through the rest of your career. And certainly for me in my journey working with Jerry Landres, who is an incredibly creative mind in the launch of Turn Travel news and his ability to come up with new ideas, new concepts, but also working with Michael leads and his brilliance. And his leadership in launching business travel news. But then on to Tom Kemp, who was really a visionary for what we could build out as a travel media information provider. And whether that be with Miller Freeman or in the next iteration with North Star, and I'll tell you. I'm working with a new c e o now, Jason Young, who's joined us in January. And Jason has brought a whole new lens to our business. He comes from a very different background in media, having worked for Ziff Davis, having worked in technology, having worked in packaged goods, and it's it's been phenomenal. Because it's that information that you can take, you can glean, you can learn from to help make an already very strong business and help us to steward and navigate it to the next generation of growth. So I will tell you, as excited as I was to be in this business 37 years ago when I first joined, I'm even more excited today as I look at the opportunities. I've had and that North Star has as we go forward. And why? I think a lot of it's with the people you work with, great talent, you work with great leaders, and you inspire each other to do your best work. I.

Dorothy Dowling: 24:36

Well, and I think that's extraordinarily well said, Bob, is, but I think it also speaks to your openness and that learning journey that you said was established in your very early part of your career to continue to be open and understand that everyone brings value in terms of the growth opportunities that we have to learn from them. So again, thank you for sharing that in such a powerful way. I'm wondering if I can speak a little bit about your team because. You have spoken about talent, and we all know that talent is one of the big conversations today in terms of the success of organizations, but I've always admired how North Star has had such a strong approach to ensuring that the talent from any acquisition was part of the long-term solution. So I'm wondering again, if there are any tips that you had in terms of making sure that you kept the talent as you went through those processes?

Robert Sullivan: 25:32

I think first and foremost, you celebrate great talent, right? You want great talent. Any organization that's looking to be high performing, you're looking for that diverse talent that's looking to help push you and lead you. To new levels that maybe you weren't even looking at. So bringing in different skill sets, bringing in diverse diverse views. And I'll tell you also challenging yourself with what I would call cohesive collaboration, where you're having constructive dialogue, which isn't an argument, it's a debate. And it's looking for those opportunities and exploring every cranny of idea for how we can make ourselves better, how we can make ourselves stronger, and how we can live more, leave more of an imprint on the travel industry and do better by our markets and all of our core stakeholders. And first and foremost with us, you gotta be all in. If you're not all in, you can't fake it at North Star. There is just no way. And I think this goes to even some of the new colleagues that we hire coming right outta college that we're looking for individuals who are passionate, committed, Dr. Driven with a purpose of being the best of what they do. And when you find those individuals, give'em the opportunity to grow, give'em the nourishment, give'em the management attention. And you know what? It's okay if they fail, right? Because that's how they're gonna learn. And I look at a lot of our leadership at North Star in the next generation of leadership. Some of those individuals have been with us for 15 years and they started with us from day one. But because we've provided them with career opportunities for growth, I. For compensation increases that they don't need to go to the outside because they can find that growth and those opportunities with a company they love and a category that they love being a part of, which is the travel industry.

Dorothy Dowling: 27:50

I think that was brilliantly said, and I loved your comment about constructive cohesiveness, Bob, when you were speaking about that. That to me is what inclusivity is all about. It's allowing people to bring their per point of view and to be able to engage in the right kind of dialogue that great outcomes come from that. That was an important message for me. And then the second is really that whole element of allowing people to have a destination career with you and really investing in them so that they can see where their growth opportunities are within the organization and you support and nurture them. So those are great tips. And

Robert Sullivan: 28:28

I will say as hard as you try to create all those opportunities it's never quite perfect. Just last week we announced one of our senior VPs, Anthony CarVal, is gonna be moving over to Avis to work with Beth Nerk and her team. The Avis office is 10 minutes away from where he lives. It's a great opportunity for Anthony and. Davis is so incredibly lucky to have a talent like Anthony and is. Anthony takes that next step forward in his career. We know he's gonna do great. But we also know at North Star that we've got colleagues like Alicia Ivanka and Mary Pat Sullivan, and many other colleagues who are gonna take on responsibilities and continue to grow as well as others below them that will be able to have new opportunities in their career. To grow and do great things. So it comes in a lot of different directions.

Dorothy Dowling: 29:32

And I think supporting people sometimes when they do make those decisions to move on. Bob also speaks to leadership, but then also having that succession plan and that bench strength really does it's important in terms of really nurturing a company's growth. So thank you for walking us through how you really plan for all of those kinds of. Opportunities within your talent pool. I'm wondering if we can talk a little bit about work-life balance.'cause I will tell you, Bob, I've traveled a lot in my career, but I step back and I look at you and the breadth of the portfolio and how you show up not only at all North Star events, but at industry events. I don't know that you missed. Anything. And I know you're a parent of five children, I know you now have two beautiful grandsons. Oh yeah. Balance is a conversation that many have, and I'm wondering if there's anything that you can share in terms of how you've really balanced your role as a parent and a partner to your wife.

Robert Sullivan: 30:37

I should probably bring Kathy in to answer that question. My wife of 37 years, and I think one of the things that she would tell you that as a strong, independent, Mother of five that having her own space when I travel is a beautiful thing. And I did the math one time, and over the course of my 37 years that we've been married, I've been on the road 15 of those years. So it's pretty amazing. We have five adult kids now and two grandsons. I, I. Kidding aside with that, there are periods where like even the month of June, I think I was home maybe five or six nights this past June because we were in Europe twice. We were on the west coast twice, and we just had a ton going on with the business. And those periods happened in the travel industry where you just have those kind of runs where you're gonna be on the road a lot. And you can't be in this industry without traveling. And thank God I've got a great wife who's incredibly strong and she loves her independence and I. All along those periods where I've been on the road, I've done everything I can to support any way I can, whether it's coming home on red eyes or doing my part, because first and foremost, it's about family, right? It's about living a great life. And that's for myself, but also for all of our colleagues who are part of North Star and part of the travel industry. We are in the greatest industry in the world. In the travel space, and we probably don't get enough of a chance to enjoy it the way we should. And so I would urge everybody, boy, if you're not taking your vacations, take'em and enjoy every ex experience you can have with your family, your friends, because you know what? We are just so privileged to be a part of the travel industry and keeping that work life balance, I think in the travel industry. It's sometimes a little bit easier because you can bring your family along for the ride as well, and it all comes full circle. I.

Dorothy Dowling: 32:56

And again, thank you for sharing that. Bob. One of my personal beliefs is that I've always said choose your partner carefully.'cause they define your life. And I think you and your wife are wonderful representatives of that. But I also have to commend you, Bob, because you show up and you show up as a leader at events. But I also know we have a little shared history with our sons being hockey players. And I always admired that you always showed up at the games. So I don't know how, I'm sure a lot of red eyes were involved, but showing up I think is such an important lesson. For us all because that is what people take notice of. So I, I just commend you and thank you for being

Robert Sullivan: 33:39

I've also. I've been very lucky to have colleagues and bosses who, when I've been in Lake Placid, New York for an E C A C hockey tournament in college, that they've done conference calls with me. They've done Zoom calls with me they've worked with me and been flexible with their schedules and I think that's part of the whole ecosystem. As a leadership team and is having a really strong organization you bend, you learn how to be flexible and work with everybody to ensure a great outcome and wow, it doesn't all have to be nine to five, right? There are ways to navigate this in different paths. I.

Dorothy Dowling: 34:21

But I think that's a great model for today, Bob, is that flexibility of leadership and allowing people to find those moments with their family. So you've been a role model for many, and again, I just wanna thank you because I think many of the industry have taken note of. Of your presence and it's something that I have always valued about you. So we're coming up here. No

Robert Sullivan: 34:44

you are very kind to say that, Dorothy, and I'll tell you, it's been a privilege and something I never take for granted that I've had a front row seat to this industry. And have had the great, just great fortune to work with so many unbelievable partners like yourself and so many in the travel industry. And I think we've worked collaboratively to make all, to make each other better. And that's why the travel industry is enjoying some of the best times in the history of the industry right now.

Dorothy Dowling: 35:16

For sure. It's a very special industry in terms of mutual commitment and respect for each other. So we're coming up near the end of the interview, Bob, and we always ask every d e I advisor, if there's any closing pieces of advice that they would like to share with the audience in terms of leadership wisdom.

Robert Sullivan: 35:38

Never stop listening, never stop learning. Continue to be agile and. Find people who love this business and are passionate about this business and find that alignment. And you know what? It's just there's a great path forward for everyone, and there's just so many unbelievable opportunities that we all have to touch the travel industry and make this a better industry that I know. It's something that continues to motivate me, especially for the next generation of leadership. That comes through what we, what can we do to help get them ready for that journey so they can meet those challenges and continue to take a great industry and make it even better.

Dorothy Dowling: 36:30

Beautifully said, Bob. So thank you again for taking the time to share your career journey and your wisdom through that journey with all of us today. And if I may, I'd also like to thank our audience and just remind everyone that if you have enjoyed this interview with Bob, I hope you'll please visit us on our website, dei advisors.org, where you'll see webcasts and podcasts from other industry leaders. That will empower your knowledge and feel your spirit. I hope to see you there. And Bob, thank you again for being part of this interview with us today.

Robert Sullivan: 37:03

Thank you, Dorothy. Enjoyed our discussion.

Dorothy Dowling: 37:06

Thank you. Bye-bye.