EOTYA 2024 Winner: James Thornton

In 2005, when James Thornton first joined Intrepid Travel’s team in the United Kingdom as an industry sales manager, he closed the door on a lucrative yet unfulfilling position in private asset management in London in search of adventure.

Nearly two decades on, Thornton is still with Intrepid Travel. Now, as CEO, a role he has held since 2017, he is even more passionate about helping people around the globe experience the transformational magic of travel.

"We know the capacity and power that travel has to create positive change, and our hope for the future is to connect more people and more communities in more ways than ever before," Thornton tells The CEO Magazine.

"In an increasingly isolated, artificial and disconnected world, it’s this sense of community and connectedness that our industry is in a unique position to provide. ‘The World Needs More Intrepid People’ is our strategic aspiration and our goal is to become a US$1 billion purpose-led brand."

Experiencing the world

Founded in Melbourne in 1989, today Intrepid Travel is the world’s largest adventure travel company, with experiences across all seven continents, operations in more than 100 countries and a team of 3,314. In 2023, with Thornton at the helm, the business delivered record financial and impact results, with 328,211 customers and achieving US$418 million in bookings, US$360 million in revenue and US$1.35 million in fundraising efforts.

"Last year was a pretty incredible year for Intrepid and our people, and it’s something I’m very proud of," Thornton says with a smile. "These results don’t merely reflect a strong bounce back in travel in 2023 – they also outperform all our key metrics from 2019, which was previously our most successful year ever."

That same year, the company implemented a new employee scheme that increased employee shareholders from 52 to 421, giving the team a direct and tangible benefit from Intrepid Travel’s shared success. But Thornton emphasizes that it’s not even the numbers that he’s most proud of – rather that this period of immense growth began during the COVID-19 pandemic, two years earlier.

"At the height of the pandemic in 2020–21, with global borders closed, a skeleton team and Intrepid losing money every day, the business’ survival was in doubt," he explains.

"Against this backdrop, thanks to our incredible team and their belief in our future, we set out an ambitious vision to position Intrepid for a rapid rebound through investing in and redefining the brand under our mission: creating positive change through the joy of travel.

"Since then, we’ve rebuilt our teams, returned to profitability and, most importantly, created positive impact in numerous ways."

Thornton’s passionate leadership saw him take home the CEO of the Year Consumer & Lifestyle award as well as the top honor of Overall CEO of the Year at The CEO Magazine’s 2024 Executive of the Year Awards.

Record-breaking fundraising

In 2023, Time named Intrepid as one its 100 Most Influential Companies, and also saw Thornton hit another significant record, successfully surpassing his goal of raising US$1.35 million (A$2 million) for the Intrepid Foundation. The not-for-profit arm of Intrepid Travel, the Foundation, creates "positive impact through the joy of travel, community and connection".

Tackling issues spanning inequality and economic development to environmental restoration and wildlife protection, the reach also grew substantially over 2023, increasing community partners from 20 to 49 across more than 30 countries.

"The Intrepid Foundation’s giving model is designed to reflect contemporary philanthropy – creating moments for people to connect with each other, to care and to offer compelling opportunities for giving to occur," Thornton explains.

"While the Foundation has a long history supporting and giving back to communities, embedding its success as a core company goal was a deliberate decision to set the agenda for all staff to integrate corporate philanthropy into their roles."

A unique approach

Heralding a culture that is collaborative and non-hierarchical, Thornton says the ultimate goal is to create a workplace that employees love to go to every day. Having stepped into the role of CEO at the age of just 35, he sees different threads in his leadership philosophy.

"It’s casual to the degree that I don’t take myself too seriously, I’m relaxed and I think quite approachable," he reflects.

"But at the same time, I’m also intense and really competitive. I believe the world needs more Intrepid people, which means we must keep growing and always be improving. I can be pretty intense in that pursuit for improvement."

Thornton is a firm believer in the importance of open communication, both throughout his team and with external stakeholders and customers. The best advice he ever received was to "listen, but be prepared to make decisions and mistakes".

"You’ve got two ears and one mouth, and there is a reason for this – because leaders must listen. Too many leaders tend to lead with their own voice," he says.

"Our customer service agents are talking to customers every day – no-one has a better idea of what customers are interested in and what they want. So getting feedback from those customer service staff is so valuable."

Committed to sustainability

Sustainability is an issue that is at the very heart of Intrepid Travel’s ideology. Not only is the company deeply invested in transforming society for the better, but as Thornton explains, extreme weather events, natural disasters and loss of biodiversity pose an existential threat to the industry’s existence.

Having earned a rare B Corp Certification in 2018, Intrepid has continued to employ strategies and develop initiatives that exhibit its commitment to the environment.

"At Intrepid, we’ve introduced near-term science-based climate targets to rapidly decarbonize our business in line with a 1.5-degree Celsius future," Thornton reveals.

"Intrepid introduced changes that mean in 2024, it will achieve the living wage goal across the entire global workforce – comprising 3,314 staff, including tour leaders, and 29 offices across six continents – just one year since adopting the goal, proving immediate action and results are possible."

In addition to Intrepid’s role as a participant in the United Nations Global Compact reaching back to 2008, the company also signed up as an early adopter of the United Nations’ Forward Faster initiative under the living wage and climate action goals.

Last year Thornton traveled to New York for a meeting of private sector business leaders during the United Nations General Assembly to workshop strategies and share key learnings after adopting these sustainable practices.

Continuing the mission

The overarching mission to create positive change through the joy of travel, and to balance purpose and profit, plays into all aspects of how the company conducts business.

"That makes us a little different, because everything is about having a purpose," Thornton enthuses. "Our product is amazing experiences and that is core to everything we do – but we also have the opportunity to support positive change in the world and communities.

"This strong purpose was embedded by our Co-Founders 35 years ago and it’s been our north star through some of the toughest times."

It was this end goal that had such a profound effect on how the company emerged so triumphantly post-pandemic.

"As CEO, of course I want Intrepid to grow and be successful, but we really think about how we can be the best travel company for the world," Thornton says.

"That idea underpins our culture and helps us to define success holistically."