Hire education. Geoffrey Lipman.

 

FOXTROTS

 

Fox – sly.  Trots – left-leaning (Trotsky) plus its more insalubrious meaning. 

Foxtrots – leading the industry in a dance.

 

2009 September 12

 

Hire education. Geoffrey Lipman.

 

He is no longer Mr Geoffrey Lipman, but Professor Lipman. By custom, the recipient of an honorary degree – this one was awarded by the Griffith University in Queensland – does not use the title in this way. But Lipman is, well, Lipman.

 

He founded and headed WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council), now widely accepted as the top-level link between the travel business and governments. He could even be credited with creating the (admittedly superfluous) multiple-noun ‘travel and tourism’. We suspect T&T because he could hardly call his WTTC merely WTC – too close to rival WTO.

 

After leaving WTTC, Lipman busied himself with other activities and associations, but did not achieve the success he had with WTTC. He then moved into (you could say “moved onto”) the World Tourism Organization.

 

He has never been a success in business; only with associations.

 

He is now assistant secretary-general at the WTO, and has built this (new; his creation) position into an important one. In many ways, he has been the leader, leaving WTO’s head Francesco Frangialli to be what he was best at – administration.

 

But with headmaster-Frangialli going, formally, end of last month, could the professor get expelled? Or will he try to stay on as deputy headmaster, or even try to become headmaster?

 

(In one sense he must hurry. He is a UK national, and the WTO has an archaic rule that its staff must be nationals of a WTO member. Visit Britain is a member but – to WTO’s embarrassment – is resigning only two years after rejoining.)

 

Discuss.

 

The Fox