BCD Travel president and CEO John Snyder will step down from his role on July 1 after three decades with the company. Stephan Baars will take over for Snyder.
Baars is no stranger to BCD Travel (No. 4 on Travel Weekly's 2022 Power List). He was previously the company's CFO before becoming the CEO of Boron, the private investment company owned by BCD founder John Fentener van Vlissingen. Additionally, Baars has been the chairman of BCD Travel Germany's supervisory board since 2013.
"After three decades of doing what I love, there was never going to be an easy time to say goodbye and step away, but this is the right time," Snyder said in a release. "It was important to me to help get BCD well on the road to recovery with the pandemic in our rearview mirror."
Snyder joined BCD, then known as WorldTravel Advisors, in 1992. He held various leadership roles with the company and saw it through a number of milestones, including the 2006 acquisitions that led to the BCD brand's creation.
Baars' return to the company isn't unusual, Snyder said.
"So robust is our culture that it lets us refer affectionately to 'boomerang' colleagues -- people who leave for other opportunities but return to the BCD Travel family, drawn back by the strength of our values and our commitment to living them," he said.
Baars brings with him three decades of leadership experience, including in the travel, telecommunications, oil and gas production and investment industries.
Baars said Snyder "has accomplished an amazing body of work that has benefited not only our company but the entire travel industry. I'm honored to follow in his footsteps and build on that incredible success."