Nick Steiert

CEO
Invasion

Nick used his student loan to build a near £5million turnover business entrenched in the events, travel and marketing sectors; co-founding brands such as Invasion.com, AmeriCamp, Camp.co.uk, Wrestling Travel, Camp Thailand, Camp South Africa and What Marketing amongst others with fellow co-founder, Lee McAteer.

With a background in law, Nick managed to use his University experience to start a business and build what is now a travel juggernaut in the 18-26 demographic. Nick was the winner of the 2016 ‘Rising Star’ British Youth Travel Awards and his 5000 sq ft Invasion office, which was purchased in 2016, has been heralded as a “dream factory” and one of the UK’s “coolest offices” and boast a wide variety of impressive items such as a life size palm tree and even turns into a nightclub! A viral stunt whereby the Invasion office was turned into a life-size ballpit went viral and achieved over 40 million impressions around the world.

As a co-founder of many businesses entrenched in the cultural exchange sector, Nick is in a wonderful position to bring his knowledge and expertise to the board and a fresh perspective that has been built from his own personal experience in the industry.

John Ricci

Managing Director
J1Simcards

“I am a Gen X’er who has worked in the student travel industry and on the periphery for almost 25 years, having held executive level positions in sales, marketing, community development and operations at Cendant, Wandrian Inc. , Student Advantage, eKit Inc, NETC (World Strides International Discovery) and is now the Managing Director at J1 Simcards, along with owning my own Adventure Travel company since 2010. I have focussed my career on sales, marketing and operational strategies with a proven record of creating growth from concept/start-up through maturation, and have forged successful partnerships with many of the largest work, travel and cultural exchange businesses in the industry. I have relevant expertise in growing online and offline channels with travel and membership-based models ranging from 1,200 – 8 million participants.

“I would bring a broad range of skills, experience and cultural understanding in an advisory capacity to the confederation. Most recently, I have been consulting for various businesses aimed at International Education and the agencies that surround them. It is through a combination of these experiences and my travel to over 60 countries that have created a passion for cultural exchange and hence, study abroad.”