‘You. Smart. Thing.’ Welcomes Visionary Entrepreneur Will Phillipson as Chair
‘You. Smart. Thing.’ (YST), a leading provider of intelligent journey planning solutions, is thrilled to announce the appointment of William (Will) Phillipson as Chair of the Board. With a storied career in the travel technology sector, Phillipson brings unparalleled expertise and a proven track record of transformative growth to YST.
Recognised for his visionary leadership and innovative approach, Phillipson has consistently driven success in the travel tech industry. Starting his career at Accovia in Montreal, he quickly demonstrated his ability to tackle complex challenges. Later, moving to National Leisure Group in Boston, he built one of the industry’s first dynamic packaging systems, enabling seamless real-time integration of the travel supply chain, providing high-performance holiday packages to major clients such as Orbitz and Yahoo.
Phillipson’s journey continued at ITA Software, where he introduced product management to the company; played a crucial role in developing a next-generation GDS and was a senior leader of ITA and Air Canada’s airline reservation system project, Athena. In 2009, he co-founded SilverRail Technologies, a pioneering venture in passenger rail distribution and ticketing technology. Under his leadership, SilverRail grew to over 250 employees across four continents, eventually being acquired by the Expedia Group in 2017. Following his exit from the Expedia Group, he spent a year as CTO helping to launch Kyte, and NDC focused technology company, before assuming the role of COO at the UK-founded public transport app and routing service, Citymapper setting the company up for a successful exit to VIA Transportation.
At YST, Phillipson will leverage his deep industry knowledge and strategic vision to drive innovation and further enhance the company’s offerings. His appointment comes on the heels of YST closing a £1.2 million scale-up funding round, aimed at accelerating the company’s mission to revolutionise travel planning by offering journey options that are optimised to achieve social and environmental objectives. Uniquely, the service enables destinations, venues, and events to nudge their visitors towards sustainable travel options with tailored routes and wayfinding controlled by the destinations themselves.
“We are excited to welcome Will Phillipson to the YST team,”
said ‘You. Smart. Thing.’ CEO, Chris Thompson.
“Will’s extensive experience and proven success in scaling technology ventures align perfectly with our mission to create a step change in the purpose and utility of journey planning and travel demand management. His leadership will be instrumental in driving our next phase of growth and innovation, particularly in securing future growth capital to build the business internationally.”
Phillipson’s appointment follows a £1.2 million scale up investment round. His experience of supply-chain integration in the travel and mobility sectors is expected to shape YST’s travel demand monetisation model, ensuring that the company remains at the forefront of the travel and green technology industries. His vision and expertise will be key in navigating the rapidly evolving enviro-tech landscape and meeting the growing demands of today’s tech-savvy travellers. As YST continues to expand, Phillipson’s role will be crucial in guiding the company towards becoming a deeply integrated global technology business that will inform the travel choices that many of us are offered in our day-to-day lives.
Editors Notes
About You. Smart. Thing.
Founded in 2015 by Chris Thompson (CEO), ‘You. Smart. Thing.’ is the leading travel demand management and visitor travel planning platform for destinations, venues, and events. Its technology enhances visitor experience and increases revenues whilst reducing the disproportionate carbon footprint created by visitor travel. Its intuitive online travel assistant interface can be tailored to optimise data capture, people flow, dwell time and revenue generation. It enables organisations to offer content-enhanced wayfinding and curated low-carbon door-to-door travel plans that nudge visitors towards ‘net zero’ travel.
‘You. Smart. Thing.’ has garnered significant traction with flagship clients, including the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, The Coventry City of Culture, Transport for Greater Manchester, and the Rugby League World Cup. The company’s innovative approach to sustainable travel management has earned recognition from industry leaders and positioned it for further growth and success.
