Meet the Team

Richard Thompson

Co-founder and Managing Director

For over 20 years Richard has tirelessly applied his vision, knowledge, commitment and passion for making travel accessible and inclusive – everywhere, to everyone…

Richard’s journey is epic. It’s a complex fusion of over forty years in the tourism industry, independent exploration across 70+ countries and half a lifetime turning adversity to his advantage after he had his own life-changing personal injury. He has rekindled travel ambitions for those that thought their travelling days were over and made impossible dreams into memorable reality. And this isn’t tempered by how complex a persons additional requirements are or where in the world they want to explore.

Richard is invited to educate and enlighten around the globe. His work is both motivating and inspiring.

Ian Carter

Co-founder and Commercial Director

Ian Carter dedicates his time to making the world more accessible, to all. He was one of the early adopters and developers of web accessibility and has always recognised the importance and value of presenting information in alternative formats. And for more than 30 years has applied his tech credentials to practical solutions and services with a specific focus on travel, tourism and online disability awareness training.

He now steps into the role of Commercial Director for the World of Inclu family.

But ask Ian of his priority in life and it will be the support, love and care he bestows to Karen, his lovely wife. Karen sustained a spinal cord injury in 1988 and is tetraplegic. So the impact of catastrophic injury on individuals and their loved ones is a reality Ian and Karen understand only too well. A daily reminder that disability can touch us all, at any moment. But also a testament to the resilience of the human spirit… Karen continues her role as a successful theatre director – which explains why we can often see Ian treading the boards. And it’s a constant reminder to him who is really the boss in the Carter household!

And, as if he’s not busy enough, Ian is an on call firefighter (he drops everything when the pager goes!) serving his local community in Suffolk.

Steven Breeze

Communications Director

Steven completed a degree in Anthropology, during which time he considered cross-cultural concepts of inclusion. He later completed a PhD in the English department at Birkbeck, University of London. He also holds a second degree, in English, as well as a Master’s degree and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education.

So that’s Steven’s academic credentials. But over the last 15 years he has also amassed a huge amount of professional experience in the arena having worked in education as a teacher, lecturer, manager and administrator. He has taught English language and literature, as well as business and technology and computing courses.

Alison Pearson

Expert Travel Planner

There have been dramatic shifts in how travel has been constructed, packaged and retailed over recent years and Alison Pearson has been at the forefront of most of them. Two decades experience on the ‘frontline’ with one of the UKs major tour operator and high street retailers had more than equipped her to head up the World of Inclu B2C travel and hospitality brands.

Add to that rich mix of acquired industry know-how, a personal, life-changing trauma at the tender age of 17 (Alison sustained multiple catastrophic injuries after being hit in a road traffic incident, including below-knee amputation of her leg) and you have at your service someone with an up close personal insight and a passionate belief in the value of total customer inclusion. And with this comes a unique capacity to support and encourage our valued brand partners as they strive, often for the first time, to not only accommodate but to ‘wow’ and delight their disabled guests.

We view Alison’s role as one of the most important in travel and hospitality today… crafting inclusive products and services with our valued partner brands and showcasing and selling them to an audience who have the ambition and resources to travel… if only we can give them trust and confidence to do so.

Haha, so no pressure, Alison. No worries either. You’ve got this!

Helen Youngman

Expert Travel Planner

Helen’s love affair with travel began when she was a young girl ‘travel agents’ with her family. At the age of 20 she moved to Bangladesh for a year to do volunteering for a small in the slums of Dhaka. She then decided to forge a career in ethical and sustainable travel and since then, has worked for some of the most pioneering and reputable tour operators in the industry. She has experience in crafting many types of holidays and tours imaginable from indulgent honeymoons to remote adventures.

She is passionate about inspiring people to travel to places that they wouldn’t have thought about travelling to or do not know much about. Her forte is weird and wonderful and she really loves creating tours for people to off the beaten track places.

Some recent travel escapades include: food adventures in Latvia, exploring Lake Ohrid in North Macedonia, a whistle-stop tour of New Zealand, exploring Ibiza’s hidden gems and enjoying some R&R in on Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

Sustainable and ethical travel have always been close to her heart and will be considered on every journey she creates.

Food is a big part of her life and she enjoys cooking up a storm in the kitchen and creating dishes that she has learned on her travels and hosting for friends and even runs a global street food business in her spare time.

She also loves nature and spending time on Norfolk’s coastline as well as live music and festivals.