Brownell Travel builds on legacy of working with family: Travel Weekly

CHICAGO — Margaret Haas, director of advisor development at Brownell, had a circuitous route to her current role. Her first job after graduating from the University of Virginia was in sales, but not travel sales — she sold software in Boston. That lasted about six months.

“I was like, I can’t sell something I don’t care about,” she said during an interview at Brownell Academy, an event held March 29 to April 2 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago.

Haas did care about travel. Margaret is the daughter of Brownell CEO Troy Haas, who has led the host agency for decades, becoming its sole owner in 2023 and chairman in 2024.

She knew she wanted to get into the industry. So after some interviews, she took a role with Audley Travel, crafting custom safaris. She stayed there for four years, then spent another year with Kwando Safaris.

At the same time, the Brownell incentives team was picking up steam, and in 2021 Margaret joined the agency, now No. 53 on Travel Weekly’s Power List. She has since moved into advisor development roles, including working on the agency’s lauded Mentoring program.

Considering her parents’ roles with the agency — in addition to her father’s chairmanship, her mother, Ann, is a member of its advisory board — one might ask: Why didn’t Margaret just join Brownell straight away? 

Troy said he takes a few factors into consideration when it comes to bringing a second generation into a family-run business.

First, the family member has to establish themselves elsewhere; they can’t come in as the “child of” a leader, he said. They need to bring their own unique skill set to a job. They also have to prove themselves. 

In Margaret’s case, he said, she works an arm’s length away from him. She doesn’t report to him, and he gives her a wide lane to work with Kerry Dyer, chief development officer.

The Haas family isn’t unique in Brownell’s history. The agency, which calls itself the oldest in the country, was founded in 1887 by Walter Brownell. His son and daughter-in-law, George and Jennie, took over in 1900. Thirty-one years later, Jennie and her son, George Jr., helmed the operation.

“We have a legacy of family working together, understanding each other,” Troy said.

The Brownell of today has evolved since its namesakes ran the show.

A restructuring last year, where David Harris was named president, was designed to usher new generations into travel. That’s one of Harris’ goals, Troy said: make the business so attractive that people’s children want to join. 

On the advisor side, a key mechanism for bringing the next generation into the fold is Brownell’s Mentoring program, which began nearly 20 years ago. Troy called it a “lifeblood” at Brownell.

During the yearlong program, a small cohort of three to five advisors is guided through building businesses, Margaret said. There are two classes each year.

“Almost all of our advisors do find pretty immediate success and profitability,” she said, adding that most break even or do better in year one, with incomes typically doubling in year two.

For advisor Julie Sommer, owner of Jewel Travel Co., the Mentoring program was “instrumental” to developing her business. It wasn’t just the year she spent in the program, Sommer said, it was the resources provided and the support still offered once the formal program had ended.

“Brownell has so much that we can use that I don’t think is offered everywhere,” Sommer said.