As Volaris Group celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2025, we are publishing a series that examines the individuals, businesses, and milestones that have contributed to the growth of our ecosystem of software businesses.
2025 marks Kinetic’s 10th year as part of Volaris Group. Founded in 1998, the company established its niche in providing software to the student accommodation and conference markets. By 2016, the company had gained 120 customers at universities in the UK and 300 customers worldwide. Since being sold to Volaris, Kinetic has continued to provide industry-leading student experience products and given its leaders new opportunities. The business has continued to thrive, partly due to a well-planned succession of leaders.
A successful leadership transition
After selling the business to Volaris in 2015, co-founder Chris Wildsmith initially remained at the helm as the Managing Director while Kinetic gained the investment and resources of Volaris. After seeing what the Volaris network had to offer, he found that new opportunities were open to him. A year after selling Kinetic, he was offered the opportunity to manage SpecTec, a business in the Volaris marine vertical.
Deciding to take that opportunity meant he would open up a new role to someone else by appointing his successor to Kinetic. In his succession plan, he recommended Rob Turner as his successor – a leader who had started at Kinetic as an intern seven years before, and who had proven himself by adeptly tackling various challenges at the company.
Volaris Group’s support for the succession plan at Kinetic
As the successor to Wildsmith, Turner was brimming with ideas after working in several functional areas of the company. He was energized by the new resources that Kinetic could access, and the best practices provided by Volaris helped him strengthen the company as a first-time leader.
During his tenure leading Kinetic from 2016 to 2020, Turner grew the company organically and through acquisition. In 2018, Kinetic acquired Occam Systems, a former competitor in the student accommodation software industry. By late 2020, Turner accepted a new role as Group Leader, where he turned his focus to growing Kinetic through acquisitions.
As Turner transitioned to his new role in 2020, he appointed his own successor: Kinetic’s Chief Commercial Officer at the time, who was Luke Warren. Warren had many years of sales and account management experience that would enable him to take Kinetic in directions that Turner and Wildsmith had not.
Since its first acquisition of Occam, the business has acquired several more businesses, including CELCAT, a leading provider of timetabling software for universities and colleges; HeyHub, a community and tenant engagement platform; and Bullet Solutions, a provider of education scheduling and timetabling software.
Chris Wildsmith, Rob Turner, and Luke Warren have all built careers within Volaris, and they maintain their tradition of mentorship with newer generations of leaders.
We look forward to witnessing the success of Kinetic as the company continues its long-term growth journey at Volaris.
