Director Profiles for TakeABreak

Management profiles for Occupancy.com

Justin Butterworth

Joint CEO

Justin is a co-founder of Occupancy.com. Occupancy.com powers a number of travel websites including rentahome.com.au and takeabreak.com.au, and delivers over 20,000 accommodation options to travellers in Australia, with detailed information and independent guest reviews.

Prior to Occupancy.com, Justin was the founder and CEO of rentahome.com.au (established in 1999), now part of the Occupancy.com group. rentahome.com.au is a market leading online accommodation provider of furnished self-catering accommodation, which has received industry recognition for its innovative use of technology and business practices. rentahome.com.au won the Real Estate Institute Award for Excellence – Best Website 2002 and 2004, the prestigious 2006 National Telstra Business Award (Micro) and in 2009 was a finalist in the NSW Tourism Awards.

Justin's background is as a research economist for the NSW Treasury providing economic advice to the NSW Government, as well as forecasting and modelling analysis. 

Justin holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from Monash University, is a postgraduate of the Securities Institute of Australia and holds a real estate licence. Justin Butterworth is an active member of the REINSW Holiday and Short Term Rentals Chapter.

Craig Davis

Joint CEO

Craig shares the role of CEO of with Justin Butterworth.

Craig is a co-founder of Occupancy.com. Occupancy.com powers a number of travel websites including rentahome.com.au and takeabreak.com.au and delivers over 20,000 accommodation options to travellers in Australia, with detailed information and independent guest reviews.

Prior to Occupancy.com, Craig was Joint CEO of takeabreak.com.au (established in 2003), now part of the Occupancy.com group. takeabreak.com.au is a leading consumer brand, which distributes independent online holiday accommodation options and specialises in boutique accommodation throughout Australia.

Takeabreak.com.au has won the NSW Tourism Award in the Tourism Marketing/Media category in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and was inducted into the NSW Tourism Hall of Fame. takeabreak.com.au has been a finalist in the Telstra Small Business awards and in 2010 won the National Work Life Balance Awards for Small Business.

Craig’s background is diverse and not one you would usually expect to find in a tourism-oriented company, as he holds a PhD in physics from Sydney University and prior to founding takeabreak.com.au he held a senior position in the Defence Intelligence Organisation. 

Penny Parsons

Penny Parsons is the Marketing Manager and a co-founder of Occupancy.com. Occupancy.com powers a number of travel websites including rentahome.com.au and takeabreak.com.au and delivers over 20,000 accommodation options to travellers in Australia, with detailed information and independent guest reviews.

Prior to Occupancy.com, Penny was Joint CEO of takeabreak.com.au (established in 2003), now part of the Occupancy.com group. takeabreak.com.au is a leading consumer brand, which distributes independent online holiday accommodation options and specialises in boutique accommodation throughout Australia.

Penny is responsible for the marketing across the range of Occupancy.com websites including visitor and operator communication, search engine marketing, public relations and promotions.

Penny has worked in various capacities in the field of international marketing for over 20 years, specialising in service marketing including the telecommunications and information technology fields. She has held senior strategic marketing roles in a number of high profile companies both in Australia and overseas, as well as managing her own marketing consultancy, which specialised in servicing small business clients in a range of fields. Penny is the author of 'Marketing Communications in Practice', published by the Singapore Institute of Management. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce with Merit, Major in Marketing, from the University of NSW.

Michelle Kothe

Michelle Kothe is the Development Manager and a co-founder of Occupancy.com. Occupancy.com powers a number of travel websites including rentahome.com.au and takeabreak.com.au and delivers over 20,000 accommodation options to travellers in Australia, with detailed information and independent guest reviews.

Prior to Occupancy.com, Michelle was a founding director of takeabreak.com.au (established in 2003), now part of the Occupancy.com group. takeabreak.com.au is a leading consumer brand, which distributes independent online holiday accommodation options and specialising in boutique accommodation throughout Australia.

Michelle plays a significant role in the management of the IT operations of the business. She developed the in-house proprietary technology that is used to drive much of the Occupancy.com site.

Michelle has an impressive background as lead developer on a number of websites, and was the principal developer for Websites at Work. While she has worked in a range of fields, for the last eight years she has focused specifically on web development and associated technologies. Michelle has led development teams for a wide range of websites, including major portal websites such as www.sail-world.com, association websites such as www.naccho.org.au and fully functional e-commerce sites such as www.richardbennet.com.au. Michelle holds a combined Commerce/Law degree from UNSW.