This is a roundup for product news and announcements for travel people moves in tourism and hospitality for December 2016.
Wednesday 28 December 2016:
Sabre has named an interim boss of its GDS division
- Sabre Travel Network's interim president is Wade Jones. He's a temporary replacement for Sean Menke, who will be elevated to Sabre’s president and CEO later this week. Jones has been involved in helping the company absorb Abacus and has been instrumental in the Sabre Red launch.
Thursday 22 December 2016:Amadeus rejigs APAC commercial brief
- Albert Pozo, president of Amadeus in Asia-Pacific, will oversee the distribution commercial organisation after chief commercial officer Eugene Chan left the role for personal reasons after three months. He had joined the company in June from BCD Travel.
Tuesday 20 December 2016:WayBlazer replaces CEO
- Noreen Henry becomes the new CEO of the artificial intelligence-led travel tech company, replacing Felix Laboy who has resigned for personal reasons. Henry has spent the last year as chief revenue officer at DHISCO, with earlier stints at Intent Media and Sabre, but is best known for her 15 years at Travelocity, where she most recently senior vice president of global partner services.
Navis hires new overseer of its product roadmap and build out
- The reservation sales and marketing technology provider for the hospitality industry, based in Bend, Ore., has on-boarded Vince Kenkel, as VP of engineering. Kenkel was most recently VP of engineering at Evisions, and, before that, at Webtrends.
Monday 19 December 2016:ARC promotes for new product chief
- The airline data service has Doug Mangold as its new vice president of product, moving up from a managing director role in the same division. Prior to joining ARC in 2006, Mangold worked for Booz Allen Hamilton and Teligent.
Sabre Airline Solutions names new China boss
- Peter Wu has been named as the senior director and general manager for Sabre Airline Solutions in Mainland China. He reports in to Dasha Kuksenko, vice president and regional general manager for Sabre's airline IT interests in APAC.
Friday 16 December 2016:AirIT biz dev chief
- The Amadeus-owned airline and airport tech supplier has hired David Wurtz as its director of business development in the Americas, overseeing more than 120 airport customers in North America. He joins from Kaba Access & Data Systems, where he was also director of business development.
Wednesday 14 December 2016:Egencia appoints new UK boss
- Scott Chapman will become managing director of the Expedia Inc-owned business travel agency, having been promoted from his role as director of sales in the country. He has been with Egencia since November 2007 (apart from a one-year stint with Expotel), following ten years in sales at Thus. Chapman replaces Graham Kingsmill who is now vice president in Europe for Egencia.
Tuesday 13 December 2016:Pyton has a new GM
- The Amadeus-owned travel technology supplier has René Schukkink overseeing operations as general manager, combining his role as commercial director Amadeus in the Benelux region. He replaces Peter Boneschansker who is moving to the mothership as business development manager of the leisure department. Amadeus acquired Pyton in September 2015.
SimpleView bolsters leadership team
- The tourism organisation IT provider has promoted Cara Frank and Sean Moyle to vice president of marketing and vice president of operations respectively. Moyle joined the company in 2006 as a project manager and was most recently its director of operations. Frank was promoted to director of marketing to 2009 after arriving in 2008 on the sales team.
Friday 9 December 2016:Sabre vet joins BCD Travel
- Yannis Karmis has joined BCD Travel, taking on the newly created role of senior vice president for product planning & development. He has held senior roles at Sabre, including the dual role of vice president for corporate solutions and president of GetThere. He reports into Russell Howell, executive vice president for techn, products and innovation.
TUI links IT with new markets
- European travel giant TUI has promoted Frank Rosenberger to a newly-created executive board level role in charge of IT and new markets for the group. His IT brief covers digitalisation, new technologies, infrastructure and security, while Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Brazil and Asia are his target source markets. He joined TUI in late 2015 from Vodafone where he was head of global development of new business.
Thursday 8 December 2016:Blacklane recruits COO and CFO
- Ralf Echtler will take on the dual role of chief operating officer and chief financial officer will the professional driver service. A former-member of the company's board of advisors, as part of its investment from Daimler Financial Services unit, Ride4Hire, Echtler spent 11 years with the car manufacturer in both the US and Asia. The roles were previously held by Christoph Holle.
Wednesday 7 December 2016:KDS new boss as CEO leaves
- Dean Forbes is leaving the corporate travel technology provider to "pursue other interests", five months after selling the company to American Express Global Business Travel. He will be replaced by Roxana Bressy who steps up from her role as chief financial officer and executive vice president of business operations at KDS. Olivier Quayle, previously senior vice president of products, partners and marketing at KDS, has also got a new role as vice president of product marketing and innovation for both KDS and Amex GBT.
Friday 2 December 2016:Sabre hires ex-Expedia VP
- Traci Mercer becomes Sabre's senior vice president hotel, car, cruise and rail, having joined from Hootsuite Media in Canada. She was with Expedia in a variety of roles from 2003 to 2014, plus had three years with Hilton and two with Red Carnation.
JacTravel secures new tech boss
- The hotel wholesaler has Francesco de Marchis in its ranks as chief technology officer, reporting to CEO Terry Williamson. He was in the same position at Lowcost Travel Group until its demise in the summer of 2016, with earlier tech roles at the likes of Play.com, Orbitz and VivaStreet.
Thursday 1 December 2016:Expedia gets a new VP
- Mark Morrison becomes vice president for owner strategy and services for Expedia Inc, where he will be responsible for hotels and management companies. He left Hilton in March this year after an eight-year stint as vice president of corporate strategy. He has previously worked for Bain, Silicon Valley Bank and Tishman.
Datalex sales chief for Americas
- The Ireland-based travel digital commerce provider has Jonathan Sutter joining from Ricondo Associates as its new vice president of sales in the Americas region. Sutter worked for Travelport between March 2011 and January this year, as well as previously having roles at America West Airlines and Delta.
NB: Travel people moves image via Shutterstock.