New commercial management structure aligned to global business objectives

Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, today announces a number of commercial team changes, all designed to further build on the delivery of its ongoing strategic business objectives. 
Focusing on accelerating the execution of Travelport’s strategic plan, the new structure aims to provide a highly customer-centric approach through the closer alignment of its commercial, marketing and product teams.  Specifically, under the new structure, Travelport’s marketing and product team will be merged with its commercial function under the leadership of Kurt Ekert, Chief Commercial Officer.  Gillian Gibson, who has been Chief Marketing Officer for Travelport for almost two years, will remain with the company until the end of the year when she will leave to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

Key internal management appointments and changes, all effective 1 November 2012 (unless otherwise indicated), include:

• Bryan Conway is appointed Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) with overall responsibility for the definition, creation and marketing of Travelport’s products and services to all customer groups.

• Jason Clarke is appointed Group Vice President and Managing Director, Global Sales, focused on travel management companies (TMCs), online travel agencies (OTAs) and leisure travel agency customers using Travelport’s capabilities to procure and retail travel products.

• Mark Harris is appointed Group Vice President, Commercial Operations and Deployment, with responsibility for customer service and product deployment globally.

• Derek Sharp is appointed Group Vice President & Managing Director, Global Distribution Sales and Services, focused on Travelport’s partnerships with travel content providers such as airlines and rail companies, who use Travelport’s capabilities to distribute their products and services.

• Simon Nowroz is appointed Group Vice President, Business Development, with responsibility for leading Travelport strategy in certain key growth countries including Brazil, China, India and Japan.  Simon will continue to lead the APAC region until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition with the soon-to-be-announced new Regional Managing Director.

• Niklas Andréen and Sandra McLeod continue to lead the Hospitality and Advertising business and the management of our global TMC accounts respectively.

Commenting on the appointments, Gordon Wilson, Travelport President and CEO said:

“We have been steadily implementing our strategy based on considerable investment in new product and technology to reflect the changing distribution needs of our airline, hotel and other customers.  The changes we are announcing today will further align our business around the execution and delivery of our new capabilities to both sets of customers, joined up under one commercial leadership.   Aligning the Travelport commercial proposition under Kurt Ekert will speed up our decision-making and further enhance the communication of our value proposition, backed up with tangible differentiation in the products and services we are now able to offer.

“On a personal note, I would also like to thank Gillian for the many benefits she has brought to Travelport.  Her commercial understanding, strategic focus, drive and energy are outstanding and the company has certainly benefited in many ways from her involvement.   I wish her every success for the future.”