Panelists to Speak at Featured Presentation at ASTA’s Congress

A team of leading travel professionals will be on the panel at the GDSs and New Entrants- Changes, Myths and Realities during the general session on Wednesday November 9 from 11:00am-1:00pm at ASTA's 75th World Travel Congress in Montréal. Paul Ruden, ASTA’s senior vice president of legal and industry affairs, will serve as moderator of the panel.

"The GDS has been the core automation for travel agencies since the 1970’s. New firms are offering products said to be technologically superior,” stated Deb Mangas, CTC, chair of ASTA’s 2005 World Travel Congress. “The decisions travel agents make regarding automation in the future could make or break their agency. Featuring this knowledgeable group of experts in the General Session provides the opportunity for our members to hear first hand the most up-to-date information. This is a panel discussion every agent at Congress won’t want to miss!"

The group of panelists that will be part of the GDS seminar at general session include:

- Chris Kroeger is the senior vice president at Sabre Travel Network in North America. Kroeger earned both a bachelor of business administration and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Before coming to Sabre, Kroeger led the launch and development of Jurni Network.

- Ellen Lee is the co-founder of G2 Switchworks Corp. and vice president of business development. Lee is a 12-year travel industry veteran and has an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. She was active as an airline leader with American Airlines and Delta Airlines. While working at Delta, Lee served as one of the founders of the original T2 (Orbitz.com) business plan.

- Kurt Ekert is the group vice president of strategic business development at Cendant. Most recently Ekert served as chief operating officer of Cendant Corporate Travel Solutions, including Travelport and Orbitz for Business, where he led all customer, operating and commercial elements of the business.

- Derek Lewitton is the vice president of sales and product strategy at ITA Software. Lewitton holds a law degree from Stanford University and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining ITA, he was responsible for development of United Airline’s new worldwide distribution strategy.

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