Galileo
Announces New Management Team Under Mark E. Miller’s Leadership
Galileo International, a leading provider of electronic global
distribution services (GDS) for the travel industry and a subsidiary of
Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD), today elaborated on the previously
announced organizational changes related to Cendant’s acquisition of
Galileo and named a new management team.
As previously announced, Mark E. Miller, formerly president and COO of
Cendant’s Travel Division, has been appointed president & CEO of
Galileo, and Samuel L. Katz, chairman and CEO of Cendant’s Travel
Distribution Division, will take on the additional role of chairman of
Galileo.
Galileo is now one of three principal components of Cendant’s Travel
Distribution Division, which also includes: reservations transactions
systems provider WizCom, which handles reservations for more than 115
hotel and car rental chains in over 40 countries; and Cendant’s travel
agency business, one of the largest travel agencies in the industry with
six million requests for air, car, hotel and tour reservations and $750
million sold in travel annually.
As part of a reorganization, Galileo has broadened the responsibility of
its three sales and service regions to more comprehensively serve the
needs of its supplier and subscriber customers around the world. Galileo
has appointed Dan Neuburger, formerly senior vice president of
operations at Cendant and a 15-year travel industry veteran, as
executive vice president and general manager to lead the Americas
region, which includes the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Galileo’s
Gordon Wilson and Janie Kaung have each been promoted to executive vice
president and managing director of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)
and Asia Pacific, respectively. Each region now has greater autonomy,
with heightened accountability and resources to meet customer needs and
capture market share.
“As a global company operating in 115 countries, these organizational
changes and new appointments will enable us to allocate more
responsibility and resources as close to our worldwide customer base as
possible. Our goal is to speed up delivery of specific products and
services to quickly seize marketplace opportunities and better fulfill
the needs of our valued customers worldwide,” said Mark E. Miller,
president and CEO of Galileo. “Each of these leaders brings an in-depth
knowledge of the marketplace and the sales and service requirements of
our customers, and they will play a key role in the expansion of
Galileo’s market reach and financial growth.”
Galileo’s corporate functions will be transferred to Cendant’s corporate
facilities in Parsippany, NJ. Galileo’s Rosemont, Ill., Denver, Colo.,
and international-based facilities, however, will remain key operating
centers, and all of Galileo’s non-corporate functions will remain
largely intact.
As part of Cendant’s strategy to maximize the potential of Galileo’s
business units, Galileo’s state-of-the-art data center will become part
of Cendant’s IT group. It will remain in Denver and its function will
remain largely the same, with Galileo as its largest customer. Cendant
recognizes the advantages that the scale of Galileo’s operation can
bring and will be moving its existing data center from Garden City, NY
to Colo.
Additionally, Galileo’s subsidiary Quantitude, its telecommunications
network services provider, has been combined with Cendant’s
telecommunications group, and THOR, also a Galileo subsidiary, which
offers discounted hotel rate programs to more than 15,000 travel
agencies, has been integrated with Cendant’s travel operations business.
New Management Team Named
Galileo also announced a new CFO and CIO, as well as senior vice
presidents of Business Development and Supplier Sales and Services. All
will report directly to President and CEO Mark Miller.
Ted McNamara has been named executive vice president, finance, and chief
financial officer. In his new position, McNamara is responsible for all
of Galileo’s finance and administration functions. McNamara was
previously senior vice president and chief financial officer for Wright
Express, a Cendant company.
Mickey Lutz has been named CIO for Galileo. Prior, Lutz was chief
information officer and senior vice president, Information Technology of
PHH Arval, a Cendant company.
Galileo has also named Flo Lugli senior vice president of Supplier Sales
and Services, responsible for the global management of Galileo’s
relationships with travel industry suppliers. In addition, Galileo’s
Shepherd Systems, a leading provider of sales and marketing intelligence
systems and services for the travel industry, will report to Lugli. She
previously served as president of WizCom, a Cendant company.
In addition, Galileo has named Kenneth Esterow senior vice president of
the newly created Business Development unit. This unit will include
strategic planning, product prioritization and management, strategic
alliances and acquisitions, and new venture departments. Prior, Esterow
was senior vice president, Strategic Development Group at Cendant.
“This new team brings a wealth of knowledge, energy and competitive zeal
to Galileo. We are excited to be joining forces with the outstanding
people of Galileo to take the business to a new level of industry
leadership,” said Miller. |