Galileo Organizational Changes.
Galileo International, now a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation, has 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.
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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 Colorado.
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. The company also announced that Travel Portal, Inc. (TPI), an affiliate of Cendant, has acquired the licensing rights to Galileo`s TRIP.com online travel service. While the TRIP.com site will be available for launch as planned in November, the timing of an aggressive marketing campaign is being deferred until online travel market conditions stabilize.
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
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