July 2012 - Vacation Agent

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DESTINATIONS continued from page 13
hybrid. From a P.R. perspective, the new media reality is challenging,
but it gives us new amazing ways of reaching out, which I find exciting.
In the U.S. everything happens so fast, but it still comes down to
telling a good story. I see myself as a ‘story midwife.’”
Andrea Knecht: Much of the experience
that Knecht, 30, brings to her post as
account manager-trade relations North
America for Switzerland Tourism stems
from decisions that her family made, as it
was a priority of her parents that she know
Switzerland thoroughly. They also took her
to New York, where they lived for a year and
explored the U.S. Knecht studied tourism in Switzerland and then
moved back to New York to work for Switzerland Tourism. “I love to
share the beauty of our country, and through my job I can actively
support tourism to Switzerland as well as the travel industry in
North America by helping tour operators and agents sell Switzerland
and allow their customers to explore a country with an incredible
diversity,” she says.
Carmen Laborin: Laborin, 32, romance
director for the Mexico Tourism Board, is
a driving force behind the organization of
Love Mexico, an annual educational and
networking event developed by Mexico
Wed in partnership with the Mexico Tourism
Board. Love Mexico showcases the
country as a premier destination for weddings,
honeymoons and romance travel. The event takes place
in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, New York and, for the first time this
year, Dallas. Laborin previously worked as a wedding planner
with Mexico’s Velas Resorts before taking on her current position
in 2010, when it was created. She reports to the Mexico Tourism
Board’s executive director-meeting industry.
“Cris” Luna Infante: During the first
three months of 2012, the number of visitors
to Chile rose 14 percent from the same period
a year ago. At the forefront of the efforts
is Infante, 35, global market director, Chilean
Tourism Promotion Corporation/Turismo
Chile. Luna joined Turismo Chile in 2010 with
the responsibility of developing the country’s
tourism promotion business plan. His relationships with key industry
stakeholders in public and private sectors in Chile and worldwide
have been key to his success in building the country’s tourism
profile. Luna also understands the importance of travel agents.
Under his leadership, Turismo Chile operates a program that has
trained and certified 9,000 agents in the past three years.
Meredith Pearson: The eyes of the
world are on Britain, thanks to the Diamond
Jubilee, World Pride, the Paralympics and
the London Olympics, and at the center of the
coverage is Pearson, 31, director of public relations
and communications-USA for VisitBritain.
She spent four years in public relations
in Cardiff and London, then returned to her
native Canada to start her own travel company. Looking for a challenge,
she accepted the role of VisitBritain’s Canadian public relations
manager. Within one year Pearson was working in the regional
head office in New York, and shortly after was appointed to her
current role. In just 12 months, she has launched the largest image
campaign in the organization’s history, spearheaded a partnership
with the U.S. Olympic Committee and surpassed coverage targets.
Andre Rojer: Rojer, 34, marketing manager-North
America for the Curaçao Tourist
Board, is a native of the small neighborhood
of Barber on the island. He followed
extensive hotel, restaurant and tourism
management training with four years at
the Curaçao Hospitality and Tourism Association.
In 2007 he joined the Curaçao
Tourist Board, serving as marketing coordinator in the Northeast
U.S. office and as marketing representative in the Miami office.
Within five years, his talent resulted in his present position, working
out of Newark, N.J. Rojer has always emphasized Curaçao’s
diversity, and he has successfully placed the marketing focus on
the island’s many environments, from its many beaches and dive
sites to the dynamic city of Willemstad, which he describes as “a
cleaner, warmer Amsterdam.”
Rosina Shiliwala: At 32, Shiliwala is
used to the looks she gets when she is introduced
as director-North America for the
Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions
(NBTC), because she’s the first American
(and woman) to lead the NBTC in this
market. In 2000 she received a fellowship at
the University of Amsterdam and spent time
exploring the country. After moving to New York in 2006, she started
in public relations. In 2009 Shiliwala was hired as the NBTC’s public
relations director for North America, and led her team in leveraging
Holland’s icons in engaging ways. In January she was promoted to
her current post and now oversees all marketing, public relations
and business development in the U.S. and Canada.
Yuki Yamagishi: Yamagishi 31, director
of the Japan National Tourism Organization’s
New York office, found herself dealing
with the worst catastrophe in decades, and
kept steady communication with the press
to ensure hysteria didn’t infect the accounts
of the tsunami and nuclear crisis in
Japan last year. “As a result of our aggressive
campaigns with a number of fam trips, consumer and media
events, and joint promotions with our partners, the travelers are
coming back, and I hope we see a total recovery and even more
growth in 2012,” she says. Yamagishi spent her youth in Singapore
and Australia, which allowed her to see Japan from different
perspectives. Though she started her career as a travel agent
in Japan, she felt more motivated to bring visitors to the country
than to send travelers out.
TRANSPORTATION
Vicky Anh Cao: Vicky Anh Cao, 32,
is manager of national Internet accounts
for Hertz. Although she earned a degree in
electrical engineering, she didn’t want to be
an engineer, and took a job at Hertz as an
account service representative. She moved
swiftly up the ranks, and her accounts now
include major corporations and travel agencies.
She has set a pattern of exceeding her goals, and because
of that, she achieved Hertz President’s Circle status in 2008. In
2010 she became one of the top 25 global Hertz salespeople.
Because of her contributions, she was selected to be a Global
Leadership Award winner, which recognizes the achievements of
40 top global performers.
Kristine Elkin: Elkin, 32, started with
Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Chicago in 2001 and
worked her way through the rental ranks and
up to corporate sales. In 2005 she moved to
London and launched Enterprise Entertainment
Europe, which was so successful that
she was promoted to oversee national sales
for Enterprise’s business lines in Ireland.
She returned to the U.S. two years ago to build the Alamo, National
and Enterprise brands from North America to Europe and oversee
agency partnerships in the Northeast. Now Elkin is working on
developing retail business lines to Enterprise’s growing European
operations. She also is the “Cash-In-Club Ambassador,” spreading
the news about the company’s agent rewards program.
Eric Pearson: After six years in the
healthcare industry, Pearson, 29, joined
Hertz, where he marries his passion for cars
with his experience in brand management.
He has been instrumental in managing the
marketing for many programs, including the
young renters’ program as well as the Prestige,
Adrenaline and Green Traveler collections.
He worked on Hertz’s partnership with Live Nation, a search
engine for concerts and tickets, something that is helping Hertz
reach an entirely new population. Pearson, who is part of the product
management team, has been active in the development of some
cutting-edge programs, and he’s helped orchestrate the marketing
efforts on cars using Clean Diesels, EVs and CNGs.
Lothaire Ruellan: Ruellan, 32, director
of online marketing for Rail Europe, has
been with the company for the past eight
years. His brief career has taken him from
web analyst/designer to project manager
of the Web Redesign Plan, which included
raileurope.com and agent.raileurope.com.
Not bad for a guy who got into travel as a
flight attendant for Air France back in college. In his current role,
Ruellan oversees all online marketing channels: paid search (SEM),
organic search (SEO), email marketing, affiliates, social media and
content development. He championed several key web projects
for the company—booking engine redesign, customer experience,
interactive maps—and received Rail Europe’s innovation award in
2011 for ongoing work on rail maps.
Jenna Steggles: With the Queen’s
Diamond Jubilee now over, Steggles 30, marketing
communications manager for Virgin
Atlantic Airways based in Norwalk, Conn., is
spearheading her company’s ongoing marketing
campaign called “London by Virgin Atlantic”
in anticipation of this month’s 2012 Summer
Olympics. Her team created a special
version of the Union Jack flag featuring a Virgin Atlantic cabin crew
surrounded by iconic symbols of the city. Earlier this year, Steggles
helped develop a program that offered a select group of travel agents
the opportunity to check out London before the celebrations. She
manages Virgin Atlantic’s business-to-business marketing, which includes
dealing with travel agents and corporate clients. “I’ve learned
an awful lot in my four years with the company,” she says.
Tom Villani: Villani, 30, director of
business development for online travel
for the Avis Budget Group, is responsible
for a large portfolio, and among his
achievements is the launch of Groupon
campaigns for Avis. He oversees relations
with Expedia, which encompasses
managing Expedia, Hotwire and Carrentals.com. He also manages
the Priceline account, which includes Priceline and Rentalcars.
com; Orbitz, which includes Cheaptickets; Travelocity and
Travelocity for Business; Kayak; CarTrawler; TripIt; and Traxo.
Villani began at Avis Budget as a pricing analyst trainee and over
the years worked his way into a number of posts in pricing and
revenue management. Most recently, he was senior manager of
business development focusing on online agencies.
TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY & INSURANCE
Sean Carapella: Carapella, 35, director
of software engineering for Amadeus
North America, has had a key role in several
projects, including Amadeus One, a suite
of IT solutions and services for corporate
agencies. He’s also played an important part
in Amadeus Cryptic Magic, a “translation”
feature that lets agents enter the cryptic
commands they are used to at the point of sale and obtain the same
policy-compliant results as agents operating in a graphic environment.
He’s worked on Amadeus Fare Analyzer and Amadeus Flexible
Air Flow. Carapella also is involved in the development aspects
that relate to hot topics in distribution, including direct connections,
ancillary services and XML standards.
Phil Donathy: As product director,
Donathy, 35, is responsible for Travelport’s
portfolio of developer tools. This includes
product management for such classic APIs
as Galileo Web Services and XMLPro, as
well as the global rollout of Travelport’s
universal API, the Travelport Developer Network
and Universal Desktop SDK. Donathy
and his team have zeroed in on understanding the needs of developers
in travel agencies as well as independent software vendors.
He wins rave reviews from colleagues because he has created an
environment that cultivates collaboration and innovation, and he
took a complex assignment and furthered its development while
working in an industry that’s fast-paced and competitive.
Sarah Kennedy Ellis: Ellis, 30, director
of Sabre Studios, has been something of an
evangelist when it comes to preaching social
media to agents. She’s a techie who can
talk about social media in plain English, and
she does it with infectious enthusiasm. The
Agent Stream site was her baby when she
was manager of special solutions for the Sabre
Travel Network. Agent Stream is more than a business-to-business
Facebook. It’s a place where agents can network and connect
with suppliers. In her new job, Ellis continues to bring technology
to agents, working to learn their needs while researching trends to
provide tools for working faster, smarter and more profitably.
Bob Ford: Ford, 32, regional vice president
of sales for Travel Guard, spends 80
percent of his time visiting agencies to
consult with them on sales and marketing
strategy. He brings a combination of youthful
energy as well as a wealth of knowledge
to his job, having worked in the airline and
hotel sectors. Ford is investing his time in the
travel industry as well by serving on the College of DuPage Travel
& Tourism Committee to help make sure that students going into the
industry do so with a solid educational foundation. He is results oriented
and wants to excel, and he wants those with whom he works
to do their best as well.
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