To lead the effort, Amadeus has appointed 20-year IBM veteran, Dwayne Ingram, as Executive Vice President for the Amadeus Multinational Customer Group serving the Americas. In this new role, Ingram and his team will be responsible for select large travel management companies, multinational agencies and online travel agencies across the region. Based out of Amadeus' Chicago center, Ingram will be responsible for leading sales, account management and travel technology efforts in tandem with the company's existing local commercial organizations.

A significant joint effort between Amadeus' global and regional teams, Ingram will be an integral part of a leadership team headed by Gillian Gibson, Global Vice President of Amadeus' Multinational Customer Group worldwide, and Kay Urban, President and CEO of Amadeus North America.

"This marks a tremendous long-term investment and Amadeus' ongoing commitment and presence in the region," said Gibson. "Our focus will be on developing and delivering next generation IT services and solutions to corporate and online customers that go well beyond 'traditional' distribution offerings."

Urban said, "Dwayne brings a successful track record and tremendous experience in both travel and technology. With Dwayne and his team in place, we have the right combination of technology, people and vision to optimally serve the marketplace."

Urban added that Ingram's broad experience in understanding and serving multinational customers would be pivotal to Amadeus' development of this growing market segment in the Americas.

Ingram has spent more than 23 years in consulting and information technology and has held various positions in executive management, consulting, project management, sales and personnel leadership. He has over 15 years of industry experience in Travel and Transportation (T&T) industries, having led both IBM"s T&T outsourcing and consulting businesses. During his tenure at IBM, Ingram oversaw clients that ranged from hotels to casinos and from cruise lines to travel agencies.

Most recently, he served as the General Manager for the Application Management Services unit in the Americas for IBM. He was responsible for applications maintenance and services practice delivered through both the consulting and outsourcing channels of IBM Global Services and led a $2.5B application management and services business throughout the US, Canada and Latin America. Previously, he served as Vice President of the Strategic Outsourcing business for IBM.

Ingram is a graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Communications. He is heavily involved in several community organizations, both charitable and civic. He is a member of the Florida Council of 100 (top CEOs/business leaders in Florida), the Board of Governors with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Center for Educational Performance for Florida TaxWatch, the Community Leaders Council for the United Way, and Board of Directors for Workforce Florida. He is also active in several other organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the YMCA.