Southwest CEO Gary Kelly Joins Industry Leaders on First Travel’s Value CEO Panel

Panelists will provide a glimpse into the future of the corporate travel business from a CEO perspective as they address economic recovery, evolving business models, and industry innovations.

Craig Banikowski, CCTE, C.P.M., CMM, NBTA President & CEO, said, “Gary Kelly is the perfect addition to this ground breaking panel at the NBTA Convention. He is sure to entertain and enlighten as he provides his insights on how the industry’s value brands plan to survive and thrive in a new economy.”

A 23-year Southwest veteran, Kelly began his career at Southwest Airlines as Controller, moving up to Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance, then Executive Vice President and CFO, before being promoted to CEO in 2004. He assumed the role of Chairman and President in 2008. Southwest Airlines is celebrating 37 years of consecutive profitability and was named #1 in Customer Satisfaction by the Department of Transportation for the year 2009. For the 13th year in a row, Fortune magazine listed Southwest Airlines among the world’s most admired corporations. Kelly was named one of the best CEOs in America for 2008, 2009, and 2010 by Institutional Investor magazine and was a finalist for Texan of the Year by the Dallas Morning News.

Kelly will sit on the Travel’s Value Chain CEO Panel with:

• Douglas Anderson
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  Carlson Wagonlit Travel
  
  Douglas Anderson was named president and chief executive officer of Carlson Wagonlit Travel by the company's board of directors in April 2008. He joined CWT as executive vice president and chief financial officer one year earlier. Currently based in Paris, Anderson is a U.S. citizen with extensive international experience in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. He spent 25 years at UPS, based in the United States, Hong Kong, London and Brussels.
  
  
• Frits van Paasschen
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
  
  Mr. van Paasschen joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. in 2007 and oversees all aspects of operations and performance. In the past three years, Starwood has opened a record 250 hotels around the world. Looking forward, it boasts a pipeline of over 300 hotels, more than 70 percent of which are located outside of the United States. In addition to increasing the global footprint of its well established brands, Starwood also launched its two newest brands, aloft and Element, during Mr. van Paasschen’s tenure.
  
  
• Gordon Wilson
  Deputy CEO, Travelport
  President & CEO, Travelport GDS
  
  Gordon Wilson has been Travelport’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer since November 2009 and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Group’s GDS business since January 2007. Mr Wilson has 19 years experience in the electronic travel distribution and Airline IT industry. Prior to the Worldspan acquisition, Mr Wilson was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Galileo and has held several leadership positions for divisions within Cendant, Travelport and Galileo.

The panel will be moderated by Trip Davis, Co-Found and Chairman, TRX, Inc., and is made possible by BMO Financial Group.

NBTA’s Banikowski added, “In a time of new realities for the corporate travel community, a panel in which industry thought leaders will share insider knowledge and explore new concepts in cost savings is exactly what travel professionals are looking for. We’ve adjusted our policies and tweaked our budgets, and now we need to know what we can expect in the coming months and years.”

For more information about the 2010 NBTA Convention, visit www.nbtaconvention.org.

About the Global Business Travel Association | The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world's premier business travel and meetings organization. Collectively, GBTA's 5,000-plus members manage over $340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA provides its network of 17,000 business and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers, with networking events, news, education & professional development, research, and advocacy. For more information, visit gbta.org

2010 NBTA International Convention & Exposition 8-11 August 2010 GRBCC: George R. Brown Convention Center United States - Houston, TX More Information | Website