HTNG announces two new Strategy Chairs to join its Global Strategy Team and lead the Staff Recruiting and Engagement Pillar, and the newly launched Distribution Pillar.

Hyatt Hotel Corporation's Director of IT - Hotel Openings, Mark Retnam, and VP of HR ASPAC, Katie Carter, have been elected to serve as Strategy Chairs for HTNG's Staff Recruiting and Engagement Pillar. The mission of this pillar is to improve technology and its use to increase staff engagement, to make staff members' lives easier and to generate greater productivity while also making careers in hospitality operations and IT more attractive.

HTNG has grown their partnerships with the OpenTravel Alliance and the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA) to now facilitate joint workgroups which support improved distribution strategies. The first two efforts include the recently launched Open Payments Alliance (OPA) and Unique Global Identifier (UGI) working groups.

These groups align to a new Strategic Pillar between HTNG and OpenTravel which focuses on distribution. Oracle Hospitality's Senior Director Distribution Strategy, Tom Coulthurst, has been elected to serve as the Strategy Chair for the Distribution Pillar.

About Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG)

Part of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), HTNG the premier technology solutions association in the hospitality industry, HTNG serves members from hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, consultants, media and academic experts. HTNG's members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards and also develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry.

Currently more than 400 corporate and individual members from across this spectrum, including world leading hospitality companies and technology vendors, are active HTNG participants. HTNG's Board of Governors, consisting of 22 top IT leaders from hospitality companies around the world, itself has technology responsible for over 3 million guest rooms and world-leading venues. HTNG publishes workgroup proceedings, drafts and specifications for all HTNG members as soon as they are created, encouraging rapid and broad adoption. HTNG releases specifications into the public domain as soon as they are ratified by the workgroups.

Emily Wilson
Marketing Manager
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HTNG