New roles for the industry’s movers and shakers
Tourism Malaysia
Azman Bin Samsudin has been appointed as director for tourism Malaysia, Chennai. In his new role, his primary responsibilities include promoting Malaysia as a destination of choice among South Indians travelling abroad through innovative marketing campaigns and strategic tie-ups to increase footfalls from the region to Malaysia. With a wealth of experience in Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, Samsudin has an accomplished career spanning 20 years having worked at Kota Kinabalu- Sabah, Putrajaya, and later in Indonesia overseeing the operations at Tourism Malaysia, Medan.
MTDC
Paraag Jaiin Nainuttia (IAS) has been appointed as managing director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC). An ex-CEO of Maharashtra Maritime Board, Nainuttia is a senior IAS officer of 1996 batch. He took charge from Valsa Nair Singh, who was having additional charge of MD, MTDC. She will continue as the secretary of tourism, Government of Maharashtra. With more than 18 years of experience in responsible roles in the spheres of management and administration, Nainuttia brings in expertise in team, project leadership, administration and management.
MGTO
The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) has appointed VFS Global as its new representative office for India. Arzan Khambatta is the newly appointed general manager of the MGTO representative office in India. On January 28, 2015 MGTO held an inauguration in New Delhi to officially unveil the new representative office and highlight the promotional activities Macau has planned for India.
Sustainable Travel International
Founder Brian T Mullis will be Sustainable Travel International’s new chairman of the board, and Dr Louise Twining-Ward will take Mullis’ place as CEO. Mullis has always nurtured a senior leadership team and will work closely with Twining-Ward to expand the organisation’s ability to harness the power of travel and tourism as a force for global good. Sustainable Travel International is now based in Washington, DC with an annual budget of US$ 2.4 million, a full time staff of 12, and a global network of NGO, government and private sector partners.
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines has appointed Shannon Okinaka as senior vice president and interim chief financial officer, filling a vacancy left by the departure of CFO Scott Topping. In her new role, Okinaka will have oversight of all the airline’s financial planning, accounting, treasury and compliance functions. Okinaka has served as vice president – controller of Hawaiian Airlines since 2011. She joined the company as a senior director in charge of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and special projects. Prior to joining Hawaiian Airlines, Okinaka worked for Hawaiian Electric Company and Coopers & Lybrand/ PricewaterhouseCoopers. A native of Hilo, Okinaka holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Conferma
Conferma, experts in Virtual Card Number (VCN) technology for the corporate travel sector, has appointed Andres Rojas as business development director – Americas, to spearhead its future growth across Latin America. Reporting directly to Conferma CEO Simon Barker, Rojas will be responsible for managing Conferma’s banking and travel technology partner relationships to support the continued growth of VCN technology in the region. Rojas joins Conferma from Concur where he was director of business development and strategic alliances for Latin America, responsible for Concur’s strategic banking and travel technology relationships in the region. Prior to that he spent 10 years at BCD Travel where he was director of technology operations – Latin America.
Travelport
Travelport has appointed Nicholas Kong as general manager for Malaysia. Effective immediately, Kong will lead in the delivery and roll-out of Travelport technology, as well as oversee Travelport’s commercial operations to drive growth across the region. In his new role, he will report into Carole Oh, Travelport’s commercial director for Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines. A seasoned industry professional with 20 years of account management and sales development experience, Kong joined Travelport in 2011 and has since then become an integral member of the Travelport Malaysia team. Prior to joining Travelport, he worked for a number of other technology companies in sales and account management including Abacus, Amadeus, Creative Advances Technology and E-globalfocus.
Ryanair
Ryanair has appointed Carol Anne O’Neill as head of sales and marketing. She is joining Ryanair from Falcon/ Thomson, where she was head of Ireland. She has over 28 years of experience in the travel industry, having also worked for XL Airways and Wings Abroad. In her new role, she will oversee Ryanair’s sales and marketing team and activities across 30 countries in Europe and North Africa.
Airberlin Group
Stefan Pichler has officially taken up his position as chief executive officer of the airberlin group. He was appointed by the Board of Directors. With 25 years of experience in the aviation industry, Pichler has experience in managing low-cost, charter and classic airlines with profitable route networks.
Up through the end of January he worked for Fiji Airways, where he implemented a turnaround programme to lead the airline back to profitability.
Before joining Fiji Airways he was managing director and chief executive of Jazeera Airways.
AirAsia X
Datuk Kamarudin Meranun has been appointed as group CEO, AirAsia X, while Benyamin Bin Ismail has been appointed as acting CEO of AirAsia X Berhad, as part of an on-going reorganisation exercise. In this newly created role, Meranun will spearhead developing the overarching strategy for AirAsia X Group, which encompasses AirAsia X Berhad, AirAsia X Thailand and Indonesia AirAsia Extra. Ismail joined AirAsia Berhad in 2010, heading up the investor relations team and most recently played the role of group head of corporate development, implementation and investor relations.
Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways has appointed Jordi Porcel Cortes as general manager for Spain. Cortes will be based in Etihad Airways’ new Madrid office, where he will lead the airline’s Spanish commercial operations.
Bringing a wealth of industry experience to the airline, Cortes previously worked for Vueling Airlines, where he served as chief sales officer, responsible for sales for the past three years. Prior to joining Vueling Airlines, he worked in various managerial positions at British Airways, lastly as regional commercial manager of Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
IHG
Tash Tobias has been appointed as general manager of the InterContinental Singapore, and taken on an expanded role as regional general manager for Singapore, Malaysia and Batam. Tobias will be responsible for driving strategic growth and operational excellence for 10 hotels across four brands including InterContinental Singapore, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium, Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre, Holiday Inn Express Singapore Clarke Quay, Holiday Inn Express Singapore Orchard Road, Holiday Inn Resort Batam, InterContinental Kuala Lumpur, Holiday Inn Kuala Lumpur Glenmarie and Holiday Inn Melaka.