New roles for the industry’s movers and shakers
Cathay Pacific Airways
Cathay Pacific Airways has appointed Viren Rathod as the account manager of the sales team in the western region. In his new portfolio, Rathod will be responsible for revenue generation from strategic corporate and trade accounts and would be based out of Mumbai. He has worked in the industry for eight years and before joining Cathay Pacific as the accounts manager, he worked with United Airlines for six years. He has also had stints with Korean Air and Tap Portuga Airlines in the past.
Switzerland Tourism
Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh has been now named the first Indian ambassador for Switzerland Tourism. Under this role, Singh will be in charge of promoting Switzerland Tourism’s campaign for 2017 – ‘Nature wants you back’. On his recent trip to Switzerland, the actor tried various activities such as wakeboarding on Lake Zurich, ski jumps at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne, bogganing on Mt Pilatus, paragliding and skydiving in Interlaken. He also visited the FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich and paid tribute to Yash Chopra by visiting the Yash Chopra Suite at Victoria Jungfrau and the Yash Chopra Statue in the Kursaal Garden. The board will soon release new set of ads it has created for the summer campaign.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) recently announced that Matt O’Keefe has joined as chief technology officer of hotel distribution and Matt Brennan as vice president of hotel operations. O’Keefe’s 20 years of technology and software experience include expertise and knowledge of the travel industry. He was most recently chief technology officer for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.
Brennan has been in the facilities space since 2009 and has supported other third-party service industries since 1996. Earlier in his career, Brennan was vice president, vendor network and wholesale product marketing, GE Finance, launching a new business venture and managing US$ 60 million of annual third party vendor expense.
Boeing
Boeing has recently announced the appointment of Pat Goggin as president of defense and space development. Goggin currently is the vice president of Airplane Programs Engineering for the company’s commercial airplanes unit, overseeing the engineering teams that support all the current seven series passenger planes. Before that, he was vice president of Boeing’s Development Program Excellence initiative, focused on starting programmes and identifying key risk areas. Goggin, who has worked at Boeing for 29 years, will move into his new role this month.
Asia Aviation Capital
Asia Aviation Capital, AirAsia Berhad’s aircraft leasing unit, has appointed Harry Forsythe as deputy chief executive officer and chief commercial officer. Forsythe, a British and Australian dual citizen, has comprehensive knowledge of aircraft leasing with over 30 years of global expertise in sales and marketing across dry and wet leasing, sale-and-leaseback and aircraft sales in Asia Pacific and the US. He was most recently the managing director of dotAero, which provides representation and access to expertise and solutions in aircraft re-marketing, lease transactions, sales, sale-and-leasebacks, asset management and aircraft acquisitions.
FCM Travel Solutions
FCM Travel Solutions has appointed Scott Reddie as the global director of account management, based in Philadelphia, USA. Reddie has over 16 years of experience in the travel industry and has worked across wholesale, reservations, travel media and adventure travel before moving into the corporate sector. He first started with FCTG in 2010 as a business development manager for corporate travellers in Brisbane, Australia. He then joined FCM in an account management role, managing key state accounts. In November 2012, Reddie relocated from Australia to the USA in an account management role, managing some of FCM’s key global accounts out of Boston. Since relocating, Reddie has worked in various positions supporting FCM’s growth in the USA and most recently relocated to San Francisco to focus on high-growth west coast markets.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines has announced that Peter Seah Lim Huat will succeed Stephen Lee Ching Yen as its non-executive chairman. Lim Huat, currently deputy chairman, will take over from Yen as chairman on January 1, 2017. Yen will retire from the board on the same day. He will continue as chairman of subsidiary SIA Engineering Company. Lim Huat joined the SIA Board as deputy chairman on September 1, 2015. A banker for more than 30 years, Lim Huat was with the former Overseas Union Bank between 1977 and 2001, retiring as vice chairman and CEO. Prior to that, he was with Citibank NA. Between December 2001 and December 2004, he served as president and CEO of Singapore Technologies. Lim Huat is chairman of DBS Group Holdings and DBS Bank. He is also chairman of LaSalle College of the Arts and Singapore Health Services.
Campus Travel Australia
Cathryn Cole has been appointed as the general manager of Campus Travel Australia. Cole is based in Campus Travel’s head office, which is located in the new Flight Centre Travel Group building in South Bank, Brisbane. She returns to Campus Travel and parent company Flight Centre Travel Group, following almost four years with corporate travel payment provider AirPlus. Prior to this directorship, Cole also fulfilled senior leadership roles for AirPlus including director of Global Excellence and regional sales manager, Eastern Australia.
W Hotel, Goa
W Goa has recently appointed Rashila Lobo as the new W Insider. Taking on the role, that is one of its kind in the hospitality field created by W Hotels, Lobo will play a major role by connecting the hotel’s savvy guests to the city’s happenings. W Insiders are in-the-know tastemakers, always on the cusp of what’s new and up-and-coming in their cities, providing guests with inside knowledge and going above and beyond to create extraordinary experiences.