WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Travel Association (http://www.ustravel.org/) announced today that the newly named Chief Executive Officers for Orbitz Worldwide , Barney Harford, and Travelocity Global, Hugh Jones, will be headline speakers at the U.S. Travel Association's TravelCom'09. The event will be held March 31 - April 2, 2009 in Atlanta, GA.
Harford and Jones will appear together on a CEO Roundtable to discuss the industry's latest developments, including the growing global focus of online travel agencies (OTA's) and online travel. Their appearance at TravelCom will be one of first major public speaking engagements for both gentlemen since being named to their new leadership roles.
With the theme, "Transform Your Business: How to Adapt and Prosper in the Travel Ecosystem", TravelCom'09 will feature senior executives from the travel industry's most recognizable bands discussing how eCommerce and digital distribution channels are playing larger roles in the down economy. Among the topics to be covered will be the latest practices of loyalty programs, offshore business operations, metasearch, ancillary revenue opportunities, mobile marketing and reaching travelers through new technologies.
Tapped to lead Orbitz Worldwide (http://corp.orbitz.com/) on January 7, Harford is also a director on the Orbitz Worldwide board. Prior to joining Orbitz in 2007, he previously served in a variety of roles with Expedia, Inc. from 1999-2006, including leading the company's entry into China, Japan and Australia as President of Expedia Asia Pacific.
Jones, also appointed on January 7, oversees businesses around the world, including Travelocity, lastminute.com in Europe and ZUJI in Asia Pacific. Previously, Hugh served in varying positions at Travelocity Global's parent company, Sabre Holdings (http://www.sabre-holdings.com/), including senior vice president and chief operating officer for Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Airline Solutions.
Other featured speakers include: -- Angela Brav, Senior Vice President, Franchise Services & Operations Support, InterContinental Hotels Group -- Caroline Beteta, President and CEO, California Travel & Tourism Commission and National Chair of the U.S. Travel Association -- Greg Brockway, Chief Executive Officer, TripIt -- Hugh Crean, General Manager, Live Search Farecast, a Microsoft Company -- Kevin Fliess, CEO & Co-Founder, TravelMuse -- Steve Hafner, CEO and Co-Founder, Kayak.com -- Henry Harteveldt, Vice President and Principal Analyst--Airline/Travel Industry Research, Forrester Research, and Co-Chair of TravelCom'09 -- Kevin Krone, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Distribution, Southwest Airlines -- Cree Lawson, President and CEO, Travel Ad Network -- Krista Pappas, Head of Business Development, Live Search Farecast, a Microsoft Company, and Co-Chair of TravelCom'09 -- Christine Petersen, Chief Marketing Officer, TripAdvisor -- Michael Thomas, Chairman, Travel Ad Network, BookingWiz.com and Sprice -- Rob Torres, Managing Director, Travel, Google, Inc.
For more information and to register for the show, visit http://www.ustravel.org/travelcom.
The U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $740 billion travel industry. U.S. Travel's mission is to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States. For more information, visit http://www.ustravel.org/.
