Northstar

PEOPLE www.travelweeklyweb.com Varley appointed as COO at Wego.com SINGAPORE – Wego.com has announced the appointment of Matthew Varley as chief operating officer (COO). Varley will report to Wego.com CEO and co-founder Ross Veitch and will be based at the company's global headquarters in Singapore. "Wego is growing extremely rapidly and is now operating across 52 markets worldwide with more than 80 employees," said Veitch. "Matt's strengths as an allrounder, Asian market knowledge and previous experience scaling online travel businesses made him the perfect choice to drive the next phase of Wego's expansion." "Wego is a company that I have always admired for its innovative approach, creating a great experience for online travellers. I look forward to working with Wego's dedicated employees to build on their success, providing an ever more personalised experience for travellers, partners and advertisers," said Varley. Varley joins from the Wotif Group, where he held various key senior executive roles for over eight years both in Australia and Asia. Starting with the company in 2004 before publicly listing on the stock exchange, he led the Online Marketing strategy for five years over a period where the company's revenues quintupled from $23 million to $121million. With three years of experience in Southeast Asia, Varley managed the operations of Wotif Group's Asia business, expanding the team to nine offices and localising the product across Asian markets. Mohsin and Cornish join Banyan Tree Group SINGAPORE – The sales and marketing teams for Angsana Laguna Phuket and Banyan Tree Phuket are welcoming two new members; Heather Cornish who will take on the position of area director and sales & marketing and Izhar Mohsin, as the new area revenue manager. Cornish will oversee all sales and marketing functions Banyan Tree Phuket and Angsana Laguna Phuket, reporting to general manager of both properties. She brings with her over 20 years of Asia-Pacific experience with leading global brands across the tourism, airline, consumer goods and hospitality sectors. Mohsin moves up the ladder from his previous position as revenue manager at Angsana Laguna Phuket to area revenue manager for Banyan Tree Phuket and Angsana Laguna Phuket. He reports to the area director of sales and marketing. Mohsin joined the Banyan Tree Group with over eight years of experiences in reservations and revenue management as the junior reservations executive from The Leela Palace Kempinski Bangalore before joining Novotel Hyderabad as reservations manager. Thereafter, he joined The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace before being promoted to assistant revenue manager in 2010. After two years, he decided to join Citrus Hotels & Resorts as revenue and distribution manager before relocating to Singapore and joining Crowne Plaza Changi Airport as revenue manager in November 2011. Imber is new VP for Sales at Pegasus Hospitality DALLAS – Pegasus Solutions has named Diana Imber vice president of sales for Open Hospitality, a division of Pegasus Solutions. Imber, a practiced hospitality professional with more than two decades of experience selling to and for hotels, will manage global sales for the web services division that was acquired by Pegasus Solutions in November 2011. 6 | ■ TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA | JUNE 2013 "Diana's consultative approach to hotel sales has helped drive much of Open Hospitality's growth over the last six years," said Chris Wichers, chief sales officer for Pegasus Solutions. "As part of our global sales organisation, she brings real understanding and leadership to a division that not only drives great value for our hotels, but for the organisation overall." Imber has served as the global director of sales at Open Hospitality for six years. Prior to Open Hospitality, she sold to the hotel industry as director of supplier sales for Hotel Booking Solutions and during seven years. At the hotel level, Imber acted for four years as sales manager at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, and as assistant general manager with Embassy Suites Hotels Southern California. www.travelweeklyweb.com

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