Swiftrank Bolsters Executive Team With Seasoned Travel Technology Executives
New CEO and SVP boost world’s largest network of international travel websites, help prepare for further growth
SINGAPORE (March 30, 2011) – Leading online global travel network Swiftrank has promoted Internet travel executive Sue Heilbronner to the role of Chief Executive Officer. The travel website firm has also appointed veteran travel technology executive Bryan Harwood, as its Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation. The duo will help oversee Swiftrank’s rapidly expanding global network of over 12,000 location-based travel websites.
Heilbronner most recently served as Swiftrank’s Chief Marketing Officer and the President of Swiftrank North America, responsible for overseeing all marketing, business development, product development and sales for the company. She also opened the Company’s U.S. office in April 2010 and quickly established key partnerships and clients in the global hospitality industry.
Prior to joining Swiftrank last year, Heilbronner helped launch two online startups, one in online education and the other in crowd-sourced book publishing. Previously, Heilbronner was Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TIG Global, one of the hospitality industry's leading interactive marketing services providers. While at TIG Global, Heilbronner was a frequent industry speaker and author. In 2006, she was named one of HSMAI’s Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales & Marketing. Heilbronner holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Oberlin College and both a law degree and a master’s degree in public policy from Duke University. In accordance with her new role, Heilbronner will be moving to the company’s Singapore headquarters office this summer.
Harwood joined Swiftrank in January after eight years with Travelport, where he was the chief technology architect, leading a team of enterprise architects in building the next-generation global distribution system. He also played a central role in the integration of online travel agencies and meta-search companies into Travelport’s portfolio, developing a successful technology plan for the merger of Worldspan and Galileo GDS. Before joining Travelport, Harwood served as Enterprise Architect for Sun Microsystems Inc. and as an IT Architect for IBM. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Information and Computer Science from University of California, Irvine.
“Sue’s strategic vision has been an integral factor in the rapid global growth of our network so far, and we are thrilled that she will now ascend to the critical CEO role,” said David Leppan, Co-founder and Chairman of Swiftrank. “The success that we are experiencing has also allowed us to attract top-level travel technology talent like Bryan to the company. We are confident that this experienced team will help lay the groundwork for even more growth and expansion, as the global travel market continues to rebound.”
For more information on Swiftrank and their online global travel network, please visit www.swiftrank.com.
About Swiftrank
Swiftrank is the world’s largest online travel network, overseeing more than 12,000 location-based travel websites for destinations around the globe. Swiftrank’s optimized, interactive sites facilitate transactions from more than 101 countries, generating profitable revenue for travel companies by driving direct bookings for hotels, resorts, restaurants, spas and car rental companies through one or more highly relevant, targeted Swiftrank network sites, including www.LasVegasHotels.com and www.SingaporeHotels.com.sg. Swiftrank, Pte Ltd., is headquartered in Singapore, with offices in the United States. To learn more about how Swiftrank can work for your property or travel company, please visit www.Swiftrank.com, follow at @Swiftrank, or call toll-free 866-308-RANK (7265) or +1-720-239-1285.
Media Contacts:
Samantha Lee
Swiftrank
+1 (720) 239-1286
sam@swiftrank.com
Andrea Roland
Plan A PR
+1 (407) 905-0608
andrea@planapr.com
