IAN FERGUSON DIRECTOR OF IT, EXPOTEL You need far-sighted people when it comes to technology and one of our panellists described Ferguson, who joined Expotel from BCD Travel this year, as “a real visionary [with a] good understanding of GDS and infrastructure”. Ferguson is also “very eloquent”, a useful trait when trying to win a business over to new game- changing technologies. He was one of the first advocates of online booking tools, an enthusiasm he has brought to Expotel.
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TONY MIKKELSEN VICE-PRESIDENT, SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, CONTGO Our panel singled out technology company Contgo for “innovations in platform design and working in the travel industry with specific focus on mobile solutions”, such as its Mobile Travel Assistant. Technology is in Mikkelsen’s DNA: he has previously worked for Sabre, GetThere and EMC. A Danish/American citizen, he speaks English, French Danish, German and Italian.
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IAN LOWER IT DIRECTOR, BSI/CAPITA BUSINESS TRAVEL Hotel booking agencies are very keen to push their technology, but our panel highlighted BSI for its leadership in the sector. Driving the technology behind that is Ian Lower, who joined BSI in 2002 from a technology career in the finance sector. He is now a member of the BSI board and was additionally appointed IT director of Capita Business Travel after BSI’s acquisition by the travel management company in 2010.
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NIGEL WALLBRIDGE CEO OF NOMAD DIGITAL According to one of our panellists, Nomad is “one of those wonderful companies that few people have heard of, yet they’ve had such an impact on our lives”. Nomad is a leading provider of onboard wifi services on the UK rail network. “High-speed internet on trains has hugely increased rail’s attractiveness as a form of transport for the business traveller,” another panellist said. Driving that is Nomad founder Nigel Wallbridge, an INSEAD graduate and former president of Cable & Wireless in the Americas.
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GEOF KALEY MANAGING DIRECTOR, ONE TRANSPORT Jamie Hindhaugh proposed Geof for our list for “building a business platform that enables the successful aggregation of UK-wide cab bookings, but also for introducing Virtual Fleet, which enables all cabs to be tracked and allocated according to their location, hitting both CO2 and efficiency targets”. Geof, a former London cab driver and chairman of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, has used his industry knowledge and coupled it with his enthusiasm for technology to create something truly groundbreaking.
One of the most interesting changes BBT noticed when compiling its leading 50 TMCs was the increasing importance of IT