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“We are very encouraged by John joining us as our newest board member,” said Krish Panu, chairman, Deem. “He has a wealth of experience in the technology and innovation sectors and we know he’ll bring that expertise to our business. He is well respected in the industry and a great addition to the team.”
McCracken was recently responsible for commercial activities as chief revenue officer for Castlight Health, including marketing and sales. Prior to Castlight, he led the worldwide sales team for Jive Software, where he helped drive Jive’s growth through its IPO in 2011. McCracken also held leadership positions at Mercury Interactive Corporation, CheckFree Corporation, and American Express.
“John is known as an exceptional and high integrity individual,” said Panu. “He is versed in many markets and will boost our success going forward. We look forward to working with him as we tackle the challenge of providing business travel solutions to the entire corporate travel ecosystem.”
“I’m excited to join the Deem team and think the timing couldn’t be better,” said McCracken. “The corporate travel industry is asking for disruption and we have the technology, the people and the solutions to give the industry exactly what it wants.”
In other news, Deem and GroundWidgets, a ground transportation software and technology development company, have announced that GroundWidgets has acquired Deem’s Voyageur back office system for car service operators.
“It’s all part of our push to make ground transportation an integral and completely integrated part of the business travel flow, enabling businesspeople to book rides as easily as they reserve flights and hotels while using company-compliant software,” said John F. Rizzo, president and COO of Deem. “This is a great opportunity to drive demand for ground transportation services, and grow the market for everyone.”
The agreement enables Deem to focus on its top priority—the Deem WorkFource and Ground Work platforms for corporate travel booking, management expense, ground transportation for business travelers, travel managers, travel management companies and suppliers.
“GroundWidgets is excited about welcoming Voyageur/Whisk customers into our portfolio of back office software solutions and corporate automation tools. We have the domain expertise and knowledge to transition customers seamlessly from Voyageur to our flagship product, SantaCruz or one of our other cloud based options” said Apurva Patel, CEO of GroundWidgets.
Lastly, Deem showcased Intelligent Attach, at the 4th annual Innovat, hosted by The BTN Group on September 28. Deem presented alongside FCM Travel Solutions, HRS, Flightsayer, Mezi, and others as part of corporate travel’s most innovative technologies.
The showcase followed Deem’s recent release of Intelligent Attach for hotel and car service, a breakthrough technology that brings a new level of personalization, audience segmentation, and convenience to the travel industry. VP of Innovation, Gadi Bashvitz presented the technology onstage to hundreds of corporate travel buyers, suppliers, and technology providers. Deem’s Intelligent Attach platform predicts preferred hotels and ground transportation options for travelers based on search history, traveler behavior, corporate and agency preferences, and real-time sentiment data points extracted from millions of traveler reviews, to improve attach rates of hotel nights and car service bookings to travel itineraries.
“Despite years of investment to improve hotel and car service attach rates, corporate travel itineraries suffer from rates of less than 50%,” said Rizzo. ”This is a major stumbling block in corporations’ efforts to rein in business travel costs and we're fixing it with Deem's Intelligent Attach.”
“Intelligent Attach addresses two critical aspects of the recommendation process: finding the correct hotel, or ground transportation option and explaining to the traveler why these are the correct option for them,” said Bashvitz. “It knows if a hotel meets the traveler’s chain preference, is within the corporate policy, is quiet and whether the Wifi works and what ground transportation option the traveler can, and wants to book. It’s that knowledge, paired with traveler behavior that allows the technology to learn over time.”
BTN Innovate combines cutting-edge education, innovation and industry networking for pre-qualified corporate travel managers and travel procurement professionals with a minimum $5 million annual T&E budget.
Visit deem.com for more information.
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For the past 10 years, the company has operated as an “eco-friendly choice” in the chauffeured transportation industry, and has provided more than 25,000 rides in the Bay Area. According to Shields, Green Carpet’s mission has led to a reduction of over 3 million pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions.
“When Erin approached us several months ago, we were thoroughly impressed with her dedication to her clients and especially her employees. We instantly knew Green Carpet would be a perfect fit within our corporate structure, as we share very similar visions and goals,” said Gary Buffo, president of Pure Luxury Transportation.
“I was so thoroughly impressed, not only by Pure Luxury’s corporate structure, but also by their technology advances, core values, mission statements, and their goals. I am so excited that Green Carpet and our employees and clients will benefit greatly by this acquisition. Not to mention, I am so proud to become a part of a fantastic forward thinking company,” stated Shields.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Visit pureluxury.com for more information.
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Celebrity Limousine recently welcomed seasoned industry professional Chuck Psotka as its new director of business development and affiliate relations. With an extensive background of providing a high level of professionalism and service for clients, Psotka’s core values align perfectly with Celebrity’s mission of offering chauffeur services with unrivaled attention to detail.
“Given the trends in the industry towards bulk, commoditized transportation and away from personalized, professional service as a means of maintaining long-term client relationships, it’s refreshing to find that Celebrity still practices old-school values and customer service standards that are aligned with my own,” said Psotka. “It is this commonality of focus, in conjunction with my experience, which will enable me to work successfully with the company’s existing team to grow the business and maintain its core values of high quality, professional ground transportation.”
Psotka brings to Celebrity a depth and breadth of experience that is somewhat unique. When he entered the industry in 1974, the factory-built Cadillac Fleetwood 75 limousine was the standard vehicle, town cars were few and far between, and stretches were nearly non-existent. Most recently, Psotka was the Affiliate Manager at CTI Transportation, where he enhanced affiliate relationships supporting the company’s clients.
“Chuck is a very professional and knowledgeable person in the industry,” said Dennis Adams, CEO and founder of Celebrity Limousine. “He has been in the business for over 40 years, and I’ve known him for at least 20. I’m thrilled to now have Chuck as part of the Celebrity team and know that his experience in the industry will serve both our clients and our company well.”
Visit celebritylimo.com for more information.
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