News for the Hospitality Executive |
CHICAGO – (February 19, 2010) – Hotel Technology
Next Generation
(HTNG), announced the election of two more major hotel company CIOs to
its
already distinguished board. Mike
Blake reestablishes Hyatt’s
presence on the HTNG board,
which had until last September been unbroken since the organization’s
inception. Robert
Webb, CIO of Hilton Worldwide,
was also elected, and expects to significantly expand Hilton’s
involvement in
HTNG. “We
are honored that these CIOs from the
renowned Hilton and Hyatt hotel groups have chosen to support our
organization’s mission by joining our board” said Douglas Rice,
Executive Vice
President & CEO. “We are looking
forward to the additional insight and experience that they will bring
to our
already strong and active board.” Michael
Blake came to the Hyatt CIO role
from his prior position as Vice President of Finance for Global
Marketing,
Brand Standards & IT for Hyatt Corporation.
Blake has over 20 years of experience in finance and technology in
various roles, and is charged with providing strategic leadership and
sound
perspective that contributes to the management and evolution of Hyatt’s
global
IT functions. He is responsible for
driving innovation and supporting revenue growth. “I
am looking forward to this opportunity to share and interact with
counterparts
from other hotel companies around the world,” said Blake, “and to
provide focus
for resolving some of the greatest challenges in hospitality
technology.” Prior to his role
with Hyatt, Michael was Senior Vice President of IT for First Data,
Vice
President of IT Finance at Kaiser Permanente, and Director of IT
Finance for
Sears, based in Chicago, IL. In each of
his roles, he was the highest ranking IT Finance resource and key
internal
consultant and advisor to national senior leadership teams. Prior
to that, Michael was Director of
Financial Planning & Analysis for Commerx, a B2B startup, and
Director of
Financial Planning for United Airlines. Robert Webb
joined Hilton Worldwide as Senior
Vice President and CIO in August 2009. Prior to joining Hilton,
Webb held a similar
position at Equifax, the Atlanta headquartered global credit
information and
technology solutions provider. Webb has
provided leadership for systems strategy, enterprise planning and
architecture,
information security, technology infrastructure, and outsourcing
initiatives
across multiple business units since 2004.
Prior to joining Equifax, Webb held executive positions at General
Electric including CIO of GE Commercial Finance. He has extensive
international experience and
has lived and worked in Europe, Greater China
and Japan
as a management consultant for Andersen Consulting and Electronic Data
Systems.
HTNG’s
board of directors, which now consists of 14 CIO-level hotel IT
executives, is
the key direction-setting body for the organization. HTNG’s board
actively provides direction and
prioritization on the key issues that these industry leaders face in
their
daily tasks of improving technology for the more than 2.3 million hotel
rooms
worldwide within the scope of their responsibility. HTNG’s board
of directors includes most of the
world’s largest hotel companies, as well as several midsized and
smaller hotel
groups across a range of hotel types. A
full list of board members can be found at www.htng.org/about/index.htm. Hotel technology
professionals who are interested in learning more about work of HTNG
can visit
the company’s website or also consider joining the industry’s leaders
at HTNG’s
6th Annual North American Members’ Meeting in Orlando this coming
March. More information about that
meeting is available at HTNG’s event web site: http://www.htng.org/america. About Hotel Technology Next Generation The premier technology solutions association in the hospitality industry, HTNG is a self-funded, non-profit organization with members from hotel and hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, and other industry members including consultants, media, and academic experts. HTNG’s members participate in focused workgroups to bring to market open solution sets addressing specific business problems. HTNG fosters the selection and adoption of existing open standards. Where necessary, it also develops new open standards to meet the needs of the global hospitality industry. Membership in HTNG is open to hotel and hospitality companies, technology vendors to hospitality, consultants, academics, press and others. Currently, more than 400 corporate and individual members from across this spectrum, including most of the world’s leading hotel companies and technology vendors, are active HTNG participants. HTNG’s Board of Directors alone represents more than 2.3 million guest rooms – with the total rooms impacted by all of HTNG’s hotelier members surpasses 4.3 millions rooms worldwide. Workgroup proceedings, drafts, and specifications are published for all HTNG members as soon as they are created, encouraging rapid and broad adoption. Specifications are released to the public domain as they are ratified by the workgroup. For more information, visit www.htng.org. |
Contact: Hotel Technology Next Generation Brian Larson +1 847 303 5560 www.htng.org |