Travelocity Executives: Michelle Peluso and Sam Gilliland

Michelle Peluso

President and Chief Executive Officer, Travelocity

Executive Vice President, Sabre Holdings

Michelle Peluso is not the type of leader who lets someone else reply to email she receives from customers. And she expects this adamant devotion to customer service from everyone on the Travelocity team. So committed is she to ensuring that Travelocity’s customers have great travel experiences or "customer championship," as it’s known throughout the company, that in 2005 she led the rollout of The Travelocity Guarantee, a one-of-a-kind consumer proposition that puts these principles to the test everyday.

After joining Travelocity following the acquisition of Site59, a company she launched in 2000, she was named president and chief executive officer in December 2003 and has since led Travelocity’s turnaround as well as its global expansion into Europe and Asia-Pacific, spearheading the acquisitions of lastminute.com and ZUJI, respectively.

A distinctive entrepreneurial spirit drives Peluso – whether it’s cultivating relationships with Travelocity’s supplier and distribution partners, or exploring innovation opportunities with employees around the globe. Prior to her appointment as Travelocity’s CEO, Peluso served as the company’s chief operating officer and senior vice president of product strategy and distribution. She launched the company’s innovative net rate hotel program and oversaw the build-out of the company’s dynamic packaging engine, TotalTripSM.

The business and media worlds have taken notice. In 2005, Peluso was recognized by the National Italian American Foundation with the Special Achievement Award in Business and Fast Company Magazine named her a "customer-centered leader" in its annual Customer First Awards issue. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal in 2004 ranked Peluso #4 on it "50 Women to Watch" list. Earlier in her career, she was named "Technology Person of the Year" by Travel Agent Magazine.

Peluso received her master’s degree in economics, philosophy and politics from Pembroke College at Oxford University where she was a Thoroun Scholar, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

A typical business day includes strategic brainstorming with a variety of Travelocity teams, staying in touch with customers, suppliers and partners, brown bag lunches with employees, and staying on top of the latest industry trends. But what Peluso loves most about the business is that there is no typical day.


Favorite travel moment:

"Participating in a military full-accounting mission over the jungles of Vietnam; dancing salsa until dawn in Oaxaca... and Barcelona... and Madrid... and Marbella... shall I go on?"

http://www.sabre-holdings.com/aboutUs/leadership/PelusoBio.html


Sam Gilliland

Chief Executive Officer

Sam Gilliland was named president and CEO of Sabre Holdings in December 2003. Prior to this role, he served in several senior leadership positions including president and CEO of Travelocity and executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Sabre Holdings. As CMO, he was responsible for corporate strategy and for driving enterprise-wide alignment with Sabre’s business strategy.

Previous roles have included group president of the company’s Airline Solutions business and senior vice president and general manager of product marketing, where he managed the company's global product and service portfolio for the travel industry. Gilliland also served as senior vice president and general manager of Sabre Business Travel Solutions and as a board member for Travelocity and chairman of the board for Sabre Holdings while each was a publicly traded company.

Before joining Sabre Holdings in 1988, Gilliland worked for Lockheed Missiles and Space in Austin, Texas, developing hardware and software for land- and air-based defense systems.

Gilliland holds an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Dallas and earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas.


For more information about Travelocity see the following articles:

Travelocity, affiliate of Sabre Holdings, announces the industry solution of automating payments to the travel industry.

Travelocityand Sabre Holdings news release, announcing Silver Lake and TPG Complete Acquisition of Sabre Holdings.

Travelocity, along with Sabre Holdings announces in a news release that "Sabre Virtually There" is now available to travelers via mobile devices.

Travelocity and Sabre Holdings detail the history of their corporate success.

Travelocity and Sabre Holdings commit themselves to philanthropy.