11 | Direct Travel

T0624DIRECTRAVEL_C_350 [Credit: Direct Travel]
2025 sales: $4.9 billion
Previous ranking: 13
Employees: 4,651 full-time, 291 part-time

7430 E. Caley Ave., Suite 320E
Centennial, CO 80111
(800) 223-1632
Website

Executives

CEO: Christal Bemont
CFO: John Coffman
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER: Scott Schwisow
CHIEF SALES OFFICER: Todd Pelletier
CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER: Sarah Kuberry Martino
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Allison Breeding
COO: Christine Sikes
PRESIDENT, CREATIVE GROUP: Janet Traphagen

COMPANY FACTS

* Privately held company.

* Sells technologies and services across global business, leisure, events and specialized travel sectors, including energy, marine and mining.

* Sales: 90% business, 7% leisure, 3% meetings and events.

* Works with 670 independent contractors.

* Owns Creative Group, a performance management company specializing in meeting and event logistics, strategic meeting management and employee-recognition solutions.

* A member of Virtuoso.

DEVELOPMENTS

* Acquired ATPI (No. 18 on the 2025 Power List) to create a unified global travel management provider, bringing together complementary geographic strength and sector expertise.

* Introduced Avenir Travel Edition, a platform built on Spotnana infrastructure. By combining ATPI's global presence with Avenir's foundation, the company began operating as a more integrated organization with a common service framework and unified data architecture.

* Provided customers greater consistency across regions, clearer reporting and a more streamlined experience.

LOOKING AHEAD

* Expanding Avenir Travel Edition globally, deploying a single platform supported by a unified service framework, enabling multinational clients to operate their travel programs with consistent governance, shared data visibility and a simpler implementation model across regions.

* Continuously innovating additional capabilities for reporting, program oversight and operational insights for travel managers.

* Refining its implementation to help clients realize value more quickly, with a more structured and predictable onboarding experience. 

* Strengthening data and ecosystem capabilities, enhancing how managers access program insights while expanding integrations with partners in areas such as payments, automation and traveler experience.

* Seeing strong corporate demand and a clear return to travel as a strategic lever for growth. Companies are prioritizing travel that drives revenue, strengthens client relationships and supports increasingly global operations.

* Organizations are moving away from regionally stitched solutions toward cohesive global frameworks that combine modern infrastructure, consistent service and shared data visibility.

* Consolidation across the industry is accelerating as enterprise clients look to simplify governance and supplier relationships. Technology is also moving from evaluation to execution, as organizations reassess legacy environments in favor of platforms that evolve continuously and integrate service and data more effectively.

* 2026 is shaping up as a year of structural progression. Companies are making longer-term decisions about how their global travel programs should be built and governed, and the shift toward unified global solutions is underway.


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