Travel Weekly's 2007 Power List, 41-the end

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41. GATEWAY TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

2006 Sales: $193.5 million

Employees: 123

Previous Ranking: 36

1606 Carmody Court, Suite 106

Sewickley, PA 15143

T (724) 933-1800

F (724) 933-0448

www.gtmtravel.com

Executives

  • President/CEO: James Pekins
  • CFO: James Harris
  • VP, Operations: Melissa Junker
  • VP, Business Development: Mitch Nace
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $157.3 million.
  • 93% of sales from business, 1% leisure, 6% other.
  • Company Facts

  • Affiliate of BCD.
  • Privately held.
  • 42. AZUMANO TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $181.3 million

    Employees: 182

    Previous Ranking: 40

    320 SW Stark St., Suite 600

    Portland, OR 97204

    T (503) 223-6245

    F (503) 294-6474

    www.azumanotravel.com

    Executives

  • CEO/President: Sho Dozono
  • VP, Retail: Bill Harmon
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $110.4 million.
  • $913,000 in sales from hosting outside agents.
  • 80% of sales from business, 20% leisure.
  • 13% increase in sales in 2006.
  • Acquired the travel division of a honeymoon registry, TheBigDay.com, and created a new company called TheBigDay Travel, not just for honeymoons but for travel packages for the couple's family and friends.
  • Organized Flight for Freedom 2006, a journey to New York by goodwill ambassadors from Oregon to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the original Flight for Freedom, organized in the aftermath of 9/11.
  • Completed second year of radio talk show, "The Azumano Travel Show," now broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays.
  • Expanded leisure sales reach to employee bases of major Pacific Northwest corporations by offering a customized vacation booking tool for their intranet sites.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosts five outside travel sellers.
  • Owns Premier Gateway, an international air consolidator with sales of $36.6 million (not included in agency retail volume).
  • Part of American Express network.
  • Privately held.
  • Looking Ahead

  • Continuing to grow in Oregon, Washington and Alaska.
  • Providing voluntourism opportunity for Oregonians to assist with New Orleans recovery efforts.
  • Continuing to pursue new growth channel through partnership program with American Express involving local management of shared accounts.
  • 43. CI TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $172.6 million

    Employees: 200

    Previous Ranking: 39

    870 N. Military Highway, Suite 200

    Norfolk, VA 23502

    T (757) 627-8000

    F (757) 893-1380

    www.citravel.com

    Executives

  • President/COO: Kevin McElroy
  • Executive VP: Tom Mountjoy
  • VP, Corporate Operations: Helen Leon
  • VP, Retail Operations: Joann Williams
  • VP, Corporate Sales: Chris Nicholas
  • Director, Marketing/Public Relations: Victoria Cash
  • Comptroller: Lamont Warren
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $108.2 million.
  • 60% of sales from government travel, 24% business, 16% leisure.
  • Acquired local competitor Nicholas Travel (corporate and leisure); Chris Nicholas brought into management.
  • Joined American Express network as affiliate at the Centurion level.
  • Upgraded phone and computer systems at leisure locations.
  • Acquired all travel business for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  • Increased online adoption rate to 20% for all corporate business.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosts 18 outside travel sellers.
  • Affiliate of American Express.
  • 100% employee-owned.
  • Looking Ahead

  • Launching custom-made CRM tool to better manage customer relationships and segment data.
  • Will change organizational structure on leisure side.
  • Moving to a performance-based compensation program.
  • 44. COLPITTS WORLD TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $163 million

    Employees: 124

    Previous Ranking: 42

    875 Providence Highway

    Dedham, MA 02026

    T (781) 326-7800

    F (781) 326-2921

    www.colpittswt.com

    Executives

  • CEO/President: Alan Krensky
  • Executive VP: Jeff Brown
  • Senior VP: Jeanne Johnston
  • CFO: Don Fultz
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $121 million.
  • 87% of sales from business, 4% leisure, 9% meetings and incentives.
  • Company Facts

  • Owns Meeting Partners (annual sales of $27 million).
  • Member of GlobalStar, Hickory, and Travelsavers.
  • 45. CHRISTOPHERSON BUSINESS TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $144 million

    Employees: 140

    Previous Ranking: 44

    5588 S. Green St.,

    Salt Lake City, UT 84123

    T (801) 327-7700

    F (801) 327-7707

    www.christophersontravel.com

    Executives

  • President: Mike Cameron
  • Director of Operations: Brent Carter
  • Director of On-Site Travel: George Mathis
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $82 million.
  • 91% of sales from business, 7% leisure, 2% meetings and incentives.
  • Purchased Classic Cruises & Travel.
  • Significant investment in proprietary travel management technology: Air Portal, Airtinerary, AirBank, Hotel Re-Check and Car Re-Check.
  • Company Facts

  • BCD affiliate.
  • Privately held.
  • Looking Ahead

  • Continue to invest in proprietary travel management technology.
  • Expand meetings and incentive products.
  • 46. MORRIS MURDOCK

    2006 Sales: $140 million

    Employees: 201

    Previous Ranking: 45

    240 E. Morris Ave.

    Salt Lake City, UT 84115

    T (801) 487-9731

    F (801) 483-5220

    www.morrismurdock.com

    Executives

  • President: Becky Potts
  • CFO: B.J. Mendenhall
  • 2006 Developments

  • 4% of sales from leisure, 36% from business, 20% meetings, incentives and consolidator sales.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosted 120 outside travel sellers.
  • Privately held.
  • 47. CASTO TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $138 million

    Employees: 172

    Previous Ranking: 43

    900 Lafayette St., Suite 105

    Santa Clara, CA 95050

    T (408) 984-7000

    F (408) 984-7007

    www.casto.com

    Executives

  • Chairman/CEO: Maryles Casto
  • President: Marc Casto
  • Officer: Agustin Vallejo
  • VP, Corporate Operations: Magda Allarcon
  • VP, Global Sales: Frances Mincey
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $85.7 million.
  • 70% of sales from business, 24% leisure, 6% other.
  • Introduced Casto Concierge, to provide custom travel solutions for executives.
  • Added a Spanish-language desk.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosts 18 outside travel sellers.
  • Owns Fulfillment Solutions, a provider of fulfillment services to travel companies.
  • Member of ABC, Virtuoso, THOR.
  • Member of Commonwealth Business Travel Group.
  • Looking Ahead

  • Seeking to acquire West Coast agencies.
  • Increasing fulfillment of visa and passport requests through its wholly owned visa passport department.
  • 48. FOX WORLD TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $132.1 million

    Employees: 198

    Previous Ranking: 46

    2150 S. Washburn St.

    P.O. Box 2386

    Oshkosh, WI 54904

    T (920) 236-8008

    F (920) 236-8009

    www.gofox.com, www.foxworldtravel.com

    Executives

  • President: David Juedes
  • Executive VP: Geoffrey Kuhnz
  • VP, Business Travel: Lori Wilkening
  • VP, Vacation Travel: Brian Hurley
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $87.5 million.
  • 2% of sales from hosting outside agents.
  • 56% of sales from business, 39% leisure, 5% meetings and incentives.
  • Expanded online booking product offering.
  • Enhanced online registration process.
  • In-house development of electronic invoice product.
  • 25% of business travel bookings online.
  • Upgraded communications system to enable specialized call routing.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosts 24 outside travel sellers.
  • Owns Premier Meetings and Incentives ($6.9 million in sales).
  • Owns Fox World Travel School.
  • Privately held.
  • 49. BALBOA TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

    2006 Sales: $116 million

    Employees: 113

    Previous Ranking: N/A

    5441 Oberlin Drive, Suite 300

    San Diego, CA 92121

    T (858) 678-3300

    F (858) 678-3399

    www.balboa.com

    Executives

  • Chairman: Joe Da Rosa
  • Vice Chairman: Mary Alice Gonsalves
  • President: Denise Jackson
  • VP, Corporate Travel: John Cruse
  • VP, Finance: Inez Reynolds
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $82.5 million.
  • 95% of sales from business, 3% leisure, 2% other.
  • $800,000 in sales from hosting outside agents.
  • Became a BCD Travel affiliate to provide more effective global management solutions for clients.
  • Completely overhauled Web site and corporate brand to reflect new affiliation.
  • Launched Armada, a suite of technology tools designed to help clients through content sourcing, process engineering, compliance management and performance measurements. The suite includes: Voyager, a point-of-sale agent desktop; Pilot, a quality-assurance tool and automatic-ticketing module; and Escort, a Web-based reporting tool.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosts five outside travel sellers.
  • Affiliate of BCD Travel.
  • Member of Ensemble.
  • Privately held.
  • Looking Ahead

  • Aiming to gain new travel management contracts from midmarket customers.
  • Developed support relationships with a number of corporate travel departments and intends to continue expanding services in this area.
  • 50. AUSTIN TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $112.5 million

    Employees: 105

    Previous Ranking: 48

    265 Spagnoli Road,

    Melville, NY 11747

    T (631) 465-1000

    F (516) 390-6940

    www.austintravel.com

    Executives

  • Chairman/CEO: Larry Austin
  • President/COO: Jeffrey Austin
  • Senior VP, Sales: Jamie Austin
  • Senior VP, IT: Stu Austin
  • 2006 Developments

  • $1.5 million fulfilled by agency for third parties.
  • $25 million in sales through outside travel sellers.
  • ARC sales of $68.1 million.
  • 52% of sales from business, 45% from leisure, 3% meetings and incentives.
  • Continued to enhance Embark, the company's corporate travel portal.
  • Added on-demand reports that identify who is traveling, who will be traveling in the next few days and the locations of all travelers.
  • Expanded remote agent capability so that 70% of reservations center agents are now remote.
  • Doubled the number of customers using online booking tools and the number of reservations being done online.
  • Doubled business for FareDesk.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosts 102 outside travel sellers.
  • Affiliate of HRG.
  • Member of Travel Management Alliance.
  • Privately held.
  • Looking Ahead

  • Will continue working on Embark, adding dashboard and emergency-handling capabilities.
  • Taking advantage of HRG affiliation to add international business of major accounts.
  • 51. MONTROSE TRAVEL

    2006 Sales: $103.8 million

    Employees: 154

    Previous Ranking: 47

    2349 Honolulu Ave.

    Montrose, CA 91020

    T (818) 553-3200 or (800) MONTROSE

    F (818) 550-6672

    www.montrosetravel.com

    Executives

  • CEO/President: Joe Mcclure
  • CFO: Julie Mcclure
  • President, Independent Contractors and Home-Based Agent Division: Andi Mcclure
  • General Manager: Rhonda Holguin
  • Manager, Accounting: Kathy Nolan
  • Manager, Leisure Sales and Marketing: Jamie Hoff
  • Manager, Leisure and Honeymoon Divisions: Kate Bernier
  • Manager, Commercial and Loyalty Divisions: Miguel Marquez
  • Manager, Groups, Meetings and Incentives Division: Melissa Truskett
  • Manager, Commercial Business Development: Stephanie Minton
  • Manager, Group Business Development: Patti Jenkins
  • Manager, Affinity Group and Credit Union Business Development: Lisa Fredeen
  • 2006 Developments

  • ARC sales of $57.1 million.
  • Sales from business 39%; leisure 29%; credit card loyalty program, groups, meetings, incentives and home-based agents 32%.
  • Launched Online Royalty/Points Rewards booking engine to support seven rewards program platforms for credit card loyalty programs.
  • Relaunched CURewards.com.
  • Launched online incentives business.
  • 300% growth in home-based agent business.
  • Company Facts

  • Hosted 143 outside travel sellers.
  • Privately held.
  • 52. (tie) AMERICA'S VACATION CENTER

    2006 Sales: $100 million

    Employees: 50-plus support team members

    Previous Ranking: N/A

    520 W. Valley Parkway

    Escondido, CA 92025

    T (760) 233-7630

    www.americasvacationcenter.com

    Executives

  • Co-President: Brad Anderson
  • Co-President: Van Anderson
  • CIO: David Anderson
  • VP, Marketing: Jeffrey Anderson
  • VP, Agent Services: Michael Anderson
  • 2006 Developments

  • 100% of sales from leisure.
  • Launched My AVC Web site, a consumer site based on AVC's own site.
  • Launched AVC Protect, a program to make health care available to affiliated independent agents.
  • Company Facts

  • Nearly all sales from hosting outside agents.
  • 300-plus independently owned and operated affiliates.
  • American Express affiliate.
  • Privately held.
  • Looking Ahead

  • Plans to open new and larger support centers in California and Florida.
  • New global headquarters in Vista, Calif., will be more than twice the size of present office.
  • AVC University launching Travel Executive Forum, a free online seminar series.
  • Will enhance Agent Power, AVC's proprietary agency software, including live inventory, CRM and automatic commission tracking.
  • 52. (tie) GLOBAL TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL

    2006 Sales: $100 million (according to company Web site)

    Employees: N/D

    Previous Ranking: N/A

    2600 Lake Lucien Drive, Suite 201

    Maitland, FL 32751

    T (800) 951-5979

    www.globaltravel.com

    Executives

  • Chairman/CEO: Randall Warren
  • President/CEO: Michael Gross
  • Company Facts

  • Has tens of thousands of independent agents in 50 states and 85 countries.
  • Privately held.
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