Cendant Shifts Falter From Travelport Head To Galileo

David Falter last week moved from the top post at the Cendant Travel Distribution Services-owned Orbitz for Business/Travelport to head up American operations at Galileo. As Falter transitioned last Wednesday to officially assume the role of president of Galileo Americas, Dean Sivley moved to the position of COO and general manager of Orbitz for Business/Travelport.

Reporting to Ken Esterow, president and CEO of Cendant Travel Distribution Services, Falter takes on responsibilities for sales, marketing and operations in the North and South America, roles that face corporate clients and travel agencies as well as suppliers.

"In some ways, I'm the chief customer officer," Falter said last week. "I'm responsible for our customers, which are our subscribers, our agency partners to ensure that their interest as businesses in the travel industry are met."

Falter added that his recent history heading up a corporate travel agency that works with GDSs prepared him for being on the other side of that relationship, and he will be spending much of his inaugural days on the job reaching out to agency customers.

"One of the first orders of business has to be a lot of customer face time. Customer-facing roles are the sorts I've primarily been in for most of my career," Falter said. "Having run a top 10 corporate agency, I think I have a good idea what my Galileo partners need. Frankly, Cendant Corporate Travel Solutions was not American Express but Cendant Corporate Travel Solutions in many ways was not Casto Travel either. I need to get in front of those folks and see what their challenges are. Some are going to be with Galileo specifically and a lot of those challenges are going to be about the travel industry, how it's maturing and how they can remain relevant and profitable."

Although Cendant is headquartered in New Jersey, Falter noted that much of the distribution business, which this year is set to spin off from its corporate parent, still is concentrated in Chicago, Denver and other locations. As such, Falter said he would remain in Chicago—at the same desk from which he ran Orbitz for Business/Travelport.

"Until they kick me out, I'm staying in the same office."

Following several executive positions at various technology firms, Falter in May 2004 joined Travelport as president. The company that year was then sold to Cendant, and then further aligned with Orbitz for Business.

Esterow in a statement said Falter's "industry experience will directly benefit Galileo's travel agency and corporate customers and his experience within TDS will make for a smooth transition."