Hickory Travel Systems Taps Dane As New President

Hickory Travel Systems, a subsidiary of American Leisure Holdings, today announced the appointment of Christopher Dane as president of the Saddle Brook, N.J.-based travel management network, which last year claimed over $18.4 billion in worldwide air sales. An industry veteran and current executive director of the seven-agency Travel Management Alliance, Dane previously served as executive vice president of operations at leisure-focused Vacation.com and spent 22 years in airline passenger sales.

"We are pleased to bring on board Chris Dane, one of the industry's leading executives and a man who not only has impressive credentials, but roll-up-your-sleeves know-how that gets the job done," Bill Chiles, HTS chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Dane, who officially stepped into the position last month, said he has assumed control over the company's day-to-day operations, allowing Chiles to step into a more focused, strategic role. "One of the biggest surprises I had here is our working relationship. He's a board member and the second-biggest stockholder at AMLH, so that'll take a big chunk of his time. He'll also work on some of the more strategic and program development issues," Dane said. "He'll stay on as CEO for probably as long as he wants."

Dane said he will focus on improving the quality of the company's 24/7 service, expanding its hotel program, increasing the use and implementation of its technology platform, and implementing new employee benefits and insurance programs across the network. He also plans to stay in his role as executive director of the Travel Management Alliance.

"I'm fully engaged," said Dane. "It gives me a chance to stay close to the marketplace. In fact, TMA is one of the places I tried to implement an employee benefits program and it was unsuccessful. That was one of the reasons I was so excited about the work at Hickory. I still keep my consulting business as a result of this appointment, but make no mistake, Hickory is number one, TMA is number two and everything else is three."