New CEO Brings New Media Savvy To Gelco

<B> New CEO Brings New Media Savvy To Gelco</B>

By Mary Ann McNulty

Aiming to grow its 104-year-old company, Gelco Information Network of Eden Prairie, Minn., has hired Neil Vill, a Rand McNally & Co. executive, as its new president and chief executive officer. Vill began July 7, succeeding Robert Karrick, who resigned following a three-year-stint in the top spot.

H-G Holdings, a New York-based investment group that has owned Gelco since 1994, announced the changes. Chartered to grow market share and new business lines for Gelco, Vill plans to build on the company's strong existing infrastructure and management base. Over the next few months, Vill and Gelco's management team are expected to develop a new strategic plan to further transform the company.

At Rand McNally, Vill served as vice president and general manager of both the new media unit that owns the leading "Trip Maker" and "Street Finder" consumer software, and transportation data management, which provides mileage and route databases to trucking firms. He joined the map maker in 1991 and quickly identified ways to use technology to help the company grow. Vill was a founding member of Rand McNally's new media division, and also was charged with its Website.

In the late 1980s, Vill worked in business planning for Covia Corp., the Apollo parent now known as Galileo International. In between, he worked at Navistar and as a strategic management consultant for Bain & Co.

"The common thread in all my positions is developing and implementing growth strategies at information technology companies," Vill said. "Gelco is well positioned for growth. It has some excellent new products, some of which have been announced and others that have not. The three core businesses are doing extremely well. My charter is to grow them and look for new business opportunities."

Gelco had 1997 revenues of $44 million, of which $30 million was generated in expense management. The remaining sales came from trade promotion tracking, according to figures Karrick revealed in a recent Minneapolis Star-Tribune article. In expense, Gelco serves 2,000 corporations and more than 80 government entities. Government actually represents Gelco's fastest growing market, with 1997 sales of $5.3 million, 1998 sales expected to reach $8.6 million and 2001 sales projected to double to $17 million, the article stated.

Besides selling its Travel Manager system to government entities, Gelco and partners TRW and American Express recently won a $263.7 million Department of Defense contract to implement an end-to-end travel solution--using Travel Manager as the linchpin--in an 11-state region (<I>BTN,</I> May 18). The technology also will be deployed for DOD worldwide and may be offered to other government agencies as well.

Commenting on Vill's hiring, John Sprague, a director of H-G Holdings Inc., said, "We are confident his skills will benefit Gelco by enabling the company to more rapidly penetrate and grow its expense management, trade promotion management and government travel management businesses through aggressive product enhancements and extensions, as well as a widening and deepening of its distribution channels."

Vill said board members have told him that they are "solidly committed to investing additional money into Gelco and in growing the business."

One other reason Vill was interested in the job is that now he will be able to get expense reimbursements in three days instead of the typical 10 days or more. He quipped, "Before, I did them on a Lotus spreadsheet and printed them out.