Newsmaker: KPMG Chairman Jon Madonna Replaces Tanner At CWT
<B> Newsmaker: KPMG Chairman Jon Madonna Replaces Tanner At CWT</B>
By Sarah Welt
Carlson Wagonlit Travel president and CEO Travis Tanner surprised industry observers late last month with his announcement that he was leaving the organization effective Jan. 1--but CWT already has a replacement. Jon Madonna, former KPMG Peat Marwick chairman and, most recently, vice chairman of The Travelers Group, now will assume command of the mega travel management company.
A press release announcing the hiring of Madonna emphasized that his experience leading the restructuring and repositioning of one of the world's largest consulting and accounting firms will be a great benefit as Carlson puts its own reengineering processes, systems and management practices into place. Madonna spent 28 years at KPMG, serving as chairman of KPMG International in 1995 and 1996, and chairman and CEO of KPMG Peat Marwick USA from 1990 to 1996.
Jean-Marc Espalioux, CEO of the Paris-based Accor group that co-owns CWT with the Carlson Companies Inc. of Minneapolis, cited Madonna's "wealth of friendships and relationships with many of the leading CEOs and CFOs of the world's Fortune 500 companies." Madonna told BTN that his "vision for Carlson Wagonlit Travel is to be the best in the world. The company's strategy is right on target. We will operate globally as one company and reengineer our processes around the world to improve efficiency and provide superior customer service."
Tanner, meanwhile, will become chairman of Luxury Travel Co., an entrepreneurial startup venture temporarily headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale. Leaving CWT was "a hard decision for me. I went back to build the vision I had for the future and was getting really close to finalizing everything planned," he said. But the leisure side now offers a "huge opportunity." Tanner headed Carlson Travel Network from 1984 to 1989, served a stint as president of Disney World Travel Co. and returned to Carlson in 1993.
Liliana Frigerio, recently named senior vice president and country manager for business travel operations at CWT France, said Tanner was lured by the dream of taking a company public. But Tanner said that "whether we take it public is secondary. I always wanted to own part of a company and play a greater role in overall running the business."
Frigerio was replaced as senior vice president of sales and marketing worldwide last month by Jim Giancola, who is now responsible for developing and implementing CWT's worldwide sales strategy and multinational contract negotiations. Giancola has been with CWT for almost a decade, most recently as vice president of global payment system sales, where he was responsible for corporate card product sales globally.
Said Giancola,"We've set the trend for the industry in terms of managing T&E end-to-end." He added that Madonna "has no immediate plans to change Travis Tanner's vision. He joined because of his belief in opportunities because of that vision." A great deal of the vision is focused on Mercury, the company's reengineering initiative (<I>BTN,</I> April 13, 1998).
Mercury now is in the implementation stage and Tanner said the first site will open this quarter with five customers in Mendota Heights, Minn. Tanner said he can't speak for Madonna, but his plan was always to get Mercury into reservation centers domestically and overseas (see story, page 6). Tanner said the rollout of Mercury in Europe likely will be 12 to 18 months behind the United States.
CWT in recent weeks also promoted Robin Schleien, former vice president of business development and marketing for CWT-Americas, to president of CWT-Canada. Ross Mersinger was named executive vice president for Latin America and Coenraad Bijlsma now is vice president of sales development and support.