Newsmaker: Morogiello Combines Corp. And Agency Sales At AA

<B> Newsmaker: Morogiello Combines Corp. And Agency Sales At AA</B>

By Jay Campbell

Frank Morogiello this month described himself as "pumped," and for good reason. The former managing director of commercial sales for American Airlines has added to his duties those of Christopher Dane, who recently vacated his spot as managing director of agency sales programs to work for Ft. Lauderdale-based Certified Vacations.

In taking on the new position as well as keeping the old one, Morogiello becomes American's first managing director of national accounts and sales programs, with responsibility for $5 billion in revenue, which he said is fairly evenly split between agencies and corporate customers.

"I am ecstatic to take what is carved out as one of the sweetheart jobs in the industry--distribution and sales at American," said Morogiello. "It's a great shot in the arm, too, from Peter Bowler and Mike Gunn."

Bowler, Morogiello's boss as vice president of passenger sales, replaced Jack Williams early last year. Gunn is senior vice president of marketing.

In practical terms, Morogiello said, the merging of corporate and agency sales makes a lot of sense based on the way corporate customers are doing business these days. "Now I can sit in a room and talk with a customer and a distributor and talk about revenue streams and not have to go ask Chris for a number. I already know if that number's real or not.

"Over time, the corporate customer has said that we need to get to know who our supplier is and that corporate contract activity has accelerated. There were only two of us handling corporate accounts back in 1988 and '89. Now, you still have travel agencies that are vital, but they're in a tight spot. Having worked for a travel management company, I understand what a supplier can do to hurt or to help its friends."

Morogiello spent more than four years as a regional vice president for IVI Travel and later BTI Americas. Prior to that, he clocked 12 years with AA in various sales posts.

Asked for his thoughts on the future of distribution, Morogiello made no predictions. "A lot of people are doing a lot of different things, but I don't know what's going to happen," he said. "But I can tell you that American is up to almost a full 2 percent of revenues" from online bookings.

What would he hope to see change in the industry in the future? "Well, for one, I'd love to figure out how to gain more of a commitment clause within our corporate agreements so they can survive marketplace trends--more like long term, alliance sort of partnerships.