Bob Beard

Role within CWT
• Director of Military Account Management

Years with CWT
• 31 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 33 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• My favorite part of job is definitely helping clients resolve their problems.

Personal interest
• Theater! I appeared on Broadway in Miss Saigon and in the film version of The Producers.

Favorite trip
• A safari to Kenya. Staying in tented camps , wild animal sightings—quite an adventure.

Brian Hace

Role within CWT
• I manage our leisure business; I also handle a number of strategic projects that don’t neatly fall to someone else.

Years with CWT
• I have been with CWT just over 10 years, which is the only 10 years I have been in the travel industry. Prior to CWT I worked in Marketing and Product Management jobs at GE and Emerson Electric.

Favorite part of your job
• I enjoy simplifying complex issues. The travel industry is much more challenging than it appears to the end user… there are lots of players, business models, technologies, etc.

Personal interest
• I’d rather be swimming.

Favorite trip
• Cruises! My wife and I (and sometimes our kids) have been on a number of cruises and we have enjoyed every one. It is the best way to disconnect and avoid having to make decisions.

Cynthia Nelson

Role within CWT
• I’m part of the CWT Leisure Team and serve in a senior management capacity.

Years with CWT
• Technically five years with CWT, as I joined CWT when it acquired Navigant International, of which Macy’s Travel was a part. However, I’ve been with the same company my entire career, as what is now Carlson Wagonlit Travel once was branded as Macy’s Travel and before that, Marshall Fields and Dayton’s Travel.

Years in the travel industry
• 27 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• All the people I work with. They are really great.

Personal interest
• Personally, I love to travel! I’m always dreaming and planning that next vacation…(guess I’m in the right job!).

Favorite trip
• A couple years ago we took a multi-generation family cruise to the Mediterranean; it was absolutely wonderful! Standing inside the Colosseum in Rome, exploring Pompeii, the vastness of the Acropolis, taking a donkey ride in Santorini and watching my daughter cliff dive into the Adriatic Sea—the entire trip was truly magical! Being able to experience all of this with extended family, really stood out!

Joe Blankush

“Many thanks to Joe Blankush for his contributions to the CWT Savvy Traveler blog.”

Joyce Pflaumer

Role within CWT
• I help our corporate clients develop their air travel program strategy, negotiate their current contracts, and provide ongoing support.

Years with CWT
• 4 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 4 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• Aside from the people I work with, my favorite part is getting a first-hand look at how airlines are changing the way they do business. We get to hear about the best and latest trends in travel before most people.

Personal interest
• When I’m not analyzing airline travel, I like to explore the human-powered modes of transportation – biking, kayaking, and rock-climbing.

Favorite trip
• A recent vacation trip to Florida – I had the chance to catch up with family, go parasailing and swimming in the gulf.

Jessica Zimanske

Role within CWT
•  As a Supplier Services Manager at CWT, I am responsible for crafting communications, implementing incentives and developing marketing programs to create value for our supplier relationships.

Years with CWT
• 2 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 2 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• The best part of my job is writing for and interacting with a global audience—CWT employees around the world!

Personal interest
•  I am a devout Minnesota Twins season ticket holder, a daily coffee drinker and a part-time freelance writer.

Favorite trip
• My favorite trip, so far, was a 2-day FAM to London on Virgin Atlantic. We were there only a week after the royal wedding!

Janet Wheatley

Role within CWT
• I lead North America operations and report to both the global operations leader for CWT and North America president. My role focuses on customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and continuous process improvement, innovation and efficiency.

Years with CWT
• 31 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 34 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• Developing new leaders and mentoring potential leaders.

Personal interest
• Singing, fitness, travel, reading.

Favorite trip
• While I love a good beach vacation, my favorite trips are still visits to interesting cities. New York is always at the top of my list because there is so much to do: Broadway plays, great restaurants, sightseeing. I even enjoy obscure sites like Grant’s tomb (really!), Seinfeld’s restaurant, Teddy Roosevelt’s home, ballparks, Grimaldi’s Pizzeria under the Brooklyn Bridge, St. Paul’s Chapel by the 9/11 Memorial, etc. I’d also list Boston, Chicago, Charleston, Washington, D.C. as real favorite cities to visit.

Katarina Kelln

Role within CWT
• As a Senior Director of Program Management, I am responsible for our client-facing teams in Canada. I work closely with internal and external customers to maintain and grow relationships.

Years with CWT
• 15 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 23 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• I enjoy working with our customers, suppliers, and my team to assist in overall successes.

Personal interest
• Gardening because it gives me a sense of relaxation and enjoyment of the outdoors.

Favorite trip
• A family trip to Bangkok in 1984; the culture was amazing. I was 15 years old and I remember shopping with my sister and mother down one of the streets. I thought it was incredible how we could barter on a price. I was also taken aback at how the locals would touch our hair all the time—we were blonds. We also took a trip through the floating market and experienced the very poor aspects of the culture. It made me realize how easy we have it compared to other areas of the world. I also visited Jerusalem when I was a teenager. That was an incredible experience where I got to travel on camels and visit Bethlehem. I remember we had to scrunch down to enter the buildings as all the entrances were very petite. On those days we ate out for lunch we noticed that the restaurant would allow the poor from the street to take all the leftovers from the buffet tables at the conclusion of each buffet. A real interesting concept to avoid waste and look after the poor.

Kindall Farwell

Role within CWT
• I am the Program Manager for FedRooms, the U.S. Government’s lodging program, which is contracted through CWTSatoTravel.

Years with CWT
• I have been with CWT since 1987.

Years in the travel industry
• I have been in the travel industry since 1985.

Favorite part of your job
• I love my co-workers and our client.  The U.S. Government has to be the best client in the world!

Personal interest
• I enjoy raising, tagging, and releasing monarch butterflies with my 9-year old daughter and traveling with my family.

Favorite trip
• Orpheus Island in Australia.  We landed at the island on a float plane, and taxied to a floating dock.  Then a speed boat came out to meet us with cocktails.  It felt like I was on Fantasy Island!

Monica Eiden

Many thanks to Monica Eiden for her contributions to the CWT Savvy Traveler blog.

Michelle Hamilton

Role within CWT
• As a senior business analyst for CWTSatoTravel, my concentration is in two areas—the implementation and daily running of various applications used by our travel counselor staff (i.e. our customer service resolution tracking tool), and evaluation of our many processes to maximize efficiencies.

Years with CWT
• 16 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 30 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• I love delving into a process and finding its strong points and areas we can improve. It’s the business version of working a puzzle or playing Sherlock Holmes to solve a mystery—great fun!

Personal interest
• Volunteering is a total win-win situation; you get so much joy from volunteering while the organization you are helping gains at the same time. (I’ve volunteered with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary for 17 years, Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts for 26 years, and in the Fourth Presbyterian Sanctuary Choir for 29 years.)

Favorite trip
• Having traveled to 22 countries, my favorite trip has to be the one to the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia. As we approached its reef in an outrigger canoe, we encountered the most exquisite sight I’ve ever seen. The island, with its craggy black hillsides covered in variegated foliage of endless texture, rimmed with a white sand ruffle and rising out of a crystal clear aquamarine reef, was indescribably beautiful. That feast for the eyes, coupled with the delicious food and easy atmosphere of the now-closed Club Med Bora Bora, made this beach vacation one of the top trips of a lifetime.

Nick Vournakis

Role within CWT
• I lead the CWT Solutions Group, CWT’s consulting division, worldwide.

Years with CWT
• 11 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 11 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• Getting in front of our employees to talk about the business and hearing what they have to say about how we can improve it.

Personal interest
• I am a die-hard New York Yankees fan…I love to read…my Itunes library has over 17,800 songs…and my wife believes I have an unhealthy relationship with my PlayStation

Favorite trip
• Spending a week at the Vancouver Olympics. The highlight was taking my wife’s picture with a Canadian national sports icon. I call it “The Great One…and Wayne Gretzky.”

Peder DeFor

Role within CWT
• I’m a travel agent, so I book travel for CWT’s corporate clients.

Years with CWT
• 11 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 11 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• I get a lot of satisfaction from having helped someone book a really tricky piece of travel.

Personal interest
• I have a fascination with book lists and have developed a serial habit of working my way through them.

Favorite trip
• I once did a ten-day road trip driving from Seattle to San Diego. It was an absolute blast seeing so many wondrous places.

Rosalba Chiappetta

Role within CWT
• Personal Travel Advisor

Years with CWT
• 3 Years

Years in the travel industry
• Since 1986 – 25 years.

Favorite part of your job
• Getting to know my clients and receiving feedback from holidays I arranged and organized for them.

Personal interest
• Travel, cooking, reading autobiographies / biographies,

Favorite trip
• St. Bart’s, and touring Italy in 2006 with my 2 daughters.

Stephanie DeNote

Role within CWT
• I articulate CWT’s global product value proposition to our clients and client-facing teams.

Years with CWT
• 12 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 12 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• Teaching clients or client-facing personnel something new about a product that can help drive value or savings to a client’s program.

Personal interest
• Snowboarding

Favorite trip
• A trip my husband and I took to Italy, we rented scooters on the Amalfi Coast; it was amazing!

Stacy Sprenger

Role within CWT
• As a travel agent, I book corporate travel for Carlson employees.

Years with CWT
• 12 years with CWT

Years in the travel industry
• 16 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• The best part of my job is working with customers and co-workers.

Personal interest
• Personal interests for me, especially in the summer season, are cooking, gardening, going to farmers’ markets, etc.

Favorite trip
• My favorite trips were two- and three-month long backpacking trips through Europe and Central America. I loved not being on a time schedule, seeing and learning new things every day, and meeting people from local areas.

Tara Hyland

Role within CWT
• I am the Director of Leisure Marketing for CWT Vacations and also an Accredited Space Agent for Virgin Galactic sub orbital space flights.

Years with CWT
• 7 years with CWT

Years with CWT
• 26 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• Promoting fabulous vacation packages
• Space adventure travel
• Enrolling CWT corporate customers in CWT Vacation Club.

Personal interest
• Travel photography is a hobby I enjoy very much, lucky me to be in this business! I also enjoy supporting local animal rescue organizations and shelters.

Favorite trip
• My favorite trip was my honeymoon to French Polynesia staying on the incredibly beautiful islands of Moorea and Bora Bora. The thing that stands out about the destination is the incredible opportunity for snorkeling over spectacular reefs just off the shore from our hotel and the incredible sunsets.

Tracey Nelson

Role within CWT
• As Director of Global Sales Planning, I am responsible for developing effective solutions for prospects’ travel management needs.

Years with CWT
• 15 years with CWT

Years with CWT
• 24 years in the travel industry

Favorite part of your job
• I work with corporate clients to understand the opportunities we can help them create within their programs.

Personal interest
• I’m developing an interest in writing for travel blogs.

Favorite trip
• My last big trip was to the island of Moorea, Tahiti. I highly recommend it.

Vicky Laflamme

Role within CWT
• I wear a several hats, but my focus is with CWT’s Program Management and Sales teams working together to deliver on our goals and objectives. I also am a key leader supporting the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) market in Canada.

Years with CWT
• 10 years with CWT

Years with CWT
• 29 years in the travel industry—when I started we still used carbon paper to type out copies of itineraries!

Favorite part of your job
• No doubt it’s working with such great people!

Personal interest
• I am a Certified Life Coach, love to garden, I belong to a book club, I enjoy snowshoeing when weather permits, and I have a passion for decorating and of course…traveling!

Favorite trip
• It’s so hard to pin down one trip, even two favorite trips is hard so I thought I would highlight favorite memories—seeing the Grand Canyon; sailing on a 50′ sailboat through the Virgin Islands; driving through the crazy, cliff-hanging road in Italy along the Amalfi Coast; seeing the Remarkable Mountains in New Zealand; climbing to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany; and sitting at a seaside restaurant in Portugal with my husband on our honeymoon sipping Sangria. I have been blessed to see 231-odd cities and have been to 23-odd countries…seems like a lot even to me but there still is a ‘list’! Hope to see Newfoundland, Ireland, Australia, and to visit Italy one day again.