Global

Jack O'Neill and Hubert Joly team up to lead Carlson Wagonlit Travel's North American business as Robin Schleien departs

MINNEAPOLIS & PARIS – August 23, 2004 – Carlson Wagonlit Travel, a global leader in corporate travel management, today announced the departure of Robin Schleien as president, CWT North America.
Jack O’Neill, chief operating officer, North America, and Hubert Joly, president & CEO of CWT Worldwide, will team up to lead the North American business. O’Neill expands his role as COO beyond the U.S. to include Canada. Global leader Joly adds the role of chairman and CEO of North America to his current responsibilities.

Schleien leaves the organization poised for continued success following recent accomplishments such as the introduction of the CWT i-Select Internet-based business travel offering, the launch of CWT’s direct connect airline ticket purchasing technology, and the integration of Maritz Corporate Travel (MCT), acquired by CWT this past spring. Most recently, CWT announced several new business wins, including Sprint, bringing total new sales to over $400 million in annual air volume for North America and more than $1.3 billion globally for the past 12 months. 
 
“CWT is grateful for Robin’s 12 years of service and appreciative of his contributions during this time,” Joly stated. “We are fortunate to have Jack in place as an industry veteran and leader. He is extremely well-equipped to improve upon the successes and momentum CWT has established in North America.”

The CWT Board of Directors appointed Joly worldwide president and CEO for CWT in July, overseeing all regions and operations of the global travel management company.

In addition to O’Neill’s expanded responsibilities geographically, he will oversee the CWT i-Select offering and Supplier Relations groups. O’Neill has also been appointed to serve on CWT’s Global Management Committee. Formerly, he served as president of MCT, with more than 25 years of travel industry experience.
 
“I look forward to growing our North American business and partnering with Hubert,” stated O’N eill. “Together we will build upon the strong foundation Robin has constructed — remaining extremely committed to our clients and to CWT’s continued growth as a world-class corporate travel leader.” Schleien, who will remain with CWT through October to ensure a seamless transition, reflected on his departure, “The past four years have been the most challenging and rewarding of my career and, while the timing would never be perfect to go, I am now ready for a new chapter. With recent product enhancements, process improvements, a new service offering, and the addition of the committed and capable people from MCT, CWT North America is positioned for even greater accomplishments ahead.”

Schleien joined CWT in 1992 and in 1995 was named vice president of Business Development and Marketing for CWT-Americas. He was appointed as president of Canada in 1998 and named president of North America in 2000.

As one of the world’s leading travel management companies, CWT’s core business is to design and implement optimal corporate travel programs for clients based on consulting expertise, high quality service, strong purchasing power and technological know-how. Over the last few years, CWT has also introduced many technology and business innovations, including significant enhancements in online reservations systems and the first Pan-European online reservation center, opened in Poland in 2003.
Present throughout the world, CWT has 11,800 employees, 11,000 reservation terminals and processes over 20 million reservations annually.

About Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Carlson Wagonlit Travel is a world leader in business travel management. Today, the Carlson Wagonlit Travel group, resulting from the merger of the Carlson and Wagonlit business travel activities, has locations in more than 140 countries and generates over $11.5 billion USD in annual sales. Carlson Wagonlit Travel is co-owned by Paris-based Accor group and Minneapolis-based Carlson Companies. For more information, visit www.carlsonwagonlit.com.

Media Contact 
Laurie Alexander
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
B: 763-212-2079
llalexander@carlson.com

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