Skift Take
Sabre’s stock rate is down 64 percent because the pandemic hit. To rebound, the travel tech company requires a much better understanding of what its travel management consumers need. Kurt Ekert can provide that intel.
Sean O’Neill
Travel innovation business Sabre said Wednesday it will remove president and CEO Sean Menke’s title of president and assign it to an external hire. Kurt Ekert, formerly president and CEO of organization travel management business CWT (Carlson Worldwide Travel), will end up being Sabre’s president on January 3, reporting to Menke.
Menke will focus on speeding up the execution business’s plans to tighten and strengthen its business.
” [Kurt Ekert] brings comprehensive global operating management and a deep understanding of the travel innovation environment,” Menke stated in a declaration. “Kurt’s disciplined and responsible approach coupled with his understanding of what our clients require in an evolving marketplace make him a perfect individual to step into this management function.”
Ekert recently led CWT for five years where he supervised a digital change, declaring $7 billion in new organization wins. Ekert previously operated at Travelport, Sabre’s smaller sized competitor in airline distribution, as executive vice president and chief business officer.
Among Ekert’s major accomplishments at CWT was enhancing its ground game in hotel circulation, an area Sabre could also use assist with.
Ekert suddenly left the function of CEO at CWT in April, when the business promoted its president and chief monetary officer to the role. A few years ago, Ekert spoke with Skift about his company philosophy.
In another change, Dave Shirk, who had actually been Menke’s second at Sabre and the leader of the business’s distribution and airline company services units, “has elected to step down” to a senior consultant function.
Dividing the role of CEO and president at a technology company is rather unusual. It’s possible that Sabre felt it required both Menke’s and Ekert’s complementary competence but neither might deal with a lower title than either president or CEO.
Ekert’s deal letter states that if and when the CEO position next appears and Sabre doesn’t offer it to him he can quit with a pleased severance package and no penalty.
Ekert’s base yearly wage will be $750,000. He’ll have eligibility for an annual bonus offer of $937,500, an equity grant valued at $1 million, eligibility for an equity grant of $3 million around March, and eligibility for extra grants and other reward offerings as prospective additional benefits if particular conditions are met in the coming years. He’ll likewise get a yearly expense fund of as much as $13,000. He’ll get 25 days paid-time-off in vacations plus the company’s standard holidays.