Carlson Wagonlit Travel Canada Appoints New General Manager

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) has appointed Nick Vournakis senior vice president and general manager, CWT Canada, effective January 1, 2008. He formerly served as the vice president of the CWT Solutions Group in the Americas, since September 2005.

Mr. Vournakis replaces Bill McLean, who has chosen to pursue other opportunities outside the travel industry but remains available as a consultant to Mr. Vournakis during the coming months.

Mr. Vournakis begins his new role with a 90-day road show to personally meet with employees, clients and associates across Canada to build relationships and better understand the needs of each constituency, to communicate high-level 2008 goals and objectives and to become more familiar with the Canadian marketplace.

Under Mr. Vournakis’ leadership, the CWT Solutions Group, which offers travel program consulting as part of the CWT Program Optimization service offering, grew its client base by 70 percent, and increased its North American consulting staff from 19 in 2005 to 44 at the end of 2007.

During his tenure Mr. Vournakis also established a ground transportation practice as an addition to the group’s air and hotel optimization services.