IVvy Inc., a global events and hospitality technology company, announced the hiring of three U.S.-based travel and technology industry leaders to help oversee its expansion in North America. The Queensland, Australia-based company, which opened its New York offices earlier this summer, appointed Pamela Guerin as senior vice president of global sales, Ray Pawley as vice president of global sales for groups and chains and Kara Lombardi as business development manager for North America.
IVvy CEO Lauren Hall said the three bring a wealth of sales and business development experience and industry contacts that will be key to supporting the company’s continued growth in the United States and beyond.
“With these appointments, iVvy will accelerate the introduction of its online alternative to the traditional request-for-proposal meetings model,” Hall said. “Our goal is to become the No. 1 global distribution system for the meetings and events industry,” she said. “We’ve already succeeded in building the necessary infrastructure in our home base of Australia. With the appointments of these widely known and well-respected industry leaders, we can truly move forward with our ambitious plans for putting the ‘global’ in our GDS.”
Pamela Guerin, a New Zealand native with more than 25 years of sales experience from startups to Fortune 500 companies, comes to iVvy from West Corp., where she was a global account executive with a portfolio of global companies headquartered in the U.S. and Europe. During her 14 years at West, Guerin was a consistent Global Gold Club achiever for sales performance in the unifed collaboration and cloud sector. Guerin will lead the U.S. team and spearhead iVvy’s growth in the corporate sector.
Guerin says her vision is to ensure that all clients see iVvy as a trusted business partner. “Business acumen, thought leadership, strategic planning and our business technologies will ensure that my team will not only deliver results, but also exceed expectations for building market share and iVvy brand awareness,” Guerin said.
Pawley brings to iVvy more than 30 years experience in the travel industry, most recently leading the global sales and business development efforts for Evature Ltd., a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, that offers natural language and bot-related technologies for hotels, airlines, travel agencies and airports. He previously worked for Amadeus GTD S.A. and American Express Global Travel. Pawley will be responsible for opening global markets, raising awareness of iVvy solutions and managing all key sales and relationship activities with hotel chains and groups around the world.
Lombardi comes to iVvy with more than 20 years of sales experience, most recently as strategic account manager with Information Builders Inc. She has also worked in the financial services, media, legal and healthcare sectors and has extensive experience building go-to-market strategies for companies new to the U.S. Lombardi will be responsible for opening the market for unique venues and restaurants.
iVvy offers meeting planners the ability to search, compare and book function space, catering and group accommodations online 24/7 by reviewing real-time availability, rates and inventory posted by venue operators, then manage events using an easy-to use, cloud-based platform and custom websites to attract and register attendees and manage their experience. iVvy provides conference centers, hotels, restaurants and cruise lines with an integrated revenue management and distribution platform to post availability, rates and inventory; manage inquiries and bookings on any device, anywhere; drive inbound revenue; and enhance reporting and visibility. iVvy serves over 12,000 users in 13 countries including Hyatt, Wyndham Hotel Group, Accor, Choice, Best Western and other leading hospitality groups; Air New Zealand, Voyager, Flight Center and other travel companies; BMW, KFC, Siemens, Rio Tinto, and other major corporations; government offices; associations; universities; and nonprofits. For more info, visit www.ivvy.com.au
