New CEO of consumers and new ventures at Travelport

Travelport Limited announced todaythat Michael Buhr has been hired to become the company’s new CEO of consumer and new ventures.

Travelport Limited announced todaythat Michael Buhr has been hired to become the company’s new CEO of consumer and new ventures. This 20-year technology entrepreneur will be responsible for evaluating and executing consumer- and venture-related partnerships, joint ventures, and acquisitions for Travelport.

Most recently, Buhr was entrepreneur in residence at early-stage venture capital firm Shasta Ventures where he advised companies in the Shasta portfolio and evaluated prospective investments in the areas of consumer Internet, online discovery, and mobile. Previously, he served as CEO and general manager of StumbleUpon, the leading personalized online recommendation engine. Prior to StumbleUpon, Buhr was senior director of corporate strategy at eBay, Inc.

“Michael Buhr has phenomenal experience in identifying and nurturing rapid-growth, technology-enabled business ventures,” said Jeff Clarke, CEO and president, Travelport. “At Travelport, Michael’s strategic insight and expertise will help us unlock new growth opportunities, especially as our core business-to-business products are increasingly exposed directly to the ‘end user’ consumers of travel.

“The opportunities to empower the consumer traveler and create business opportunities around that are huge – the convergence of travel distribution, unprecedented data access, enhanced online user experiences, and new mobile platforms are creating entire new categories. Michael will ensure that Travelport is at the forefront of this phenomenon, partnered with the right players and positioned to take rapid advantage of opportunities as they arise.”

Previously, Buhr held executive positions at Palm, co-founded VoIP (Voice over Internet) pioneer Lipstream Networks and worked in senior product marketing and management at Adobe Systems, The 3DO Company, and Apple Computer. He holds a bachelor of science degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada.

Buhr reports to both Jeff Clarke, CEO and president, Travelport, and Gordon Wilson, deputy CEO, Travelport, and President and CEO, Travelport GDS and Airline IT Solutions. He is based in the San Francisco Bay area, California.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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