Doug Knight – Chief Executive Officer

An industry veteran, Doug is one of the most multi-faceted agency owners in today’s travel management marketplace.  Doug brings to Worldtek a distinctive perspective derived from his tenure at American Airlines, Sabre/ADS, Associated/Cardillo Travel in Los Angeles, McGregor Travel and Navigant International.  Through the years, he acquired vast experience and produced results in the areas of automation, MIS, finance and strategic vendor negotiations. 

As one of the principals of McGregor Travel, one of the dominant regional agencies in the 90’s, Doug’s leadership led to major agency growth with account acquisitions such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures. 

Responding to the multi-national needs of clients, Doug opened up McGregor Travel in the United Kingdom.   Doug took the company public and, along with ten other regional agencies, formed Navigant International, recently purchased by Carlson Wagonlit Travel where he served as Navigant’s founding Chief Operating Officer. 

Doug owns Travel Desk/American Express of Greenwich, and is a co-owner of one of the most respected emergency travel services in New England, ETS. 

As the owner and Chief Executive Officer of Worldtek, Doug harnesses his diverse experience in local, regional and mega agency operations and leads a pro-active team dedicated to the increasing needs of today’s business travelers.  His commitment to the continued development of Worldtek is illustrated by recent technology investments with an emphasis in quality control, self booking automation and management information systems. 

Doug is an Oregon native and a graduate of the University of Oregon where he majored in Economics, He is an avid skier, and has traveled extensively both domestically and internationally.  He currently resides in New Canaan, Connecticut with his wife Shawnee and sons Andrew and Matthew. 

 

   Vin Rosa – President

Vin Rosa entered the travel industry with over 20 years experience in the restaurant business.  As Executive Vice President of The Riese Organization, one of the country’s largest privately held restaurant companies, Vin was associated with nearly every national chain and held positions in operations, human resources, marketing and management information systems. 

Following  his restaurant tenure, Vin began his travel career at McGregor Travel, one of the largest regional agencies of its time, in Marketing and IS and was instrumental in developing the agency’s e-commerce strategy.  Vin was actively involved in McGregor’s transition to Navigant International and served on their national marketing committee, which resulted in the development of various premier products, including their online reporting tool. 

Rosa chaired the committee that developed the Navigant brand, sat on several product advisory boards and was a leading member of the Strategic Account Sales Team, responsible for account acquisitions greater than $40 Million in the Fortune 100 sector. This was in addition to Vin’s management of the Northeast sales team which experienced record growth in the middle market segment.

As President of Worldtek, Vin is responsible for the overall management of the company and client satisfaction.   He provides a strong focus on employee development, client fulfillment and technology enhancement.  This is interrelated to Vin’s position as President of ResRunner, the agency’s automated meeting management solution. 

A member of the National Business Travel Association and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Vin is a panelist for several agency forums.  Vin is a Board Member of the Italian Center of Stamford and participates in various volunteer organizations including the American Red Cross.  Vin resides in Redding, Connecticut with his wife Debora. 

  

Dave Smith – Senior Vice President, Operations

Having spent over 25 years at Worldtek, Dave Smith has held a variety of positions throughout almost every department in the agency, continually being promoted in managerial positions. 

Dave has tremendous insight into front-line servicing, mid-office products, client reporting, conflict resolution and customer satisfaction processes.

As Senior Vice President of Operations, Dave leads the organization from supervising the hiring and training all staff to responding to the customer’s day-to-day needs.  As one of the agency’s leading vendor ambassadors, Dave plays an integral role in vendor negotiations with air, hotel, ground transportation and technology partners.  To accomplish this successfully, he plays close attention to the individual needs of each client, while keeping abreast of the emerging offerings of all vendors. 

In addition to overseeing the New Haven Reservation Center, Dave oversees the productivity of each branch location, and directs Worldtek’s Sports Travel Division.  Dave has been actively involved in the identification and implementation of new technologies, including telecom, self booking, mid office and workforce management solutions. 

Dave is a graduate of The Worldtek Travel School and the Computer Processing Institute.  An avid sports fan, Dave resides in Connecticut with his wife and two children.  

 

Janis Joyce – Vice President, Meeting Planning and Convention Travel

With over 35 years in the travel industry, Janis has become a legend in the field of meeting management.  Her travel career began with owning her own agency, which gives her intimate insight into agency operations.  This has provided her with a broad perspective on what it takes to be a strong travel partner and what is required to run a financially intelligent travel operation. 

Her experience and knowledge in every aspect of agency operations offers her staff the tools and support which enables them to provide the quality service Worldtek clients deserve. 

Janis runs a financially healthy and service oriented operation revolving around the unique needs of each group movement.  She has tremendous experience with industry relations and negotiations with air, hotel and ground transportation.  Janis’ staff of meeting planners and group airline agents is constantly motivated by Janis’ enthusiasm and the extraordinary knowledge she brings to her team.

Janis is a graduate of Albertus Magnus College and holds a Masters degree in Business Administration.  In her spare time, Janis enjoys family, friends, golf, walking and volunteers her time to various organizations.

 

Emily E. Roos, Vice President, Business Development

Emily comes to Worldtek after several years in the hotel industry and 17 years at Navigant International (now, Carlson Wagonlit) where she was responsible for record sales growth in the tri-state area. 

Although her experience encompasses a broad range of industries, her focus has been on creating winning proposals for major financial institutions and law firms committed to controlling total T&E costs.  Accounts she has been responsible for acquiring include Bear Stearns, Skadden Arps, iStar Financial, Standard Chartered Bank, NASDAQ and Telsey Advisory Group. 

At Worldtek, Emily is charged with further developing the agency’s client base with a focus on first time consolidations and responding to the diversified needs of today’s corporate clients.    With an emphasis on designing financially sound travel programs, Emily harnesses internal and external experts to help consult with prospective clients. 

Emily has earned her several top producing sales awards and the Chairman’s Award at Navigant International.  She is a Merit Award recipient of the Connecticut Westchester Business Travel Association (CWTBT), was named Member of the Year by the Association in 2004 and has held several Board positions including Chairman of the Board.  She served on the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) committee for Travel Agency RFP standardization. 

Emily holds a Bachelors Degree in Communications and Writing from Ithaca College.   She has traveled throughout the US and Europe, and has been to the Middle East nine times.  She currently resides in New York.

 

Bob Graham Vice President, Sales 

Bob heads up the Worldtek sales organization, following an extensive engineering and sales management career with the IBM Corporation.  He brings to Worldtek an understanding of the needs of both the corporate traveler and the sales executive, who desires to motivate and reward employees and to do some with an eye on the budget’s bottom line.  Bob joined Worldtek in 1997 and has used his technical background to align Worldtek’s technology platforms to better serve the Worldtek client and his executive management skills to motivate and support corporations with major travel consolidation projects.  He is ready to address your needs whether they be corporate and institutional travel, meeting planning or employee recognition oriented.  Bob, a graduate of Boston College & sports enthusiast, lives in Madison, Ct. with his wife Lorraine.

 

Lisa S. Smith, Senior Director of Account Management

Lisa has over 15 years of travel management experience.  During this time she has gained a diversified skill set throughout various agency operations.  Initially with Evans Travel Group in New Orleans, Lisa then moved with Evans to their Pacific Rim operations, before relocating to the New York tri-state area, following the company’s merger into Navigant International, now Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

Lisa acquired extensive experience with travel related technologies, particularly SABRE products and the tools that support it, beginning with her role in establishing the agency’s Quality Control Department.  Lisa then transitioned to Sales, as well as Group and Event planning, where she was later promoted to Director of Sales and Customer Service.

When Lisa relocated to Australia and Southeast Asia, she helped to establish and oversee the daily operations of a multiple onsite travel department for a large mining company based in Indonesia.   This not only required her know-how in negotiating vendor agreements, identifying and solidifying local and international agency partnerships providing travel and expense policy recommendations, but also managing the balance of cultural differences between the agents and travelers.  To further her commitment to this unique situation, Lisa went so far as to gain a working knowledge of the Indonesian language.

With her most recent position in Navigant’s Account Management department, Lisa has vast experience in overseeing the implementation and ongoing service and financial health for clients including Skadden Arps, Footlocker and NASDAQ.

At Worldtek, Lisa is a key liaison between agency and client, emphasizing on the development of policy standards, electronic commerce integration, vendor negotiations, service relationship issues, and benchmarking.  Lisa serves as an internal electronic commerce expert, having implemented a variety of self-booking tools for a multitude of clients.  Lisa adds her expertise to developing travel management programs that fit each client’s culture and cost objectives. 

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University, and has lived in numerous cities throughout the United States and abroad, including New Orleans, Anchorage Alaska, Australia and Indonesia.  She resides in New York City with her husband, daughter and twin sons. 

Robert Luciani, Director of Special Events / Software Management

A twenty-year veteran of Worldtek, Robert offers a broad range of operational and technical expertise.   Robert’s Worldtek career began with the day-to-day operations of Textron, a multi million dollar US defense contractor with high international travel requirements.  He was then promoted to run the daily operations of Worldtek’s Sports Travel Division which included the NCAA account.   Robert developed significant experience with client relations by communicating with athletic directors at colleges throughout the country.  Robert was promoted to overseeing six travel offices where he trained and supervised all staff, negotiated airline contracts including charters for team travel.  Working closely with Worldtek’s Meeting and Planning Department, Robert gained first hand knowledge of how automation can enhance group movements.  

Robert was integral in the creation of ResRunner, working in tandem with the external programmers from abroad.  This intimate experience translates into tremendous benefits for end-users, as he is fully knowledgeable of the intricacies of the product and he continues to be involved in the ongoing evolution of the tool. 

As Director of Software Management, Robert oversees all aspects of ResRunner including the initial demonstration of the product, overseeing client communications, training with clients and internal staff, website creation, technical support for both the client and online registrants for all events, customer service, reporting, and billing and payment management.  

Working directly with ResRunner clients, Robert maintains client relations with such customers as IMG, MLB, NABC, Yale University and Assa Abloy USA.   Since fan travel remains a strong aspect of ResRunner’s functionalities, Robert works with all our collegiate customers including Duke, UConn, Wake Forest, Rutgers and Ohio State.  Robert attended Southern Connecticut State University and is a Worldtek Travel School graduate.  He has completed technical training from both Sabre and Worldspan. Robert has traveled extensively throughout the US, Mexico, Europe, and Caribbean.  He resides in Connecticut with his wife, Jennifer, another Worldtek veteran, and their two children.