Ninan Chacko

Brainstormer, Business mentor, Change Agent, Foodie, Idea generator, Investor, Marketer, Parent, Technologist, World traveler

Ninan Chacko, CTC, served as the Chief Executive Officer for Travel Leaders Group, one of the largest retail, corporate and entertainment travel companies in North America and the UK with sales of over $20 billion and more than 4,000 employees. Travel Leaders Group is comprised of more than 6,000 travel agency locations and over 65,000 travel advisors in the United States, Canada and approximately 80 countries. Mr. Chacko’s vision was to expand the retail travel sector with a focus on providing vacation and business travelers with personal service and high-quality travel experiences. His vision encompassed an aggressive growth strategy employing cutting-edge marketing, technology and lead generation to match consumers with expert travel counselors. In the 4+ years he was at Travel Leaders Group, the company acquired more than 20 travel firms to become a leading force in the travel industry. Under his leadership, Travel Leaders Group rose in the rankings by two leading travel trade publications. The company ranked 7th on Travel Weekly’s 2019 Power List of the largest and most successful retailers and ranked 8th among the top 50 travel management companies in the UK by Buying Business Travel. As an industry thought leader and a member of the World Travel & Tourism Council, Mr. Chacko worked to expand partnerships with destinations and travel suppliers to enhance the customer experience and provide a greater variety of options for travel advisors to offer their customers. Building on innovative marketing and travel advisor destination specialization, Mr. Chacko helped destination marketing organizations to increase their tourism arrivals through enhanced demand management, an approach that was informed by a partnership with New York University’s School of Professional Studies. Prior to joining Travel Leaders Group, Mr. Chacko provided highly-respected, visionary leadership as Chief Executive Officer of PR Newswire, the global leader of communications and marketing solutions that enables organizations to monitor conversations, create content, and actively engage with key audiences across traditional, digital, social and mobile channels. During his tenure, PR Newswire enjoyed significant organic growth from product innovation and international expansion. Before joining PR Newswire in 2009, Mr. Chacko served as Chief Commercial Officer of Worldspan, the worldwide travel information, e-commerce and technology service provider. In this role, he was responsible for sales, marketing, operations, service and support activities for customers and partners in over 60 countries. Mr. Chacko was a founding member of the buyout consortium management team that acquired Worldspan from Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and American Airlines, and served as Chief Commercial Officer until its sale to Travelport. Prior to Worldspan, Mr. Chacko spent more than 13 years with Sabre Holdings, a leading supplier of distribution and technology solutions to the travel industry. As Senior Vice President, he led the development, launch and operation of Sabre’s hotel merchant business in the travel agency channel and the creation and execution of Sabre’s consortia network strategy to influence and monetize travel retailing. During his time with Sabre, he served in a variety of leadership roles, including Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy for Sabre Travel Network and Senior Vice President of Global Services. Mr. Chacko began his career with System One Corporation before joining American Airlines. Mr. Chacko earned both his Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS). More recently, he also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program and the London Business School’s Spencer Stuart Directors’ Forum. Mr. Chacko also earned his Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) from The Travel Institute.

Equality, geopolitics, my family, travel, food, biking, wine, rugby

freedom (Free The Slaves) and literacy worldwide,

Content Marketing, Earned Media, Investor Relations, media distribution, Public Relations, Tourism, Transaction Processing, Travel Distribution, Travel Marketing

Serendipitous Discovery ---------> Wondrous awe ----------> Nourishment for the brain and Soul -------> Catalyst for Passions ------------------> Mindful consciousness

Wrangling twins, making pesto, travel planning