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For
immediate
release
Douglas Rice succeeds
Matthew Dunn in Planned
Transition
CHICAGO (September 1,
2004) -- Hotel
Technology Next
Generation (HTNG)
announces the
appointment of Douglas
C. Rice as Executive
Director, succeeding Dr.
Matthew Dunn, who served
as Acting Executive
Director since early
this year. This planned
transition marks the
continued growth and
impact of HTNG on the
hospitality technology
sector. Dr. Dunn
remains integrally
involved in HTNG and
will assume a formal
advisory role.
Douglas Rice moves into
the HTNG executive role
from a successful career
spanning more than 15
years as a consultant to
senior executives
throughout the
hospitality industry.
Mr. Rice was one of the
original visionaries and
founders of HTNG,
recruited many of the
CIOs that formed its
first Board of
Directors, and has
remained integrally
involved throughout the
early years of the
organization, serving as
Executive Advisor to
HTNG since the
organization was
formalized.
“The Board of Directors
and I welcome Doug Rice
as HTNG’s next leader,
and as our first step in
establishing a permanent
organization” said
Gebhard Rainer,
President of HTNG and
Vice President of Hotel
Finance and Technology
for Hyatt International
Corporation. He
continued, “We also owe
Matthew Dunn a
tremendous debt of
gratitude for his
dedication and speed in
building the
organization to the
point where a permanent
Executive Director
became feasible. His
success in establishing
HTNG as a credible
industry force far
exceeded the Board’s
expectations. The time
commitment Matthew made
to HTNG was very
significant, and we
respect his need to
refocus his own efforts
on his consulting and
speaking engagements.
We look forward to his
continued active
involvement in HTNG in
an advisory role.”
“The tremendous growth
in membership that
Matthew achieved over
the past six months has
brought HTNG to a
critical mass,” said
Douglas Rice. “I am
delighted to have the
opportunity to lead the
organization into the
future, and to address
the technology
challenges that have
plagued the hotel
industry for so many
years. The levels of
interest we are now
seeing in HTNG’s
activities, across the
entire spectrum of hotel
companies and vendors,
prove that our formula
for customer-vendor
cooperation is working.”
“There’s no better
champion for HTNG than
Doug Rice.” said Matthew
Dunn. “His acceptance
of this position ensures
that HTNG will be able
to continue its forward
momentum without
interruption. He has
been integral in the
organization from the
beginning. I can think
of no better Executive
Director for a
forward-moving and
forward-looking
association in the hotel
technology sector. His
understanding of the
industry as a whole is
unparalleled. ”
Douglas Rice brings to
HTNG 25 years of
experience in travel
marketing, information
services and consulting,
including 16 years in
hospitality. Through
his company, Stratus
Management Group, he has
led consulting projects
for dozens of major
hotel companies and
technology vendors in
areas including
marketing, distribution,
technology strategy,
revenue management, and
corporate strategy. In
2003-2004, as a
consultant to Mandarin
Oriental Hotel Group,
Mr. Rice played a key
role in bringing to
fruition the
breakthrough
technologies at the
company’s new hotels in
New York and in
Washington. In
particular, he
architected an approach
to vendor cooperation
and systems integration
that led to
comprehensive use of
XML-based web services
to seamlessly tie
together disparate
systems. Much of the
intellectual property
developed by the vendors
for this project was
later contributed to the
first HTNG workgroup,
helping it to achieve
rapid success. Previous
milestones in Mr. Rice’s
career include
management roles at
United Airlines and Data
Resources, Inc, and an
MBA from the Harvard
Business School, where
he earned top honors as
a Baker Scholar.
Dr.
Matthew Dunn originally
joined HTNG in 2003 as a
Board member, when he
was CIO of Intrawest
Corporation (NYSE:IDR),
the leading developer
and operator of
village-centered resorts
across North America.
Through a special
arrangement between HTNG
and his company,
Socratech, Inc. (www.socratech.com),
Dr. Dunn undertook
the Executive Director
role for HTNG
in February 2004 to see
the organization through
its critical startup
phase for six months.
Industry response was
extremely positive,
enabling HTNG to grow by
1100% in less than nine
months. The organization
now includes over 50
technology vendors, 30
hotel companies, and 20
consultants, media and
academic members.
Ongoing HTNG Activities
The
HTNG Workgroup that
brought inter-vendor
demonstrations to the
recent HITEC conference
continues to work toward
fulfilling its charter.
In addition, HTNG has
accepted applications
for participation in the
Property/Distribution
Solutions Workgroup, the
composition and kick-off
of which will be
announced in September.
Two
additional workgroups
will also be announced
during September,
including one focused on
Application Architecture
and another on Guestroom
Technology Services.
The latter group will
address the so-called
“Triple Play” of voice,
video, and data over a
single IP network in the
hotel.
About Socratech, Inc.
A
boutique consulting and
speaking firm, Socratech
provides senior strategy
and technology
assistance to
enterprises, technology
companies, investment
firms and community
organizations.
About Hotel Technology
Next Generation
The premier technology
solutions association in
the hospitality
industry, HTNG is a
self-funded, non-profit
organization with
members from hotel and
hospitality companies,
technology vendors to
hospitality, and other
industry members
including consultants
and academic experts.
HTNG’s members
participate in focused
workgroups to bring open
solution-sets addressing
specific business
problems to the
hospitality market.
Membership in HTNG is
open to hotel and
hospitality companies,
technology vendors to
hospitality,
consultants, academics,
press and others. For
more information, visit
www.htng.org.
Contact:
Douglas Rice
Executive Director
(847) 348-1148
exec.director@htng.org
www.htng.org
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