Our leadership team

Kyle recently assumed the President and General Manager role for Deem, with end-to-end responsibility the business as a part of the overall Travelport organization. This includes the sales and account team, product and technology, support & service, marketing,and administrative functions. Kyle joined the Travelport team in November 2019with over 25 years of experience in travel distribution, initially leading the customer strategy and go-to-market team. Kyle joined Travelport from RateGain,where he led the end-to-end product team, charged with the shopping and selling capabilities in the DHISCO hotel distribution suite of products.

Prior to RateGain,Kyle worked at IBM on the application of artificial intelligence in personalized traveler shopping and servicing. Kyle joined IBM from Sabre where his experiences spanned a variety of disciplines, including strategy,marketing, business development, consulting and finance. In his last role, heled Sabre’s team responsible for marketing and product strategy for the travel agency and corporate market segments in its GDS business.

Kyle’s experiences also include: revenue management strategy, airline retailing/NDC, process engineering, travel distribution in both direct and indirect channels,connectivity, point-of-sale shopping technologies, and travel shopping and buying behaviors, as well as partnerships and mergers and acquisitions. Kyle started his career in finance at American Airlines.

At external industry events, Kyle has spoken on a variety of topics including:

¨ New paradigms in airand hotel shopping, buying and servicing
¨ Online corporate travel management
¨ Travel agent retailing & consumer shopping patterns
¨ Airline directchannel selling and merchandising
¨ Business process reengineering

Kyle holds a degree in Economics from The University of Texas, with a Master of Business Administration from Texas Christian University. Kyle resides in Dallas, Texas with his wife, Nancy, and they have two university-aged children, Alex and Sydney.

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We asked Kyle:

1.    What are three travel items you can’t live without?
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Three things I can’t live without while traveling:
(1) I have said for the last few years that I would rather lose my passport than my phone – even traveling abroad – and I’ve meant it. My entire life is caught up in my phone at this point. All my means of keeping up with the rest of the world… text, Slack, email, phone, calendar, contacts, health and safety,electronic payments… the list goes on and on.
(2) Passport… while I would rather lose this than my phone, I really don’t want to lose my passport. I have always so valued the ability to get out in the marketplace at a moment’s notice. And, that includes travel to destinations away from my country of origin. Replacing a passport is no small exercise –ironically seeming more challenging when inside the United States than outside.I do not want to have to go through the exercise of replacing a passport.
(3) Charging cables… a bit of a cheat… This is FAR more replaceable than either of my first two items. But, it is a nuisance, none-the-less. I have most everythingI need in my backpack, and I have backups to my backups as mechanisms to keep my devices ready to go. Clothes issues are easily fixed. But, all the things that I need to keep my devices at the ready… those are critical.

2.    If you weren’t in the travel industry, where would you be?

I have always said that the thing that I am going to do when I leave the travelspace is having a job at REI, enabling me to feed my passion for the outdoors.I own 9 tents, all with different purposes, 4 backpacking size packs, three sleeping bags and assorted pads, two camp stoves, three pairs of trekking poles, and countless other odds and ends. Being able to spend someone else’s money in REI to buy the latest passion toy… nothing sounds better than that.

Mike has been in the travel industry for 26 years. A graduate of Villanova University in Pennsylvania, Mike entered the travel industry in 1998 with Apple Vacations, holding positions across operations and sales. In 2004, he moved to AAA Mid-Atlantic, developing a greater online presence for their members. Mike joined World Travel, Inc. in 2007 and – except for a two-year stint at Fox World Travel – spent 15+ years at WTI. As EVP, Business Development, Mike led all marketing and sales efforts, supporting WTI’s growth. In March of 2024, Mike joined Deem, Inc. as their Chief Commercial Officer and is responsible for leading the sales and account management teams across their global expansion.

Mike and Wendy, his wife of over 33 years, live in suburban Philadelphia, PA. In their free time, they and their children and grandchildren enjoy an active family lifestyle as distance runners. Mike’s personal hobbies include golf, cheering on Philadelphia’s sports teams, and enjoying craft beer.

We asked Mike:

1.    The three travel items I can’t live without and why...

a.    Backpack – I’ve been using the same Nike backpack for years (until my son gets me a new New Balance backpack).  Everything has it’s designed spot in the bag, all the way down to the place for the parking garage ticket.  So in theory, nothing get’s lost. 

b.    iPhone – Everyone needs their phone for obvious reasons, like itineraries, directions, texting and calling home.  However I also can’t live without YouTubeTV on the road soI can continue to watch my Philly sports teams dominate even when I’m traveling. And now that AirPlay is more readily available on hotel smart tv’s… the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers travel with me.

c.     TUMS – Being on the road a lot, means poor food choices, which means grabbing the TUMS!  These chewable friends can make or break a good night’s sleep.  And by the way…the bottle has it’s own space in my backpack. 

2.    What destination is at the top of your bucket list:

The Destination at the top of my bucket list is HOME.  Being on the road a lot in my career, I always look at getting back home as a bucket list topper. As for places I haven’t been to yet and am anxious to see – Alaska.  I’ve been to 48 of the 50 states and the last two are Idaho and Alaska.  Sorry Idaho, but whales and glaciers win out over potatoes and prairies… but still looking to get to all 50 to complete the bucket list.

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