Sean Menke Named CEO Of Sabre Corp.

Sabre Corp.’s board of directors appointed Sean Menke as president, chief executive officer and member of the board, effective Dec. 31. He will succeed Tom Klein, who has served in the posts since 2013 and who announced his retirement earlier this year.

Menke currently is executive vice president of Sabre Corp. and president of Sabre Travel Network, Sabre’s largest line of business.  

The board also named Larry Kellner executive chairman, also effective Dec. 31. He is currently non-executive chairman of the board.

Prior to joining Sabre, Menke served as chief executive officer of Frontier Airlines and held senior executive positions at Hawaiian Airlines and Air Canada. He also served as executive vice president at IHS Services, a global technology company.  

Since Menke joined Sabre in October 2015, Sabre Travel Network has increased its global market share and secured Sabre’s position as the leading global distribution system in three of its four major operating regions (North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific).

He is also credited with leading the innovation that enables the sale of more customized fares and ancillary products through Sabre Travel Network and strengthened the technology solutions that will be offered to travel agencies next year as part of the launch of the new Sabre Red platform.  

Ironically, as Air Canada’s chief commercial officer, Menke in 2006 yanked the carrier’s Tango fares from the Sabre GDS in a fit of exasperation over Sabre’s inability to display the fare’s attributes in a way that satisfied Air Canada.

Kellner joined Sabre as non-executive chairman of the board of directors in August 2013, when Sam Gilliland was abruptly ousted as chief executive officer. He served as chief executive officer of Continental Airlines from 2004 to 2009.