Avoya Travel Names Karl Treier Chief Technology Officer

Avoya Travel on Wednesday made another executive move it hopes will set it up for the next growth phase of the host agency, naming Karl Treier as its new chief technology officer (CTO).

Treier has been working as a consultant with Avoya for the last four years but now joins its executive team, which includes CEO Marc Kazlaukas and CSO Phil Cappelli.

Treier has four decades of experience in IT and enterprise technology development. He will be tasked with leading Avoya’s technology into its next era, including in artificial intelligence (AI), its agent-power platform, and its consumer-facing platform.

“We’re going to have a substantial increase in platform investments across technology and marketing,” Treier promised during a media briefing on Wednesday.

Kazlaukas says that with AI, which seems to be dominating every tech conversation and initiative across the industry, Avoya is looking to “use it to make our advisors smarter, faster and more productive.”

“It’s always seeing the advisor in the center—we are in business for our independent advisors,” he added.

Cappelli, also on Wednesday’s media briefing, added that Avoya’s attitude toward AI is not one of fear for its members. “At the end of the day, it is there to help with everyone, but it’s never going to have empathy, it’s never going to get to know people on a personal level.”

Treier’s hiring is part of a “new era at Avoya” that includes the new executive team taking the place of the longtime owners, the Andersons, who left the host agency last summer. While Cappelli came on in 2023, Kazlauskas, the former Insight Vacations president, came on after the Andersons’ departure.

Talking about the new era, Kazlauskas said that the new Avoya is not about shifting away from its storied history, but “it’s taking that and building a bigger house with the same foundation.”