Kay Urban: A Role Model for Compassionate Leadership
by Michèle McDonald
Kay Urban, who began her travel industry career as an Eastern Airlines reservations agent, will retire as president and chief executive officer of Amadeus Americas on April 1, after 34 years in the travel industry.
Urban has earned numerous accolades in recognition of her contributions to the travel industry, including Travel Weekly’s 2010 Readers Choice Lifetime Achievement Award. Travel Agent Magazine named her one of the “Most Powerful Women in Travel.” She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.
As someone who rose through the ranks, Urban has also served as a role model, not only for women in the industry, but for anyone who sees compassion as an essential element of leadership.
While many CEOs say their doors are always open, Amadeus employees confirm that Urban’s truly was – assuming, of course, that she was not on one of her many trips to Amadeus headquarters in Madrid or to visit with travel agents at events around the U.S.
I met Urban in 2003, and I soon learned that compassion is an essential element of her being. She is a passionate supporter of MassiveGood, the global fundraising effort that has enlisted the travel industry in the fight against the three scourges of the developing world: malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
Urban is very proud of the fact that Amadeus developed the technology to enable travel agents to offer micro-donation giving opportunities to their clients. Now available on all GDSs, it prompts agents to suggest a $2 gift to MassiveGood when a customer makes a booking. The donation is accomplished with a click of a button. Major online agencies also participate.
Distribution’s child
In a sense, Urban grew up with airline distribution, starting in the era when airlines first gave travel agencies access to its systems through what we then called “automation.” After five years in Eastern’s reservations department, she moved to Industry Automation, which subsequently became System One, Eastern’s GDS.
Beginning in 1986, Urban held positions in strategic planning and customer support, then advanced through several key executive management positions of increasing scope and responsibility, through System One’s acquisition by Amadeus in 1997.
When I met Urban, she was executive vice president and chief operating officer for Amadeus North America. Her media relations director, Debra Iannaci, set up an introduction and made reservations at a nice New York restaurant. We arranged to meet first at a nearby Irish pub, and the three of us had such a good time talking about everything under the sun that we decided to cancel the dinner reservation and opt for pub burgers and fries. We talked for hours, sometimes about the travel industry.
In her farewell letter to Amadeus’ customers, Urban thanked them “for believing in me and in Amadeus, for your trust and for your partnership.”
She said, “I was given an incredible gift – a challenging and rewarding career and relationships that will last a lifetime.”
Next for Amadeus
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Scott Gutz was named president and chief executive officer, distribution, North America, and operations, Americas, for Amadeus.
He will assume his new role on April 1,when Urban retires.
Gutz is currently chief operating officer for North America. He joined Amadeus in 2001 when it acquired e-Travel Inc., a supplier of hosted corporate travel technology solutions, where he was president and chief executive officer.
