Travelport, which provides reservations services and technology to the travel industry, announced several major management changes that it said were designed to further build on the delivery of its ongoing strategic business objectives. The company said its new structure aims to provide a highly customer-centric approach through the closer alignment of its commercial, marketing and product teams.

Under the new structure, Travelport’s marketing and product team will be merged with its commercial function under the leadership of Kurt Ekert, chief commercial officer. Gillian Gibson, who has been chief marketing officer for Travelport for almost two years, will remain with the company until the end of the year when she will leave to pursue other opportunities.

Other internal management appointments and changes, all effective Nov. 1 or other dates, include: Bryan Conway is appointed chief marketing officer with overall responsibility for the definition, creation and marketing of Travelport’s products and services to all customer groups. Jason Clarke has been named group vice president and managing director, global sales, focused on travel management companies (TMCs), online travel agencies (OTAs) and leisure travel agency customers using Travelport’s capabilities.

Mark Harris is the new group vice president, commercial operations and deployment, with responsibility for customer service and product deployment globally. Derek Sharp has been named group vice president and managing director, global distribution sales and services, focused on Travelport’s partnerships with travel content providers such as airlines and rail companies using Travelport’s capabilities to distribute their products and services.

Simon Nowroz is now group vice president, business development, with responsibility for leading Travelport strategy in certain key growth countries such as Brazil, China, India and Japan. Nowroz will continue to lead the APAC region until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition with the soon-to-be-announced new regional managing director. Niklas Andréen and Sandra McLeod continue to lead the hospitality and advertising business and the management of Travelport’s global TMC accounts respectively.

“We have been steadily implementing our strategy based on considerable investment in new product and technology to reflect the changing distribution needs of our airline, hotel and other customers,” said Gordon Wilson, Travelport’s president and CEO. “The changes we are announcing today will further align our business around the execution and delivery of our new capabilities to both sets of customers, joined up under one commercial leadership. Aligning the Travelport commercial proposition under Kurt Ekert will speed up our decision-making and further enhance the communication of our value proposition, backed up with tangible differentiation in the products and services we are now able to offer.

With a presence in over 170 countries, roughly 3,500 employees and 2011 net revenue of $2 billion, Travelport is made up of global distribution systems (GDS) business, which includes the Galileo and Worldspan brands and its airline IT solutions business.