Michael Stacy

CEO, Groople Inc.
WHEN: Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 1:15 pm - 2:00 pm
TOPIC: The OTA CEO Series: Targeted Marketing Pushes the Package

Mike brings 15 years of experience to this position, including successfully building and growing some of the top online travel brands. Prior to joining Groople in November 2005, he was president of Cheap Tickets, a leading online travel website owned by Cendant. While at Cheap Tickets, Mike developed a new organization, improved the site conversion rate, and increased transactions with improved quality, bringing Cheap Tickets to profitability for the first time and was the fastest growing online travel site in 2004. He was an instrumental member of a team that performed a comprehensive analysis to determine the viability of Orbitz and Ebookers.co.uk as acquisitions, then worked to integrate the Cheap Tickets and Orbitz organizations after the acquisition. He began his career at Cendant as senior vice president of marketing and product development for Cendant’s Retail Travel Services group, overseeing online and offline marketing for Cheap Tickets and Lodging.com, and managing product development in support of Cheap Tickets. He came to Cendant from Clear Channel Entertainment, where he held the position of senior vice president of consumer marketing and e-commerce. There, he led the company’s online marketing, distribution and sales strategy across all divisions, including music, motor sports, theatrical and exhibitions. Before joining Clear Channel, Stacy spent five years at then-startup Travelocity, including four years as senior vice president of consumer marketing, where he led the company’s branding and customer experience efforts. During his tenure, he managed site design improvements to enhance the customer experience and created innovative marketing programs that significantly increased brand awareness. He also oversaw Travelocity’s award-winning advertising campaigns and launched the brand into Europe and developed joint ventures in Asia. While at Travelocity, Mike was twice named a Rising Star by Travel Agent magazine. Mike is a member of the board of The Uganda Rural Development and Training programme (URDT), which provides education, training, and information sharing for females in one of Uganda’s poorest regions. URDT views functional literacy and empowerment for girls and women as essential leverage points in rural development. Mike got his start in the online world as advertising and marketing manager at Microsoft’s online city guide, Sidewalk.com. He holds a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.