Mike Putman

Starting his career with a single travel agency almost three decades ago, Mike grew that first venture into one of the largest privately held travel agencies in the American Southeast. Since then, Mike has acquired an in-depth knowledge of nearly every facet of the industry.

In 1995 he founded one of the first online travel companies, 11thHourVacations.com and built it into one of the largest online sellers of complex travel. In 2001 he sold this venture to OneTravel.com (whose major shareholders included Amadeus and Terra Lycos) and took a strategic position as Senior Vice President of OneTravel, initiating and maintaining relationships with many key industry suppliers.

Mike also helped form an industry leading "white-label" travel service, competing with companies like Expedia and Travelocity, ultimately growing this portion of the business to power over 6,000 private labels and co-brands. This included well-known brands such as Sams Club, Discovery.com, Wal-mart, and The Travel Channel. Through his tenure he also developed the host agency platform Agenta (registered symbol) and one of the first API-based online cruise booking engines.

Mike served on the Amadeus advisory board for three years.

Mike currently has several business ventures but spends most of his time consulting other growth companies in the travel space. These companies range from intermediaries to suppliers and organizations with 40 employees to firms with 50,000 associates. Mike's understanding of e-commerce, travel distribution, and executive coaching make him uniquely skilled at working without boundaries of size and scope -- which is a big plus within the travel industry.