Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant

Current

• Principal Consultant at Sonoda Travel Management Solutions

Past

• Global Travel Manager at Spansion
• Global Travel Manager at Business Objects
• Global Travel and Food Service Manager at Macromedia, Inc.

• Global Travel and Food Service Manager at Macromedia, Inc.
• Global Travel and Food Service Manager at Macromedia, Inc.
• Global Travel and Food Services Manager at Macromedia, Inc.
• Founder and Consultant at Sonoda Travel Management Solution
• VP, Corporate Operation at American Express/ Ethan Allen Travel
• VP, Corporate Operations at American Express/Ethan Allen Travel
• Customer Service, Sales, Operations at United Airlines

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7 more...

Education

• University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
• University of California, Berkeley
• Burlingame High School

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Recommended

14 people have recommended Yasuo

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Computer Software

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant’s Summary

I am an accomplished professional with experience in strategic planning, purchasing, process improvement and customer service. At my best in situations requiring vision, creativity, and a strategic, goal-oriented approach, my strong interpersonal skills and practical experience, together with my versatility and broad business knowledge, permit me to play a uniquely significant role in any organization. I am skilled at building travel management program from scratch, and then keep enhancing it to meet the changes in the travel industry. Forensic accounting focusing on travel and entertainment is my expertise that separates me from others in my line of work.

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant’s Specialties:

Travel purchasing, travel operational management, customer service management, creative and passionate educator, travel spend management, forecasting, trend analysis, Six Sigma implementation (greenbelt certified), creative vision, travel automation, process improvement and cost reduction. Anything related to travel expenses will end up at my desk.

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant’s Experience

• Principal Consultant

  Sonoda Travel Management Solutions

  (Management Consulting industry)

  February 2009 — Present (11 months)

  As founder/principle consultant, I provide management consulting services to corporations of various sizes and to businesses in travel-related industries. The areas include: strategic planning/sourcing, process improvement, operations and business development. I am responsible for creating/assessing/mapping the best and customized travel infrastructure to corporations, drawing on my successful career as a travel manager at three companies, including recommendations from all three CFOs of these companies. Among my significant achievements:
  
  * Created a fixed-cost assessment process/template to enable my corporate customers to visualize the best travel infrastructure with available resources (including fixed budget, etc.) to begin the process enhancement projects that result in improved service delivery of travel program while adding control (Sox, etc.) and reducing unit/processing costs.

• Global Travel Manager

  Spansion

  (Public Company; SPSN; Semiconductors industry)

  January 2007 — February 2009 (2 years 2 months)

  Spearheading the globalization of travel management infrastructure that balances cost control and traveler comfort.
  
  - Seemless transition of travel agency to also integrate the new online booking tool; managing three travel employees.
  
  - Achieved 96% customer survey rating from the travel arranger group
  
  -Created and launched the internal communication channel inlcuding MS Sharepoint for travel information, predictive, dashboard and forward-looking analytics and also discussion blogs to focus on further program enhancement.
  
  - Improved the internal travel authorization process using Ariba, in preparation for the further development of travel infrastructure.
  
  - Spearheaded the global preferred hotel rate project to achieve 100% access of all preferred hotels worldwide.
  
  -Completed preferred airline partner change using creation of the company blog, thorough communication strategy
  -Consolidated nine regional travel policies into one main global policy.

• Global Travel Manager

  Business Objects

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; BOBJ; Computer Software industry)

  January 2006 — December 2006 (1 year )

  Responsible for managing company Travel & Entertainment of $57M through unit specific dashboard analysis and Business Intelligence, to identify cost reduction opportunities.
  
  Negotiated and managed the worldwide rollout of American Express Travel, including implementation of e_Travel, Cliqbook and GetThere with regional configurations.
  
  Created "Actionable Analytics" dashboard reports using Crystal Xcelsius software

• Global Travel and Food Service Manager

  Macromedia, Inc.

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; macr; Computer Software industry)

  April 2002 — December 2005 (3 years 9 months)

  Reporting to the Vice President of Facilities and Real Estate for this multimedia software company and directing three Onsite Travel Counselors, I am responsible for identifying travel cost reduction opportunities throughout the company, as well as developing and implementing programs to capitalize on such opportunities, while also managing the company's new corporate food service operation.

• Global Travel and Food Service Manager

  Macromedia, Inc.

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; macr; Computer Software industry)

  April 2002 — December 2005 (3 years 9 months)

  Among my most significant accomplishments to date have been the following:
  
  * Reduced corporate travel costs by employing an educational approach to gain greater visibility for cost savings opportunities among the company’s business travelers; developed special travel cost visibility reports for the company's financial analysts and senior managers; employed "road show" presentations to better educate company travelers in order to reduce "non-managed" travel bookings; as a result, such bookings were reduced to less than 2% of total travel, "out-of-policy" bookings dropped to just 2-3 per month and overall travel costs were reduced by 10% in 2003 and 18% in 2004.

• Global Travel and Food Service Manager

  Macromedia, Inc.

  (Public Company; macr; Computer Software industry)

  April 2002 — December 2005 (3 years 9 months)

  * Reduced domestic average airfare by 35.9% over two years, while managing a 17% increase in domestic air travel and a 36% increase in the number of tickets purchased during the same period; increased the company's preferred vendor market share every quarter to re-qualify for performance-based discounts.
  
  * Monitored and managed all company meetings and groups through the company's Travel Department, something never previously done, with great acceptance.
  
  * Identified $250,000 per year saved in business tax deferrals by working together with the company's Tax Department to determine how many San Francisco-based employees travel out of state; this translated to a 14% reduction.

• Global Travel and Food Services Manager

  Macromedia, Inc.

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; macr; Computer Software industry)

  April 2002 — December 2005 (3 years 9 months)

  Assumed responsibility for the selecting the company's food service vendor and managing the corporate food service operation upon the opening of its new San Francisco facility in 2005.
  
  * Rolled-out MacromediaTrips, Macromedia's online travel booking system to U.S.-based employees; selected, performed a cost analysis, presented my recommendations to the company's CFO and oversaw the project management and programming of the tool.
  
  * Consolidated the company's travel management providers by integrating seven separate companies into one provider, American Express; launched "Macromedia Trips," an online booking tool provided by GetThere in July 2004 and reduced travel itself by consolidating trips, meetings and groups wherever possible; this resulted in American Express Travel handling all domestic locations and the company's four top off-shore offices, representing 88% of the company's total air travel, with 98-99% compliance.

• Founder and Consultant

  Sonoda Travel Management Solution

  (Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

  July 2001 — April 2002 (10 months)

  In this start up version of the consulting services company I founded, I primarily focused on assisting travel management firms to enhance their service infrastructure, such as focused marketing strategy, niche market identification, system programming, operational management and M&A activities.
  
  * Served as Interim Chief Operating Officer and Branch Manager of a 14-employee travel agency in downtown San Francisco acquired by the largest independently owned East Bay travel services group; improved the office’s operating efficiency, while reducing staff and increasing its profitability; successfully integrated it into the acquiring firm over a 90-day period.
  
  * Implemented new system software for a corporate travel management company and a retail travel agency; reviewed programs previously in use to incorporate their functions into the new system; translated the old system software to the new system; as a result, travel fees could be quoted more quickly and human error was eliminated.
  
  * Reduced the amount of time required to complete each travel reservation, thereby reducing operating costs for two client companies; reviewed the existing business procedures and modified the existing scripts used for making reservations, reducing the number of steps required by 60%, while accomplishing the same task.

• VP, Corporate Operation

  American Express/ Ethan Allen Travel

  (Public Company; 11-50 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

  June 1998 — June 2001 (3 years 1 month)

  Promoted from Account Manager, first to Corporate Division Manager and then to Vice President in rapid succession, and reporting directly to the President of this two-office corporate travel management company and retail travel agency, my responsibilities included the management of a Corporate Travel Division that generated $14 million of the firm’s total $30 million in annual booked business, directing the activities of 13 staff members out of the company’s 35 total employees.

• VP, Corporate Operations

  American Express/Ethan Allen Travel

  (Public Company; 11-50 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

  June 1998 — June 2001 (3 years 1 month)

  My major accomplishments included the following:
  
  * Increased the firm’s profitability by implementing a per transaction fee schedule and gradually increasing fees by offering many new travel management services; this resulted in an increase in annual revenue from $2.4 million to $14 million in two years, while profit margins improved 60%.
  
  * Expanded the Corporate Travel Division by providing a supportive work environment that permitted the hiring of additional staff; achieved high retention and increased the Division’s total staff from 3 to 13 in three years.

• Customer Service, Sales, Operations

  United Airlines

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; UAL; Airlines/Aviation industry)

  January 1991 — June 1998 (7 years 6 months)

  Worked progressively through positions, including customer service Service Director, International Gate Coordinator, Account Services Manager

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant’s Education

• University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

  Global Leadership Professional Designation- Doctorate Certification , Global Leadership Program , 2006 — 2009

• University of California, Berkeley

  BA , Economics , 1983 — 1988

• Burlingame High School

Additional Information

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant’s Interests:

Ask me about travel to: Bangalore, India, Tokyo/Nagoya/Kamakura/Aizuwakamatsu, Japan, London, UK, Montalcino, Italy, Singapore, Brazil, Thailand, Sydney, Australia I am listing some of the books that influence my management style: Ken Blanchard, Raving Fans, Whale Done, Gung Ho!, Fish

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant’s Groups:

Certified Corporate Travel Executive
Certified Six Sigma Greenbelt

Cal Alumni Association
Cal Band Alumni Association
National Business Travel Association
Bay Area Business Travel Association
(Past VP of Programs, Board Member)
Member, Society of Industry Leaders, Travel Program/Infrastructure Expert

BABTA
NBTA

•    Macromedia Alumni
•    Business Objects Alumni
•    Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Professionals Association (SOXCPA)
•    Procurement Professionals (#1 supply chain & sourcing group) Business, network, jobs & candidates
•    SpeakerMatch
•    Cal Alumni Association | UC Berkeley
•    Spansion Employees and Alumni
•    Strategic Sourcing & Procurement
•    NBTA
•    Finance Professionals Network, MAF, ACA, CPA, ICPAS, CFA, Financial Controller / Analyst / Director
•    Cost Reduction & Cash flow Specialists Group
•    Bay Area Business Travel Association
•    Wharton Executive Education Official Group

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP,Travel Mgmt Consultant’s Honors:

Recipient, NBTA Foundation Scholarship, Wharton Global Leadership Program 2006 and 2007

Presenter, "Policy Compliance Measurements and Tools,"
National Business Travel Association Convention, San Diego, CA, 2005

Presenter, "Making Sense Out of Dollars,"
National Business Travel Association Convention, Orlando, FL, 2004

Presenter, "Quantifying Values of Your Travel Program,"
Bay Area Business Travel Association Education Day, San Francisco, CA, 2003

Account Services Manager of the Year,
United Airlines - West Region Sales, 1995

Gold Achievement Award, "Going the Extra Mile Together,"
United Airlines Customer Service Program,
United Airlines - San Francisco Airport, 1993 and 1994