George Henderson

Current

COO at Gekko.com

Past

Consultant at Travelport
CIO at Silverjet
Corporate Development Manager at Opodo

Customer Services Director (Interim) at Opodo
IT Operations Manager at Opodo
IT Programme Launch Manager at Opodo
Programme Manager at Dreamticket.com
eCommerce Project Manager at Kuoni

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12 people have recommended George

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355 connections

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George Henderson’s Summary

George has 18 years of IT strategy, operations and delivery experience, 12 of which have been in e-commerce in the travel industry. Before taking up the COO role at Gekko.com he was previously employed by Travelport GDS (Galileo and Worldspan) as a consultant to the Product Strategy and Technology teams. Before that George was CIO at the British exclusively business class airline Silverjet, he was responsible from start-up for defining the short and medium-term strategy that supported the selection and implementation of all operational technology required to support the airline’s ambitious launch plans to be flying within 8 months. In four months he delivered an award-winning web booking platform, integrated reservations system, corporate and travel agent bookings tools, call centre systems, back office, departure control system, and office desktop and network infrastructure for under £100k. Further operational systems, dedicated private lounge infrastructure in UK, US, and UAE, head office desktop, network, and telephony infrastructure, online check-in and seat selection, APIS, additional web functionality, and the UK's first fully transactional airline mobile website. Operational systems implemented included LIDO flight planning, full GDS connectivity, and an innovative blend of hosted ACD and contact management solutions for the in-sourced call centre.

Prior to Silverjet George was a member of the start-up management team at Opodo, the European online travel agency (9 markets, €1bn sales), where he held senior management roles in technology, operations, and corporate development. Before Opodo, George worked for another online travel agency, dreamticket.com and before that, Kuoni, the European long-haul tour operator (in the UK & Switzerland).

George Henderson’s Specialties:

C-level executive with a proven track record in online start-ups, e-commerce, operations, delivery, strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions, and integrations in the travel industry.

George Henderson’s Experience

COO

Gekko.com

(Privately Held; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

September 2008 — Present (11 months)

COO of new hotel, restaurant, bars, and clubs recommendation and booking web site currently in beta
Consultant

Travelport

(Privately Held; 5001-10,000 employees; CD; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

July 2008 — September 2008 (3 months)

Consultant working with the Product Strategy and Technology teams at Travelport GDS (Galileo and Worldspan)
CIO

Silverjet

(Public Company; Airlines/Aviation industry)

June 2006 — May 2008 (2 years)

CIO for the British business class only airline
Corporate Development Manager

Opodo

(Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

March 2004 — June 2006 (2 years 4 months)
Customer Services Director (Interim)

Opodo

(Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

October 2003 — March 2004 (6 months)

Responsible for Pan-European call centre and fulfilment operations
IT Operations Manager

Opodo

(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

May 2002 — October 2003 (1 year 6 months)

Set up and managed operational support teams (onshore and offshore) for distributed technology platforms support web site and fulfilment operations
IT Programme Launch Manager

Opodo

(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

April 2001 — May 2002 (1 year 2 months)

Programme Manager responsible for launch of Opodo in Germany, UK, and France
Programme Manager

Dreamticket.com

(Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

2000 — 2001 (1 year)
eCommerce Project Manager

Kuoni

(Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

1997 — 2000 (3 years)

Additional Information

George Henderson’s Websites:

My Company

George Henderson’s Groups:

On Startups - The Community For Entrepreneurs
Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Group
Travel & IT Industry
Take-Off Group
Travel 2.0: Interactive Travel Industry Professionals
World Tourism Network
THAT's Professional (Travel, Hospitality, Aviation & Tourism)
Travel Technology Experts
Aviation IT & Flight Technology
Travel & Tourism Industry Professionals Worldwide
Hotel Industry Professionals Worldwide
Travel Industry Professionals
Online Travel Technology
Airline Start-Ups
Hotel Revenue Management, General Manager, Professionals, OTA, Online Travel Agents, Travel Portals
Social Media in Travel
Mobile Technology in Travel
Travel Search Engine
The UK Travel Industry