London, 23 March 2010 – KDS, the leading European supplier of integrated travel and expense (T&E) management systems, is strengthening the company’s leadership team with the appointment of Dean Forbes as executive vice president for worldwide sales and marketing.
Forbes’ mission is to guide the company in the twin objectives of accelerating revenue growth and further solidifying KDS’ leading position in the T&E field. KDS’ fully-integrated technology helps corporate and travel management company (TMC) clients save money throughout the travel management process, including online self-booking and automated expense processing.
Forbes says: “Our T&E solutions, like KDS Corporate, are the strongest in the market and deliver real, tangible returns on investment. We’re the only company to have built a truly unified end-to-end T&E solution from the outset. And unlike our competitors, we’re vendor-neutral, so we’re not tied to any specific global distribution system or TMC.”
Yves Weisselberger, chief executive officer of KDS, adds: “Dean represents an exceptional addition to the KDS team. He was previously the youngest Oracle vice president, where his track record was stellar. I’m proud to see that KDS’ outstanding market position as one of the major European Software-as-a-Service companies continues to attract world-class talent.”
Forbes, 31, joins KDS from IT giant Oracle Corporation, where he was group vice president for Oracle’s project and portfolio management solutions on a worldwide basis. He had previously led international sales and commercial activity at Primavera, prior to Oracle’s acquisition of the company in 2008. He has also held management positions at Motorola and Isis Telecommunications.
A keen car collector and an avid sports enthusiast, Forbes is an accomplished footballer and has even represented Guyana at international level. He also actively participates in work for a number of charities and not-for-profit organisations.
A photograph of Dean Forbes is available here.