Steve Barnhart

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Steve Barnhart is chief executive officer and president of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE:OWW), a business unit of Travelport. With 20 years experience in finance and consumer brands, Barnhart leads the Orbitz Worldwide global portfolio of online travel brands, including Orbitz, CheapTickets and the Away Network in the Americas, ebookers and Travelbag in Europe, and HotelClub.com and RatesToGo.com in Asia Pacific.^[1]^[2]

As CEO, Barnhart has launched initiatives to integrate Orbitz Worldwide’s technology platforms, provide new services for “unmanaged” travelers and reach out to eco-tourists and other environmentally focused travelers.^[3]^[4]^[5] he also largely directed the partial spin-off of Orbitz Worldwide in an initial public offering on July 20, 2007, which the company’s parent, Travelport, announced in March 2007.^[6]^[7]

Barnhart joined Orbitz in May 2003 and was a member of the team that took the company public. Following Cendant Corporation’s acquisition of Orbitz in 2004, he led the finance integration with Cendant’s other online travel brands. Soon after, Barnhart was appointed as chief financial officer of the consumer travel unit within Cendant Travel Distribution Services. He was named President and CFO of Orbitz Worldwide in September 2006, shortly following Travelport’s acquisition by The Blackstone Group in a private equity transaction. He was promoted to CEO and President of the business unit in April 2007.^[8]

Barnhart earned both a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s of business administration in finance from the University of Chicago.

[edit] Professional History

Prior to joining Orbitz, Barnhart held various finance positions over a 13-year period with PepsiCo and its Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay subsidiaries. In his final role with the company, he was director of finance for a division of the Pepsi Bottling Group with over $1 billion in revenue and 5,000 employees.

Prior to PepsiCo, Barnhart was an economic analyst in New Jersey for the Brussels-based Polyurethanes division of ICI, and worked in the commercial lending field for American National Bank of Chicago.