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Overview
TRAVNAR, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, offers an exclusive one-stop online hub designed to complement and enhance existing travel management systems while improving the business traveler’s experience and fulfilling all travel related needs. TRAVNAR’s goal is to enable significant travel savings for multinational corporations by enhancing travel program compliance, travel security, and travel program consolidation and by cutting down IT costs – all while increasing employee retention because TRAVNAR makes trips more enjoyable and efficient.
Philosophy
Business relationships and partnerships can ultimately improve economies and sometimes even break down political barriers. By positively impacting the business travel experience, TRAVNAR is proud to play an important role in helping business leaders forge meaningful relationships which can bring about economic prosperity to their company, clients, partners, local community, nation and the world.
Product
TRAVNAR’s online tool allows business travelers to easily utilize travel policy compliant products and services. It gives the travel manager and business traveler quick access to critical data via computer or smartphone. Implementing TRAVNAR to existing travel management systems enhances corporate travel policy compliance, thus reducing travel spending significantly, while saving travel management companies and their corporate clients money in IT costs. But most importantly, the technology offers roadwarriors an easier and more enjoyable opportunity for efficient travel.
Market
TRAVNAR’s product and services are customized for travel management companies serving multi-national corporations around the globe.
Leadership
Founder and President: Alexander L. Cowan
Cowan, an American raised in the United States, Colombia and Denmark, founded TRAVNAR. Cowan has developed the business plan, created key strategic relationships and is implementing the strategy for TRAVNAR. He is responsible for providing the leadership and vision that will ensure successful execution of the strategy to make TRAVNAR a leader in the business travel market. Because of his cross cultural upbringing and experience, Cowan has a passion for and commitment to connecting people across the world through business.
Prior to starting TRAVNAR, Cowan was a management consultant and the Southwest Development Manager for Gap International, Inc. — a consulting, learning and diagnostics company that partners with FORTUNE 500 and Global 1000 executives and their teams to produce immediate breakthrough business results. He traveled extensively as a management consultant and consequently developed a huge interest in business travel when he discovered a need in the marketplace for a better tool customized specifically for business travelers and travel managers. Cowan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
Executive Vice President, Design and Engineering: Victoria L. Schwanda
Schwanda is Executive Vice President, Design and Engineering at TRAVNAR. Schwanda is involved in all phases of product development from customer interviews through initial design and creation of products as well as future development. She is responsible for transforming customer goals into product specifications that are carried out by our team of TRAVNAR engineers. She determines the specific tools that must be incorporated into TRAVNAR as well as how the interface should be designed to ensure that the customer finds TRAVNAR’s product efficient and easy to use. This involves analyzing the customer’s needs as well as their current policies and determining how to best meet their needs through TRAVNAR’s platform.
Prior to joining TRAVNAR, Schwanda developed dynamic and functional web applications, including both administrative and end‐user functionality, for a broad range of businesses and industries. She brings strong leadership and organizational skills demonstrated by having led and project managed groups of competitive and bright individuals. Schwanda earned her Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Computer and Cognitive Science and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a Minor in Fine Arts, from the University of Pennsylvania where she received the Moore School Council Cwikla Award from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in recognition of her outstanding scholarly achievements and service to the School and University community.
Advisors
Travel Technology: Harris F. Turner
Turner brings to the Travnar team over thirty years experience in both travel-centric and non-travel related industries. A serial entrepreneur, he has taken multiple companies from conception and initial development to successful exit.
STATUS, the first aggregation technology allowing airlines and hotels to deliver their frequent flier status via the Internet, was designed, developed, and funded by Turner, and was launched through partnership with United Airlines and Marriott International. Within eight months of launch, STATUS was delivering loyalty accounts for every major US airline and hotel company. After successfully selling the company to a major online travel agency, Turner turned his attention to aggregation technology, marketing successful products through DeskPort Technologies to the financial, travel, and fantasy sports industries.
Other Turner businesses include the Frequent Travel Marketing Association (www.ftma.org), a professional trade organization for travel and related companies within the customer relationship management industry, where he is co-founder and Director. Harris also developed and launched BidPal Network (www.bidpalnetwork.com), a technology that increases revenue generation for non-profit corporations. He is President of this explosively growing corporation.
While Turner’s experience in sales & marketing, software development, fundraising, and personnel management all contribute to his general business expertise, his travel focus makes his experience even more valuable to the success of Travnar.
He holds a BA degree from Duke University and resides in Indianapolis.
Outside General Counsel: David S. Petkun
Petkun is a Member at Cozen & O’Connor, a Philadelphia-based law firm with nearly 500 attorneys in 22 offices in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
He concentrates his practice in corporate and partnership law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance, banking and the Uniform Commercial Code. His representations include domestic and foreign corporations and financial institutions; healthcare and hospital systems; manufacturers; television networks and television stations; issuers in public and private securities offerings; and entrepreneurs.
Prior to joining the firm in March 2000, Petkun was a partner at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP. Petkun is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was elected to Order of the Coif. During 1972-1973, he served as law clerk to Hon. John Biggs, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Aviation, Airport and Transportation: Joanne W. Young
Young has been engaged in commercial and regulatory law practice since 1975, with a focus on aviation and shipping. She represents the transportation industry before U.S. Government agencies, Congress and the courts. She has been actively involved in the full range of legal issues arising in the transportation industry, including the structuring of joint ventures and marketing alliances, environmental, commercial transactions and government contracts, international trade and project finance, U.S. import/export matters, legislative issues, arbitration and litigation.
Young has addressed numerous conferences on transportation and international trade in the United States, Europe and Asia, and has published extensively on a variety of issues, including commercial aviation developments, electronic commerce, liberalization of European aviation, and international trade. She has published the Washington Aviation Summary since 1985, a monthly publication covering key events and legal developments in the industry. Young has testified before U.S. Congressional Committees on subjects such as modernization of the commercial fleet, aircraft noise regulation, code sharing and the sale of operating slots at U.S. airports.
Prior to moving into private practice, Young worked for the Civil Aeronautics Board. She has served as president for the International Aviation Women’s Association, Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Washington Foreign Law Society, and the International Aviation Club where she is now President Emeritus. Young is a current board member at the International Aviation Women’s Association, Women’s Bar Association Foundation, Icelandic-American Chamber of Commerce and the City Club of Washington. Young served on the Board of Trustees at Wesleyan University and as Chair, Associate Member Group, at the Regional Airline Association. Young graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in 1971 and from Georgetown University Law Center with a J.D. in 1974.
Strategy: Steven A. Lerman
Lerman is the Manager of Lerman Senter PLLC, a Washington, DC-based communications law firm. Lerman has also served as a Member of the Boards of Directors of three major, publicly-traded companies in the radio industry, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation (1992-1996), Premiere Radio Networks, Inc. (1993-1995) and Westwood One, Inc. (1995-2007), and as a member of Westwood’s Audit Committee. Between 2000 and 2008, he was the outside General Counsel of CBS Radio Inc., one of the largest radio companies in the United States, operating 140 radio stations in 30 markets.
In the course of over thirty-five years of practice, Lerman has served as counsel in the acquisition and sale of radio and television properties, and has participated in several of the largest transactions in the history of the radio industry. Mr. Lerman serves as a Director and past Vice President of Development of Penn’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisory Board. He is also a member of Penn’s Undergraduate Committee on Student Financial Aid and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at George Washington University Law School. Lerman graduated from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics in 1969, and from the George Washington University Law School with a J.D. in 1972.
TRAVNAR, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, offers an exclusive one-stop online hub designed to complement and enhance existing travel management systems while improving the business traveler’s experience and fulfilling all travel related needs. TRAVNAR’s goal is to enable significant travel savings for multinational corporations by enhancing travel program compliance, travel security, and travel program consolidation and by cutting down IT costs – all while increasing employee retention because TRAVNAR makes trips more enjoyable and efficient.
Philosophy
Business relationships and partnerships can ultimately improve economies and sometimes even break down political barriers. By positively impacting the business travel experience, TRAVNAR is proud to play an important role in helping business leaders forge meaningful relationships which can bring about economic prosperity to their company, clients, partners, local community, nation and the world.
Product
TRAVNAR’s online tool allows business travelers to easily utilize travel policy compliant products and services. It gives the travel manager and business traveler quick access to critical data via computer or smartphone. Implementing TRAVNAR to existing travel management systems enhances corporate travel policy compliance, thus reducing travel spending significantly, while saving travel management companies and their corporate clients money in IT costs. But most importantly, the technology offers roadwarriors an easier and more enjoyable opportunity for efficient travel.
Market
TRAVNAR’s product and services are customized for travel management companies serving multi-national corporations around the globe.
Leadership
Cowan, an American raised in the United States, Colombia and Denmark, founded TRAVNAR. Cowan has developed the business plan, created key strategic relationships and is implementing the strategy for TRAVNAR. He is responsible for providing the leadership and vision that will ensure successful execution of the strategy to make TRAVNAR a leader in the business travel market. Because of his cross cultural upbringing and experience, Cowan has a passion for and commitment to connecting people across the world through business. Prior to starting TRAVNAR, Cowan was a management consultant and the Southwest Development Manager for Gap International, Inc. — a consulting, learning and diagnostics company that partners with FORTUNE 500 and Global 1000 executives and their teams to produce immediate breakthrough business results. He traveled extensively as a management consultant and consequently developed a huge interest in business travel when he discovered a need in the marketplace for a better tool customized specifically for business travelers and travel managers. Cowan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
Schwanda is Executive Vice President, Design and Engineering at TRAVNAR. Schwanda is involved in all phases of product development from customer interviews through initial design and creation of products as well as future development. She is responsible for transforming customer goals into product specifications that are carried out by our team of TRAVNAR engineers. She determines the specific tools that must be incorporated into TRAVNAR as well as how the interface should be designed to ensure that the customer finds TRAVNAR’s product efficient and easy to use. This involves analyzing the customer’s needs as well as their current policies and determining how to best meet their needs through TRAVNAR’s platform. Prior to joining TRAVNAR, Schwanda developed dynamic and functional web applications, including both administrative and end‐user functionality, for a broad range of businesses and industries. She brings strong leadership and organizational skills demonstrated by having led and project managed groups of competitive and bright individuals. Schwanda earned her Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Computer and Cognitive Science and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a Minor in Fine Arts, from the University of Pennsylvania where she received the Moore School Council Cwikla Award from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in recognition of her outstanding scholarly achievements and service to the School and University community.
Advisors
Turner brings to the Travnar team over thirty years experience in both travel-centric and non-travel related industries. A serial entrepreneur, he has taken multiple companies from conception and initial development to successful exit. STATUS, the first aggregation technology allowing airlines and hotels to deliver their frequent flier status via the Internet, was designed, developed, and funded by Turner, and was launched through partnership with United Airlines and Marriott International. Within eight months of launch, STATUS was delivering loyalty accounts for every major US airline and hotel company. After successfully selling the company to a major online travel agency, Turner turned his attention to aggregation technology, marketing successful products through DeskPort Technologies to the financial, travel, and fantasy sports industries.
Other Turner businesses include the Frequent Travel Marketing Association (www.ftma.org), a professional trade organization for travel and related companies within the customer relationship management industry, where he is co-founder and Director. Harris also developed and launched BidPal Network (www.bidpalnetwork.com), a technology that increases revenue generation for non-profit corporations. He is President of this explosively growing corporation.
While Turner’s experience in sales & marketing, software development, fundraising, and personnel management all contribute to his general business expertise, his travel focus makes his experience even more valuable to the success of Travnar.
He holds a BA degree from Duke University and resides in Indianapolis.
Petkun is a Member at Cozen & O’Connor, a Philadelphia-based law firm with nearly 500 attorneys in 22 offices in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
He concentrates his practice in corporate and partnership law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance, banking and the Uniform Commercial Code. His representations include domestic and foreign corporations and financial institutions; healthcare and hospital systems; manufacturers; television networks and television stations; issuers in public and private securities offerings; and entrepreneurs. Prior to joining the firm in March 2000, Petkun was a partner at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP. Petkun is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. He earned his undergraduate degree and law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was elected to Order of the Coif. During 1972-1973, he served as law clerk to Hon. John Biggs, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Young has been engaged in commercial and regulatory law practice since 1975, with a focus on aviation and shipping. She represents the transportation industry before U.S. Government agencies, Congress and the courts. She has been actively involved in the full range of legal issues arising in the transportation industry, including the structuring of joint ventures and marketing alliances, environmental, commercial transactions and government contracts, international trade and project finance, U.S. import/export matters, legislative issues, arbitration and litigation.Young has addressed numerous conferences on transportation and international trade in the United States, Europe and Asia, and has published extensively on a variety of issues, including commercial aviation developments, electronic commerce, liberalization of European aviation, and international trade. She has published the Washington Aviation Summary since 1985, a monthly publication covering key events and legal developments in the industry. Young has testified before U.S. Congressional Committees on subjects such as modernization of the commercial fleet, aircraft noise regulation, code sharing and the sale of operating slots at U.S. airports.
Prior to moving into private practice, Young worked for the Civil Aeronautics Board. She has served as president for the International Aviation Women’s Association, Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Washington Foreign Law Society, and the International Aviation Club where she is now President Emeritus. Young is a current board member at the International Aviation Women’s Association, Women’s Bar Association Foundation, Icelandic-American Chamber of Commerce and the City Club of Washington. Young served on the Board of Trustees at Wesleyan University and as Chair, Associate Member Group, at the Regional Airline Association. Young graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in 1971 and from Georgetown University Law Center with a J.D. in 1974.
Lerman is the Manager of Lerman Senter PLLC, a Washington, DC-based communications law firm. Lerman has also served as a Member of the Boards of Directors of three major, publicly-traded companies in the radio industry, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation (1992-1996), Premiere Radio Networks, Inc. (1993-1995) and Westwood One, Inc. (1995-2007), and as a member of Westwood’s Audit Committee. Between 2000 and 2008, he was the outside General Counsel of CBS Radio Inc., one of the largest radio companies in the United States, operating 140 radio stations in 30 markets.In the course of over thirty-five years of practice, Lerman has served as counsel in the acquisition and sale of radio and television properties, and has participated in several of the largest transactions in the history of the radio industry. Mr. Lerman serves as a Director and past Vice President of Development of Penn’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisory Board. He is also a member of Penn’s Undergraduate Committee on Student Financial Aid and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board at George Washington University Law School. Lerman graduated from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics in 1969, and from the George Washington University Law School with a J.D. in 1972.