Careers

Sam is our Chief Executive Officer and has been appointed to lead Accelya through its next phase of growth. He is a recognized industry leader, with a track record of driving business transformation.

Sam spent 25 years at Sabre Corporation, starting as a software engineer. He held a number of senior positions within the organization, including CEO of Travelocity and President of Sabre Airline Solutions. Ultimately, Sam was named Chairman and CEO of Sabre in 2003, leading over 10,000 employees in 60 countries. Most recently, he served as CEO of Cherwell Software, a provider of mission-critical workflow automation solutions for corporations. Sam also served on the U.S. President’s Management Advisory Board and was chair of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Travel and Tourism Advisory Board reporting to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

José María is our Chief Financial Officer. He’s responsible for the financial management of the company and plays a key role in the definition and implementation of our strategy, including mergers and acquisitions.

Before joining Accelya in 2007, José María headed finance for Siemens VDO Automotive in Spain and France for more than 10 years. José María started his professional career at KPMG.

Lesley Harris is our Chief Operations Officer. She brings a distinguished record of enhancing customer satisfaction and driving operational excellence in the travel technology industry.

She brings 20+ years of experience leading complex system implementations, delivery programs, and professional services and support organizations. Lesley joins us from Honeywell Connected Enterprise, with previous notable roles at Sabre and Travelocity.

Tim is our Chief Product & Technology Officer responsible for guiding Accelya’s innovative and game-changing solutions from conception to production, and further integrating the company’s rich portfolio of end-to-end solutions – giving airlines greater flexibility and more choice.

Tim joined Accelya in 2020 when the company acquired IT provider Farelogix, where he had held the position of Chief Technology Officer since 2004. He was credited as the architect behind many of Farelogix’s next-generation airline retailing and NDC solutions – including the fastest patent ever to be granted in US history – before taking the helm as Accelya’s Chief Innovation Officer in 2020. In his early career, Tim served as CEO for North America at PASS Consulting, and prior to that played a key role in the development team in the early years of Amadeus.

Andrew has taken on the newly created role of Chief Revenue Officer and is also a member of the company’s Executive Committee.

Based in the UK, Andrew is responsible for the commercial relationship with all our partners globally and is passionate about driving innovation and co-creation to help them to go further, faster. He joined Accelya from IBM in August, where he was the Vice President, Ecosystems, for the UK & Ireland. At IBM he was responsible for relationships with consultants & system integrators, as well as for IBM’s sales to and through business partners and service providers. In a 20-year career at the company he held a number of senior leadership positions within the IBM Software business, where he was passionate about linking skills and offerings through partnerships to deliver client value that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Funda is our Chief Human Resources Officer, based in the UK and is responsible for developing and executing Accelya’s human resource strategy, as the company continues to deliver innovation and game-changing solutions to the global airline and travel industry.

With over 30 years of experience in leading HR in technology-focused businesses, Funda joins Accelya from Deltatel – where she was Head of IoT (Internet of Things), Smart Business Solutions and Interim Head of Marketing. During her career Funda has led large-scale projects to hire technology talent and created offshore global services and development hubs. Funda spent her early career at Alcatel Lucent, where she held HR responsibility for the EMEA region, before joining international software and data management business Veeam as its Chief Human Resources Officer.

Alastair Pooley is the Chief Information Officer at Accelya, where he is responsible for global IT strategy and security.

Before joining Accelya, he served as a the CIO for Snow Software for 6 years where he was responsible for Global IT and helped the business achieve a successful period of growth and profitability before a trade sale to Flexera. Before that he was the Global VP of Infrastructure & Cloud Services at Sophos (LSE: SOPH) where he was instrumental in the launch and operation of Sophos Cloud and delivered services to 3000 employees and 100 million endpoint users. Prior to this, Pooley spent more than 15 years working with Star Technology (acquired by Claranet) and MessageLabs (acquired by Symantec). He has presented at national and international conferences and maintains industry leading technical/security qualifications including AWS, Linux Professional Institute and ISC(2).

As Chief of Staff, Matt directly supports the CEO by leading strategic projects and other value creation initiatives.

Prior to joining Accelya, he was part of Vista Consulting Group (VCG), the in-house consulting arm of Accelya’s parent company, Vista Equity Partners. At VCG, Matt led process, system, and data optimization initiatives at many of Vista’s other portfolio companies. Prior to Vista, he had a blend of SalesOps and technical, CRM-focused roles.

Mike is our Chief of Global Programs. In this role, Mike will work cross-functionally to enhance delivery and service capabilities across the organization. Mike brings extensive industry knowledge and expertise with 30+ years of experience in the travel industry, including his recent role as VP of Americas – Customer Service and Excellence at CWT and prior experience as SVP of Americas – Airlines at Amadeus.

Robert is our General Counsel, responsible for legal, regulatory and compliance matters at Accelya.

Prior to joining Accelya in 2018 he was Deputy General Counsel at SITA with responsibility for commercial contracts, operations support and M&A. He has over 25 years’ experience leading legal and commercial teams in global IT and Telecoms organisations, and has worked in London, Atlanta and Geneva. Robert is a qualified solicitor.

Jim is our Vice Chairman and will continue to advise Accelya’s Executive Committee and the Board of Directors.

Jim was previously our CEO. Before we acquired Farelogix, a recognized disruptor and leader in airline distribution and commerce technology, Jim was their CEO. Jim has been immersed in the travel industry for more than 25 years. Before 2005, he was President and CEO of NTE, an Internet-based supply chain technology company focused on transportation pricing and transaction engines for shippers and carriers. He also held several senior leadership roles, including President and CEO of Amadeus Global Travel, North America; Head of Sales and Marketing at System One; and Vice President of Marketing at Reed Travel Group/OAG.