Liz Ortiguera, CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association, has resigned
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has announced the resignation of Liz Ortiguera as its Chief Executive Officer. Ortiguera had been appointed CEO on May 17, 2021, succeeding Mario Hardy.
Ortiguera is a senior executive with over 25 years of global experience and expertise in general management, marketing, business development, and partner network management. She has experience in working at both multinational corporations including American Express and Merck and start-up environments in software as a service (SaaS), e-commerce, and ed-tech.
Before joining PATA, she was the General Manager for Amex’s Travel Partner Network in Asia-Pacific, managing partnerships with top travel management companies, MICE, and leisure agencies in the region. She is able to adeptly work across cultures and business environments to catalyse opportunities and drive growth.
Liz Ortiguera is a senior executive with over 25 years of global experience and expertise in general management, marketing, business development, and partner network management. Liz is passionate about innovation, business transformation, and community building.
“Liz served PATA with distinction as the first Asian female CEO in the organisation’s 72-year history. On behalf of PATA, I would like to thank her for her leadership of the Association during a difficult period for the industry,’’ says PATA Vice Chair Benjamin Liao.
‘‘We recognise her many accomplishments as PATA CEO including new agreements with the Singapore Tourism Board, the Saudi Tourism Authority and Trip.com as well as the expanded partnerships with Visa, MasterCard, and Airbnb. New projects included PATA’s first Annual Summit in the Middle East, the PATA-Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) APAC Travel Summit, PATA-World Bank Government Recovery Insights Forum Series, the Tourism Destination Resilience Program launch and the ongoing Weekly Asia-Pacific Destination Recovery Dashboard,” Liao adds.
“It was a true honour to have served as PATA’s CEO. I am confident that PATA, with its diverse member base of industry leaders, can continue to support and lead our industry’s recovery and growth. PATA is even more critical as a business community today to support new partnerships, innovation, and the adoption of sustainable business practices,” says Ortiguera.
“I am handing back the reins with thanks to PATA members for the opportunity to lead at this critical time of global industry recovery. I had the opportunity to work with some deeply committed, hard-working and talented individuals within the PATA team as well as our valued members and partners. They embody the heart and the spirit of what PATA could be in everything they do,” she adds.
PATA Chair Peter Semone says that the Executive Board has established five Expert Task Forces or ETFs to review critical elements of PATA’s development strategy, including brand and voice, Events, membership engagement, organisational design and digital readiness. ‘‘The recommendations of these ETFs will help define PATA’s new direction strategically and operationally,” says Semone.
