Aviation Information Technology firm, SITA, announces that Barbara Dalibard has been appointed as the new CEO of the company starting July 1, 2016. Dalibard replaces the current CEO Francesco Violante who will step down later this year after a 13 year term.
Dalibard has a previous background in the transportation working in Fortune 500 company SNCF (the French National Railway Company). There, she was CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, which manages all passenger traffic, long distance and commuter series.
Before joining SNCF in 2010, Dalibard also worked for Orange Business Services for six years, promoted to as CEO and President after one year.
“Ms. Dalibard is an experienced executive who brings a tremendous amount of knowledge to the role having worked across a number of businesses in IT telco and travel,” said said Jappe Blaauw, President of the SITA Council and KLM’s Chief Transformation Officer of the appointment.
“She understands SITA’s business well and brings deep comprehension of enterprise communications with a strong understanding of the stakeholder demands of the travel sector and is ideally positioned to lead SITA into the future,” he added.
For the majority of her career, Dalibard worked at France Telecom, where she held several senior management positions and was responsible for the development of new Internet and mobile services. She later became head of the company’s enterprise solutions division.
“Barbara Dalibard has the ideal combination of executive management experience and leadership to strengthen the role of SITA in the air transport community and we are looking forward to working with her. She joins SITA, who is well positioned for the future, after the strong leadership of Francesco Violante who over the past decade has dramatically transformed the organisation merging previously separate entities into a single company that delivers award winning IT solutions to the industry, touching every aspect of the travel journey,” said Dr Omar Jefri, Chair of the SITA Board and Executive Vice President Corporate Management & Regulations at Saudi Arabian Airlines. “On behalf of the SITA Board, I would like to thank Francesco for his dedication and for his vast contribution to the industry. The Board looks forward to his continued strong leadership until Ms. Dalibard joins SITA in July.”
Violante brought SITA consolidated revenues of US$1.7 billion in 2014, and has ensured year-on-year growth despite challenging times, the company states. Under his leadership, the company has won over US$1 billion in new business repeatedly since 2006, with record-level improvements in margins and a strong cash position.
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