Svend O. Leirvaag is VP Industry Affairs with Amadeus IT Group SA. He is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University (USA), and holds a masters degree from the Norwegian School of Management.
Svend O. Leirvaag is VP Industry Affairs with Amadeus IT Group SA. He is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University (USA), and holds a masters degree from the Norwegian School of Management. Starting his career with Scandinavian Airlines as a management trainee in 1986, Svend was recruited to Amadeus in 1988, and held numerous positions during the early years of the GDS industry.
Svend was market manager for the Nordic countries, establishing the new, commercial relationships with the marketing companies there, and was central in establishing Amadeus´office in Belgium. As Customer Services manager he was responsible for setting up a common structure for training, user documentation, and help desk among the thirteen different partner carriers, before moving from Madrid to Sophia Antipolis to become Product Manager for Distributed Software.
He was headhunted back to Scandinavian Airlines in 1992 to become Marketing Director for Norway, a roles which included the oversight of distribution and ticketing. During his tenure with SAS, Svend also lead the introduction of TQM/LEAN in SAS´commercial division worldwide.
Leaving SAS after four years as Marketing Director, Svend moved to consulting, and was partner/director in a Leo Burnett owned marketing agency responsible for digital marketing. Since then, Svend has been involved in a multitude of development projects, also taking temporary management positions, including the commercial launch of newcomer airline NORWEGIAN in 2003. This project included setting up the full commercial infrastructure, including distribution and ticketing.
Svend was also hired as a strategic advisor and temporary management by a major Scandinavian TMC and later an online travel agency, and has since been a trusted advisor to the top management of companies across industries, with a particular focus on adopting digital technology in the market.
He brings to Amadeus a unique combination of industry/technology knowledge with hands-on international project and management experience, not only from the travel industry.
Svend is active in sports and outdoor recreation, and based in Madrid with his wife and two children.
