The new Boarding Pass leverages premium content from trusted sources such as weather forecasts from CustomWeather, local event listings and information from Zvents, destination specific travel guides from NileGuide and useful information on upcoming trips such as flight status, terminal maps, and destination weather. Together with the integration of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, Sojern is creating a truly customized experience for millions of airline travelers. For carriers looking to make the most of their traveler touch-point inventory, premium digital and print ad placements offer a highly targeted and contextual environment for brands to put their marketing messages directly in the hands of one of the most desirable audiences out there – travelers.

“Our goal is to provide travelers with personalized, premium content and advertisers like Porsche with the ability to reach their target audience via a highly efficient medium – the boarding pass,” said Mark Rabe, President and CEO of Sojern. “Through our exclusive relationships with American, Alaska, Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, United, US Airways and others, we talk to more than 50 million travelers as they search, book and check-in for flights.”

The enhanced boarding pass also includes a feature that gives brand advertisers exclusive access to all the distinct ad spaces on the passes as well as a rich media placement. Porsche will be using the enhancement to introduce the hybrid version of its Panamera S model next month.

“This program allows us to connect with our customers and prospects in virtually any market and across the mediums that that they are using any minute of the day,” said Josh Cherfoli – Online & Relationship Marketing Manager, Porsche Cars North America.  “We are using the rich media platform, because it provides us with the most compelling and targeted method of truly demonstrating our cars to the premium business and leisure traveler.”

Sojern’s business model, technology and vision have resulted in dramatic growth as advertisers have recognized the value of reaching premium travel audiences. The company combines the world’s largest travel media platform with a network of strategic partners across leading airlines and travel industry organizations to offer advertisers the ability to connect with highly targeted customers as they dream, plan, book and enjoy their leisure or business trips.

“Parag and Jeff will be invaluable additions to our team as we accelerate our growth,” said Mark Rabe, President and CEO.   “Parag will play a critical role on our team servicing key customers in the travel vertical.   Jeff’s deep advertising sales and partnership experience will be put to work as we continue to develop key industry relationships to ramp revenue.”

Vohra joins Sojern from TripAdvisor, where he was a commercial director responsible for increasing revenue. Prior to TripAdvisor, Vohra served as business development director at Travelzoo, where he established multi-year agreements with domestic and international airlines. He has previously held marketing and sales positions at Yahoo! Inc., Marriott International eCommerce Group and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.  Vohra holds an MBA in information systems and marketing from Bentley University.

Mills comes to Sojern from Criteo, where he served as Vice President of Sales and Partnerships, responsible for the company’s travel strategy.   Mills’ past positions include leadership roles at Fixya.com, Gaia Interactive and Kayak/SideStep, Inc., where he created, managed and executed a travel media strategy that resulted in an acquisition.  Mills launched his career with an eight year stint at Yahoo!.

“I am very honored to be in such a select group of outstanding candidates for this award,” said Gordon Whitten, Sojern Founder. “The other finalists represent the spirit and drive of so many in the Midwest. Being an entrepreneur is my passion and I am very proud of the success that Sojern has witnessed since our launch in 2007.”
“These finalists create jobs in our area, encouraging community development and innovation in our broader economy,” said Randy Buseman, Entrepreneur Of The Year Central Midwest Program Director. “No matter who wins on June 7 we know one thing for sure — the Central Midwest is enriched by every one of these finalists.”
This year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program celebrates its 25th anniversary. The program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 140 cities and more than 50 countries throughout the world. Awards are given to entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

A long time Yahoo! veteran, Rabe was most recently the Managing Director of UK & Ireland where he was responsible for the company’s largest international market. Prior to that, he led Yahoo!’s efforts to grow relationships with the largest global advertisers and agencies as Vice President of Global Sales. Rabe came to Yahoo! via the Overture acquisition where he served as Vice President of Strategy & Operations.

“I have spent my career growing successful digital businesses, and I couldn’t be more excited to be joining Sojern at this stage of its evolution,” said Rabe, Sojern’s new CEO. “In just 3 years, Sojern has gone from concept to product to multi-million dollar business. I’m excited to build on Gordon’s success and scale Sojern into the largest digital platform for marketers who want to reach travelers across the globe.”

Each year AIM hosts the Awards Ceremony to celebrate the robust and thriving technology industry in Nebraska and the surrounding region. Selection is based on the nominees’ contributions to the region’s worldwide reputation for excellence and innovation in information technology.

“Sojern is extremely proud to be honored by the AIM Institute for our technology innovations,” said Gordon Whitten, Founder and CEO. “Technology has played a critical role in our business as we continue to partner with some of the largest organizations in the world. Our cutting edge approaches ensure we consistently deliver the best online experience and more value to travelers, advertisers, and our travel industry partners.”

“As our growth has accelerated, many more travel companies want to leverage our technology and platform. Ellen’s deep industry knowledge and experience will be critical in our next stage of evolution,” said Gordon Whitten, Founder and CEO of Sojern. “Her combination of airline, GDS and online agency experience, combined with her stellar reputation and ongoing involvement in the travel technology space, makes her an ideal addition to our board.”
Ms. Keszler’s travel industry career includes serving as president of Travelocity Business, which helped defined the new online oriented corporate travel business. Under her leadership, Travelocity Business became a top 15 corporate travel agency in less than four years. She also led the North American division of Sabre Travel Network after serving a number of years at American Airlines.
“I am very excited to join the Sojern board of directors. Sojern is making a name for itself in the travel industry, and is executing on a pretty amazing vision. The more I understand the company, its technology, and its partners, the more convinced I am that Sojern will revolutionize the way relevant advertising and information is delivered to travelers,” said Ms. Keszler.
Ms. Keszler also serves on the board of directors of PROS Holdings (NYSE: PROS), the world leader in pricing and revenue management software; the board of directors of Farelogix, a leading provider of travel distribution technology and services; and she is on the advisory board of Traxo, a technology company that helps travelers organize, manage and share the details of their travel.
Ms. Keszler has a MBA in Finance from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and is a lifetime member of the McCombs Advisory Council.