Wow, in as many weeks, I have said goodbye to two amazing men in the travel industry.
Yesterday afternoon I learned of the untimely death of Mike Pusateri.
I
first met Mike when he was the COO and SVP of the US Travel Association
(then TIA). TIA had just taken over the TravelCom conference and since
I was on the board, I had the pleasure of working closely with Mike.
Mike
and I worked together on a number of initiatives, both related to the
conference and for his company, Vantage Strategies and mine, Solutionz.
He was also on the board of one of my start up ventures. I also worked
with Mike on the startup of Ataway Exchange, the industry’s newest
conference.
Mike was a friend and mentor. He had boundless
energy and enthusiasm and he fearlessly pursued his vision to help the
industry embrace new ways of marrying buyers and sellers and to tap into
the power of technology to make that happen.
He was loved and respected and will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.
This is one more reminder to cherish life.