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Wood River-based YTB International Inc. named 64-year-old Robert Van Patten as the company's new president and chief executive officer on Friday. He succeeds 75-year-old company founder J. Lloyd "Coach" Tomer, who has also resigned as a director and as chairman of the board. Tomer's son, Scott Tomer, has been appointed to take his place.
For the past six months, Van Patten had served as a consultant to the travel service, which works for travel agencies and home-based independent representatives in the United States, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Canada. The business runs the booking, and its franchisees are travel agents who earn a commission each time they book a trip through the company's Web site.
"Bob Van Patten's contributions and his grasp of our unique business model have proven to me that he is absolutely the right person for role of CEO of YTB International," said Lloyd Tomer, in a statement released Friday.
Andy Cauthen, president and chief executive officer of YTB Marketing Inc., the company's operating entity, said Van Patten brings over 25 years of senior management experience. He also said that Lloyd Tomer elected to focus and increase the time he spends on the company's philanthropic division, Passport to Giving, and promoting his book.
Cauthen said the shifts in management are not related to recent civil lawsuits filed by states attorneys general in Illinois and California. In May, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a civil suit against three of the company's subsidiaries and executive officers, accusing them of violating the state's unfair competition and advertising laws. That month, the company settled another lawsuit filed by the California Attorney General by agreeing to pay $1 million and stop charging agents for access to its Web sites.
YTB International Inc. has been recognized as the 25th largest seller of travel in the nation by Travel Weekly's 2009 Power List, which is based on 2008 annual retail value of travel services booked. Cauthen said the company recorded $426 million in sales last year. However, the nation's economic downturn has recently forced the company to cut travel and commission.
The company was founded in January 2001 in Alton. The headquarters were relocated to Edwardsville in July 2005 and then moved to its current offices at 1901 Edwardsville Road in Wood River a year and a half later.
Contact reporter Will Buss at wbuss@bnd.com or 239-2526.
To see more of the Belleville News-Democrat, Ill., or to subscribe, visit http://www.belleville.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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