The Silver Group, Inc.  

 

March 2007 THE SILVER GROUP MERGES WITH NEWLY FORMED HUDSON CROSSING

About The Silver Group, Inc.

The Silver Group, Inc. leverages a collaborative network of experienced technology and product experts by bringing together teams that are tailored to fit each client’s specific needs.  This involves matching expertise, experience and skills to customize each approach to serving our clients’ needs.

Edward D. Silver, firm president, assumes personal responsibility as the chief strategist for every client.  When needed, he taps into his rolodex of experienced professionals with whom he has personally worked with and trusts – offering his clients the power of his collective network’s experience and expertise.

This network includes chief technology officers, engineers, software architects, product specialists, project management resources, technical writers, system administrators and developers in a variety of languages.  With this customized team approach, no project presents challenges that can’t be solved.

Profile:
Edward D. Silver is The Silver Group, Inc.’s president and founder. With more than 15 years experience in business, Silver embodies the spirit of entrepreneurial success rounded out by a foundation of skills developed from utilizing technology and operations to grow and support business goals.  

In 1994, Silver and his business partners Bill and Carl Marbach, co-founded InterNetwork Publishing Corporation which launched Lodging.com, one of several entrepreneurial online businesses for the Boca Raton, Florida-based company, including Travelbase.com, Seniorcare.com, AVweb.com and Kidscamps.com.

Silver was co-founder, vice president of technology and operations and chief operating officer of Lodging.com.  He was also the primary technologist and designer of the online booking systems used to run the site.  In addition, he managed the Lodging.com product development team, operations and technology infrastructure.

After building the business for eight years, in 2002 Silver and his partners brokered a deal to be acquired by the Cendant Corporation, which at the time was a public company trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CD, with a market cap of around $17B.

Following the completion of the sale of Lodging.com to Cendant, Silver was recruited by the company to stay on and become the vice president of technology and operations for Cendant’s Hospitality and Leisure Division.

In this role, Silver handled software and product development, financial operations, technology operations and call center operations management for the hospitality-related brands of Cendant’s Travel Distribution Services Division (TDS) including, NEAT Group Dynamic Packaging, Lodging.com and the Cheaptickets.com hotel division.

Managing over 75 staff members in multiple locations including Florida, Denver, Chicago, and Israel, Silver specialized in the inner-workings of complex hospitality technology systems including, online booking systems, merchant technologies and yield and settlement systems.

Prior to founding The Silver Group, Inc., Silver was promoted to Vice President of Technology Strategy and Planning for Cendant’s TDS Division  which was recently renamed Travelport after being acquired by The Blackstone Group.

Reporting directly to the chief information officer for TDS, Silver provided each business unit with technological guidance for the creation and management of their technology strategies and plans. He also ensured, on behalf of the CIO, that each unit’s technology and product development plans fit into a specific strategic framework for all of TDS.

Silver was also responsible for allocating over $140M in total capital across the brands and divisions, as well as the allocation of all capital funds throughout TDS.   All of this required him to possess an in-depth understanding of the inner-workings of each brand and intricate technology infrastructures to ensure each system could trade inventory and properly interact with every system across each brand.

Silver has a B.A. in religion and philosophy from Syracuse University and was working on his PhD in religion and philosophy at the University of Virginia when he started InterNetwork Publishing Corporation.  He currently resides in Evergreen, CO with his wife, Holly.

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About Lodging.com
Lodging.com provided discounted hotel rates throughout the U.S. and select international destinations, as well as reservations through traditional supplier channels. The site featured original content and technology, including travel tips, destination articles, and city guides. At its peak, Lodging.com maintained preferred agreements with more than 40,000 hotel properties and affiliate partnerships with over 3,500 websites, and offered additional inventory via GDS. Lodging.com was the most successful of InterNetwork Publishing’s early ventures, was blended into the TDS family of online travel services following its acquisition, and was recently shut down with elements of it technology still in use by the company.

About Cendant’s TDS/ Travelport

Travelport one of the world's largest and most geographically diverse travel companies,is dedicated to creating the exceptional travel experiences the world demands. Formerly known as TDS, Travelport delivers greater choice, tremendous travel content and cost savings to travelers, travel professionals and travel suppliers every day across more than 130 countries and through a network of over 8,000 local travel professionals. Travelport offers a wide range of business and consumer services, from distribution technology and travel packaging to retail sales and solutions. Travelport operates over 20 leading brands,

including Orbitz, an online travel agency; Galileo, a global distribution system (GDS);

and GTA, a wholesaler of global travel content. In August 2006, an affiliate of the Blackstone Group completed the acquisition of Cendant’s Travelport Subsidiary.  For more information, go to http://www.blackstone.com.