Overview
TRAVNAR is made up by a dedicated team focused on helping you take control of travel. Travnar's mission is to provide control of travel by leveraging the latest smartphone and cloud technology in order to provide you a high degree of control over your travel experience with the greatest degree of time and cost efficiency.
Roots
Alexander Cowan, an American raised in the United States, Colombia and Denmark, founded Travnar in 2008 after having traveled extensively as a management consultant and discovering a need in the marketplace for a better tool customized specifically for business travelers and travel managers. In 2009 Victoria Sosik partnered with Cowan adding a strong engineering and design background to the venture. After a couple of years of focusing on Business to Business travel solutions, the Travnar team is now expanding their offerings to the general travel consumer.
Philosophy
Travnar believes that by facilitating your travel needs it is indirectly strengthening cross-cultural relationships and partnerships between people, companies and governments which can ultimately break down economic and political barriers.
Support Travnar
By using Travnar's products and showing your support on Travnar's Facebook Fan Page (www.facebookcom/travnar) and @travnar on Twitter you can become a resource for Travnar to deliver a better product for you and your travel needs. Expressing your support for Travnar by downloading and using its products will help Travnar justify bringing more dynamic and sophisticated travel tools to you in the future.
Taste of Travnar
If you are unfamiliar with Travnar's products, download the Travnar Lite app (iPhone) - now available for free on the iTunes App Store. If you travel often for business and like Travnar, ask your travel manager to inquire about Travnar's products and services at about@travnar.com.
Leadership
Founder and President: Alexander L. Cowan
Cowan, an American raised in the United States, Colombia and Denmark, founded TRAVNAR. Cowan has developed the business plan, created key strategic relationships and is implementing the strategy for TRAVNAR. He is responsible for providing the leadership and vision that will ensure successful execution of the strategy to make TRAVNAR a leader in the business travel market. Because of his cross cultural upbringing and experience, Cowan has a passion for and commitment to connecting people across the world through business.
Prior to starting TRAVNAR, Cowan was a management consultant and the Southwest Development Manager for Gap International, Inc. — a consulting, learning and diagnostics company that partners with FORTUNE 500 and Global 1000 executives and their teams to produce immediate breakthrough business results. He traveled extensively as a management consultant and consequently developed a huge interest in business travel when he discovered a need in the marketplace for a better tool customized specifically for business travelers and travel managers. Cowan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
Executive Vice President, Design and Engineering: Victoria S. Sosik
Sosik is Executive Vice President, Design and Engineering at TRAVNAR. Sosik is involved in all phases of product development from customer interviews through initial design and creation of products as well as future development. She is responsible for transforming customer goals into product specifications that are carried out by our team of TRAVNAR engineers. She determines the specific tools that must be incorporated into TRAVNAR as well as how the interface should be designed to ensure that the customer finds TRAVNAR's product efficient and easy to use. This involves analyzing the customer's needs as well as their current policies and determining how to best meet their needs through TRAVNAR's platform.
Prior to joining TRAVNAR, Sosik developed dynamic and functional web applications, including both administrative and end‐user functionality, for a broad range of businesses and industries. She brings strong leadership and organizational skills demonstrated by having led and project managed groups of competitive and bright individuals. Sosik earned her Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Computer and Cognitive Science and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a Minor in Fine Arts, from the University of Pennsylvania where she received the Moore School Council Cwikla Award from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in recognition of her outstanding scholarly achievements and service to the School and University community.
Lead Engineer: James A. Schwanda, P.E.
Schwanda is the Lead Engineer at TRAVNAR and is involved in all phases of application and software development.
Prior to joining TRAVNAR, Schwanda was founder and president of Universal Solutions, Inc., a diverse software consulting company that provides expert services in real time application development, dynamic data driven web sites and web based applications. While at USI, he developed many real-time systems used around the world for advanced process control and process operator training. He is an expert in real time programming, dynamic database design and user interfaces.
Schwanda brings an extensive software development background to TRAVNAR that has extended over thirty years. Schwanda earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University and his Masters of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of New Jersey.