Former ASTA President and Travel Agent, Hudak Brings Nearly 30 Years of Industry Experience to New Role

Scott Knutson, Vice President of Sales—North America, announced today that industry luminary Cheryl Hudak, CTC, has been named Business Development Manager for our Southwestern United States region. Hudak brings nearly 30 years of travel industry experience to her new role, both as a travel agency owner and as a high-ranking member of ASTA. In her new position, she will report directly to Bill Dwyer, CTC, Director of Field Sales for Costa North America.

Most recently, Hudak headed up Travel Dimensions, a full-service travel agency in Ohio, handling leisure, corporate travel and cruises. She opened the first agency in 1985 and then purchased a second agency in 1996 and 2007 in order to form a larger and more effective business. She began her career as a travel agent in 1981. For the past two years, Hudak has served as ASTA’s President and CEO. Previously, she served as National Vice President and prior to that she served on the Board of Directors, representing Area 7 (Allegheny, Michigan and Mid-America).

“We’re thrilled to have such an industry star like Cheryl join the Costa team – she is a dynamic professional with a proven track record as a high-performing travel agent and is extremely well regarded by her peers for the time she has dedicated to serving ASTA,” said Maurice Zarmati, President and CEO of Costa North America. “As a former travel agent for nearly 30 years, Cheryl has a complete understanding of what our travel agent partners will need in order to best sell our product and I’m certain they’re going to be just as excited about working with her as we are.”

A member of ASTA since 1986, Hudak has also chaired ASTA’s Allied Marketing Committee and served on THETRADESHOW 2008 committee. In the past, Hudak has sat on ASTA’s Budget and Finance Committee, Future Planning Committee and Tour Operators Program Committee as well as serving as Chair of ASTA’s Industry Affairs Committee and of the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) Joint Advisory Board. She chaired ASTA’s 2000 World Travel Congress in Las Vegas and in 1994 she co-chaired the Society’s Super Regional Conference in New York City.

“I’m so excited to take this next direction in my career, in an industry that I know and love so much and with a company with such a rich history like Costa,” said Hudak. “I respect the Costa team immensely from my past work with them and can’t wait to help travel agents build their cruise business with us. After being a travel agent for my entire career, I think I know what they need as well as how we at Costa can best give this to them and help them be as successful as possible.”

Hudak has served on the Alamo Car Rental, GEM, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Travel Agent Magazine advisory boards. Travel Agent Magazine named Hudak “One of the Most Powerful Women in Travel” in 1999 and 2000.

A longtime resident of Poland, Ohio, Hudak and her husband Ray are currently relocating to Scottsdale, Arizona where she will be based for her new position. Her territory includes Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California, and Las Vegas.