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CarTrawler Appoints New Members to Executive Team

David Paterson and Michael Cunningham, both with travel-related industry experience, have been added to CarTrawler’s senior executive team.

by Staff
May 29, 2012
2 min to read


CarTrawler, a car rental booking engine company based in Dublin, has two new members on its senior executive team following an investment by ECI Partners, a mid-market private equity firm in the UK. CEO Mike McGearty welcomed David Paterson as the new CFO and Michael Cunningham as the new COO.

Prior to his newest position working out of the company’s headquarters in Dublin, Paterson worked as director of product and director of finance for the online sector in TUI Travel PLC where he oversaw more than $2 billion of transactions. He also led the development of the strategic planning and investor relations framework for TUI Travel PC after the company merged with First Choice Holidays PLC.

Since 1998, Paterson has been a chartered management accountant and held senior finance positions in Virgin Rail Group, Deutsche Bank and British Airways.

As CarTrawler’s COO, Cunningham will take responsibility for operations in Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Asia, and CarTrawler’s global customer service operation.

Before joining the CarTrawler team, Cunningham headed up SITA’s global sales operation for airline solutions and served as director of e-commerce strategy, in addition to helping other worldwide airlines implement effective online strategies.

While his career began in IT in the health care industry, he has 25 years of experience in travel-related industries.

“By supplementing an already highly experienced executive team and by investing in key departments across the business, we can continue to deliver managed growth while maintaining the highest standards of service for our existing partners,” McGearty said.

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