Washington D.C. --– John Turato, vice president of technology at Cendant Car Rental Group, has been elected chair of the OpenTravel Alliance (OTA). The OTA is developing open universal data standards for the travel industry.

The OTA chair position was previously held by Mike Kistner, senior vice president of operations and technology at Pegasus Solutions and partner at BASK. Kistner, who served as OTA chair for four years, in May received the OTA's Tom Grubbs Award in recognition of his contributions.

OTA members have also elected Ron Anderson-Lehman, senior vice president and CIO at Continental Airlines, OTA vice chair. Rahim Amlani, director of product management at Sidestep, was elected treasurer.

Moreover, James White, director of global automation marketing for the Hertz Corp., and Turato were elected to represent the car rental sector on the OTA Board of Directors.