Our Leadership

As President of the Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions (CLTS), Eric Burdon is responsible for managing and expanding CLTS' leisure fulfillment offerings and services for corporations, organizations and other groups through its state-of-the-art customer contact centers in Boise, ID and St. Louis, MO.

Through Burdon's leadership, CLTS provides corporate clients with employee leisure booking tools, in addition to providing financial institutions and credit card reward programs with travel award redemptions. Through its customer contact centers, CLTS currently assists more than 10 million active program members of client credit card loyalty programs. During Burdon's tenure, CLTS has grown into one of the top five leisure travel agencies recognized annually by Travel Weekly.

Prior to joining Carlson in 1997, Burdon had a 23-year career with British Airways (BA) that spanned much of the globe. Most recently, Burdon served as BA's sales and marketing manager for the Middle East and North Africa from April 1994. His accomplishments in this role included generating net revenues for his sales region of more than $320 million, and growing BA's share of the leisure market by 20 percent. In addition, Burdon launched an ambitious "Sales Business Training" program across the region. From January 1991 until March 1994, Burdon was BA's Regional Business Manager for the Americas. His achievements in this position included implementing strategies for achieving a three-year regional business plan; generating $6 million in incremental revenue; negotiating cost savings with external suppliers; and driving the launch of new passenger routes to Mexico and Chile. BA recognized Burdon with its Sales Achievement of the Year award for 1984.

A native of the United Kingdom, Burdon holds a masters degree in Business Administration from Lancaster University, U.K. He is a member of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Transport, and the U.K. Institute of Sales and Marketing Management.

Norm Knowles

As Vice President of Marketing, Client and Supplier Relations for Connexions, Norm Knowles oversees all of CLTS' marketing efforts, client relationships and supplier negotiations. Knowles and his team have led the innovation of new tools, products, and services, enabling CLTS to expand its offerings at lower cost and higher quality service for CLTS clients. He reports to Eric Burdon, President of CLTS.

Knowles has worked in the travel industry for over 20 years leading Marketing, Product Development, Operations, and Information Systems organizations. In these capacities, he has been involved in the development of creative solutions in all areas of leisure travel for suppliers, wholesalers, consolidators, tour operators, and agencies. Knowles has leveraged this knowledge to create new reward products and services within CLTS.

Prior to joining Connexions, Knowles served as Senior Vice President of Operations for OneTravel.com, where he was responsible for online and offline operations, development of client relationships and online customer experience. Previously, Knowles served as Chief Operating Officer of TheTravelSolution.com a travel membership organization and served as Chief Operating Officer of McCord Consumer Direct where he was responsible for guiding all of the day to day operations of the direct to consumer business. Knowles spent over 12 years with America West Holdings where he led multiple areas including Reservations, Vacations, Cruise, and Leisure Technology for the America West Airlines, America West Vacations, The Leisure Company, National Leisure Group, and The Vacation Store.

Travis Markel

As Vice President of Operations for Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions, Markel oversees customer contact centers in Boise, ID and St. Louis, MO. He also drives the work-from-home agent project. Additionally, his team implements all new client programs along with changes to existing client programs, all while improving processes, quality and customer service. He reports to Eric Burdon, President of CLTS.

Markel came to CLTS from Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), where he served since 2002 as Vice President of Operations for their U.S. business travel service center operations. Prior to CWT, Markel worked in operations and product development roles in varied industries. Markel began his career at America West Airlines, where he began as a tour sales representative, then worked his way up to Director of Reservations for America West Vacations.

Markel holds a B.S. in Finance from Arizona State University .

Jeff Neunsinger

As Chief Financial Officer, Jeff Neunsinger oversees all Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions’ financial analysis, revenue management and accounting functions. The revenue management role involves partnering with internal client services, marketing and sales teams to optimize financial results for Connexions as well as our business partners.

Jeff re-joined Connexions in 2008 after serving in a financial leadership role with Ameriprise Financial Corporation. His return marks the continuation of eight years experience serving the loyalty travel industry in a variety of financial management roles including internal audit, financial planning and analysis and revenue management.

Previously, Jeff served as an in-charge auditor for for McGladrey & Pullen performing attestation services and held internal audit roles with TCF Financial. Jeff has a Masters of Business Administration from the Carlson School of Management (University of Minnesota) and passed all sections of the CPA examination.

Marc Valerius

As Chief Technology Officer for Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions™ (CLTS), Marc Valerius is responsible for all aspects of technology, including application development, quality assurance, information security, and IT infrastructure support. His team is involved in the development and expansion of innovative redemption products and services for our clients while supporting, improving and ensuring the security of our production systems. He reports to Eric Burdon, President of CLTS.

Valerius has over 15 years of experience in Information Technology. Prior to CLTS, Valerius spent 4 years in IT at Carlson Companies, serving as Chief Architect for Carlson Leisure Group and also served on Carlson's Enterprise Architecture and Information Security committees. Previous to joining Carlson, Valerius spent 10 years in IT consulting, leading technical delivery for clients such as MBNA, Best Buy, Hertz and Xerox. Valerius began his career as a Software Developer and has vast experience in a variety of technology disciplines such as system integration, database design, and software/system architecture.

Valerius holds a B.A. in Computer Science from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN.

John Miller

As Director of New Business Development for Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions (CLTS), John Miller is responsible for growing the division's client base across multiple closed-channel segments. Focusing on large member based affinity programs, including credit card reward and other individual incentive based programs Miller has been a key figure helping grow the division to its current position. He reports to Eric Burdon, President of CLTS.

Miller has a strong background in account management and sales within the leisure travel industry and has been with Carlson Leisure Travel Services since 1998. He has over 20 years of travel industry experience holding industry relations and sales positions with top wholesale travel companies. Prior to joining CLTS his experience included positions with MLT Vacations, TransGlobal Vacations and Global Holidays. He has also served a variety of roles within CLTS including Account Manager, Sales Manager and Senior Sales Manager. Most recently as Senior Sales Manager he developed an expertise within the financial services industry, specifically within credit card loyalty programs.

A native of Minnesota, Miller holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Minnesota.

Mark Steinweg

As General Manager of Process Improvement for Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions (CLTS), Mark Steinweg is responsible for re-engineering strategic business processes and bringing in new technologies and capabilities to maximize operational productivity, enhance customer satisfaction and improve efficiencies. He directs and manages business projects critical to CLTS' annual operating and long range plans and improvements to the business technology infrastructure. He reports to Eric Burdon, President of Connexions Loyalty Travel Solutions.  

Steinweg has over 25 years of financial and business management experience. In addition to Carlson Leisure Travel Services, Steinweg has served in several divisions of Carlson Companies. Prior to Carlson, Steinweg held numerous financial leadership positions with Alliant Techsystems Inc., Honeywell Inc., and National Car Rental Systems Inc.

Steinweg has a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Minnesota and his MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Steinweg is also a Certified Public Accountant.