April 15, 2003

Contact:
Jennifer Meriam, Director (954) 262-5355
Mike Laderman, Associate Director, (954) 262-5354
Mara Kiffin, Coordinator, (954) 262-5350

Phil Bakes, Chairman and CEO of Far&wide Travel Corporation to Speak at NSU’s Huizenga School

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL— Phil Bakes, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of FAR&WIDE Travel Corporation will be the next speaker scheduled for the 2003 Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University (NSU). Bakes will speak Monday, April 21, 2003, 10:45 a.m., in the Julian and Ellen Knight Auditorium, Alumni Hall, Huizenga School, 3100 SW 9th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.

Bakes co-founded FAR&WIDE Travel Corporation in 1997, along with Andrew McKey, Executive Vice President. Together with other private investors, the pair began implementing a plan to create a leading leisure and travel company through acquisitions and internal growth. Since then, Bakes had led FAR&WIDE as it continues to add to its portfolio of travel companies, earning a Travel Agent magazine cover story that featured the company’s ongoing expansion. Travel Agent also named Bakes “Tour Operator of the Year” in its January 3, 2000 issue.

Prior to founding FAR&WIDE, Bakes served as president of Sojourn Enterprises, Inc., a Miami advisory and merchant banking firm he founded in 1990. Before his entrepreneurial spirit led him to develop his own businesses, Bakes served as the top operating executive of two major U.S. airlines. He served as president of Continental Airlines in 1984, where he successfully led the company out of bankruptcy, ushered in substantial growth in operations and led the airline to its, then, most profitable period. From late 1986 to early 1990, Bakes served as CEO of Eastern Airlines, where he implemented major reconstructing, asset sales, cost reductions, streamlined operations, and revamped marketing.

Bakes received his undergraduate degree from Chicago’s Loyola University, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University School of Law with a Juris Doctorate. He served in the public sector in the 1970s as a Watergate Special Prosecutor, general counsel to the Civil Aeronautics Board, and counsel to the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee.

In June 2001, he earned the prestigious title of “Entrepreneur of the Year” as the recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award that recognizes entrepreneurs who have demonstrated outstanding success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. He also received the Atlas Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME) in May 2000.

The Distinguished Lecture Series brings in entrepreneurs and executives to speak on a variety of business-related subjects, and is open to NSU students, faculty and staff members, guests, and all members of the media.

The Huizenga School is well known for its nationally offered, top-rated Weekend M.B.A. Program, which began as a career-based offering to meet the need of professionals, and has since evolved to include an online version (eMBA) for those who prefer electronic learning. For more information on the Distinguished Lecture Series, call Kristin Karas-Gordon at 954-262-5004 or send email to karas@huizenga.nova.edu. To attend the lecture, RSVP to 954-262-5004.