Dr. Peter M. Sontag is a Class of ’69 magna cum laude graduate of West Liberty State College with a major in Marketing and a minor in Economics.  In 1988 WLSC awarded him an honorary Doctorate for his accomplishments in the travel and transportation industry.

He emigrated to the United States from Vienna, Austria in 1965 and worked at his full-time job as a steel worker at Weirton Steel while attending WLSC.  He graduated with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University.

After three exciting years at ITT solving business problems all over the world as the team leader of a business-SWAT team, Mr. Sontag decided that entrepreneurship was his calling.  He started to build, buy and merge travel companies in North America and Europe, including USTravel with $2.4 billion in sales, which he started from zero with profitability and positive cash flow 30 out of 32 quarters.  In his career he has acquired, merged or sold over 80 companies.

Today he is active in an number of enterprises and is on the boards of directors of many organizations, including:

     *An honorary member of the WLSC Foundation Board

     *World Air Holdings, Inc., a listed company (WLDA NASDAQ) – www.worldairholdings.com

     *NetHolels GmbH in Vienna Austria – www.nethotels.com

     *Coast Dental Corporation which he chaired in taking private last year from NASDAQ – www.CoastDental.co

     *SinglePoint Inc., London, U.K., an e-commerce security company – www.singlepoint.com

     *Fast Lane Travel, Inc., owner and President – www.fastlanetravel.com

     *2030 Travel Inc., where he is CEO, an acquisitions parent company

Dr. Sontag was elected four times as one of the most influential executives in the travel industry, has lectured on business topics including Mergers and Acquisitions, Entrepreneurship, Travel and Transportation and Service Marketing as part of the Dean’s Lecture Series at Cornell, and is fluent in German.