Meet the PAC: Angela Margolit, President, Bluebird Auto Rental Systems

Angela Margolit of the Progress Partner Advisory Council (PAC)

We kicked off our “Meet the PAC,” Q&A blog series last month by introducing you to PAC member Juan Salazar, President of Quantum Data Systems. This month, you’ll learn about Angela Margolit and what’s driving her business, Bluebird Auto Rental Systems.

Angela is the President of Bluebird Auto Rental Systems. Based in Dover, New Jersey, her company provides software to the vehicle rental industry worldwide. From point-of-sale (contract processing) to back office reporting, Bluebird interfaces with numerous accounting systems. It is one of our premier application partners.

Angela started at Bluebird Systems in 1988 as a sales rep then engineered an employee-leveraged buy-out of the Auto Rental division, forming Bluebird Auto Rental Systems in 1993. Prior to that, she was a systems engineer and a sales rep for Datapoint, one of only two women among 82 reps worldwide. She won sales achievement awards every year, selling mini-computer systems to the Department of Defense. Upon completing her MBA, she worked as a programmer analyst for EDS, Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) and Planning Research Corporation (PRC) and at several Naval bases in Southern California.

Recently, Angela was named a 2015 Woman of Achievement by the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey.

Q: From a technical and/or business perspective, what projects or initiatives are you looking forward to most over the next 12 months? 

We are looking to complete a number of mobile apps this year, from a technical perspective. Marketing-wise, our sights are set on Global Domination and our efforts are finally paying off. We also have begun to work with Progress® offices in the Pacific Rim, and are excited at the possibility of expanding our global reach.

Q: What is the next “big thing” that you see happening in your market space, and what are you doing to prepare for it?

We recently completed an interface to a Central Reservation System, which connects to the Global Distribution Systems (GDSs): Worldspan, Sabre, Galileo and Apollo. This will allow independent operators to have their own chain code—and be listed in portals such as Expedia and Orbitz.

Q: Which Progress technology enhancements are you most excited about in the coming year? 

We are very happy to see the UX initiatives. We're hoping that they can help us win a large RFP bid.

Q: Tell us about you: what was your most innovative career moment? 

The most innovative moment in my career was when I engineered the employee leveraged buy-out of the Auto Rental Division of Bluebird Systems so that I could re-write the application in Windows (using a Progress database).

To learn more about Bluebird Auto Rental Systems, visit the website. Interested in becoming a member of the Progress Partner Advisory Council? Contact Kimberly King at kiking@progress.com.

Stay tuned for our next Meet the PAC post coming in March.