In a surprise move, home-based travel industry veteran Joanie Ogg, founder of the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA), will join Saddle Brook, NJ-based Travel Counsellors as senior vice president of global sales and industry Relations. Travel Counsellors USA is a global host agency with more than 900 full-time, professional travel counselors throughout the world and more than $500 million in annual sales.

"Joanie is synonymous with the home-based travel segment and her expertise in the field is unsurpassed," said Peter Rasmussen, president of Travel Counsellors, USA. "She is universally respected by suppliers and agents for her untiring work on behalf of her constituency."

Ogg has long been the U.S. travel industry's champion of the home-based travel professional. Through the founding and development of NACTA, Ogg gave a voice to a disparate segment of the industry. She helped the industry community better understand the complexities and entrepreneurial nature of the home-based travel agent. She now joins the company that founded the home-based travel segment in the United Kingdom. Travel Counsellors launched the home-working market in the UK in 1993 and entered the US market last year.

"For me, this move is a chance to be part of the successful future of the home-based market," Ogg said. "Travel Counsellors' philosophy is based on putting the individual travel counselor first. The business model, support tools, technology and marketing expertise are unmatched in the market."

Ogg said she will remain active in NACTA. (GD)