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| Left to right: Christy Prescott (San Antonio, Texas), Terry Gerken (Toledo, Ohio), Michael Boult, Louise Lascik (Johns Creek, Georgia) , Alan Mcara (Dublin, Ireland), and Jay Ellenby (Bel Air, Maryland) |
Travel Leaders Associates recently concluded its Executive Forum, which convened at the Fairmont Hotel, Millennium Park, Chicago from April 25-26.
The Travel Leaders Executive Forum provided an opportunity for Travel Leaders’ Travel Management Company members and their premier corporate clients to learn more about current trends from top travel industry executives, gain additional insights into the future of business travel, and share best practices with each other.
The event also included information for clients who were thinking about updating their corporate travel policies. The average corporate travel policy has not been updated in three years, Travel Leaders said. Participants were able to learn from and ask questions of industry executives including:
- Andrew Menkes, CEO of Partnership Travel Consulting
- Dave Hilfman, senior vice president of worldwide sales, United Airlines
- Alisa de Gaspe Beaudien, chief operating officer, Groupize
- Dan Ruch, CEO of Rocketrip
- Tye Radcliffe, director of distribution, payment and ticketing Systems, United Airlines
- Jeff Coggin, assistant vice president, global sales, Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
- Suzanne Lustig, director, national accounts, Allianz Global Assistance
- Yolanda Carneiro, vice president, travel industry partnerships, Carey International
- Myra Kellerman, global travel program Leader, Barry Wehmiller
One session moderated by Greeley Koch, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), focused on “traveler centricity” from the perspective of Millennial employees. A Millennial traveler from a large professional services company and one from a large manufacturer discussed their viewpoint of the corporate travel policies in place at their companies. A key take away was that technology will not replace the necessity of humans who make the policies and help with the bookings; instead, by embracing technology, the end-user experience with reporting expenses can add to better efficiency and compliancy.