GBTA Foundation’s Project ICARUS

Announces Winners of 2016 Sustainability Outstanding Achievement Awards at Masters Honors Summit & Gala

Awards Honor Outstanding Achievements in Furthering

Business Travel and Meetings Sustainability Programs

Alexandria, VA (April 14, 2015) – GBTA Foundation’s Project ICARUS proudly announced the winners of the fourth annual Sustainability Outstanding Achievement Awards this week at The Masters Honors Summit & Gala in Miami.

Through these awards, the GBTA Foundation – the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association – recognizes travel buyers, suppliers and intermediaries who demonstrate outstanding leadership, innovation and commitment to delivering best in class sustainability programs, products and services across North America.

“The high quality of entries for our fourth annual awards in North America yet again demonstrates the level of importance we see companies placing on responsible travel management, driving a significant increase in the number of companies building sustainability principles into their business travel and meetings programs,” said Bernard Harrop, head of sustainability for Project ICARUS. “The judges faced a tough task to select the honorees, demonstrating the outstanding contribution companies are making in the drive for greater sustainability in our industry.”

The recipients are:

Travel Buyer

· Wyndham Worldwide Corporation – Their entry exemplifies how, in a relatively short time, a company can build and develop a travel sustainability program, which delivers significant carbon emission reductions and cost savings through effective reporting, communications and employee engagement.

Travel Supplier

· The Hertz Corporation – Hertz delivered a well-presented application, based on their ‘Living Journey’ strategy. The work they do in negotiating bespoke contracts to support travel buyer carbon reduction goals truly stands out.

Travel Intermediary

· BCD Travel – Their traveler risk management concept delivers an impressive level of duty of care capabilities for travel buyers. Traveler engagement helps clients fulfill their duty of care to protect employees, in line with the social aspect of sustainability.

The recipients were presented with a specially commissioned bronze Project ICARUS award during The Masters Honors Summit and Gala held Monday at the Trump National Doral property in Miami, Fla.

For more information visit the Project ICARUS website or contact Bernard Harrop at bharrop@gbtafoundation.org.

CONTACT: Colleen Lerro Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133, cgallagher@gbta.org

About Project ICARUS
Project ICARUS, a GBTA Foundation initiative, is the most widely recognized and respected Corporate Sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility program within the global business travel and meeting industry. This is a project led by and targeted primarily at national and international travel buyers/managers and their suppliers/intermediaries, who wish to integrate sustainability into the way they manage, run and supply travel and meetings programs. For more information, visit www.gbta.org/foundation/ICARUS.

About the GBTA Foundation
The GBTA Foundation is the education and research foundation of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. Collectively, GBTA’s 7,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA provides its growing network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts with world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media. The Foundation was established in 1997 to support GBTA’s members and the industry as a whole. As the leading education and research foundation in the business travel industry, the GBTA Foundation seeks to fund initiatives to advance the business travel profession. The GBTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, see gbta.org and gbta.org/foundation.