Behind the Scenes: Developing The Masters Honors

Last year, GBTA announced a new initiative called The Masters Honors. I am proud to tell you more today about this unique program that recognizes the leadership of the most engaged travel management professionals in the business travel industry.

GBTA worked to create a program that will help elevate the business travel profession by honoring the top travel management professionals in the industry. More than 100 leaders will be announced as the inaugural class of The Masters Honors honorees next week – representing the top 4 percent of GBTA’s direct members across the globe.

A weighted average of the level of engagement of each GBTA direct member was used to determine who qualified for The Masters Honors list. There are four types of engagement that were considered: leading, teaching, attending and connecting.

Leading is based on serving in a GBTA leadership role involving ongoing commitment at the Board, Committee, Task Force or Chapter President level. Teaching includes sharing knowledge, wisdom and best practices involving presenting, writing white papers or teaching in a GBTA education forum. Attending involves face-to-face engagement with peers by attending meetings, conferences, education sessions and other networking events. Connecting includes remote engagement by accessing and participating in the GBTA community digitally.

These elements combined say more about a travel management professional than just their level of involvement in GBTA. These individuals are constantly pursuing education and networking opportunities to move their careers to the next level. They take all of that knowledge gained back to their companies to build better travel programs. They don’t just stay on top of the latest industry trends, they drive them. Through their efforts they have become world-leading practitioners with expertise in duty of care, supplier management, technology, sustainability, meetings management and more.

Honorees will be recognized at The Masters Honors Summit & Gala this April at the Trump National Doral property in Miami.

You can learn more about The Masters Honors program on the GBTA website, where we will also unveil the honorees next week!