GBTA and VDR Announce A Trio of Industry Titans To Give ‘A View From the Corner Office’ at GBTA Conference 2015 in Partnership with VDR

London, 15 October 2015 – The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) – the voice of the global business travel industry – and German business travel buyer association VDR – today announced that Alan Rich, CEO, Chrome River; Bill Glenn, President and CEO, American Express Global Business Travel and Patrick Diemer, Managing Director and Chairman, AirPlus International, will be featured speakers at their joint conference taking place in Frankfurt, 9-11 November.

Rich, Glenn and Diemer will come together in the CEO Industry Outlook Panel looking at the transformational trends such as big data; the rise of mobility; the sharing economy; developments in technology; consumerization and the new world order. GBTA Executive Director and COO Michael W. McCormick will moderate the panel.

Catherine McGavock, GBTA’s Regional Vice President – EMEA said: “We are pleased to welcome this distinguished panel. In their roles as industry leaders, they are poised to provide delegates an insightful perspective on these changes and how they are set to shape our industry.”

Dirk Gerdom, President of VDR added, “The world around us is changing at an unprecedented rate – bringing with it both new challenges and opportunities. The smart professionals will seek to equip themselves with the skills and knowledge to meet these challenges to not just survive – but to adapt and thrive in the new world. This panel will help them on their journey to better understand what is in store so they can better prepare for and better perform in the future.”

Following the success of last year’s conference, the event brings together GBTA’s annual conference in Europe with German partner association VDR’s autumn symposium to create Europe’s foremost business travel conference, expected to attract more than 900 delegates from over 20 countries.

CONTACT:
Catherine McGavock, +44 (0) 7980 588181, cmcgavock@gbta.org
Claudia Giese, +49 69 695229 33, giese@vdr-service.de
Colleen Lerro Gallagher, +1 703 236 1133, cgallagher@gbta.org

Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V. (VDR)

The VDR represents the interests of German industry and deals with the general and competitive conditions surrounding business trips and mobility. It campaigns for efficient, economical, safe, unhindered, worldwide travel possibilities for companies. The VDR with its over 550 member companies represents a total annual turnover in the business travel sector of more than EUR 10 billion.

About the Global Business Travel Association
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. To learn how business travel drives lasting business growth, gbta.org