GBTA Announces New European Advisory Board Appointments

London, United Kingdom (December 15, 2016) – The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) – the voice of the global business travel industry – announced three new appointments to its European Advisory Board: Ricardo Crespo, AbbVie; Flavio Ghiringhelli, HRS; and Javier Amigo Prous, Campofrío Food Group Holding. Scott Torrey of Concur was also recently appointed to the GBTA Foundation European Advisory Board.

“We are pleased to welcome such experienced and capable business professionals to the GBTA Europe Advisory Board,” said Gehan Colliander, President of the GBTA Europe Advisory Board. “Coming off our most successful Europe Conference, in partnership with VDR, and having ambitious plans to continue improving on our education, networking and advocacy efforts for our members in the year to come, it is more important than ever to have individuals of this calibre to help guide the association.”

Ricardo Crespo is the Spain Sr. Travel & Congress Manager, EMEA Meeting & Events Category Lead for AbbVie. Passionate about the industry, he is a graduate of Bournemouth University (PD) completing ETM (European Tourism Management) in English at Borlänge University (Sweden) and in French at Université de Savoie (DESS Level). For AbbVie, he handles both Business Travel and Meetings & Events categories, and in his new role as the lead for EMEA he works to align strategies, policies and vendor rationalization around business travel spend. Ricardo brings a meetings focus to the Advisory Board.

Flavio Ghiringhelli is the Vice President of Corporate Solutions – Western, Southern & Eastern Europe for HRS. He is an experienced executive with more than 20 years spent in the Airline & Technology Distribution Travel Industries. He brings a strong knowledge into the B2B and B2C market, and is a driving force within HRS where in the last 4 years he has transformed their Italy business into a thriving enterprise. He oversees responsibility for 5 markets: UK, France, Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe, has developed a good network in Italy and Europe and is a member of the board of the Italian tourism association Federviaggio – FTO as well.

Javier Amigo Prous handles Strategic Sourcing for Campofrío Food Group Holding. Javier graduated as a lawyer and worked as corporate lawyer in large corporations for several years. For the last 4 years he has been in charge of Strategic Sourcing responsible for the Travel, Fleet, Marketing and Utilities families, with a budget of more than 120 M€. He regularly participates as a speaker on travel management in different forums and is also the president of the technology and communication committee for IBTA.

Scott Torrey is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of the EMEA business unit at Concur. Mr. Torrey assumed responsibility for growth in EMEA and in the first 3 years has seen the market grow over 200%. Since joining Concur in 1999, he has served in various roles including Executive Vice President – Operations, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Public Sector. While leading the Public Sector business for Concur he oversaw the award of a $1.5B 15 year contract – the largest in Concur’s history. During his 18 years at Concur, Mr. Torrey has focused on the levers that help drive growth for Concur. Prior to joining Concur, Scott was a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young and Accenture with a focus on CRM systems in the telecommunications industry.

CONTACT:

Catherine McGavock, +44 (0) 7980 588181, cmcgavock@gbta.org

Colleen Gallagher line, +1 703 236 1133, cgallagher@gbta.org

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