Message from the Office of the GBTA President

The following post was originally sent as an email to GBTA members earlier today, April 8, 2016.

Dear GBTA Members,

As the month of April quickly gets underway, I am writing to tell you about the exciting things occurring at GBTA, which feature three key events. We kick things off in Miami with The Masters Honors Summit & Gala recognizing the leadership of the most engaged travel management professionals in the business travel industry. Following that, we will celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of the GBTA Mexico Conference. This conference is the biggest travel management event in Mexico bringing together the largest cross-section of travel buyers and suppliers across Latin America and North America.

We will finish out April in Toronto for the 12^th Annual Canada Conference. As the largest business travel management event in Canada, and third largest in North America, the conference will feature discussions on hot topics important to the industry including the future of travel management, building collaborative partnerships within the purchasing chain, the role of technology and travel risk management.

It will be a busy, but productive month for GBTA as we look to connect, inspire and unite members across the globe.

GBTA On Demand
GBTA is continuing to invest in and grow its On Demand tools to deliver members access to hours of valuable videos from the leading experts in business travel and education on the go. As we place a higher emphasis on sharing content and information in this format, we are phasing out the GBTA Magazine. We will continue to find ways to deliver you the most timely, topical and unique business travel content on any device anywhere you want it.

In 2016 On Demand will not only be available for Convention in Denver, but for all GBTA Conferences across the globe including Brazil, Canada, Europe and Mexico. Keynotes, plenary sessions and education sessions at these events will be recorded and immediately available to event attendees. All GBTA Members will gain access to this content in the On Demand gallery. Stay tuned for more digital innovations and opportunities to come.

GBTA Australia Update
Years before we put the “G” in GBTA, NBTA merged with the Australian Business Travel Association leading to the existing structure currently in place with GBTA Australia.  It is time now to fully integrate this entity into GBTA to be consistent with all of the other regions across the globe.

To do this, GBTA needs to formally retire the legal structure currently in place. We will then form a new Advisory Board consisting of both returning members from our former board and new members. We are so thankful to our current and past Advisory Board members in this region for all of their efforts to getting us to where we are today. This new Advisory Board will work with the global GBTA Board to energize and engage our members in Australia. We will have more exciting news to come on new programs for the Australian region.

GBTA Convention 2016
While there is a lot going on between now and the annual GBTA Convention in Denver, it will be July before we know it. I hope you are as excited as I am about some of the speakers already announced. Julia Louis-Dreyfus will take the stage at Convention Arena on Monday, July 18, and the new TSA Administrator, Peter Neffenger, will make a rare public appearance at Center Stage on Tuesday, July 19, providing you the unique opportunity to hear directly from him what the future holds for TSA.

On March 23, you should have received an email from Election Services Corp. announcing a call for nominations for open GBTA Board positions. I cannot encourage you enough to nominate yourself or someone you know that would be a good addition to our Board. Volunteering your time and leadership on the GBTA Board of Directors gives you the opportunity to provide needed input into shaping the strategic goals for our organization. The deadline to submit a nomination is April 20. If you have any questions about the online nomination process, please contact Election Services Corp. by email at gbtahelp@electionservicescorp.com or call toll-free +1 866 720 HELP (4357).

Stay tuned for more exciting announcements as we get closer to GBTA Convention 2016 this July in Denver. I hope that I will see you at one of our many upcoming events.

As always, please reach out to me with any thoughts, questions or suggestions. Thank you for your continued commitment to GBTA.

Best Regards,

Christle Johnson, CCTE, GLP, GTP
GBTA President