Moving Forward: New Leadership

In my first communication as your President, I promised open and frequent communications and to always keep you updated on the latest at GBTA. I’d like to start today by telling you about several transitions with volunteer leadership roles.

ALLIED LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: The Allied Leadership Council (ALC) serves as the voice of allied members and GBTA sponsors who are the primary source of funding for our organization. As such, I will be reappointing Scott Solombrino, president & CEO of Dav El Chauffeured Transportation Network, to serve as ALC President. Scott has been a strong and very effective advocate for the allied community and his counsel will be important over the next two years as GBTA continues to grow. Institutional intelligence, passion, counsel and commitment are important in planning over the next two years.

Joe Carino, director of hotel business for Amadeus, who served as vice president of the ALC will move into a global committee advisory role and will also serve on the Hotel Committee. I wanted to thank Joe who has been a valuable member of the ALC for his commitment, leadership and insight. Thank you for continuing to share your time and energy with us, Joe!

I’m very pleased to announce that I am appointing Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Best Western International, to serve as the new vice president of the ALC. Dorothy has been an outstanding contributor to GBTA over the years, most recently serving as Chair of our GBTA PAC. A search has begun to replace her in that role.

CHAPTER TASK FORCE: I would like to announce the transition process for the Chapter Task Force, which I led with Doug Payne up until now. The Chapter Task Force was established to review the needs of the local chapters and the Association overall, and to create an optimal path forward for the USA Chapters. It has delivered on its objectives and will continue to play a key role in moving the chapter plans forward. Doug Payne, senior vice president of corporate sales for ALTOUR, will continue to lead the Task Force along with Jeremy Gardner, vice president of business services for Accent on Indianapolis. Jeremy will be taking over my role as co-chair.

They will be joined by Karoline Mayr, director of global travel procurement for Deltek and newly elected president of the Chapter Presidents’ Council. Also, Jessica Davis, travel services administrator for Sempra Energy, was elected to serve as CPC’s Vice President and Patrick Algyer, business travel sales manager for Hotel Ivy, a Luxury Collection, was elected to serve as Secretary Treasurer.

COALITION PROJECT: As stated in my last communication, I would like to announce the leadership of a coalition team to work on GBTA membership requirements and governance changes. I have asked two of our Board Members, Eric Norberg and Bhart Sarin to accept the role as team leaders for the Coalition Project. Their mission is to take the bylaw discussions of the past and elevate them into the discourse of the future. They have begun their work in identifying team members and will make their recommendations this month.

MOVING FORWARD: Finally, I would like to officially welcome our newly elected Board of Directors. This volunteer group of individuals is already hard at work helping to make your Association better each day. The Board is committed to help GBTA expand our global outreach, meet our challenge to double our membership over the next four years, and continue to be the leading voice when it comes to business travel. It is my hope that you will be hearing more from all of us over the next 12 months

The future of GBTA looks bright with these volunteer leaders guiding the way and I’m excited to begin this journey with all of you. An important note in closing: my journeys can get very interesting so stay tuned! As always, please reach out to me with any questions or feedback.