By Kevin Maguire
NBTA President & CEO
In voting that closed at the NBTA International Convention & Exposition in July, NBTA members elected as President & CEO of the association Kevin Maguire, CCTE, Director of Travel, The Expedition Development Company, Inc. Connecting News caught up with Maguire and asked him to outline his priorities for his two years at the helm of NBTA.
As president, I look forward to making NBTA even more effective for its members. I will do so by keeping the organization focused on five major priorities I outlined in the election: education, global presence, government relations, buyer-supplier partnerships and Chapters.
Education/Professional Development
I’ll be frank -- NBTA has a perception challenge with regard to education: Because the NBTA exposition has always been so strong, many in the industry decided years ago that NBTA was the trade show, and the trade show was NBTA. While we are pleased to be recognized for the industry’s best expo, we also know it means some people have overlooked NBTA’s industry-leading educational offerings. I hope to change that perception.
Every year, Runzheimer International asks travel managers where they go for education. Every year, NBTA and NBTA Chapters earn the first and second highest response rates. Those professionals turn to NBTA because it is the only organization that offers:
To those people who have consistently made NBTA the industry’s leading education provider – thank you, and please tell a friend about your experience. If you have not yet taken advantage of NBTA’s opportunities, find out what your colleagues and competitors already know. Information on all of these opportunities is available under “Education and Professional Development” on www.nbta.org.
Global Presence
Another priority is to continue enhancing NBTA’s ability to meet the needs of the global travel management community. For travel managers in the world’s major markets and for those with multinational duties, NBTA has dramatically expanded its global network and its educational and networking opportunities. We have done so by offering leading industry events in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2008, we will add continental Europe with an event in Milan, May 15-16, called Crossroads Milan -- Paragon Business Travel Conference & Expo. We have also added three regional affiliate groups operated by local leadership that ties into NBTA’s global network: NBTA Asia Pacific, NBTA Canada and NBTA Mexico.
Moving forward, I will continue along that path. We will listen closely to our members and other travel buyers around the world to know how their needs are changing; we will work closely with like-minded travel groups, including the 10 other buyer-driven organizations that belong to the Paragon Partnership alliance; and we will continue to seek effective partnerships with sponsor supporters.
Government Relations
NBTA has established itself as the voice of business travel in Washington, testifying before Congress on issues such as Registered Traveler, holding an annual Legislative Summit for NBTA members to meet their elected representatives, advancing legislation that would prevent the introduction of additional discriminatory car rental taxes, and acting as the go-to source for Congressional offices and media seeking the business travel industry perspective.
The travel-related issues being addressed today in the halls of government may be more important in terms of the potential impact on how we do business than at any other time. NBTA members will benefit from initiatives such as continued liberalization of air travel markets, a major effort to modernize the entire U.S. air travel system from curb to curb, and a change in the current trend for politicians to look at travel as an endless source of revenue. With these and other important issues ahead, one of my priorities is to continue to grow NBTA’s ability to advance legislation and regulations that are good for business travel. The better we are able to meet that goal, the better we can serve our members and the industry at large.
Buyer-supplier partnerships
Good partnerships between buyers and suppliers are essential to effective travel management. Similarly, NBTA must partner effectively with both the buyer and supplier communities in order to serve the industry well. We must serve as a means for the two communities to engage in dialogue with each other.
To that end, NBTA is currently in the process of expanding supplier representation on the Board of Directors. We have long had two appointed board positions for suppliers. Last year, NBTA Direct (buyer) members voted to add two elected supplier seats, brining the total to four. The first elected supplier seat was added this year. The second will be added in the next election cycle, which will wrap up at the 2008 NBTA Convention in Los Angeles, July 27-30.
The expanded supplier representation on the board will strike the right balance for NBTA decision-making at the highest level, ensuring NBTA’s ability to represent the whole industry. I am committed to continuing down the path of strengthening NBTA as a place for buyers and suppliers to work together as partners to benefit the whole industry.
Chapters
Anyone who has been involved with NBTA for a while may remember that there was a time when there was occasional tension between some of the U.S. Chapters and the parent organization. Fortunately, in recent years we have improved the relationships, so NBTA and the Chapters now work in close partnership to the benefit of the industry at large.
I plan to continue this effort, with existing programs such as designating select Chapter events as qualifying CCTE electives, and also by finding new ways NBTA can work with its partner Chapters throughout the United States.
Return to Connecting News September 2007