Kevin Maguire
The National Business Travel Association last month elected as president and CEO Kevin Maguire, travel director for thirteen-year-old real estate development firm The Expedition Development Company. NBTA also elected HSBC's Michael Lyons as vice president, as well as new board directors American Honda Motor Company manager of corporate services Charles Franklin, Jeld-wen Inc. travel manager Flodine Lee and Interstate Hotels & Resorts global sales director Sean McCurdy. Management.travelthis week spoke with Maguire about his platform and top issues.
What were the key elements of your platform?
One was the continued expansion of the global partnerships NBTA has. We're in several areas now and would like to strengthen those, and there are more areas we would like to go into. The second point was that with all the changes and things that are occurring, including the 'carbon footprinting' issues, the NBTA political action committee's ability to address legislation at all levels--whether local, national or global--is a critical issue because it affects all of us. The third thing really is the educational end of things, not just NBTA as an organization, but the fact that education is no longer an option. It's a necessity if you want to survive in travel management or have a good program, and we need to expand our relationships not only with the NBTA Foundation but also the institutions of higher education that we deal with and the business community, to benefit travel managers and their organizations as they move into various arenas of the world market. The last thing was our need to find a way to better explain what managed programs really provide as a benefit to companies. That's a nagging issue that never seems to go away. We need to quantify not only what the service does but also what value we as individuals provide to the company. NBTA can help us do that and we're at a point where we can't wait much longer.
The Association of Corporate Travel Executivesand Institute of Travel Managementhave taken aggressive stances on environmental issues. ITM's executive director suggested, during NBTA's Boston convention last month, that NBTA needs to do more on the environment. NBTA has created a corporate social responsibility committee and held two sessions at the conference, but NBTA clearly has been behind this matter relative to those other organizations. What is your thinking and what has been lacking thus far?
That criticism is deserved, but I also think NBTA is now in the process of making strides to correct that particular situation. We obviously have been thrown, over the last two years, into a more noticeable situation in terms of how people look at the environment. You can look at things related to global warming and how valid it is; whether you want to believe it or not, there is validity, without any question. The solutions, however, are still being discovered. If you talk about offset programs, you need to look at how realistic they are. There are other programs that are in their infancy, and we need to look at the different things out there--number one, bringing them to the attention of the membership--and also doing the analysis to see how realistic they are and what the savings are. Do you buy a tree to offset carbon emissions, and then find out that it takes 30 to 35 years before that really does an offset? There are lots of questions out there, and we're all in the learning process.
In Boston, one of the participants in a CSR panel said that to lessen the impact, you travel less, which is obviously tough for suppliers to hear. They sell travel, so they don't want people to travel less. Do you see any way out of that fundamental conflict?
There isn't one answer, but I prefer to address the issue by saying people in corporations need to learn how to travel smarter. When you travel smart, you address and hopefully solve several issues, not just one. This also falls into the general category of lobbying ... you will begin to see on local, state and global levels environmental bills or laws involving travel at least being discussed. I do believe they will surface as hot topics in terms of potential legislation.
You have talked about industry credibility and improving the public's understanding of travel management, perhaps even defining it. Should NBTA explore cooperation with ACTE or the Business Travel Coalition?
First, there probably will never be a uniform definition, but we can come very close. Secondly, yes, I think we all need to start working together on a common focal point and I think that's possible. ACTE and [BTC's] Kevin Mitchell are both willing to sit down and openly discuss where we might go in this industry and how we might work together. I think the perception of animosity is overblown right now. The organizations are not holding hands and singing "Kumbaya," but we're much closer than people believe. I don't think we'll ever be unified in all areas, but because of the nature of the industry right now, it would be beneficial for us to work closely together at least on some issues, and I think we're getting to that point. This is me talking, based on my conversations with ACTE members and other organizations before I was president. Maybe part of the problem is that we don't actually share our feelings about things on an open basis. We're to that point where we should open up.
You mentioned the continued global expansion. Regarding those international partnerships and plans, what do you think of NBTA's acquisitions of partners in Canada and Asia-Pacific?
I think it's been a good thing for both sides. We've been able to support them and they have been able to help us on international issues involving those regions. I don't think it's a territorial issue because they're still their own operations. They just have flagged under a more recognizable name, which is NBTA, so we're not infringing on their rights or territories. The world economies are now global. It's no longer a U.S. or regional or Western Hemisphere economy. The travel industry is doing the same with all our partnerships. Alliances are global in nature and not domestic in nature, so we need to be up to speed with the way the industry is going, which is global. If you don't do that, you waste four or five years and find out you're left behind. Being part of the whole global program from a travel industry standpoint--being one of the developers and building blocks--is critical to the future of how the organization operates. We have a better understanding of how other parts of the world operate from a business and travel standpoint. Latin America operates differently from Canada ... so it provides us a tool to bring back to our companies to better function in those regions of the world.