ACTE Board Ends NBTA Merger Efforts

Extensive efforts by leaders of the National Business Travel Association and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives to merge the two organizations came to a halt this week after the ACTE board of directors determined that it would not have the two-thirds majority required for it to approve such a move.

While the two organizations had discussed such a merger many times previously, dire economic reality appears to have made this most recent effort more substantial than prior discussions.

"The current economic crisis is reshaping the business travel industry in many ways," said ACTE president and Booz & Co. director of global sourcing and travel Doug Weeks in a prepared statement. "Change is coming in the way companies conduct business, in the way people travel and in the way professional associations assist them in this endeavor."

NBTA, in a separate prepared statement, said it and ACTE "have recently been in talks about possible opportunities to work together to maximize the value each association delivers to the business travel industry. In light of economic pressures currently facing the business—particularly supplier companies that invest in both organizations—NBTA leaders asked ACTE officials to craft a proposal on how the groups might cooperate to leverage their relative strengths." NBTA said that while the talks ended with no change, they were "quite positive and collaborative."

According to current and previous board members, ACTE also has considered merging with other industry associations in recent months, including Meeting Professionals International and the Professional Conference Management Association.

Nonetheless, Weeks said, "ACTE's board of directors has concluded that meeting our mission can best be accomplished by following our own course of action."

Meanwhile, Advito general manager Mary Ellen George told Business Travel News that she today resigned from the ACTE board, where she served as treasurer-elect.

"I can already see that with the time commitment involved that it is hard. With these volunteer positions, it's a lot of work. Right now, with the nature of things in the industry, it's 10 times what it's been in the past, I'm sure, for some of these positions."

George would not comment directly on today's vote or potential non-NBTA-related mergers or partnerships.

"It sounds like both associations want to keep the doors open and that is the right thing to do. It would be in the best interest of everyone in the industry if we can keep the doors open to discussion."