The Global Business Travel Association's board of directors
on Monday released a new proposal to restructure the board's membership makeup.
The proposal, which the board positioned as a move to further equalize power between
suppliers and buyers, will be included on the ballot in the group's August
elections at its convention in San Diego, along with member Mark Ziegler's proposal
on board makeup and a "none of the above" selection. GBTA planned to inform
members Monday of the new proposal.
Among 26 proposed amendments to the association's bylaws, the
board's proposal would increase the number
of board members to 14 from 13, including seven allied (supplier) and seven direct
(buyer) members. These include a president, who under the proposal would always
be a direct member, and a vice president, who would always be an allied member.
The president of the Chapter Presidents' Council, a direct member, automatically
would serve on the board as well, leaving six allied members and five direct members
elected by their respective constituencies.
Currently, two of
the four allied board positions are filled by the president and vice president
of GBTA's Allied Leadership Council, both appointed positions. Ziegler, a
direct member who is NetApp senior travel manager for the Americas, proposed that all four allied members on GBTA's board
of directors be elected and the ALC be dissolved.
Presently, Dav
El Chauffeured Transportation Network president and CEO Scott Solombrino serves
as the head of the ALC, a position he has held for four consecutive two-year terms.
Solombrino in a
June 21 interview with BTN called Ziegler's
proposal divisive, regressive and "a bit discriminatory."
"It is the
most outrageous thing, and it should be clearly rejected," Solombrino said
of Ziegler's proposal. "It is not smart, and it's not in the best interest
of allieds or directs."
Meanwhile, the
GBTA board proposal would make it far more difficult for members like Ziegler
to attempt to amend the bylaws. Currently, the bylaws may be amended if two-thirds
of voting direct members approve the change. Should that change pass, new proposals
first would require the approval by a three-fourths vote of a quorum of the board,
followed by approval of two-thirds of the allied and two-thirds of the direct members.