Closer Look: GBTA President & Vice President Candidates

The race for the leadership role on the Global Business Travel Association board of directors is underway. Voting has been open since June 21 and four candidates for president have stated their platforms. This year is the first that allied members have been eligible to vote in elections for board leadership and member seats, since a bylaw change was voted through by direct members in May. Allied members generally are defined as travel industry suppliers, while direct members are business travel buyers.

Themes among candidate platforms, according to written statements and video appeals posted on the GBTA website, range from diversity and inclusion to GBTA's financial health and a push for greater transparency throughout the organization. Candidates vary on their history with the organization—some have deep experience with the association's recent structural and leadership challenges and see work yet to do in those areas to regain confidence among current and prospective members. Others have come to the table more recently and are focused on the big-picture issues facing business travel, industries and society, and are looking at the future of the organization on a go-forward basis.

Who Are the Candidates?

Current global head of travel for consulting firm BCG, Gehan Colliander served as GBTA Europe president from 2015 to 2017. She brings a global perspective to the table with a platform that emphasizes collaboration across countries and regions, which could be instrumental in achieving a more unified cross-border organization. GBTA took early steps in December to expand its global inclusiveness by adding what had been regional chairperson positions—for GBTA Canada, GBTA Europe and GBTA Latin America—to official global board positions. Colliander's pedigree as a global citizen, having lived and worked in Egypt, Singapore, Switzerland, Kuwait, the United Kingdom and Sweden, could appeal to membership that may have felt underrepresented in the past. BTN recognized Colliander as a 2020 Best Practitioner for her contribution to BCG's sustainable business travel efforts. Sustainability figures prominently in her pitch for GBTA president, pledging her commitment to moving the business travel industry toward what she termed a "responsible rebound," not only by pushing for science-based carbon reduction efforts in the industry but also through educating travel managers about how to initiate and achieve results within their own companies.

Tesla senior manager of global travel, events and mobility Steve Sitto, who currently holds the direct member at large seat on the GBTA board, is banking on the broad appeal of sustainability issues as one of his platform pillars as well. He placed more emphasis, however, on diversity and inclusion issues in the business travel industry, stating in his video presentation, "Equality is a human right, at home and at work. We deserve a voice, we deserve recognition and the chance to earn an equitable pay without any discrimination. Collectively we must push for progress toward a more compassionate, equitable and inclusive society and travel industry." Diversity, equity and inclusion has been a recent focus for GBTA, which late last year formed a dedicated committee to focus on this issue. Sitto also turned the concept of equality inward to the membership, leaning on his past allied member status with GBTA before he moved to the direct member buyer side. The subtext was that, as president, he would be capable of representing the supply side of the business travel association and not favor the buy side. "My career began as an allied member at GBTA, and now I'm a direct. We're all equal," he said, looking directly into the camera. Given allied members' new voting rights, winning the supply side will be critical for winning the president role. Sitto's written statement outlines several key components he would pursue to "elevate" the GBTA organization, which included regional representation on the board, a "speak up" culture for GBTA chapters and greater transparency throughout the organization.

Paypal travel manager Denise Truso is the current GBTA board vice president. Her experience with the organization is clear in her platform statement, which drills more deeply into internal GBTA structural and financial issues to ensure a healthy, functional association to serve the business travel industry. She cited her 12 years experience on the supply side as well as her 12 years on the buy side, and emphasized her VP role and experience as the differentiator that will enable her to lead the organization into the future. She recounted the ways GBTA already was making changes—adding global representation to the board, bringing in a third-party consulting firm to assess operations, appointing a new executive director and amending the organization's bylaws. Truso offered continuity as an appeal to voters, committing to pursue GBTA's current "Ready. Safe. Travel." campaign and to push that message throughout the membership and to advocate to governments. She pledged to open better communication channels to members and committed to conducting "regular town hall meetings with our board of directors" to increase transparency and awareness of GBTA activities. Given the Covid-19 pandemic's effect on GBTA's financial position—a canceled convention in 2020 and a postponed event in 2021—Truso also emphasized the need to diversify the organization's revenue streams to build a stronger future.

NetApp global travel manager, current board member and president of the GBTA Chapter President's Council Mark Ziegler has had an involved history with GBTA, including introducing a proposal in 2013 that would have changed the bylaws to require all allied board seats to be elected rather than appointed—a change that has now come about with the recent bylaws updates. Ziegler long has been on and around the board of directors, and has been a champion of buyer members. Ziegler's platform makes it clear that he views GBTA as a brand-new organization that is ready for a rebirth as it emerges from the fire of Covid-19 and years of tumultuous leadership. Ziegler lauded the bylaw changes and the expansion of the board and set his sights on the future, not the past. "We have an opportunity to revitalize our association as never before," he said in his video presentation, in which he also cited "greater challenges requiring understanding of sustainability, duty of care, purpose of travel and much, much more." Ziegler emphasized his member-first mindset for all association activities, above revenue, and always to ask first, "How will this event or program benefit GBTA members?" As president of the CPC, he has deep experience in rising volunteer talent from the local organization and emphasized how support at the local level would build a strong culture of volunteer excellence to propel the larger organization into the future.

GBTA Vice President Election Is Uncontested

Running for the GBTA board vice president position is UBS global head of travel Mark Cuschieri. His candidacy is uncontested, and the deadline for additional candidate entries has passed. Cuschieri currently serves as the chair of the European board of directors. As VP, he said he will bring a global voice to the table and will challenge the status quo. "I believe I'm the right person to lead this charge because I'm committed, transparent and inclusive," he said in his video appeal. Among the propositions in his written platform is the creation of an engagement performance index for the association to track GBTA's success among different demographics within its membership. Cuschieri's platform emphasized the importance of new voices, new ideas and a focus on education for the entire membership, from industry newcomers to seasoned veterans, and a commitment to bringing all those perspectives together in transparent dialog that would produce industry leaders. "I believe now is the time of action. Our industry has one global association, GBTA. It is time to truly get international representation into its leadership."

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This article is the first in a series that will cover each candidate running for a board seat or board leadership position in the ongoing GBTA elections. Look for our coverage of allied member board seats tomorrow.