ACTE Names Microsoft Buyer As Asia/Pacific Chair

ACTE has named Georgie Farmer, Microsoft Asia/Pacific travel services manager, as its new regional chair for Asia/Pacific. She joins fellow travel buyers Capgemini group travel manager Jerome Drevon-Barreaux and MDS global supply chain management supply chain lead Annemarie Reininger, respectively the regional chairs for ACTE Europe and ACTE Canada. ACTE executive director Susan Gurley said ACTE sent an invitation to a buyer to fill an open chair in the United Kingdom and it also will fill an open chair in the United States in the coming weeks.

Farmer, based in Singapore, will serve as chair until 2010. She has been a member of ACTE since 2001 and has served on multiple educational committees, including the 2006 Asia/Pacific Education Conference steering committee. Farmer will oversee nine remaining educational forums in the region this year, including ACTE's August regional conference in Singapore.

"ACTE's high quality education programs have made it a catalyst for finding solutions and professional development opportunities for managers of corporate travel operating across the Asia-Pacific region," Farmer said in a prepared statement. "ACTE's strength is found in its intellectual capabilities and professional integrity, an absolute necessity to objectively address global, regional and local issues in corporate travel management."

Preceding her in the role was Carlson Wagonlit Travel vice president of global sales for Asia/Pacific Mike Bezer, who relinquishes the position following two terms as regional chair. Bezer will focus on working in ACTE's corporate social responsibility taskforce, Gurley said. ACTE has between 300 and 400 members in the region, which is adding educational forums in Tokyo and Mumbai this year.