Corp. Buyers Seek To Add Professional Certification
In the next two weeks, 49 corporate travel professionals, less than 10 of whom are suppliers, will learn the results of the certified corporate travel executive exam that they took earlier this month. Those who pass will join nearly 350 travel managers and suppliers who currently carry the National Business Travel Association's CCTE designation
Designed to enhance a travel manager's or supplier's knowledge, skills and productivity, but also cited by many participants as providing a glimpse into how the other half operates, the eight-year-old CCTE program is run in conjunction with the University of Houston Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. To earn the designation, professionals who have been working for at least two years must pass an exam after completing five one-day electives, as well as two "Core Week" sessions over two years. Sessions focus on accounting, finance, communication skills, conflict resolution, risk management and business writing. NBTA sponsors the elective courses, but designation seekers, who aren't required to be NBTA members, also can complete electives through sessions offered at conventions and education days put on by local chapters of the National Business Travel Association. To maintain the designation, CCTE students must attend at least one elective course per year. The CCTE designation is the second level of NBTA's professional development education. Nearly 100 people completed level one, which is comprised of a Fundamentals of Business Travel Management program offered last year for the first time. About 325 people have completed level three, the Alexandria, Va.-based organization's Global Leadership Program that is run in conjunction with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
"CCTE allows people to take education in everyday business life—it used to be much more focused on travel," said Carol Devine, NBTA chairman and past president and director of strategic sourcing at BNSF Railway Co. in Fort Worth, Texas. "We're trying to educate our people in areas like finance, accounting and communications because the corporate travel manager isn't just focused on travel anymore."
Devine said that given NBTA's focus on education, it made sense for the organization to develop a program about establishing business practices. "All facets of industries, whether real estate or accounting, have a certification or accreditation of some sort," she said. "We just felt it was important not only for the education aspect, but for the recognition, because the professionalism of the industry in past years hasn't been recognized."
Devine, who earned the professional certification a few years ago, said in addition to receiving a notarized certificate, participants also gain a valuable network of colleagues. "I still have that network of people that I can contact and ask questions about how they are doing this or that, or if I can benchmark my program against theirs," she said. "Aside from the education, that network is critically important."
Kevin Maguire, manager of corporate travel and fleet services at Tokyo Electron America, said the program enhanced his skill set, most notably by providing insight on supplier operations. "I have a much clearer focus when I go into negotiations," said Maguire, who attained the CCTE designation and completed NBTA's Global Leadership Program in 2004. "I don't have as much of a combative approach, I have more of a partnership approach—even though I thought I had that in the past. It's given me the opportunity to understand how the other side thinks."
Supplier participants gain a similarly balanced perspective. Mike White, business travel sales manager for the Richmond Marriott and president of Virginia's NBTA chapter, is awaiting his CCTE test results. "You always hear about what corporations are up against," White said. "As a supplier, you like to think you're not the cause of that, but through the program you do realize maybe you could do something different."