NBTA Creates Task Forces To Address 'Defining Issues'

The National Business Travel Association has established three new volunteer task forces to address issues of data privacy, ground transportation and creating an agency request for proposal. The new committees were created as a result of feedback received at this year's NBTA convention in Atlanta about "specific areas of travel management that require new ideas and innovative solutions," said NBTA president Kevin Iwamoto. The task forces will include both buyers and suppliers and will seek to "reflect new and growing nuances in our industry," he said.

The new Data Privacy Task Force will be co-chaired by Kevin Maguire, travel manager with Tokyo Electron America Inc., and Cyndi Perper, global commodity manager of travel with Invensys.

Linda Issenbery, travel programs manager with Ernst &Young LLP, and Elaine Kretten, travel and fleet manager with Senco Products Inc., will co-chair the Ground Transportation Task Force.

The Agency RFP Task Force will be co-chaired by Stephanie Kashevaroff, global travel program manager for Agilent Technologies Inc., and Sheri Carlsen, director of global travel services with EMC Corp.

The issue of data privacy, for one, has emerged as a hotly debated issue. Iwamoto called it "one of the defining issues of the future of travel management, which will eventually affect all travel managers who aspire to have a global travel management program. It has significant impact on the way we do business, how we currently receive data about our employees