NBTA, Wharton School Partner For Industry Education
<B>NBTA, Wharton School Partner For Industry Education</B>
By Megan Hjermstad
Helping to raise the level of professional education in the industry, the Institute for Business Travel Management, the education foundation of the National Business Travel Association, has partnered with The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to create an interdisciplinary learning program for corporate travel professionals. The Global Leadership Program last year was gifted to NBTA by Ivan Michael Schaeffer, president and CEO of Radius, which founded the program in 1998 as an internal education program for its suppliers, staff and shareholder agencies.
"Ivan Michael Schaeffer is a real visionary with one foot firmly planted in the academic world. He recognized that this is something that could benefit the larger industry. They planted it, it was harvested and now we're taking it over," said Marianne McInerney, NBTA executive director.
The program will draw ideas from the world's leading business school in leadership, management, finance and marketing targeted specifically for business travel management. The Wharton School will issue a Certificate of Professional Development to participants who successfully complete one five-day session and three two-day sessions within a 24-month period.
Four sessions will be held in 2001: Data Mining, June 3-5 in Dallas and June 10-12 in Chicago; Executive Negotiation/Strategic Alliances, Sept. 16-21 on the Philadelphia campus of The Wharton School; and Creating Value Through Financial Management, Nov. 4-6 in San Francisco. McInerney said the session calendar is flexible so classes can be added based on demand.
IBTM this year will offer 12 scholarships to qualified NBTA members to attend either a two-day or five-day session. Wharton will limit the class size to 50 to preserve an environment where exchange can be deep and rich.
"They have a model that works for executive education and we're not going to change that," said McInerney.
The Master's-level program is designed to build upon the Certified Corporate Travel Executive program. NBTA's CCTE program, held in conjunction with Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, is in its ninth year. Several hundred people have received the CCTE designation to date.
"The program was conceived as a place for people to get jump-started on careers in corporate travel management," said McInerney. "It helps them to understand future trends and the direction in the marketplace and validates where they are in the profession."
Participants are required to participate in Core Week I followed by Core Week II, usually completed the following year. The program addresses such topics as legal issues, contracts, negotiating strategies, change management, financials, technology and yield management. To receive CCTE designation, participants are required to pass a proficiency exam offered at the end of each Core Week, and take five additional elective courses.
Meanwhile, NBTA in February launched NetSmart, a Web-based distance learning and educational program that allows NBTA direct members to participate in monthly interactive education sessions on industry issues.
Through the NBTA Web site, www.nbta.org, participants can view a PowerPoint presentation and stream the audio portion on their desktops or listen by telephone. NBTA has scheduled 12 hour-long sessions this year, which will be presented by a recognized industry leader and hosted by a moderator who will field questions from the participants.
The first conference, CTD and Direct Connections, hosted by COO for Above the Rim Solutions Andy Menkes, drew approximately 100 participants, of which 92 percent said the information was relevant to their job.
"The beauty of this is a corporate travel management department can bring all the folks in the department together for 60 minutes. It is time effective and it is archived so people can go back," said McInerney. "Our goal is to make sure our people have the tools where they need them so they can get the information they need."
The next NBTA Web conference--Data Warehousing presented by Michael Whitesage--will be held April 11.