New CEO To Restructure ASTA

<B> New CEO To Restructure ASTA</B>

By Sarah Welt

<I>Alexandria, Va.</I> - American Society of Travel Agents' president and CEO-elect Joseph Galloway already has begun to revamp ASTA's structure and focus before he officially takes the helm on the last day of the ASTA World Congress in Los Angeles next month.

ASTA directors decided last month to target four key areas going forward: agent representation in Washington, agent education through ASTA's Take Control program seminars, customer education about services offered and improved internal communications.

The organization also is looking to improve its committee structure, possibly replacing committees with taskforces. A taskforce would would be dissolved upon completion of its task. Today, Galloway said, most committees meet every quarter, creating a less efficient way to make decisions.

Galloway is now ASTA's vice president and has been on its executive board since 1996. He chairs the group's aviation committee. "I had a taskforce to come up with the Air Traveler's Bill of Rights and the response to that has been very good, so we may expand it to other types of travel," he said.

Galloway realizes that membership ranges from Mom and Pop leisure agents to American Express, and the needs are very different. "One of the things I think is fairly universal has been our representation in legislative matters," said Galloway. "We've been very active this year working with the Coalition for Travel Industry Parity to come up with the Consumer Access to Travel Information Act. We also are represented on ARC's advisory board and we do an awful lot there in terms of ironing out problems."

Galloway has been an agency owner for 15 years, operating Trans-Continental Travel in Houston, a predominantly leisure agency with $3 million in sales.