Several ARC-accredited Corporate Travel Departments are forming a legal nonprofit association registered in New York that they expect to launch before the end of May, said Kathy Hall-Zientek, steering committee chair and Moog manager of travel services.
The steering committee consists of 10 Corporate Travel Department buyers, with 75 more CTDs interested in joining the association, she said. Hall-Zientek said she literally selected the committee by picking names out of a hat because of the level of buyer interest, although there were a "handful" of CTDs who requested to be removed from the e-mail list.
The association will serve as an educational and advocacy forum for CTDs and possibly a buying consortium, said Hall-Zientek. "I'm sure it's going to be brought up. It's never been successful before and it's never been done before," she said. "That's not to say it won't happen, but it will certainly be a topic of conversation."
The organization also is designing a benchmarking database with information gathered from the membership application in order to pair new members and prospective members with "mentors." Data will include volume, experience and length of CTD accreditation.
ARC is providing some legal counsel and organizational services. It also offered funding, which the steering committee turned down. The organization carries a $150 annual membership fee and will handle its own marketing and selling efforts in conjunction with ARC. The committee is working through the details of how to handle corporate and individual memberships. Margaret Kelly, ARC CTD national accounts manager, is the liaison to the association's committee.
Hall-Zientek, who is based in East Aurora, N.Y., is handling the legal filings and is awaiting designation as an entity from the state of New York and for non-profit approval from the Internal Revenue Service. Other steering committee members are handling development of the bylaws, mission statement, application and marketing.
In November, ARC disbanded its CTD Advisory Group and absorbed some of its members into a broader agency committee in a push for CTDs to form an independent group. According to Hall-Zientek, "What ARC said was, you have to make an effort if you want the CTD concept to be rejuvenated and you want a growth pattern in the number of CTDs in the United States. You've got to get together and do something about it instead of waiting for us to take the initiative."
The association began to form at November's ARC-facilitated CTD conference in Washington, D.C., where it was "decided by the end of the breakfast that we had such a strong passion for the category that we would start an organization," Hall-Zientek said. Immediately following the 2008 conference, the new association plans to hold a one-day internal educational forum for its members.
CTD growth has been stunted in recent years. Although ARC-accredited CTD numbers have steadily grown since its inception in 1998, when there were seven, the growth rate has slowed recently as supplier commissions have dried up and internal costs have risen
(BTNonline, May 21). As of the middle of last year, there were 211 ARC-accredited CTDs, with about 150 active programs.