(Pictured left to right, Adobe's Kathy Burdge, Moderna's Jennifer Steinke, McDonald's Koreen Barbara and Google's Rob Bray)


Moderna global travel manager was named Business Travel News' 2026 Travel Manager of the Year for her "Policy of One" managed travel program that leverages emerging online booking tool BizTrip.ai and data platform provider Cerebri.ai. But the design is her own, and it serves as a model for how travel programs—with the help of artificial intelligence—will realize long-envisioned cost rationalization and business travel personalization strategies. BTN also named three Best Practitioners that have a kind of shared DNA of partnering closely with their TMC and technology providers to push boundaries and provide new capabilities for themselves—and for the industry. This week, BTN will roll out their stories. Keep coming back. (Pictured left to right, Adobe's Kathy Burdge, Moderna's Jennifer Steinke, McDonald's Koreen Barbara and Google's Rob Bray)

BTN 2026 Travel Manager of the Year


BTN 2026 Best Practitioners

In selecting BTN's 2026 Best Practitioners, a pattern emerged among the front runners. They didn't sit and wait for suppliers to come to them with solutions to their travel programs' problems. They proactively found the best suppliers they could and pushed them and partnered with them to produce quicker results to meet their needs. In other words, they trusted each other. They jumped hand-in-hand to create solutions that not only benefited client programs, but also helped suppliers, who could offer those innovations to their broader clientele base, thereby advancing the industry. Three examples stood out. They each embraced new strategies, platforms and products. Below are their stories.

Public Works
Public Works

Content fragmentation was the key reason Google travelers weren't booking within preferred channels. Solving that problem only for Google could have been an option, but head of... KEEP READING

Divide to Conquer
Divide to ConquerBy Donna M. Airoldi

McDonald's global travel manager saw that she couldn't deliver the program she envisioned via a global consolidation. So she consciously brought it together with two partners... KEEP READING

The Vision Quest
The Vision QuestBy Donna M. Airoldi and Elizabeth West

Navan's quest to prove out its vision and reach industry maturity hasn't been without controversy. As a buyer who believes in technology and traveler experience, Kathy Burdge... KEEP READING