It already has been a year of upheaval for the Global Business Travel Association’s leadership, and that’s before members get their say on who will steer the association in the coming years. Following Scott Solombrino’s appointment as executive director and the resulting changes to the board of directors, GBTA members at their convention in August will vote for a new president, vice president and a few director spots. 

Several of the nominees will be familiar to voters because they already are on the board. That includes current chairman Bhart Sarin, who is running for president unopposed to succeed Christle Johnson. Sarin also is director of procurement operations and travel for Ingredion.

Two current board members face off in the race for vice president: Jennifer Steinke, associate director of global travel at PPD and Denise Truso, global procurement category lead of travel, meetings and events at Abbott Laboratories.

Both the president and vice president serve two-year terms.

Six travel buyers will vie for the two open board seats for Direct (buyer) members. They are CDK Global’s Leslie Andrews, current board member Gloria Gonzalez of Freeman, AIG’s Jan Jacobsen, Sharlene Ketwaroo-Nanoo of Rogers Communications, McCain Foods’ Connie Smith and current board member and vice president Rita Visser of Oracle. The winners will serve three-year terms.

There is one open Allied (supplier) member board seat up for grabs. It will be contested by Oakwood Worldwide EMEA sales director Juliet Howie, CWT senior director of global business development Eric Norberg, BCD Travel VP Will Pinnell and Brian Robertson, Direct Travel’s president of Canada West. This position is for a two-year term.

Candidate platforms are due June 4. For GBTA members not planning to attend the summer convention in Chicago, absentee ballots must be requested between June 20 and July 5, and submitted by July 29. GBTA will announce the results of the election on Aug. 7 at the convention.


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• GBTA Impels Local Groups To Become Full-Fledged Chapters, Ditches ‘Affiliate’ Level
• GBTA’s McCormick: Creating Conference Content Should Be ‘Like Church And State’
• Who Speaks For You? (And What Are They Saying?)

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