2015-2016 Podcast

On our 2015-2016 podcast, The Company Dime’s Jay Campbell and David Jonas talked with travel management professionals about career tips, business travel and expense management issues and trends, and professional development.

Here you can play recordings.

Podcast 11
Our eleventh episode features the second installment of a panel discussion recorded last month on hotel pricing and the lodging request for proposals process. Our expert guests were Yapta president and CEO James Filsinger, Miraval Group SVP and CMO Tom Botts, industry veteran Chris Vukelich and Navesink Advisory Group’s Flo Lugli.

That’s followed by an interview Jay Campbell conducted in March with Mitchell Stern, manager of travel services at education company Pearson. They discussed the importance of communications, proving the value of the program, policy, service versus cost and tech integration.

Podcast 10
Our tenth episode features the first installment of a panel discussion recorded this week on hotel pricing and distribution strategies. The expert guests are new Miraval Group SVP and CMO Tom Botts, Yapta president and CEO James Filsinger, Navesink Advisory Group’s Flo Lugli and industry veteran Chris Vukelich.

They talked with Jay Campbell and David Jonas about channel conflict — mostly a result of hotels grappling with frenemy online travel agencies — and Hyatt withholding exclusive loyalty program member rates from GDSs. Speakers also delved into the future of hotel commissions in light of Hilton’s trial balloons for lower rates. And they talked about new twists on hotel pricing, including adjusted cancellation policies.

That’s followed by an interview Jay conducted last month with Elizabeth Grygo, director of procurement and travel solutions at Reinsurance Group of America. Elizabeth explained her career progression, from road warrior to finance pro involved in expense management and ultimately to a procurement and travel management practitioner. She also discussed why collaboration is so important, how millennials aren’t much different than their older co-workers and what concerns her most — data quality as it relates to travel risk management and duty of care.

Podcast 9
Our ninth episode features a discussion recorded this month with regulars Evan Konwiser of American Express Global Business Travel and Miriam Moscovici from BCD Travel. We spoke with them about the basics of travel management, new technology like virtual reality, risk management, open booking, concerns about online booking tools, Uber, what travel managers are missing and productivity tips.

Podcast 8
Our eighth episode features a discussion recorded this month with three procurement experts: former Thomson Reuters VP of sourcing operations Linda Doty, former Guardian Life chief procurement officer Frederic Khalil and ROA Consulting Group managing partner Sharon Tolliver. They spoke with Jay Campbell about how travel relates to procurement, procurement transformation and professional certifications.

That’s followed by an interview Jay conducted this month with Simone Buckley, CEO of the U.K. and Ireland’s Institute of Travel & Meetings. Jay and Simone chatted about her frustration over suppliers making changes without industry engagement (like Lufthansa’s distribution fee), what travel managers are missing and her view of the increasing role of payment within travel management.


Podcast 7

Our seventh episode features an interview Jay Campbell conducted in November with Judy Bauer, a longtime travel management practitioner recently retired from Marsh & McLennan Companies. Judy is keeping her hand in the business, taking the occasional project, but she has turned over MMC’s large travel program to her team members including Greg Wilczek and Janet Lasten. During her more than three decades in business travel, Judy worked at American Express, Lucent Technologies, Pfizer and JP Morgan Chase. Judy was candid in the interview about her views of travel management’s evolution, how it should be organized in corporations and her advice for young professionals.

We also chat with two of our regulars — Evan Konwiser of American Express Global Business Travel and Patrice Simon of Carlson Wagonlit Travel. David Jonas spoke with the duo on a conference call before the holidays about virtual agents, artificial intelligence, the evolution of online booking tools and other emerging technologies.


Podcast 6

Our sixth episode features a panel discussion on business travel technology hosted by the Meetings Technology Expo in New York City on Nov. 10. Jay Campbell moderated the conversation with Brand New Matter managing director (and former Priceline exec) Brian Harniman, nuTravel chief strategy officer Rich Miller, Atlas Travel & Technology Group COO Lea Cahill and soon-to-be-former Travelport chief commercial officer Kurt Ekert. Jay spoke with the quartet about the impact on business travel players of today’s consumer mindset, new entrants like Cinch and NexTravel, how travel management services will be monetized (hint: hotel commissions), the agent point of sale, GDS content and mobile.


Podcast 5
On our fifth episode, Jay Campbell and David Jonas chat with travel risk management providers at iJet International and International SOS about client response to the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. Offering their insights are iJet’s John Rose and Charlie Terry as well as Tim Daniel and Gwendoline Pichon de Vendeuil of International SOS. We talked about tracking travelers and the importance of preparation.

Speaking at the Philadelphia Business Travel Association’s Nov. 18 event, Ametek travel commodity manager Donna Bibbo describes her experience of the crisis, and what it means for her program.

The podcast concludes with a recording we made in September at the Society of Collegiate Travel and Expense Management conference in Virginia. GoldSpring Consulting’s Colleen Black and Concur’s Tom Wilkinson joined us in talking to travel risk management expert Charles Brossman about duty of loyalty, duty of carenew entrants and Concur’s TripLink as a potential solution.


Podcast 4
On our fourth episode, Jay Campbell and David Jonas chat with Harriet WashburnJohn Guarneri and Richard Clowes about travel management configurations, insourcing versus outsourcing and the ARC Corporate Travel Department model. Harriet leads a team of category managers serving clients who have outsourced travel and expense management to IBM. Now a consultant with GoldSpring Consulting, John spent a decade as global commodity manager for travel at Philips International, which took advantage of outsourcing. Richard is director of travel operations at software firm SAS, where he runs a CTD program.

Later in the podcast, Jay speaks with Christopherson Business Travel president Mike Cameron during the August meeting of the Utah Business Travel Association. The UBTA flew Jay to Salt Lake City, where he interviewed Mike about how an accountant became a travel management executive, procurement’s view of TMCs, hotel attachment, pre-trip approval, pet peeves like disintermediation and other topics.


Podcast 3

On our third episode, Jay Campbell interviews Pam Massey about the new and old challenges of managing travel in a non-governmental organization, and how leadership change is prompting new approaches. Pam shared tips on communication and being flexible on policy for the sake of service quality, as well as her new thinking on travel management company RFPs.

Later in the podcast, David Jonas joins Jay in a discussion with BCD Travel director of emerging technologies Miriam Moscovici and Carlson Wagonlit Travel vice president for emerging products and innovation Patrice Simon. Miriam and Patrice are two of our planned three TMC regulars, joining us for the first time together. We talked about mobile technology, data, trip disruption and — following up our last episode — self-service and beacons.


Podcast 2

On our second episode, David Jonas interviews Bhart Sarin about policy compliance measures, outsourcing, career development and the Global Business Travel Association. Bhart is in global procurement for food production company Ingredion. He’s also a GBTA board member.

Later in the podcast, Jay Campbell joins David in a discussion with Eudemonia founder and principal analyst Christa Degnan Manning and Travel Tech Consulting president and PhoCusWright senior technology analyst Norm Rose. Christa draws on her research and travel management company experience while Norm, a former travel manager, brings his consulting insights to a conversation about employee productivity in both planning and executing business travel.


Podcast 1

On our debut episode, Jay Campbell discusses traveler-centric management, gamification, millennials, expense, mobile and social networking with Evan Konwiser and Miriam Moscovici. Evan is vice president of digital traveler for American Express Global Business Travel. Miriam is director of emerging technology for BCD Travel.

Later in the podcast, David Jonas interviews Amgen travel buyer and former GBTA president Craig Banikowski about his pet peeves, the “Uberfication” of services and the pain and power of business travel.