| Kathy A. Briski Travel Category Leader Boeing Corp. Kathy Briski has a proven track record in travel procurement sourcing and category management, developing and enforcing corporate policies and procedures, overhauling ineffective methods, implementing new efficient technologies, containing costs, and utilizing champion negotiation techniques.
Over her career, Kathy has worked in a variety of industries including aerospace, banking, entertainment, software, merger and acquisitions, and consulting. She has held positions such as Vice President of Corporate Purchasing & Travel for MGM Studios, Director of Travel and Purchasing for Platinum Equity, Travel Category Manager for Accenture and Senior Category Manager – Corporate Travel Programs for IBM - Global Process Services. Kathy is currently the Travel Category Leader at The Boeing Company.
Kathy holds a Masters in Business Administration, C.P.M. (Certified Purchasing Manager) and CCTE (Certified Corporate Travel Manager) designations. She is an active member of GBTA (Global Business Travel Association), and Los Angeles Business Travel Association (LABTA). She currently holds the President title for LABTA (Los Angeles Business Travel Association). | |
| Tony D'Astolfo Managing Director PhoCusWright Tony assumed leadership of PhoCusWright in July 2013. A travel industry veteran, he is an accomplished executive with rich expertise in travel and technology and a passion for moving the industry forward. As Managing Director, he builds on the strength of PhoCusWright’s premier research and events to foster growth and expand the company’s global reach. Prior to joining PhoCusWright, D'Astolfo served as Chief Sales Officer for next-generation car service GroundLink. Previously, he fueled substantial growth as Senior Vice President, Travel Services at Rearden Commerce, where he assembled and led a team that built a distribution network of over 50 travel management companies and added 7,000 customers. His record of success in the corporate travel technology space began with B2B e-commerce leader GetThere, where he led the pre-IPO startup as Vice President of Sales during an explosive growth period that saw a tenfold increase in revenues and an increase in the customer base from five to over 2200. Prior to GetThere, he spent more than 19 years in leadership roles at United Airlines, including his last assignment as National Sales Manager for the UK and Ireland. Tony is a long time member of GBTA and ACTE, and is a former member of the Board of Directors of ACTE. A frequent speaker at travel industry conferences around the world, he is also the author of the popular travel industry blog CarryingOn. | |
| James Filsinger President and CEO Yapta James has more than 16 years of experience in the travel industry with proven success in CEO, M&A and Business Development roles within global startups and Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Yapta, James was CEO of EZYield.com, Inc. where he was responsible for orchestrating the sale of the company to TravelClick in November 2011. Earlier in his career, James was CEO and General Manager of Moneydirect, an international joint venture between Sabre Inc. (USA) and Amadeus IT (Spain) that processed over $2.5 billion in travel payment transactions annually. Prior to Moneydirect, he spent more than a decade at Sabre Holdings where he served as VP of New Business Ventures, among other roles within the organization. James holds an M.B.A. and BA in Accounting, both from Washington State University. | |
| Duane Futch Executive Vice President Partnership Travel Consulting LLC Duane has 38 years' experience in aviation, travel, and government sectors with a consistent track record of developing and implementing innovative ideas that improve operations, revenues and profits, while effectively controlling expenses. Duane brings an "insider's view" that is incredibly insightful and invaluable to our clients success. A dynamic, results-oriented leader, Duane has combined his industry knowledge, visionary thinking and business leadership skills to produce a proven record of accomplishments in an increasingly complex global operating environment. Duane’s ability to lead teams, motivate people, negotiate contracts, manage large-scale implementation projects, navigate easily through complex processes and conducting compliant business practices ensures effective leadership in all facets of his consulting leadership assignments. | |
| Gail Grimmett Senior Vice President Delta Air Lines Gail A. Grimmett, senior vice president, Delta Air Lines, is charged with developing and achieving Delta’s key strategic objectives for New York State. She is responsible for delivering over $6.0 billion of revenue to the company and oversees the financial performance of all New York routes and all commercial functions for the business in the state, including marketing, commercial sales, sponsorships, community relations, and the customer experience at the airports. Ms. Grimmett also directs Delta’s state and local government affairs efforts within New York. She is increasingly looked to as a key resource on aviation policy and infrastructure. Over the last six years, Grimmett spearheaded a $1.4-billion terminal redevelopment program at JFK Airport and presided over the largest hub expansion in 40 years at LaGuardia Airport, doubling Delta’s overall capacity out of that airport in July 2012. Through her team’s efforts, Delta’s visibility as a community partner and brand recognition as a corporate sponsor have grown throughout the state. Grimmett is a champion of New York. She serves as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s appointee on both the New York State Tourism Board and the New York City Regional Economic Development Council. She also serves on several other boards, including Food Bank for New York City, the New York Building Congress, the Business Council of New York State, and NYC & Company. Since 2013, Grimmett has continued to be named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in New York” by Crain’s New York Business. She holds an undergraduate degree from Indiana University and a MBA from George Washington University with a concentration in business economics and public policy. | |
| Jeannine Hankinson Managing Director, Client Services ARC | |
| Dave Hilfman Senior Vice President Sales United Airlines Dave Hilfman is Senior Vice President Sales for United, the world’s leading airline. In this role, Hilfman is responsible for directing the efforts of a team of more than 800 sales professionals who manage sales programs, relationships and revenue with corporations, travel management companies and distributors around the world.
Hilfman was previously Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Continental Airlines from 2004 to 2010, where he oversaw a team composed of more than 600 sales professionals.
Hilfman started his airline career in 1981 with Eastern Airlines as a campus sales representative at the University of South Florida. He held sales positions of increasing responsibility with Eastern throughout the southeastern United States until joining Continental Airlines in 1986 where he served as Regional Sales Manager in New York City and Director of the Western Sales Division based in Los Angeles. In 1992, Hilfman moved to the airline’s corporate headquarters in Houston, where he held the positions of Senior Director of U.S. Field Sales, Vice President of Multinational Sales and Revenue Programs and Vice President of Sales and Reservations.
Hilfman graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in finance. He’s an avid golfer and has one son. | |
| Lorraine Jacobs VP Corporate Sales & Development Travelport Lorraine Jacobs is VP Corporate Sales & Development. Lorraine and her global team are responsible for managing commercial relationships with Corporations. Lorraine’s and her teams role is to work across procurement, finance and travel functions in a consultative and partnership capacity by demonstrating how Travelport is addressing the changing needs of the industry and ensure Travelport’s portfolio of products are positioned at the forefront when making decisions surrounding their global travel programs. Prior to her current role, Lorraine was Business Development Director Europe for Travelport where she was responsible for managing commercial relationships with Airlines headquartered in Europe. Lorraine has worked in Travel for more than 25 years and has broad experience of the industry; in addition to spending 15 years working in the GDS business, previous roles have been with a key European corporate travel agency and one of the world’s leading international airlines. | |
| Dave Lukas Vice President/CSO Grasp Technologies Inc. Dave has been a part of Grasp since late 2005 – first as an investor in Grasp and then in the VP/CSO role. Dave has unique experience in working with over 3000 businesses in various roles in sales and sales management, most notably with Paychex, Inc. He is also an experienced entrepreneur – creating 5 other profitable ventures. He is the architect of Grasp’s sales and go-to market strategies and is responsible for the strategic growth of Grasp. He works closely with founder Erik Mueller and the Grasp teams every day to provide the best services and solutions to Grasp clients.
Dave is also a best-selling author and is a contributor to Forbes online.
Dave holds a BA in Business Management and Economics from Baldwin-Wallace College and lives with his wife in Columbus, Ohio. | |
| Thomas Marks VP of Product Marketing Deem Thomas Marks is the VP of Product Marketing at Deem. In his diverse career, he has held positions in marketing, sales, business development, operations management and consulting for Air France KLM, GetThere, Sabre Travel Network, Travelocity, Balboa Travel, Orbitz and Concur. He is a self-described “technology geek” who is passionate about helping businesses operate more efficiently. | |
| 0 | Jan Mastran Travel Director MAXIMUS |
| 0 | Jan Mastran (Copy) Travel Director MAXIMUS |
| Andrew W. Menkes Founder and CEO Partnership Travel Consulting LLC Andrew started his career with TWA and during a 9-year period he worked in various departments in Passenger Reservations. He served as TWA’s Regional Manager of Interline Sales, and later as the first Regional Manager of Automation Sales.
Menkes founded and served as CEO of Priority Travel, Inc. a New York based agency with International offices in London and Hong Kong. He also held various regional and executive positions for a number of Mega Travel Agencies.
Menkes was Vice President of Finance and Vice President of Administration for A.C.T.E. (Association of Corporate Travel Executives) and a member of its Executive Committee. He has also served on the Technology Committee of the Corporate Travel Association of New York, as well as on the Board of Directors of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA).
He joined Republic New York Corporation in January of 1997 as its first Vice President of Global Travel Management. Menkes has received recognition as the first Travel Manager to be accredited by ARC as a Corporate Travel Department (CTD). He also pioneered the first corporate-direct (Internet-based) Electronic Ticket purchase with British Airways and initiated a similar web-based program with Jet Blue in the U.S. One year after Republic merged with HSBC, Menkes founded Partnership Travel Consulting (PTC). | |
| Catherine Petrello SVP - Finance Integration NBCUniversal Catherine Petrello is the SVP of Finance Integration at NBCUNIVERSAL This role includes management of the global travel and expense functions. She has held numerous positions at NBCU including CFO of NBC NEWS, SVP of Cash Management , Finance Director at WRC (TV Station in DC) and numerous corporate roles for system integrations. Catherine has played a role in every merger (Universal and Comcast) or acquisition (BRAVO, TV Stations, Telemundo and Universal Studios Orlando. Prior to NBC Catherine held various roles at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in audit for Top 50 companies to not-for-profit. She also was a technical accountant in assisting foreign companies about the US capital markets. | |
| Mike Premo President & CEO ARC As President and CEO, Mike Premo plans and leads the execution of ARC's overall corporate strategy. With the help of his Executive Team, he also oversees the company's operations in support of revenue growth and customer satisfaction. Mr. Premo became ARC's President and CEO in June 2011 after serving as the company's Vice President of Business Development, where he managed and guided relationships with all ARC customer groups, including travel agents, Corporate Travel Departments (CTD), carriers, and third parties. In addition, Mr. Premo was responsible for growing ARC's sales program in support of the company's broad range of products and services. Before joining ARC in 2006, Mr. Premo served as Senior Vice President - Global Network for TQ3 Travel Solutions, as well as holding senior executive positions at Navigant International, TQ3's parent company. He also served as President and CEO of SatoTravel from 1990-1999. Having grown up in Minnesota, Mr. Premo began his industry career at Northwest Airlines after which he first entered the agency business at Gelco Travel. He and his family live in Northern Virginia. | |
| Timothy Rose CEO Flyte Tyme Worldwide Timothy Rose began his career in the limousine industry in 1984 while being employed with one of New Jersey’s largest ground transportation firms, Garden State Limousine. During his tenure with Garden State Limousine, Tim rose through the ranks from limousine chauffeur to his eventual position serving as the Vice President of Sales. While in the Vice President’s position, Tim was responsible for this company’s dynamic growth taking the company from $600,000 annual sales to over $15 million in sales before his departure in 1998. Later that year, Tim joined Flyte Tyme Worldwide Transportation in Mahwah New Jersey as a 50% shareholder and assumed the ranks of President and Chief Operating Officer. In 2006, Tim became the sole proprietor of Flyte Tyme. Since joining Flyte Tyme, Tim’s primary responsibilities includes overseeing daily operations, evaluating growth potential and managing business growth based upon the very diverse transportations needs of the firm’s fortune 500 clients in the New York Metropolitan Market. During his tenure with Flyte Tyme Worldwide, Tim has been instrumental for developing and managing a 600% growth of revenue since joining the firm. Flyte Tyme is the 6th largest ground transportation management firm with revenue annually reaching over $100 million dollars for 2015. Due to Tim’s vast experience in the New Jersey/New York Transportation Markets, Tim felt it necessary to become active in the New Jersey Limousine Association. Tim serves on the board and as past President of the New Jersey Limousine Association and is actively involved in this vital organizations goal of protecting association members while dealing with pending governmental issues. | |
| Mitchell Stern GTP Manager, Travel Services Pearson A lifelong resident of New York City, with 30 years in corporate travel; Mitchell started as an agent, owned his own agency and cultivated his experience on the account management supply-side. Most notably, Mitchell implemented and managed global business for Deutsche Bank, Novartis, The NBA and several other multinational and global companies. Today, Mitchell serves as the global travel and indirect procurement manager for Pearson Education consisting of 44,000 employees in 70 countries. | |
| Doug Weeks Director, Global IT Contracts and Sourcing PwC Doug Weeks is a veteran of the travel management and procurement industry with nearly 20 years of experience in managing large multi-national corporate travel and procurement programs. He is currently the Director of Global IT Procurement for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) with responsibility for setting the procurement strategy for all enterprise hardware, software, and IT service providers. Prior to joining PwC, Doug was the Director of Global Strategic Sourcing for Booz & Company where he created strategy and oversaw the global travel program with over $200M in annual T&E expenses. (PwC acquired Booz & Company in 2015) At Booz, he created and stood up a global program after Booz & Company was divested from Booz Allen Hamilton in 2008. Doug managed the travel sourcing and management programs at Booz Allen Hamilton from 2000-2008 prior to the divestiture. Doug has significant M&A experience and in depth understanding of the impact on contracts, procurement and travel programs, having managed the processes of integration and separation of programs through acquisition and divesture activities. He is an industry leader and volunteer having previously served on the Board of Directors of GBTA and the President of ACTE. He has also participated on, and been a member of several airline, hotel, TMC, and ground transportation advisory boards, and is always eager to help supplier travel partners improve their service offerings to clients through collaborative discussions. Doug graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. He currently resides in Charleston, SC with his wife and four children. | |
