The Corporate Travel Community (CTC), the fastest growing travel manager grouping, is pleased to announce two newly formed Councils of Travel Managers for Australasia and Asia, respectively.
The regional Councils consist of 23 senior corporate travel executives from leading organisations and multinational blue-chip corporations from Australasia and across Asia comprising India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Greater China including Hong Kong. Together, these corporations spend approximately USD7 billion annually on corporate travel globally.
Corporate Travel Community (CTC), Executive Director, Dr Benson Tang said,
“It gives me great pleasure to introduce the CTC Asia Council and CTC Australasia Council. Our Council Members have been hand-pick based on their unique combination of in-depth local market knowledge and experience, making them an integral asset to CTC.”
“They will each play an instrumental role in defining and shaping CTC’s direction and continued growth. By helping to identify buyers’ pain-points, facilitating solutions and recommending future developments and improvements, the Councils will drive CTC to ensure we achieve our mission of empowering a new community of travel managers.”
CTC’s Global Head of Corporate Travel Relations, Catherine Craig added,
“It’s great to see so many new faces, as well as seasoned travel managers on our Asia and Australasia Councils. It’s the perfect blend of experience and enthusiasm and we look forward to working with our travel managers to deliver great content and education.”
The CTC Australasia Council comprises:
Pru Popple
Category Manager Travel, New Zealand Government
Pru heads up the procurement team that looks after the Corporate and ICT portfolio including Travel. Pru is part of the Finance, Investment and Infrastructure business within HUD, working in close collaboration with business partners to develop and implement sourcing strategies that help realise both social and public value for the organisation.
Rahul Marwah
Procurement Manager, Australia and Volkswagen Group Australia
Rahul joined Audi Australia in May 2016 and manages different procurement categories across the brands including Audi, VW, Skoda, Lamborghini and Bentley. He has 12+ years’ diverse management experience across 6 industries in 5 countries with different brands like Kimberley Clark, Kellogg’s, Halliburton, PwC and Infosys.
Stephanie Maisano
Global Procurement Travel and Expense, Transurban
Stephanie’s areas of experience include supplier relationships, project management, implementation, expense management integration, refining reporting capabilities, sourcing and contract viability. Stephanie is a firm believer in the power of role-based leadership and encouraging the opportunity for capability growth.
Ama Aidoo-Sam
Strategic Procurement Director Oceania, CANON Australia
Ama is an experienced relationship builder and a leader with a record of outstanding results in developing high performing teams, delivering savings and meeting the strategic objectives of customers. Her industry experience covers financial services, consulting, FMCG and consumer electronics, managing both strategic and operational procurement in the UK, ANZ and Asia.
Jen Barclay
Head of Procurement, NARTA International
Jen has held Procurement, Supply Chain & Category Expert Leadership roles across various industries including publishing, agriculture, retail and travel for almost 20 years in addition to holding roles on Industry Boards. With expertise in Travel, particularly with TMC’s and Global airlines, she has valuable knowledge of both the Buyer and Seller roles within the travel industry.
Jody Barrett
Global Travel Manager, AECOM
Jody is a procurement and travel specialist. She joined AECOM in 2013 and is now the Global Travel Manager for the organisation.
Siobhán Foley
Global Strategic Partnership Lead, Accenture
Siobhán is responsible for Accenture’s Travel Program including more than 991 thousand airline tickets, 2 million hotel nights, and over $1 billion in travel spend, supported by an internal Accenture team of GDS, Agency, Airline and Travel Technology experts. She is also the Travel Category Lead with experience in strategic sourcing and consolidation of Travel Programs.
Simone Gibbs
Travel Category Manager, Blackmores
Simone’s career has spanned over 16 years holding roles at Westpac, QBE Insurance, NSW Government, Anytime Fitness, before taking up her current position as Travel Category Manager at Blackmores in Australia.
Karina Harris
Procurement Regional Head Asia Pacific, BP
Karina is a transformational procurement leader, with extensive experience, integrating strategy with operational execution. Collaborative leader delivering innovative approaches that provide competitive advantage, improve performance, and enable organisational goals.
Matthew Hayes
Global Travel & Expense Category Manager, BHP
With over ten years’ experience, Matt brings a commercial lens to managing travel for one of Australia’s largest companies. He has helped shape and implement a new global travel policy, refreshed various internal technology tools, and led multiple global sourcing events to ensure high levels of traveller satisfaction, cost savings, and compliance. His main area of interest is innovation and hopes to keep improving travel programs for years to come.
Andrew Shadwick
Travel and Expense Category Manager, Australian Broadcasting Commission
Since 2008, Andrew has been the Travel & Cards Manager at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) where he leads the Procurement Travel & Cards team. Responsible for procuring and implementing travel and payment solutions to meet the ongoing requirements of newsgatherers and content providers at the ABC (both domestically and abroad).
The CTC Asia Council comprises:
Geetha Arekal
Head – Mobility Services Supply Chain Management
Geetha has more than 23 years of experience in Travel & Mobility Services management. She joined Siemens Ltd in Mumbai in 2017, having worked for Unilever as Manager – Global Travel Program previously. Her expertise encompasses strategic sourcing, P2P procurement, global corporate travel leadership, technology implementation & process improvement.
Rajdev Bhattacharya
Corporate Travel Management, Aviation Sales & Operations, Travel Technology
Rajdev is responsible for managing Wipro’s global travel program, including overseeing the centralised service delivery centre, global travel procurement and partner management relationships. With travel spent over $150m spread over 58 countries, this is one of the largest corporate travel programs to manage on a global level.
Sawako Hidaka
Executive Director, Asia Society Japan Center
Sawako holds strengths in providing solutions, implementing controls and negotiating with key stakeholders in multi-cultural and multi-national environments. She has strong leadership, interpersonal and communication skills. Sawako has a deep understanding of Asia’s travel industry with focus on safety and post 3-11 reporting requirements, gained in over 12 years of experience.
Claire (Hee Young) Kang
Purchasing and Travel Manager, International Vaccine Institute
Claire heads up the purchasing and travel department. The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a non-profit international organisation. It was established in 1997 as an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It is among the few organisations in the world dedicated to vaccines and vaccination for global health. IVI is headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Professor Brian King
Associate Dean & Professor, School of Hotel & Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
As a tourism and hospitality professor Prof. King engages in teaching, research and service. As Associate Dean he is responsible for academic affairs and works closely with industry and education partners. He has academic responsibility for a large cohort of students, including over 200 experienced practitioners who are undertaking a Doctor of Hotel & Tourism Management (DHTM).
Hansang Lee
Head of NPM Purchasing, Continental Korea
Hansang is accountable for travel management across Korea. Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation.
Kelvin Li
Director, Controls and Business Processes, Asia Pacific | Regional Procurement & Travel Lead, AECOM
Kelvin has extensive experience including financial and operational audits, and business operations, with regional exposure across various business sectors. He has a solid knowledge of risk management, compliance, corporate policy and process re-engineering. Kelvin’s expertise also encompasses strategic procurement, driving cost containment, improving credit terms and policy compliance.
SherLi Lim
Travel Manager, Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co.
SherLi started her career with Oldendorff Carriers in 2016. She works closely with satellite offices to oversee travel cost and analysis of annual travel spend. Her role is to establish airline and hotel corporate rates and to negotiate contracts with airlines, hoteliers and travel service providers.
Michael Molloy
Category Leader – Travel and Expense Management, Procurement, Rio Tinto
Michael joined Rio Tinto in 2013. In his earlier career he held senior positions with Citi and Credit Suisse. Michael has overall global responsibility for strategy and service delivery for all aspects of the travel and expense category. He manages spend in excess of US$500m per year and is responsible for flawless execution of over 2 million unique transactions on behalf of over 50,000 employees and contractors across 40 countries.
Adriana Nainggolan
Corporate Travel Management Professional, Autodesk
Adriana became Travel Program Manager, APAC at Autodesk in 2012, having worked in aviation and with Travel Management Companies earlier in her career. Autodesk is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. It is one of the largest non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ.
Sha Tao
Senior Procurement Manager, Personal Business and Mobility Cluster Lead, Philips Global Procurement, China
Sha joined Philips in 2014 and has held her current position since 2017. She previously worked for Travel Management Companies in senior capacities. Sha is an experienced Commodity Manager with history in the hospital and health care industry. She is skilled in negotiations, emergency management, customer relationship management (CRM), business transition and event management.
Yasuaki Yoshihara
General Manager, Insurance Solutions Dept/Travel Management Dept. Corporate Workplace Solutions Division, Sony Corporate Services
Yasuaki has held numerous high-profile positions with Sony in Japan since 2005. He became General Manager Travel Management in 2016. His current responsibilities include insurance and business travel management. In addition, he holds the role of President of CS Building Service Corporation.
“Corporate travel management is a relatively young discipline in Korea, compared to other markets. I am thrilled about joining CTC’s Asia Council and linking up with members in other countries. I look forward to learning about the latest advancements in travel technology and to apply these findings in my professional career.”
CTC Council Member, Claire (Hee Young) Kang, Purchasing and Travel Manager, International Vaccine Institute added her thoughts,
“Travel management is continuously evolving with new technology and management tools, therefore travel managers must continue to learn. Corporate Travel Community is providing a great arena to fill this gap!”
CTC provides an effective platform to ensure travel managers and buyers keep up with industry innovations. CTC’s series of targeted professional development tools, gatherings, education workshops, training sessions, private and social events provide members with unparalleled opportunities to learn about new developments, connect with thought leaders and network with peers.
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