General Sessions
Keynote Presentations & Sponsor Industry Perspectives
Gain expertise and insight on macro-level issues in corporate travel and how they affect your day-to-day operations. Keynotes and Sponsor Industry Perspectives given by well-known, respected leaders in travel and business will challenge your thinking and provide you with innovative intelligence.
SUNDAY, 18 MAY 2008, 18:00 – 19:45
When the Voting and Shouting Are Over: Thoughts on the Global Challenges the Next U.S. President will Face
The race for the Presidency in 2008 is one of the most consiquential in modern United States history. When the voting and the shouting are over, and the next President settles into the Oval Office, he or she will inherit an agenda of problems unseen in washington, D.C. since the end of the Cold War. Mr. Sanger will explore what may happen when a new American President confronts a world that views the United States with increased wariness and suspicion. How justified are these concerns and how will the 44th Presdient possibly reverse these expectations?
David E. Sanger covers the White House for The New York Times and is one of the newspaper’s senior writers. In a 24-year career at the paper, he has reported from New York, Tokyo and Washington, covering a wide variety of issues surrounding foreign policy, globalization, nuclear prolifer-ation, Asian affairs and, for the past five years, the arc of the Bush presidency. Twice he has been a member of Times reporting teams that won the Pulitzer Prize.
In 2004, Mr. Sanger was the co-recipient of the Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting for his coverage of the Iraq and Korea crises. He also won the Aldo Beckman prize by the White House Correspondent’s Association and the Merriman Smith Memorial Award. In 2004 he and four other colleagues shared the American Society of Newspaper Editor’s top award for deadline writing.
Mr. Sanger appears regularly on public affairs and news shows. Twice a week he delivers the “Washington Report” on WQXR, the radio station of the Times. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group.
Sponsor Industry Perspective
White Paper
Mobile Technology & Corporate Travel Survey presents the first research of its kind revealing the deployment and use of mobile devises among business travelers and the role travel managers can play in the integration of theses products within the travel program.
ACTE Awards
- Advancing the Industry Award
- CSR Award
MONDAY, 19 MAY 2008, 08:30 – 09:45
Funky Business Forever
In celebration of ACTE’s 20th Anniversary, we are pleased to bring our all-time best rated keynote speaker to Washington, DC! Dr. Kjell Nordstrom, one of the world’s top-ranked management thinkers and a guru of the new world of global commerce, will cut through the clutter to present a compelling analysis of the most important, emergent trends in corporate strategy and multinational business. As one of the most sought-after speakers on any continent, Kjell’s electrifying, imaginative presentation will enlighten and inspire you long after this event.
Dr. Kjell Nordstrom is a world-renowned researcher and consultant in corporate strategy, innovation, leadership and globalisation. He is ranked as #9 among management thinkers of the world and #1 in Europe, together with his co-author Dr. Jonas Ridderstrale. Together they have authored the international best-sellers Funky Business - Talent Makes Capital Dance and Karaoke Capitalism: Management for Mankind. Funky Business has been featured on CNN and CNBC, and appeared in Fortune, Fast Company, Time Magazine, Financial Times and Paris Match and has been translated in to more than 30 languages.
Industry Perspective
White Paper
Corporate Travel Policy Compliance shows how corporate travel managers have saved money for their companies through the application of demand management, supplier relationship management, and improved transparency of traveler spend—allowing their companies to do more with less.
MONDAY, 19 MAY 2008, 16:30 – 17:30
Using Web 2.0 and Social Media to Build Community, Loyalty, and Sales
How have companies, such as Target and Wal-Mart, used social networking sites (like Facebook) and user-generated content sites (like YouTube)—and what can you learn from their failures and successes? How can you best incorporate blogs, videos, and other interactive content into your marketing efforts? How much control do you give to the customer? What should you always provide, and what should you never offer? What new technologies are fads, and which ones will have a major impact on your business? What are your competitors already doing, and how can you surpass them? What's on the horizon?
In this energetic and interactive presentation, Amber MacArthur answers these questions, and explores the new world of social media and Web 2.0, showing us how they have reframed the interaction between companies and their customers, and forever changed the way businesses work. With clarity, humour, a reporter's deep knowledge of up-to-the-minute trends, and a Web consultant's understanding of what works and what doesn't, she debunks the myths, and empowers your company to use these emerging technologies to strengthen your customer loyalty, market more effectively, and earn greater profits.
One of the hottest new reporters on television, MacArthur currently hosts various shows for CityTV, including Webnation; she has also worked for the CBC, and G4techTV, the national channel devoted to technology. In the burgeoning world of podcasting, she hosts commandN, a weekly video podcast, and co-hosts Inside the Net, an influential weekly audio podcast with tech guru Leo Laporte. In all of her media work, she talks to the Web's users, content producers, product makers and social entrepreneurs, taking care to make accessible to viewers this sometimes confounding, ever-changing, and massively-influential world.
Featured Speaker
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan
Ambassador of Mexico to the United States
The grandson of refugees in Mexico, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan is a career diplomat who joined the Mexican Foreign Service in 1993. He was posted to the Mexican Embassy in the United States as a junior diplomat where he was Chief of Staff to the Ambassador and, later on, was head of the counternarcotics office at the Embassy. In 2000 he became Chief of Policy Planning at the Foreign Ministry and was appointed by the President as Mexican Consul General to New York City in 2003. He resigned from this post and took a leave of absence from the Foreign Service in 2006 to join the Presidential Campaign of Felipe Calderón as Foreign Policy Advisor and International Spokesperson and became Coordinator for Foreign Affairs in the Transition Team. In November of 2006 he received the rank of Ambassador and in February of 2007 was appointed Mexican Ambassador to the United States.
Ambassador Sarukhan is active in various organizations such as the Mexican Council on Foreign Affairs, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas. He has taught in various universities and published articles on issues related to foreign policy in a variety of journals and magazines. He holds a BA in International Relations from El Colegio de México and an MA in US Foreign Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he was a Fulbright Scholar and Ford Foundation Fellow. He has been decorated by the governments of Spain and Sweeden. Ambassador Sarukhan is married and has a baby daughter.
Business Travel News (BTN) Awards
BTN 25 Most Influential Executives in the Business Travel Industry
Champagne Toast Sponsored By
TUESDAY, 20 MAY 2008, 09:00 – 10:15
The Future of Global Air Travel - Extending the Safest Period in Aviation's History while Dealing with Ever-Growing Demand and Improving Environmental Performance
Marion C. Blakey is president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association. AIA represents the nation’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, space systems, aircraft engines, missiles, materiel and related components, equipment services, and information technology.
Before becoming president and CEO of AIA, she served a five-year term as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and was responsible for regulating the nation’s airways as well as operating the world's largest air traffic control system. As FAA administrator, Blakey oversaw the safest period for air travel in the United States' history and is a tireless safety advocate internationally. Ms. Blakey has also served as chairman of the NTSB. During her tenure, she worked to improve the Board's accident reporting process and increased industry and regulatory responsiveness to NTSB safety recommendations.
Ms. Blakey has held six presidential appointments, four of which required Senate confirmation. Ms. Blakey has also served at NHTSA, held key positions at the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the White House and the Department of Transportation.
Industry Perspective
White Paper
eFolio Update will examine the progress that has been made since eFolio was last researched in 2005 and look at where new demand for eFolio capabilities are coming from and to what extent travel programs are making use of the benefits of enhanced data.
TUESDAY, 20 MAY 2008, 16:45 – 17:45
Transatlantic Trends
For the last 50 years, the transatlantic relationship has built institutions and patterns of cooperation that have been central to the security and prosperity of the citizens of Europe, Canada, and the United States. Today, the significant amount of trade and investment illustrates the high degree of interdependence between these economies. While there are a number of issues over which the United States, Canada, and the European Union generally disagree, the partnership continues to be driven by shared common values and close cultural, economi, social, and political ties, as well as North American support for the political and economic integration between the nations of Europe.
John Bruton is a former Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach), who helped transform the Irish economy into the "Celtic Tiger": one of the fastest growing economies in the world. During his time in office (1994-1997), the Irish economy grew at an annual average rate of 8.7%, peaking at 11.1 % in 1997. John Bruton was also deeply involved in the Northern Irish Peace Process leading to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
While Prime Minister, Ambassador Bruton presided over a successful Irish EU Presidency in 1996 and helped finalize the Stability and Growth Pact, which governs the management of the single European currency: the Euro. He represented the EU at Summit meetings with the President of the United States and with the Prime Ministers of Canada, Japan, China and Korea.
Before being appointed Ambassador to the United States, John Bruton served as a leading member of the caucus that drafted the first-ever European Constitution that was signed in Rome on October 29, 2004 and is now before the 25 EU Member States for ratification. He was Vice President of the European People's Party from 1999 to 2005.
Industry Perspective
Moderator for General Sessions
Michael Jackson has carved out his reputation as one of the best business-to-business speakers on the global professional circuit by creating and delivering powerful images and memorable messages at over 300 conferences and seminars to date across Europe, Africa, Asia, the USA and the Middle East; to audiences ranging from factory workers to Heads of State.
Once acclaimed by former South African President Nelson Mandela as “a national treasure”, Michael has an uncanny ability to connect with his audiences and is often referred to as a passionate champion of the cause. Michael returns to ACTE as moderator for the D.C. Global Conference general sessions following rave reviews for his performances at previous London and Barcelona events.