Ron Wagner President ACTE

Ron Wagner's Speech

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What I didn't tell the guy sitting next to me is that it will probably never settle down. The fact is it will continue to get wilder and wilder because that's just the general nature of business today.

But then you don't need me to tell you that.

I know many of you have experienced the past few years of all this confusion and it has indeed been crazier and more unpredictable than we could have ever imagined.

Five years ago people who would have imagined……

• That the world's best-known media company, Time-Warner would be acquired by AOL.
• Or that Daimler and Chrysler would be united
• Or that Amazon would have changed how the retail and wholesale paradigm works

And our industry has plenty of examples, too:

• United and USAir are looking to merge
• American buys TWA
• Oracle acquires E-Travel
• Saber sells its airline IT business to EDS

And there are so many more industry examples

Just look at the impact that the Internet has had on our industry? Who could have predicted how completely the Internet would redefine the way that we do business.

No doubt about it, we are living in an era where the unpredictable is the norm. An era in which we are conditioned to not just believe in the possibility of change, but to expect it!