IMAGINE keynote speakers who know their business and yours. They take the big picture and put you in it. Then they relate it to your career and your future, setting the stage for six conference educational tracks to follow throughout the day.

                 

ARI FLEISCHER

As former White House press secretary and assistant to the president, Ari Fleischer was the primary spokesperson for President Bush and delivered the daily White House briefings from 2001 to 2003. He previously served as the senior communications advisor and spokesman for the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign.

Advisor, speaker, and author, Ram Charan has the ear of the world's most successful CEOs. For 35 years, he has worked behind the scenes at companies like GE, DuPont, Novartis and Verizon. He is a recognized authority and specialist in profitable growth, corporate governance, succession and leadership, and building top management teams. He is the author of four books (the best-selling Execution; What The CEO Wants You To Know; Boards At Work; and Every Business Is A Growth Business). Charan will reveal the inner workings of highest-level management, and how to use them to your advantage.

Michael G. Cherkasky is president and chief executive officer of Kroll Inc., the world's leading independent risk consulting company. Mr. Cherkasky joined Kroll in 1994 after a 16-year career in the criminal justice system. As a trial attorney and investigator for the New York County District Attorney's Office, he handled numerous high-profile cases, including the investigations of BCCI, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and organized crime figures such as John Gotti. Known for his work as an independent monitor, he was appointed in 1997 by the U.S. Department of Justice to supervise the election of James Hoffa Jr. as president of the Teamsters union, and is currently overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department's compliance with major reforms mandated by a landmark federal consent decree. A strong proponent of national identity cards, Mr. Cherkasky has appeared on numerous network television programs, including Nightline, Dateline, and 60 Minutes II, discussing corporate and national security issues since the September 11 terrorist attacks. He attended Case Western Reserve University, where he received both his B.A. and J.D. degrees.

Former director general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland understands the international implications of SARS. As a former Prime Minister of Norway, she adds the dimension of high-level politics to this understanding. Dr. Brundtland is credited with introducing a bold new model for dealing with the global health threat of a contagion like SARS. Regarded as the single most detrimental development to curtail air travel, SARS was in the daily headlines for over five months. Dr. Brundtland will advise the industry - through this conference - on the steps this profession must take in safeguarding world health.

Never before have the leading providers of international and domestic airline service found themselves at the the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to headlines and media coverage. Hardly a paragraph finds its way into print without mention of a low-cost carrier or the slow-to-change business reversals of the major airlines. In this keynote presentation, airline executives will be joined by a finanicial executive to discuss airline industry strategies for 2004-2005, and describe how they must work to meet business traveler expectations.

Closing Session Panel
David Cerino, General Manager, Orbitz for Business
Matt Hulett, President, Expedia Corporate Travel
Toby Joseph, Global Chief Operating Officer, TQ3 Travel Solutions
Ellen Keszler, President, Travelocity Business
Robin Schleien, President, Carlson Wagonlit Travel North America

Technology has given the purchaser of travel services a world of new choices. And changed the fabric of the industry while raising the awareness of the CFO about cost savings attributed to technology. On-line firms are now offering more than low cost airline tickets and hotel rooms to entice corporate buyers—they're also pitching fulfillment and reporting. Travel management companies, long known for these services, have offered on-line booking engines as part of their product mix for a few years. In response to the prophesizing by some on-line agencies that the heyday of the bricks and mortar TMCs was over, a notable CEO of a major travel management company has said "We believe we are one of you". The distinctions between on-line and travel management companies are getting cloudier every day, corporate travel managers believe they know they're making the best decisions for their companies.