1996 Winter ACTE Quarterly: President's Message | Earl Foster Preview | ACTE Europe Roundtable

This month, Earl Foster takes over the helm as ACTE president. He's no stranger either to the corporate travel world, or to ACTE; he's been corporate travel operations manager for Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard Co. for 11 years, overseeing a worldwide travel budget of more than $600 million and a group of business travelers that totals more than 85,000 people worldwide. He has also been involved in ACTE for more than seven years, as a member of the Industry Advisory Council and as co-chair of the Regional Forum Committee.

In addition, he's been a frequent-and quite popular-speaker at industry events, and is regularly quoted as a travel-management pundit in the trade and business press.

Foster begins his term of office at an interesting-some say critical-point in ACTE's history. The association is currently on a strong growth curve, adding new members at a rate of about 40 percent a year. Fundamental changes in the way companies purchase travel have thrown traditional travel management roles out the window and ushered in a whole new way of doing business. Corporate downsizing and consolidations mean newly intensified concerns about job security, mobility and training. And an explosion of new technology in the corporate travel area means a need to quickly develop new skills and expertise in a complex field outside most travel managers' ken.

"It's an interesting juncture in travel management and in ACTE," Foster said, "which is one of the reasons why I'm so enthusiastic about beginning my presidency now, when things are in such a state of fluidity. It makes things that more challenging, and I love a challenge. Also, Hewlett-Packard believes, as I do, that we should give back to our community as we see fit. I've gotten a lot of personal and professional satisfaction from my association with ACTE and within this industry overall. Now I'd like to give it my time, expertise, and vision."

Foster's vision boils down to three categories: education, communication, and quality.

Here, Foster's immediate goal is to provide what he calls a "broad platform" for travel management professionals to "take advantage of the high level of educational opportunities that ACTE already offers, and facilitate the interaction of people through networking and the sharing of best practices." The key to the success of ACTE as an organization, Foster believes, will be in offering higher level educational opportunities that people simply can't get elsewhere. "We'll be tailoring seminars to higher-level attendees, and seeking out senior level presenters," Foster said. "A case in point is my own CFO, who will be the keynoter at the Seattle member's conference."

ACTE will also increase the number of regional activities worldwide, including those in cities and countries where ACTE hasn't yet held events. "We're seeing a lot of activity among ACTE members in Europe," Foster said, "which is an exciting development for several reasons. The main one is that we've become more globalized, mirroring the trend in the industry. Also, it greatly improves the ability for North Americans to interact with their counterparts, and vice versa, like they never have been able to before." Communication, another primary goal, is essential in any organization, Foster believes. "But it's especially important in a complex industry such as corporate travel, where there are complicated relationships among buyers, suppliers and intermediaries; where technology is involved; and where a paradigm shift is occurring that's forever changing the way business has been traditionally conducted," he said.

"Communication is a broad term, and I don't mean for it to be vague," Foster continued. "There are a lot of ways to interpret `improved communication.' On one level I mean among members, between suppliers and travel purchasers, and even supplier to supplier. We've asked ourselves often how we can encourage ongoing dialogue, especially between buyers and suppliers, and removing the adversarial positioning that often exists between them. We've rejected the idea of a trade show, because when we talk about communication we're not talking about selling-we mean meaningful exchanges of information.

"I think ACTE has the reach into the boardrooms of the suppliers; and we have the ability to provide a platform on which industry issues can be heard and discussed fairly. We've seen an unprecedented amount of change in this industry, compressed into a short span of time. The entire way of doing business-using travel agencies as intermediaries between corporate clients and suppliers-is changing. Companies are dealing directly with airlines; travel agencies are becoming consultants, not order-takers; all three parties are working together closer than ever, with more candor than ever. This paradigm shift has been unusually abrupt," he said. "Relationships take time to evolve, and there has to be a kind of communication developed instantly that never existed before. I see ACTE as facilitating the kinds of communication that all three parties need in this new environment."

Complicating matters is the issue of technology, Foster continued, whose applications also help facilitate a different kind of communication-the electronic kind. "Technology can streamline the reservations process, the accounting process, the travel experience. People are traveling differently-they're using electronic tickets more and more, and that process requires some special attention from travel managers, who need to monitor tracking closely, and get feedback from travelers about efficiency issues and other trouble spots," he said. "New software products and alternatives to traditional bookings all need to be tested, evaluated and discussed. Technology by its very nature is complex and often extremely expensive-and there hasn't exactly been a clean track record for product timetables or quality.

"Travel managers are hungry to learn about ways technology can streamline their own jobs, and simplify, if not improve, the lives of their travelers. ACTE has an extremely important role to fulfill in helping members choose technology products and applications wisely."

Foster also points out that he's considers intraorganizational communication to be vital to his administration as well: "Starting with the officers," he said, "we have to talk to each other more, and we certainly need to improve the channels of communication between members and officers. That way we can all sing from the same song sheet, if you will, meanwhile encouraging more broad-based participation. It'll improve responsiveness, too, within the organization first and the industry second."

His plans concerning the latter include more interaction between ACTE and the business community. "I'd like to see the organization develop more position statements and white papers on leading issues," he said. "My hope is that we'll develop our international reputation to the extent that whenever anyone needs information, advice, or a referral, they'll come to ACTE first. Ultimately we'd like to be recognized as the premier association in the travel industry."

Foster's third major goal set concerns quality.
"We're very excited about ACTE's new quality initiative-a program put together in conjunction with the ASQC (American Society for Quality Control). By June we plan to have travel agencies certified to the service quality standards we jointly developed. ASQC will develop workshops with us to teach these standards. . . . Representatives from ACTE will attend ASQC conferences, and ASQC representatives will come to ours."Beyond the three main areas of education, communication and quality, Foster's eye is also on several administrative goals.

Membership growth remains a key strategy for `96 and beyond. "I'm not interested in growth simply for the sake of growth, though I am interested in providing quality leadership, and quality products and services. It's precisely those things that will encourage participation."

As for the rest of his presidential wish list, Foster would like ACTE to have more of a voice in the business media and political arena. "We're a trillion dollar industry, and we should have better reach in the business publications of the world-the same ones our management subscribes to," he said. "The Wall Street Journal, the consumer business magazines, USAToday. I'd also like a lobbying voice in Washington, although I grant you that that requires enormous resources.

"I'd like to remain fiscally sound, to allow us to go confidently into the future. I don't want to be one of those `here today, gone tomorrow' associations that get too ambitious and burn themselves out. The next few years will provide tremendous challenges and change, and we want to provide stability in that chaotic environment.

"Last, I'd like to help position ACTE as the key travel management association, where it would be intuitive for people to seek us out when they have a question, or need information or advice. To do that we need more visibility, more promotion, better tools. But we don't want to be just a copycat. If there's an opportunity to add value, let's champion it and do it better than anybody. We certainly have the talent and the energy." AQ

1996 Winter ACTE Quarterly: President's Message | Earl Foster Preview | ACTE Europe Roundtable