Press Release
For Immediate Release
26 January 2009
BEHAVIORAL ECONOMIST AND MIT PROFESSOR DRAZEN PRELEC TO GIVE KEYNOTE AT ACTE GLOBAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Alexandria, Va --
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), in partnership with Business Travel News (BTN), announced today that behavioral economist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Drazen Prelec, PhD, will give a keynote presentation at its Global Education Conference in Washington, D.C., 5-7 April at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Prelec will give his keynote presentation on Monday, April 6 at 16.30.
Prelec interjects psychological reasoning into his study of buyer behavior. He believes that the traditional economic notion that people make choices by balancing the costs and benefits of alternative options overlooks prevailing personal decision-making traits.
Prelec also questions the economic assumption that people are universally impatient and prefer to have good things sooner rather than later. He probes which items people prefer to save for, which they buy on credit and whether people spend more with credit cards than they should.
“We are very pleased to have someone of Professor Prelec’s distinction and fascinating insight into consumer behavior speak at the ACTE Global Education Conference,” Kate Farrell, ACTE Director, Global Education, said. “His research into why we make the buying decisions we do offers conference attendees added perception into how they may better manage change in a year when every dollar of corporate spend is being scrutinized.”
Prelec has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1991, and presently holds appointments in the Sloan School, the Economics Department, and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. He received his PhD in experimental psychology and AB in applied mathematics from Harvard University. He was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, and has received a number of distinguished research awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.
The opening general session at 17.00 on Sunday, 5 April, will feature Juan Enriquez, a thought leader who studies the intersection of science, business and society, who will discuss how those forces will impact the future of business and the economy.
Other keynote speakers at the event include James C. May, President and CEO of the Air Transport Association (ATA), and Polly LaBarre, Innovation Correspondent for CNN and co-author of the bestseller, Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win.
To register for the ACTE Global Education Conference in Washington, D.C., please click HERE.
ABOUT ACTE:
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) represents the global business travel industry through its international advocacy efforts, executive level educational programs, and independent industry research. ACTE's membership consists of senior travel industry executives from 82 countries representing the €463 billion business travel industry. With the support of sponsors from every major segment of the business travel industry, ACTE develops and delivers educational programs in key business centers throughout the world. ACTE has representation in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and the United States. For more information on ACTE, please go to www.acte.org.
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