Bill Maloney, ASTA’s CEO for the last 11 years, resigned abruptly March 12 after what he called a "disagreement about renewal terms" of his contract with the trade group.
Maloney, 64, who led ASTA through major structural and governance changes in the last few years, said he could retire immediately but "doesn’t want to retire now."
"There are things to do, though they may not necessarily all be in the same place," he said.
When asked if ASTA’s large deficits of the last few years had figured in the dispute, Maloney acknowledged that CEOs do "take the fall for financial results. That’s life in associations, but I am not sure that was so in my case."
From 2004 through 2006, ASTA spent $2.5 million of its reserves to balance the budget. It took another $850,000 hit in 2007, and according to a Travel Weekly interview with Maloney in late 2008, the Society had projected losses of $400,000 to $500,000 for that year.
Maloney said then that the initial losses were the result of a "tsunami" of industry changes, but that the 2007 and 2008 overspending was a planned investment in the organization, and the new business model launched at the beginning of 2007.
However, 2008 tax filings that Maloney signed last November revealed the Society posted a $662,000 loss, larger than the plan anticipated. More recent results are not available, but 2009 was budgeted to be a breakeven year.
ASTA President Chris Russo wouldn’t comment on the reasons for Maloney’s departure. He said ASTA was establishing an executive search committee immediately to seek a successor. He said ASTA would be looking for "more creative ideas" to build a strong association for the long term.
Beyond that, Russo said he wouldn’t limit the search with preconceived notions about the ideal new executive. He said the individual might or might not come from the travel business, and the successor’s title and responsibilities could be redefined.
During the last half of Maloney’s 11-year tenure, the Society launched a two-tiered membership system in tandem with a heightened focus on the business of selling travel, with a goal of boosting total funding by members while providing more value.
To reduce financial pressures, ASTA also replaced the annual World Travel Congress with an annual industry trade show in the U.S. and a destination expo overseas, reduced the size of the board of directors, consolidated chapters and cut staff.
ASTA also shifted its emphasis from face-to-face meetings and paper documents to "a virtual association,' Maloney said, with the website functioning as the principal vehicle for delivering news, business tools and forums for member interaction.
Maloney said he was "intimately involved" with all changes, but he was the person who most emphasized that ASTA be more focused on helping members succeed at the business of selling travel.
However, he continued, developing ideas and implementing them was a team effort — and he was the "conductor tapping the baton."
Russo said Maloney deserved to "hang his hat on" his leadership through big changes in difficult times. "Yes, there was a team … but he took the heat and stayed firm."
Except for four years outside the industry, Maloney has spent his entire career in travel. Those years include five as executive vice president and COO for Woodside Management Systems (now Radius).
Just before joining ASTA, Maloney spent 10 years with Hertz as vice president of travel industry sales.
