ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- When the top paid job at a major trade
association opens up, the board usually hires a head-hunter and
launches a search for someone to take over.
But the National Business Travel Association, the largest trade
association in the corporate travel world, found its new executive
director just down the hall.
Marianne McInerney, NBTA's director of communications since
1997, got the nod to succeed Norman Sherlock, who left after more
than a decade in the job.
From the headquarters in Alexandria, Va., McInerney will run the
20-person staff for the organization that includes 2,500 members,
about 1,500 of them in the corporate travel world and the remainder
among travel suppliers.
McInerney came to NBTA from the United Way of America, where she
was director of media relations. Her experience also includes
stints during the Bush administration as press officer with the
U.S. Peace Corps and the Federal Housing Finance Board.
In her role with the Peace Corps, she traveled extensively to
help establish programs in many developing countries. In her first
few weeks as executive director, McInerney has been visiting NBTA
members around the country.
High on her list of priorities is improving the ability of the
business travel industry to deal with the advances in
technology.
This year's NBTA convention, to be held July 29 to Aug. 2 in Los
Angeles, will put technology in the forefront with a record 15
technology classes.
Cindy Perper, NBTA's president, said the board decided not to
conduct an outside search because it was impressed with McInerney's
background and vision for the future.
Perper, the director of corporate travel services for Colgate
Palmolive, said McInerney has been responsible for improving
communications between NBTA and its members and between the
organization and frequent business travelers.
She said McInerney played a major role in developing two
enhancements to the association's Internet activities, Travel Vault
and BizTraveler.org.
Travel Vault is an industry database available through the NBTA
Web site, www.nbta.org, that allows direct and allied members to
keep up with business travel news, trends and forecasts.
It also contains a section for direct members, the portion of
the membership comprising the corporate managers, to benchmark
their performance against that of their peers.
The group's public Web site, www.BizTraveler.org, offers a range of information for
the frequent business traveler.