GBTA’S plans to expand its presence in Asia last year was foiled by the abrupt departure of Mark Rizutto, who left the organisation almost as soon as his appointment as managing director for Asia-Pacific was announced at the last IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific in Bangkok.
Hank Roeder, vice president of chapter relations for GBTA, declined to divulge the reasons behind the sudden turn of events. “Sometimes things just don’t work out. He (Rizutto) left almost immediately, so we continued looking, and have been actively searching for a replacement since then,” Roeder said.
Rizutto, in an email to the Daily, said: “Put simply, there was basically a difference in ideas around strategic priorities for the Asia-Pacific region.”
According to Roeder, GBTA is “very close” to assigning a replacement, who will resume efforts to boost the association’s footprint in Asian markets such as Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Thailand, as well as lead operations in Australia/New Zealand, where GBTA has an existing office.
Meanwhile, GBTA has rebranded its education offerings with the launch of the GBTA Academy in August, an umbrella institution for its suite of new business travel management courses.
The academy’s educational certificate programme will be offered in three distinct tiers – associate, manager and leader. This will replace a number of its courses such as Corporate Travel Expert, Sports Travel Professional/Sports Business Travel Professional, Certified Corporate Travel Executive and Strategic Meetings Management Certification, which are being discontinued.
– Read more in IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific Official Daily – Day 2 issue
