Former Omnicom VP of global corporate travel Gemma King has joined FCM Consulting as the global lead for its outsourced travel resources (OTR) practice.
King has been tasked with accelerating the practice, which provides corporate clients with outsourced travel managers to support specific projects or change initiatives within travel programmes.
Under her leadership, OTR will expand its team and capabilities “to meet rising client demand”, with ambitions for global growth.
King brings more than 20 years’ experience as a corporate travel manager to the role. She joins from marketing firm Omnicom Group, where she spent the past decade leading global travel strategy. During that time, she expanded the company’s travel programme from 11 to 30 countries and established its first carbon-reduction targets, governance framework and traveller security programme. Earlier in her career, she led travel category management at KPMG.
The appointment follows FCM’s decision to combine its global account management and consulting functions under chief customer officer Jo Lloyd. King will report directly to Lloyd under the new structure.
Speaking to BTN Europe, King said she would draw on her experience as a travel manager to help clients tackle “boardroom challenges”.
“I've been very privileged to have been at a very senior level and I’ve started to see some of the shifts that are taking place to make travel management a much more strategic position within an organisation, as opposed to just an operational cost.
“The opportunity we have within the OTR section of consulting is to help bring that to the client… to articulate that value and help elevate [ravel management] from a cost centre function into a real centre of expertise; a dynamic business enabler… that's important for us as an industry.
“So, seeing that shift start to happen, and the opportunity to join what Jo's building, not just within consulting, but within the FCM client group, was too exciting an opportunity not to take.”
King will also continue in her role as chair of the board of directors for the Institute of Travel Management (ITM) until her two-year term ends in March 2027.