Jerome Drevon-Barreaux, new chair of the European region for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), said he planned to give more scope to the interests of buyers.
Mr Drevon-Barreaux, global travel manager for Capgemini, said he wants to increase the involvement of buyers in ACTE during his two year term.
"We need to make sure there is the right balance with corporate buyers and suppliers," he said. "We should change to make sure that corporate buyers find their own interests for participating in ACTE."
One move he plans is to implement buyer-oriented education and research programmes.
"We need to make sure the research is not all done by suppliers," Mr Drevon-Barreaux said.
"I would love to see more exchange with benchmarking with corporate buyers and not just suppliers saying this is how it works."
Mr Drevon-Barreaux takes over the post from Peter Sijbers, global commodity manager for Philips International.
He has worked in the travel industry including for BNP Paribas as its global travel manager, at Accenture and HSBC in their buyers' departments and on the supplier side for the then BTI France.
BCD expands in Ireland
BCD Travel has expanded its operation in Ireland by buying Tommy Toibin Travel.
Tommy Toibin is the corporate travel arm of Joseph Barter and Sons and has offices in key locations including Dublin and Cork. It has 20 staff.
The two companies have been in partnership for six years.
Mike Walley, president and chief operating officer of BCD in the UK and Ireland, said: "Formalising this relationship through this acquisition is a logical step in BCD Travel's strategy of ownership in key markets where our customers need us to be."
George Barter, managing director of Joseph Barter, said: "We are proud of our longstanding successful relationship with BCD Travel and the acquisition of Tommy Tobin Travel Limited serves to further exemplify our shared vision and commitment to providing a solid and stable base from which to serve the needs of national and multinational customers throughout Ireland, Europe and across the globe."
BCD also announced that it had acquired a stake in Avipam, an independent travel management company in Brazil.
Avipam has five offices throughout the country with 400 employees serving 900 corporate customers. It has an annual turnover of $200m.
* see BTE's recruitment site www.businesstraveljobs.com