JoAnne Lloyd endured something of a baptism of fire when her first day on Monday as the new regional director EMEA for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) saw her pitched into a joint conference with the UK Institute of Travel Management (ITM).
But if Ms Lloyd was required to hit the ground running, the event was exactly the type she wants to see ACTE do more often.
“One of the things that has been a success recently has been the joint forums between BATM (the Belgian Association of Travel Management) and ACTE,” she said. “I realise that that has worked well and I would like to expand it across the region. I would like to see ACTE working more with local organisation, like the joint forum with ITM.”
It is one of several ideas that Ms Lloyd brings to the EMEA region to re-vitalise it after a relatively quiet six months since the last EMEA regional director Stan Berteloot left.
Her priority is education. “I think there are a lot of opportunities in the EMEA market. When we looked at a recent survey, the thing that members were most keen on was education. I want to be running forums that are specific, not only on global issues like corporate social responsibility but also on things that affect members on a day to day basis, like benchmarking. And I want these forums to take place on a regular basis.”
Several ACTE forums in Europe this year have been called off for various reasons, ranging from local unrest (Paris), to lack of a suitable venue and too few people able to attend.
It is clearly a situation Ms Lloyd wants to reverse but she is also aware that there must be something “worthwhile” under discussion to persuade members way from their desk for a day or half a day.
One solution is that she would like to see more meetings in emerging markets. This includes the Middle East where Dubai is becoming a strong regional centre for business travel management and Africa where the South African branch has begun to attract members from other countries, mainly Nigeria.
But it also means looking further afield in Europe to countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece and eastwards to Poland and perhaps even Russia – another strongly emerging market.
“The way business is conducted in Dubai is very different so we need to work out the best way to tailor forums there to fit in with that market,” she said.
Another idea Ms Lloyd wants to put into practice is that of having industry specific workshops.
For example having all travel managers who work in the entertainment industry, the food industry, for government organisations to meet and discuss best practice.
“I think these meetings would be more informal than the forums but I definitely think there would be a value to them,” she said.
Ms Lloyd, born in Wales but brought up in South Africa, has worked in the travel industry for 18 years. She started with Pan-Am in Johannesburg before moving to Birmingham in the UK to work for an independent agency, Lonsdale Travel (now owned by IT company Capita).
She moved from there to Cassis travel in north London and then, seven years ago, onto Reed and Mackay, based in the City.
She started there in operations but moved on to head of account management and, most recently, was director of supply negotiations and procurement. “I am very sad to leave but in order to leave Reed and Mackay it had to be the right role.
“I am very excited by this. It is a new departure but one that I am really relishing. I was looking for a new challenge and I love the philosophy of ACTE, its global education programme and its individual country side. The job ticked all the right boxes,” she said.
She is expecting a busy time over the next six months meeting, travelling around the region and meeting new people.
Ironically, her first overseas visit will be to Johannesburg where she will meet old friends in the industry. It is likely to be the first of many trips around the EMEA area.