SIMONE BUCKLEY has been appointed as the next CEO of the Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM). She takes up her new role this month (November) and current CEO Paul Tilstone will formally hand over to Buckley on January 1.
Tilstone has held the post for six years and is now leaving to take up the role of managing director of GBTA Europe.
Buckley, currently director of her own consultancy Bouda, has worked in the travel industry for 18 years, including as sales director at Carlson Wagonlit Travel and later as managing director of Capita Business Travel. She told Buying Business Travel it was an emotional wrench to leave Bouda.
“It was a really hard choice,” she said. “But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. These roles do not come along too often,” ITM represents more than 1,000 professional buyers and suppliers with a travel and meetings spend in excess of £34 billion per year. “I have always had a passion to help the buyers to optimise their programmes,” said Buckley. “I looked at the specifications for this role and I saw so many synergies between Bouda and ITM.”
“It was like the reason we [she and her colleague Clare Murphy] started Bouda, to help grow the relationship between buyers and suppliers. This was a chance to continue this evolution at ITM. There are lots of ideas at Bouda which will fit in at ITM.”
Buckley is bubbling with ideas and enthusiasm for the new role, but is also approaching the challenge with a measure of caution. “I need to get my feet under the table at ITM to understand better what needs to be done. The objective is to carry on involving ITM in the industry through the next generation. I have a real passion for suppliers and buyers working together to get the best solution.”
Before her January takeover, Buckley will be speaking to many suppliers and buyers, and new and established ITM members, to see what both sides want. The feedback from this, she said, will provide her with an insight into how to proceed in her first weeks and months in office.
“I absolutely want much more of a partnership between buyers and suppliers. Jamie Hindhaugh [the current chair of ITM] has talked a lot recently about parity. We have to make it more of a partnership. We can then make the ITM more of an industry body,” she said.
“The buyers must always be clear about what they are buying so I want to make sure there is the right solution to this through the right relationship. I want both sides to be open and honest and that is what the ITM is about: bringing the two sides together to show what is on offer and to see what the customer wants and needs. I want to facilitate that.”
ITM’s Hindhaugh said Buckley had been chosen by a specially selected ITM panel. “The recruitment process attracted a talented shortlist of outstanding individuals which gave us a perspective on how well ITM is perceived in the industry,” he said.
“Simone reflects all of the attributes we hold dearly at ITM. She is driven, professional, inclusive and knowledgeable and at the same time someone with character and charisma. ITM has a bright future.”