ACTE GLOBAL CENTRE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Greeley Koch
Chairman

Greeley Koch serves as Vice President, Corporate Solutions for TRX, where he leads the focus on future strategic data relationships. Greeley joined TRX, a leading, independent provider of transaction processing and data integration services to the global travel industry, in July 2006.

Prior to joining TRX, Koch worked for TQ3, a global travel management company, Bank of America, Abbott Laboratories and the Office of the Governor for the State of Illinois.

Koch was named as one of Business Travel News - Top 25 Influential Executives in the Travel Industry for 2005. He served as President of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) from January 2005 until June 2007.



Megan Costello
Executive Director

Biographies comming soon...



BOARD MEMBERS

Dr. Fariba Alamdari
Director

Dr. Fariba Alamdari was appointed Vice President, Business Strategy and Marketing, for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in June 2006. She leads a group of more than one hundred world-class experts who maintain and shape industry-leading analysis of the commercial aviation market and direct enterprise-wide activities with respect to strategic choices to be made by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Prior to joining Boeing, Professor Alamdari was the Head of Department of Air Transport, Cranfield University in England where she lectured and carried out research in the area of airline marketing, economics and deregulation. She was also the Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Science and Manufacturing. She has been awarded Honorary Professorship of the Civil Aviation University of China.

Fariba is the author of a large number of articles and reports on aviation related issues. She has advised airlines, airports, aircraft manufacturers, regulatory bodies and service providers worldwide on matters related to marketing and economics of aviation industry, especially on the strategic implications of airline deregulation including the development and growth of low cost airlines. Alamdari has chaired international conferences and has been the keynote speaker at several major international conferences.

She obtained her PhD on the economic impact of airline deregulation, in 1988 from Cranfield University. She has a master degree in transport economics and a first degree in political science. She is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Vince Eavis
Director

Vincent Eavis joined Citigroup in 1995 and is responsible for Citigroup Commercial Cards' sales, business development and account management activities in EMEA. In this capacity Vincent and his team works with the top 1500 companies globally, providing them with Proprietary International Corporate, Procurement and One card programmes.

Before Citigroup, Vincent worked at Diners’ Club for five years, initially in credit management roles before eventually becoming head of business development. Prior to this he was at GE Capital for five years, where his roles included litigation manager, handling credit collection, and responsibility for GE’s European operations centre and customer service.

Vincent believes that amongst the major contributions he wishes to make in the industry are allowing customers access to truly global and integrated solutions by means of forging strong and genuine partnerships with industry partners in the Travel Management (TMC) Companies and Expenses Management Companies.

Amongst Vincent's extra curricular activities and passions are his family, acting and classical music composition.

Susan Hopley
Chairman Emeritus

Susan Hopley, EVP, Emerging Markets, pursues new services in new markets for TRX. An industry leader, Susan is also Chairman Emeritus, ACTE Global Centre for Research and Education, and has received recognition from Business Travel World, Travel Agent Magazine, and Business Travel News as one the travel industry's top executives.

Formerly, Hopley was responsible for the strategy, technology, and operations of TRX's data solutions. Hopley joined TRX in 1999 via the acquisition International Software Products, which she founded in 1993.

Before ISP, Hopley worked for Maritz Travel Company for seven years, holding various senior management roles. In 1986, Hopley sold Maritz her interest in Travel Counselors International.

Hopley earned an A.G.S.M. from Guildhall, London University and an M.A. from University of Georgia.

Michael Platt
Director

Mike Platt is Group Industry Affairs Director - a position he was appointed to in 2006.

Mike’s varied international career in the travel industry began in 1966 when he joined BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation). This was followed by appointments with Varig Brazilian Airways and British Caledonian both in the UK and overseas in Africa and South America.

In 1989, after 16 years in the airline industry, Mike joined HRG UK (formerly known as BTI UK) as Director of Sales and also held the positions of Director of Commercial Affairs, International Commercial Director and Chief Operating Officer Business Travel International (BTI). During the past 6 years he has been Managing Director for BTI UK.

In his current role Mike has global responsibility for procurement, supplier management and development. In addition, Mike looks after industry affairs, working with relevant trade bodies, lobby groups, regulators and industry influencers, to evolve and shape the corporate travel industry worldwide.

M. N. Rao
Director

Mr. Rao has rich experience in Banking, Corporate Finance and Shared Services. He obtained a B. E. from Osmania University, Hyderabad and a Masters in Management from Mc. Gill University, Montreal.

Before joining the Tata Group, Mr. Rao was the Managing Director of Siemens Shared Services, a shared services and BPO Company in Bangalore (May 2000 / June 2005). Prior to that he was the Executive Vice President (Finance) of Siemens India in Mumbai (Feb 1998 – May 2000). Mr Rao started his career with Standard Charted Bank and later worked in Pharmacia AB, Pennar and the Manipal Group.

Mr. Rao has been entrepreneurially involved in start ups both within resource rich MNCs as well as in Indian Business Houses. He has significant international exposure in areas such as global accounting standards and governance practices as also to business development in different markets.

Richard Tams
Director

Richard began his career with BA as a graduate trainee over 15 years ago and since then has worked in a variety of roles in a number of markets across the world. These roles include Airport Manager Seoul, Cargo SVP for Western USA and Canada based in Los Angeles and Area Passenger Sales Manager for the Nordic Area and the Netherlands based in Stockholm. He returned to BA’s Head Office in 1999 as Commercial Manager Europe and then went on to fulfill a similar role in the U.K market. In 2000 Richard returned to the mainstream of UK Sales in the role of Senior Manager Multiples responsible for the airline’s key travel management company relationships. Following this, he was appointed Head of Corporate Sales in 2004 before taking on the role of General Manager UK & Global Corporate Sales in April 2006.



Professor Geof Tomlinson
Director

Professor Tomlinson joined the University of Sheffield in 1995 as Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is currently the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research. Geof is a member of the Senior Management Group, Academic Development Committee, Academic Strategy Group, Strategic Planning Committee, International Advisory Group, Senate and Council, and Chairs the Research Strategy Group, Research Committee and Graduate Research Development Committee. He is the Director of the Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre in Materials Damping Technology.

Professor Tomlinson was awarded a DSc by the University of Manchester in 2001. His current research topics are Functional Damping Technologies and Smart/Adaptive Structures with an application to Aerospace Engineering, Materials and Nonlinear Structural Dynamics. He has published 158 technical papers, 2 books, and has 2 patents.

He is a member of Main Panel G (Engineering) for the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 and chairs the sub-panel for General Engineering and Mineral and Mining Engineering. Fellowships include the Royal Academy of Engineering, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Royal Aeronautical Society, Royal Society of Arts and he is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Aerospace Structures and Materials, Royal Academy of Engineering Research and Secondment Committee and their International Committee.

For relaxation Geof is a keen skier, cyclist and sailor, being the builder and co-owner of a 40 feet yacht.