Business Travel Hall of Fame

REGGIE AGGARWAL
Cvent founder and CEO

"We focused on survival. We were very passionate about what we did. And we knew that over time, organizations would be logical and adopt technology like ours."

Reggie Aggarwal founded market-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider Cvent in 1999 as a two-person startup. Today, Cvent has more than 4,000 employees and a platform that powers millions of meetings and events across 27,000 organizations for 300,000 users worldwide. Cvent, which was a publicly traded company, went private in November 2016 when it was acquired by Vista Equity Partners. Reggie remained the CEO and President of Cvent following the $1.65 billion transaction.

Reggie was named the No. 1 SaaS CEO by The SaaS Report in their 2019 and 2018 Top 50 CEO list, CEO of the Year and the most admired CEO in the Washington, D.C., area by the Washington Business Journal, Entrepreneur of the Year for the Washington, D.C., area by Ernst & Young, one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs, and a rising star by Forbes.

Reggie graduated with a B.S. degree from the University of Virginia, a Juris Doctorate from Washington and Lee University Law School, and an LLM post-law degree from Georgetown University Law School. He also received an honorary doctorate from Southeastern University for his contribution to the community.

RALPH COLUNGA
SAP Concur travel and expense technology solutions thought leader

"For a while, I was thinking about command and control. But then I realized, how is it I can trust someone to negotiate a $2 million deal but [not to] make a decision on a $200 airline ticket?"

Recognized for his vision, innovation and dynamic leadership style in his efforts to help advance globalization, standardization and simplification of travel and expense and card programs, Ralph Colunga, a senior member of the SAP Concur Business Operations management team, assists the product development teams and supports the global sales and marketing efforts of SAP Concur’s travel and expense solutions and services. Previously, he was vice president of global mobility, managing the travel, corporate card and lease car programs at both SAP and SAP Concur. During his 30-year travel industry career, Ralph established and managed global travel, expense and card programs at AMD, Cisco Systems, Oracle and Salesforce.com before joining Concur and then SAP. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives in 2002 and 2011 recognized his global vision and worldwide excellence in managing corporate travel and expense. The Global Business Travel Association in 2013 recognized Ralph with their inaugural Spotlight on Transformation. Business Travel News named him a 2004 Best Practitioner and the 2007 International Travel Manager of the Year.

CHRISTIE HICKS Former Starwood Hotels and Resorts senior vice president of sales

"When I see where my team has ended up, many of whom are in very significant leadership positions at lots of different companies, that's the impact that I think I had, and I'm so grateful for that opportunity."

A sales management and business leader who is widely respected for her ability to create beneficial relationships, gain consensus from disparate parties and define complex strategy on a massive scale, Christie Hicks possesses deep cultural sensitivity and hospitality industry expertise. Christie assembled, led and mentored top-performing global sales teams in driving billion-dollar revenues. She is known as a risk-taker, accurately predicting upcoming trends and anticipating changes in consumer behavior.

During more than 30 years in hospitality with oversight of all markets— group, leisure and business travel—Christie has been involved in many industry organizations and worked with clients from around the world but is most proud of the team she worked with and how they have all become strong leaders throughout the industry.

She led a global team until her retirement from Starwood in March 2015. Since leaving Starwood, Christie has spent time consulting in hospitality and in senior living. She is a board member of Maritz Holdings and remains a mentor to many of the team she helped create.

SIR MAURICE FLANAGAN
Former Emirates Executive Vice Chairman

In 1953, Maurice Flanagan joined BOAC, the forerunner of British Airways, as a graduate trainee, after serving in the Royal Air Force as a navigation officer. He ascended through overseas posts to area manager level, returning to the United Kingdom in 1965 as a route planning manager. He joined British Airways’ senior management team in 1974. In 1978, Sir Maurice left British Airways to become Director and General Manager of Dnata, the forerunner of Emirates and now its sister company. He became Managing Director of Emirates when the airline began operations in 1985 and was appointed Group Managing Director of the Emirates Group in 1990. He became Vice Chairman and Group President in July 2003 and was appointed Executive Vice Chairman in 2006. Maurice was made Commander of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2000, in recognition of his contribution to community relations in the UAE and services to aviation. Maurice was inducted into the British Travel Industry Hall of Fame in May 2005 and the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2010, Maurice was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Sir Maurice retired from Emirates in April 2013 and passed away in May 2015.

Business Travel Hall of Fame Scholarship Recipients

From left: American Express Global Commercial Services global client group vice president Emily Lewis; American Express Global Commercial Services Scholarship recipient Merril Guzman, who will graduate this year with an M.S. in tourism management from the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality at New York University; Dan And Gloria Bohan Foundation Scholarship recipient Rebecca Rodriguez, who graduated in December 2019 from Penn State University with a B.S. in hospitality management; Omega World Travel CEO Gloria Bohan; Bohan Foundation scholarship recipient Susan Kang, who will graduate this year with a B.S. in hospitality management from Penn State; United Airlines Dave Hilfman Scholarship recipient Madeline Aardema, who will graduate in 2022 with a B.S. in Hotel and tourism management from the Tisch Center at NYU; and United Airlines senior vice president of worldwide sales Jake Cefolia.