To paint a picture of the business travel industry in 2019, your palette would need to include big acquisitions, power moves, spectacular flameouts and a bit of innovation. On BTN’s canvas, the Most Influential of 2019, you’ll find executives wrangling with the changes wrought by the New Distribution Capability, growing or returning their companies to new heights and bringing inventive new tools to market. You’ll find the world leaders who played the most direct part in charting the industry’s course, the government officials who stymied suppliers’ plans or adjudicated the disputed among them, the buyers who found new ways to tackle old problems, and some executives for whom 2019 was a year to forget. You’ll also find the youngest person to ever appear on this annual list since the very first one back in 1984. When it comes to influencing the business travel market in 2019, though, age is nothing but a number.

The List