ACTE Global :: Association of Corporate Travel Executives

ACTE Canada
Joeanne Comisso
Senior Specialist National Sales
VIA Rail Canada

As Senior Specialist National Sales, Joeanne is VIA’s key sales person responsible for Corporate, Group and Incentive Travel within the VIA Rail Corridor.

Joeanne began her career in the field of security 35 years ago after graduating from Law Enforcement at Seneca College. The Ontario Housing Corporation, Queen Street Psychiatric Hospital and York Regional Police Department were the initiation into the professional world. Ten years into her career, Joeanne moved from the security field to enter into the Sales Industry where she has held various positions such as District Sales Manager for a National Cosmetics company, Ontario Sales Representative for both Brewster Tours and Rocky Mountaineer. Joeanne has seen many changes in the marketplace and has a comprehensive understanding of both the GDS system and on-line booking tools, as Travel Agency Training were part of her responsibilities. Joeanne joined the VIA Rail Team in 1999, bringing with her a solid background in the Industry.

ACTE Canada
Michelle Grant
Travel Administration Manager
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Born in Victoria, B.C. and raised in the Lower Mainland, Michelle’s travel career started with Marlin Travel as a production agent in 1991, working her way up to Sr. Travel Consultant. Through acquisitions Michelle spent most of her career with American Express Travel Services as the onsite travel agent for Ritchie Bros Auctioneers so it was an easy decision to make the move in 2008 to Travel Administration Manager, for Ritchie Bros. Today Michelle manages the travel program for North America, including meetings & events management, and the company credit card and expense program. She is also responsible for managing partner agreement and negotiations and is a resource for the global offices.

ACTE Latin America
Mario Hidalgo
Alliance Manager LATAM
Egencia, an Expedia Inc. Company

8138 NW 114 PL
Miami, FL 33178
United States
Office: +1-305-593-6236
Mobile: +1-305-803-4366

Mario Hidalgo has 16 years of experience in the travel industry. He initiated his professional career as a corporate travel agent in his natal Costa Rica. Later, in 1998 joined Amadeus as Business Unit Manager for Amadeus Costa Rica, responsible for the local operations and sales activities.

By 2004, Mario moved to Miami to manage the relationship with Travel Management Companies for Amadeus in Latin America. Since, Mario has been involved with the corporate travel agency issues at a regional and local level, interacting with TMC's regional headoffices, country operations and franchises, and multinational corporate customers as well.

Mario has ample experience with the Latin American market specificities and focuses his efforts on supporting TMC's and corporate agencies to improve their business by implementing e-commerce strategies, technology solutions and new business models.

Mario holds an Master degree (MBA) with emphasis on International Commerce from Universidad Alma Mater in Costa Rica.

ACTE Asia
Amarnath Lal Das
General Manager – India Travel
Accenture

IBC Knowledge Park
4/1 Bannerghatta Road
Bangalore, Karnataka
India
Tel: +91-80-41060000

Amarnath is currently working with Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd. in India as General Manager – Travel services. He joined Accenture in 2008 and since then has transformed the travel experience at Accenture. He is responsible for managing India travel program and aligning it with the global travel program to provide a uniform travel experience. Automation and cost optimization of travel program has been his focus area and has successfully implementing changes in a complex market like India.

Amarnath, holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration, has 22 years of work experience, with 17 years in the travel trade. His travel trade experience includes working at different levels in a TMC, Corporate Sales and Account Management.

Amarnath is an active participant at the various business travel forum in APAC region and has been speaker, moderator and panelist member in these travel community forums.

Amarnath lives in Bangalore, India with his wife Sangita, 16 year old son Ravi and 12 year old daughter Aanchal. He spends his spare time cooking and traveling to new destinations.

ACTE United States
Michael Lyons
Regional Head of Travel Services
HSBC Bank

452 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10036
United States
Tel: 1-212-525-0137

Michael Lyons is a seasoned corporate travel management veteran. He is Regional Head of Travel Services, Americas for HSBC, one of the world's largest banking and financial services organizations, serving 52 million customers worldwide. He is responsible for all aspects of travel operations within the Americas region. Michael has worked on both the supplier and buyer side of the business, starting his career with a global travel management company. Since then he has worked in various roles as a travel buyer. In addition, he has served on various supplier boards and has a long history of industry association service. He currently serves as US Council Chair for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

ACTE Middle East & Africa
Julia Sullivan
Business Travel Manager MENA
Shell

Dubai UAE

As Business Travel Manager MENA, Julia Sullivan is Shell's subject matter expert for any travel related topics in MENA, managing all operational aspects of Shell's Travel Program in the region and working closely with internal and external stakeholders across hierarchies to provide secure, safe and cost efficient travel solutions.

In her ten years in the travel industry, Julia has worked on both the supplier and buyer side. Following a dissertation project on demand management in travel management and procurement processes for EADS/Airbus, she joined American Express Business Travel in Europe in account management roles and moved to the Middle East in 2009 to build up and lead the account management function for Alshamel, then CWT’s partner in the Gulf.

Julia is a long-time supporter of ACTE and has actively participated in planning committees and conference since ACTE first became active in the MEA region.

A native German, Julia holds a double degree from Victoria University Melbourne and the International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef / Bonn in International Tourism Management.