Join us on September 29, 2021 at The Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA. Register Now!

Agenda

Wednesday, September 29

9:00AM PDT

Welcome to TRAVERSE 2021

Ariel Cohen, TripActions’ Co-Founder and CEO, kicks off TRAVERSE 2021 and shares his perspective on the future of business travel and spend management coming out of the global pandemic. He'll dive into platform data from TripActions to share insights on bookings and industry recovery, as well as how new workplace trends will shape how companies approach travel and spend management. He will also share how TripActions has stayed innovative throughout the pandemic to meet the evolving needs of travel managers, finance leaders and employees globally.

Speakers:

  • Ariel Cohen, Co-Founder & CEO, TripActions
    Terry Angelos, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Crypto and Fintech, Visa
    Oren Zeev, Founding Partner, Zeev Ventures

9:30AM PDT

Customer Keynote

From duty-of-care and ensuring employee safety, to gaining visibility and control over employee spend, having the right travel and spend management solutions in place are an organization’s secret lever to business growth. In this panel, learn from industry leaders on how they’ve used, grown and scaled their corporate travel and spend programs to meet their company’s ever-evolving strategic objectives and bottom line during the pandemic.

Speakers:

  • Mark Garfield, Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer & Corporate Controller, Adobe
    Vik Shah, Corporate Controller, Zoom
    Danny Finkel, Chief Travel Officer, TripActions

9:45 AM PDT

Safety and risk in a post-pandemic world

As the worldwide economy continues to gain altitude, this keynote hones in on risks and opportunities as programs restart and travelers return to the road. From dynamic cybersecurity threats to new standards for health and safety, this fireside chat gives unique insight into how a government analyst sizes up 2022‒and what program managers can do to adapt.

Speakers:

  • Philp Mudd, First Deputy Director of the National Security Branch (NSB) and Former Deputy Director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center
    Sai Jahann, General Counsel, TripActions

10:15AM PDT

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Luncheon

Join Shaka - a New York Times and Washington Post bestselling author, TED speaker and 2020’s Social Justice Warrior of the Year - as he discusses how creating the right company culture by focusing on proximity to community, social impact causes, and honest conversations creates a more diverse company experience.

Speaker:

  • Shaka Senghor, Head of DEI, TripActions

Trends In Business Travel: New Ways Travel is Supporting Business Goals

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted the way business gets done, especially when it comes to travel. While remote work and virtual meetings may become the norm for some companies, in-person connections will remain critical for rapidly building trust and relationships. Join this session to hear about the trends impacting corporate travel, how leading companies are managing their corporate travel program in this reshaped reality and the new ways travel will support business growth and team building.

Speakers:

  • Danny Finkel, Chief Travel Officer, TripActions
    Randy Luck, Senior Manager, Accounts Payable & Travel, Ancestry
    Mary Davis, Operations Manager, Tinuiti

Driving Savings & Productivity with Fintech-Forward T&E Tools

As the economy recovers from the public health crisis, business priorities have shifted to operational efficiencies, which presents an opportunity to scale-up with a global, digitally connected travel and expense management program. Join our panelists to learn how finance leaders are using digital payments, policy management and real-time spend visibility to evolve their businesses at different growth stages.

Speakers:

  • Thomas Tuchscherer, CFO, TripActions
    Jurie Victor, Director of Finance & Accounting, Spikeball
    Robin Bell, Procurement Consultant, Epicor

Launching a Green Travel Program for a More Sustainable Future

Business travel and environmental sustainability efforts have been at odds for decades. However, new and advancing technology has made it easier for companies to easily track CO₂ emissions produced from business travel and utilize this data to shift mindsets and drive action. In this session, learn how businesses, airlines and the travel industry as a whole are taking steps to meet their long term carbon emissions targets.

Speaker:

  • Zack Dolan, Director of Global Travel & Procurement, Concentrix

Your Journey to Success in the New Normal

At TripActions, empowering our customers to succeed is top priority. We realize that today's customers live in a society where convenience, speed and efficiency reign supreme, so we’ve invested in providing always-on resources to support our customers when they need it. Come join us for this fireside chat with TripActions customers where they discuss how they’ve leveraged our go-to hub, TripActions Community, to learn, share best practices and build connections.

Speakers:

  • Emy Montiel, Senior Project Manager, Brown Advisory
    Phoebe Shin Venkat, Director of Community, TripActions

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Luncheon

Transforming Corporate and Supplier Partnerships Through Data and Technology

The traditional tactics of sourcing and developing corporate client partnerships are no longer effective. In fact, they can hinder travel programs from achieving their goals. By utilizing real-time data and rates that are readily available, corporate clients can revolutionize the process, create more efficient travel programs and build stronger supplier relationships. Join us in this session to learn how detailed, bi-directional data sharing and a broader usage of rates can help businesses optimize spend and increase efficiency.

Speakers:

  • Ian Charbonnet, Sourcing Specialist, Procore
    Alex Pyhan, SVP of Global Distribution, Marriott

Embracing the Digital Payments Revolution

Online transactions are accelerating, which means businesses need to align financial infrastructure with new ways of making, moving, and managing money. Digital payment solutions will become more embedded into corporate travel and the CFO's financial tech stack. From centralized billing to virtual corporate cards, learn how digital payment solutions are impacting key industries, including travel, and the ways finance leaders can improve spend and risk management worldwide.

Speakers:

  • Robin Gandhi, SVP, Product Management, Payments, TripActions
    Tim Russo, VP Client Engagement, JP Morgan

Building Effective T&E Policies that Drive Safety & Compliance

One of the major gaps revealed throughout COVID-19 was how little travel managers and finance leaders were prepared when external factors shifted the realities surrounding their travel policy, expense policy, and overall approach to business travel and expense. While these teams needed to take action quickly, make adjustments to travel and expense policies and programs, and have real-time information to base those decisions on, they lacked the necessary tools. Join this session to hear how leading companies are adopting innovative technologies to automate and increase T&E policy compliance across their organizations.

Speakers:

  • Robyn Gilmartin, TripActions
    Shannon Adamczyk, Travel Manager, Mattress Firm
    Theresa Miano, Global Travel Manager, Thomson Reuters

Saving Time & Money with TripActions Liquid

Many businesses feel trapped in their current system because they worry about the cost required to adopt new technologies: the cost of the new software, the cost of implementation, or the cost of deploying resources to manage the project. But when you automate spend management, the return of investing in a more efficient spend management system can add up to saved money, time and effort. Come hear how easily and quickly TripActions Liquid customers were able to launch and ultimately start reaping the benefits of an automated expense management system.

Speakers:

  • Sam Peters, Senior Director, Customer Success, TripActions
    Rebekah Sprole, Senior Customer Success Specialist, TripActions
    Wesley Harding, Customer Success Manager, TripActions

White Glove Service in the Digital Age

Covid-19 has further accelerated the digitization of our everyday interactions. Our digital service expectations are higher than ever while traditional high touch service is having a renaissance. Join this session to learn why corporate travel professionals are rejecting the old dichotomy of online vs offline and how to prepare your travel program to ensure it’s ready for tomorrow’s world.

Speaker:

  • John Keichline, CEO, North America Reed & Mackay

How Fintech is Revolutionizing Expense Management

New innovations in fintech have empowered finance teams to shift their department’s purpose from a repetitive, manual function to high-value strategic work. Join this fireside chat to learn how leading finance teams are adopting modern and innovative digital technologies and tools to improve the customer experience in a way that was simply not possible before.

Speakers:

  • Michael Sindicich, General Manager of TripActions Liquid, TripActions
    Angelina Columbo, Sr. Manager of FP&A, Fast
    Stephen Coveleski, Director of Finance, Campus Cooks

What Your Travelers Should Expect for a Safe Return to Business Travel

As business travel returns, it brings with it a whole host of complexities around getting employees back on the road safely. This session spotlights the efforts that countries, airlines, hotels, and other companies are taking to mitigate the risks of travel, promote safety, and proactively prepare for continuous change.

Speakers:

  • Scott Mayerowitz, Executive Editor, The Points Guy
    Don Bunkenberg, Senior Director Sales USA Central, West and Central America, Lufthansa
    Harriet Baskas, Contributor, NBC News

Managing Change: How to Win Over your Employees and Finance Teams

Change management is all about transforming your business processes, strategy and tools to help improve the way your business operates. The goal is to help drive the successful adoption and usage of change within the business to optimize time and resources. But how do we implement change to your travel and expense programs without overwhelming your employees? Join this session to learn how you can help your company save money, mitigate risk and ensure your employees are safe when traveling for business.

Speakers:

  • Lisa Mackay, T&E Program Manager, Datto
    Divya Gupta, Customer Success Manager, TripActions

3:00PM PDT

The Global T&E Platform of the Future

TripActions has the only modern, end-to-end travel, payments and expense management platform built from the ground up for the user first. While the events of the past year were unlike any other for the travel industry, TripActions continued to innovate at a rapid pace, launching over 45 new features to ensure employee safety, give finance teams unparalleled visibility into spend and enable companies to efficiently manage their global T&E programs. Join this session to learn about the latest and greatest product updates and preview what's to come.

Speakers:

  • Nina Herold, Chief Product & Operations Officer, TripActions
  • Michael Sindicich, General Manager, TripActions Liquid, TripActions

*Agenda is subject to change, all times are in PDT