ACTE named Ikea global travel purchaser Yves Galimidi as regional chair in Europe.

Travel buyer Mick Lee joined Citigroup as global travel department managing director based in London and New York. A 17-year industry veteran, Lee most recently served as Credit Suisse internal client services group managing director. There she overhauled the travel program at the start of the decade and more recently oversaw a phased, regional agency request for proposal process that resulted in awards to HRG for the company's business in 16 countries. Lee is scheduled to speak later this month about "Growth Opportunities for the Role of Travel Manager" during a panel at the Association of Corporate Travel Executives' global conference in Prague.

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BCD Travel was not prompted by NBTA to pen its letter supporting a merger with ACTE, according to a BCD spokesman. During an interview Thursday that was scheduled in response an article published in The Beat about BCD Travel's letter, an Association of Corporate Travel Executives spokesman said the National Business Travel Association had "obviously started a campaign." Asked about BCD's letter as well as rumors (some dispelled) of other similar statements by vendors, ACTE executive director Susan Gurley said she would also seek out partners "if I wanted to get a campaign." In response, a BCD Travel spokesman wrote in an email that his company's letter "was not prompted by or part of any NBTA-led campaign. We have long partnered with ACTE and believe it is an outstanding organization for BCD Travel and our industry as a whole. We feel the same about NBTA. We respect the missions of both organizations and do not favor either. Our action was our own decision, and it was driven by a desire to see the best solution emerge for our industry. We strongly believe that solution is an organization that combines the best aspects of ACTE and NBTA."

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The Association of Corporate Travel Executives named a new regional chair for Canada. Gillian McCormack, an American Express Business Travel business development manager, brings a "Western Canadian perspective," according to an ACTE statement.

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Seventy-eight percent of 134 international business travel managers plan to review their hotel contracts with a greater emphasis on security and guest safety in light of the Mumbai attacks, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives reported. Nearly half of those polled said their firms had curtailed travel to India.

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U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) introduced legislation that would "protect citizens and legal residents of the United States from unreasonable searches and seizures of electronic equipment at the border." The Association of Corporate Travel Executives, which has spoken out against what it described as "warrantless" seizures of incoming travelers' laptops, endorsed the Travelers Privacy Protection Act. The proposed legislation has been referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security last month activated a new database on incoming travelers. The System of Records for Border Crossing Information centralizes data collected through a variety of pre-existing border security programs and retains it for 15 years for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, and 75 years for non-immigrant aliens. BCI drew criticism from privacy advocates on how long the data will kept and how it might be shared. "The potential for mission-creep and abuse in this system is already high, as the program cites making this data available for 'personnel hiring purposes,' " according to the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, which said the system "appears not to be tailored to addressing security concerns, but rather to an arbitrary data retention period not relevant to law enforcement purposes." Other non-profit groups expressing similar concerns included the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Constitution Project, the Identity Project and the World Privacy Forum.

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The Association of Corporate Travel Executives will introduce a new trade show concept at its Rome conference in October, offering vendors one of two standard booth configurations for either demonstrations or "meet and greet." ACTE said its trade show would remain "small and intimate and will not grow to more than approximately 100 booths over the next few years."

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The Association of Corporate Travel Executives joined the International Air Transport Association in opposing a Department of Homeland Security proposal calling for biometric exit procedures at U.S. airports, citing costs and potential confusion over a "lack of standards."

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The National Business Travel Association said more than 350 people, including more than 100 travel buyers, registered for the first-ever Paragon Business Travel Conference & Expo. Co-sponsored by 10 other business travel associations and held in Milan, the event drew attendees from more than 20 nations and had "very few no-shows," according to NBTA. Its timing, just one day removed from a major Association of Corporate Travel Executives conference--which begins Sunday in Washington, D.C.--last year angered some ACTE supporters.

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The "specific goal" of the National Business Travel Association is to "drive" the Association of Corporate Travel Executives "out of business," according to a letter from ACTE to NBTA. NBTA denied the allegations, which included citing NBTA president Kevin Maguire for "engaging in a pattern of public comments disparaging ACTE." The Beat reported that NBTA would consider an official response during its June board meeting, and quoted Maguire as saying ACTE's letter was "blatantly inaccurate." ACTE's executive director said she would do "whatever it takes" to avoid a lawsuit.

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