BCD Meetings & Events brand emerges as a global leader in the industry
CHICAGO, July 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- BCD M&I and BCD Travel Groups have integrated their two organizations to create a new global operating unit branded as BCD Meetings & Events, the company announced today. Former BCD M&I Global President Scott Graf now heads the new organization with more than 700 employees and operations in over 40 countries.
While BCD's group travel and meetings units already worked hand in hand, the formal integration of the two eliminates duplication in some products and services that had been offered separately by each organization. In addition, the new organizational structure streamlines service delivery, increases leverage with suppliers and creates a combined talent pool of meeting and event experts within a single operating unit.
"The time was right to integrate these two operational units," Graf said. "While we found great success in meeting market needs with separate meetings and group travel organizations, the new configuration positions us better for future growth and scalability. The meetings and events business is booming around the world, and our shareholder is committed to seeking out investment opportunities in the meetings and events space. The new brand positions us for growth."
A pioneer of the strategic meetings management concept, BCD M&I provided comprehensive meeting and event management solutions globally for nearly three decades. The company offered select and full service support for single meeting and event opportunities, incentive travel and full strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs). They also provided multiple ancillary solutions such as attendee management, sourcing, onsite staffing and reporting to enhance the meeting experience. BCD M&I was consistently recognized as a global leader in the industry.
BCD Travel Groups provided in-country services for meetings, incentives, events and group travel, including management of air, rail, hotel and local ground transportation for conferences, congresses, governmental groups, trade missions, sports travel and more. The organization was particularly strong in Europe and Latin America.
About BCD Meetings & Events
BCD Meetings & Events is an independently managed operating company of BCD Group and a sister organization of BCD Travel, the world's third-largest travel management company. BCD Meetings & Events energizes and streamlines the business of meetings and incentives by offering event-level and enterprise-level solutions. Headquartered in Chicago, BCD Meetings & Events employs more than 700 people and operates in over 40 countries, with sales exceeding US$620 million. For more information, visit www.bcdme.com.
About BCD Travel
BCD Travel helps companies make the most of what they spend on travel. For travelers, this means keeping them safe and productive, and equipping them to make good choices on the road. For travel and procurement managers, it means advising them on how to grow the value of their travel program. For executives, we ensure that the travel program supports company objectives. In short, we help our clients travel smart and achieve more. We make this happen in 110 countries with more than 11,000 creative, committed and experienced people. And it's how we maintain an industry-leading client-retention rate of 96%, with 2014 sales of US$24.2 billion. For more information, visit www.bcdtravel.com.
About BCD Group
BCD Group is a market leader in the travel industry. The privately owned company was founded in 1975 by John Fentener van Vlissingen and consists of BCD Travel (global corporate travel management), Travix (online travel: CheapTickets, Vliegwinkel, BudgetAir, Flugladen and Vayama), Park 'N Fly (off-airport parking) and joint ventures Parkmobile International (mobile parking applications) and AERTrade International (consolidating and fulfillment). BCD Group employs over 12,500 people and operates in 110 countries with total sales of US$ 25.6 billion, including US$ 10 billion in partner sales. For more information, visit www.bcdgroup.com.
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SOURCE BCD Travel
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