ACTA Board of Directors Proposed Slate for 2019-2020

Date: May 6, 2019
To: ACTA Members
From: Marilyn Long CTM, Chair of the Nominating Committee
Subject: Proposed Slate of 2019/2020 ACTA Board of Directors

I advised ACTA members on April 15, 2019 that the Board application and nominations process had begun. The memo noted that there were nine vacancies and must include at least one individual from each of the regions set out below:

• British Columbia/Yukon;
• Alberta/Northwest Territories;
• Saskatchewan;
• Manitoba/Nunavut;
• Ontario;
• Québec; and
• Atlantic.

The Board shall include at least one individual with a CTC or a CTM certification in good standing, which individual may also qualify as an individual from one of the regions.

The Committee received several applications and met the week of April 29th to review the submissions. We were impressed by the applications and have thanked those individuals for their interest. Items 1 to 9 contain the recommended Board slate along with their qualifications.

1) British Columbia/Yukon member vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Liz Fleming of North South Travel be elected to the ACTA Board.

As General Manager (since 1994) of North South Travel, Liz Fleming has brought strong administrative and leadership skills to one of Western Canada’s largest independent management companies. Although Liz spent many years in the corporate world, first as a legal assistant specializing in corporate/commercial issues and subsequently in a management role with North South Travel, her first love and educational background is in the field of social services. Originally trained at the University of Victoria as a Social Worker, Liz has balanced her corporate work life with private volunteerism at both the service provision and Board of Directors level for several social service organizations.

On the corporate side, Liz has served on the ACTA Council for BC and Yukon since 2009 (currently as Chair). She has been on the ACTA National board of directors since 2016. In addition, Liz serves as an ACTA representative to IATA’s APJC (Agency Program Joint Council) and its F.A.W.G. (Financial Advisory Working Group) sub committee.

2) Alberta/Northwest Territories member vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Peter Keyter of South Travel be elected to the ACTA Board

Residing in Calgary Alberta, Peter Keyter and wife Lesley have co-owned South Travel, operating as The Travel Lady Agency, for 23 years. The agency has been an ACTA member for much of that time and they are extremely proud to be one of the Top 25 Ensemble Agencies in Canada.

Several years ago, Peter joined the ACTA Alberta Regional Council lending his insight and expertise within Alberta and the ACTA National board. Peter facilitated and participated in meetings with the Alberta Insurance Council (AIC), providing information and creating dialogue with the AIC in regards to legislation, training, and licensing. This was a first and has opened the door to further possibilities and contacts in regard to insurance licensing. This is also particularly important and helpful as ACTA National continues to work on harmonized insurance license requirements and interprovincial recognition with regard to travel insurance sales.

Peter also presented with ACTA National to the Canadian Transportation Act (CTA) Review with regards to issues raised such as restrictions on competition and / or passenger rights. He provided valuable insight and comment on many of the issues arising from these discussions. His involvement on this subject continued as he served as a member on the ACTA Canadian Transportation Act Review Committee that worked on providing comment to the draft regulations for the new Air Passenger Bill of Rights.

Peter’s work on the AIC insurance concerns and CTA Review was recognized in June 2017 when we was awarded the Gerald Heifetz Trailblazer Award at the Travel MarketPlace Conference in Toronto. Peter welcomes the opportunity to continue his participation by serving on the ACTA Board of Directors for the 2019-2020 term.

3) Saskatchewan member vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Karen Schabel CTM of CAA Saskatchewan be elected to the ACTA Board.

Karen has worked in the travel industry as a travel consultant, travel manager and as a Travel Training Coordinator for CAA Saskatchewan since 1985. Karen is proud to have obtained her Certified Travel Manager (CTM) designation in 2012 and also her Certified Travel Counsellor (CTC) designation which she held more many years prior to that.

Karen’s current position as a Travel Training Coordinator gives her the opportunity to work in several different aspects of the travel agency. She assists the frontline travel consultants and managers in CAA Saskatchewan’s 12 offices with day-to-day issues and training. She also works with upper management, accounting and IT departments to test new systems and help with procedure changes and improvements to the overall business. Karen has a good working relationship with their preferred partners and assists in
setting up training with their travel consultants.

Karen has sat on the ACTA Board of Directors for the past year and recently joined the ACTA Education and Certification Committee. Karen is looking forward to being able to offer her expertise and contribute in the coming year, especially as the four year strategy for the Education pillar continues to progress.

4) Manitoba/Nunavut member vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Mary Jane Hiebert CTC of Canada One Travel be elected to the ACTA Board.

Mary Jane Hiebert began her career in travel in 1994, with the purchase of Harvest Travel Ltd. in Steinbach, Manitoba. Prior to that time she was a consumer lending officer with The Steinbach Credit Union. In 2009 Mary Jane merged Harvest Travel with Holiday Travel in Steinbach. In 2014, Holiday Travel was acquired by Canada One Travel, where she continues to fulfill her role as General Manager. In her role as General Manager and Owner Mary Jane has extensive experience in all facets of travel including reservations, specializing in corporate travel. She has assisted in developing corporate management travel plans for a number of companies, and has assisted in developing strategy and facilitating financial projections and planning within a corporate structure.

Mary Jane has been an active member of ACTA since 1994, and has sat on the Manitoba Regional Council, representing Manitoba and Nunavut since 2006, in the position of chair since 2010. In 2010 she was selected as the MB Council representative to the ACTA National Board. During her time with ACTA National Board, Mary Jane has participated on the Board Strategy and Work Plans committee in 2012, and again 2014/2015.

In 2014, she participated in the review of the ACTA By-laws and development of Regional Council Terms of Reference. Mary Jane is the current chair for the Board of ACTA National.

Mary Jane has a degree in Vocal Performance (BMus) from the University of Manitoba and has performed on stages throughout Canada and Europe. This combination has enabled her to combine her love of travel and music for the past 30 years.

Mary Jane was the President of the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce from 2001 – 2007, a member of the original planning committee for the Summer In The City Festival in Steinbach, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Eastman Education Center. Mary Jane lives in Steinbach, Manitoba with her husband and 2 Golden Retrievers, and works out of the Steinbach Branch of Canada One Travel.

5) Ontario member vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Michael Foster CTC of Nexion Canada be elected to the ACTA Board.

Mike Foster is President of Nexion Canada, ULC with headquarters in London, Ontario. Part of the Travel Leaders Group and serving Independent Contractor home-based and store-front agents across Canada, Nexion Canada opened in 2013.

Mike opened his first agency in 1982 and has over the years added a number of agencies through acquisition, building one the area’s largest travel agency companies with as many as 5 agencies serving leisure, corporate, group, and incentive travel, as well as Independent Contractor agents.

He has served a variety of roles in both ACTA Ontario and TICO for the past several years. Mike has also been a member of the College Advisory Committee for the Tourism and Hospitality Division of Fanshawe College in London, as well as a board member and fund-raiser for a number of charitable organizations in London, including the Sunshine Foundation, Junior Achievement, the Small Business Centre, and the London Health Sciences Centre.

Mike has also been involved in the submissions of proposed changes by both ACTA and TICO, and is focused on bringing real, substantial, and positive change to the travel industry.

6) Québec member vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that André Desmarais CTC of AeroportVoyage.com be elected to the ACTA Board.

André has worked in the Travel Business for more than thirty years. He founded AeroportVoyage.com over fifteen years ago, and his agency is part of Voyage en Direct's group.

André believes in ACTA’s strategic plan to represent the travel industry and agencies in front of the government and the wholesalers.

André has been on the ACTA Board for three years and as the regional Chair, has the support from the council members and chosen to be the national representative. André will continue ACTA’s mission and work for the best interest of the travel industry. With the members of the regional council, they will provide teaching, enhance the industry’s norm and promote the travel agent important role for the customers. André believes we must help our member to be more prepared for all the change, which occurred in our industry.

André has been part of organizations helping entrepreneurs. André was president of Montreal Investment Fund for PME Montreal Sud-Ouest and administrator and treasurer on the board of Verdun CLD. He has been president of C.A of the F.C.A.Q (Fédération des Clubs d’affaires du Québec) during two years and president five years of the SDC (Société de développement Commercial) Wellington.

André is prepared to give time for his travel agent colleagues and friends.

7) Atlantic member vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Glenda Hunter CTM of CAA Travel (Atlantic Canada) be elected to the ACTA Board.

Glenda started her career in the Travel Industry in 1978 working at Atlas Travel in The Lord Nelson Arcade. In 1982, she was working as the Assistant Manager for Maritime Travel on Barrington St. and then later promoted to the position of Manager of the Barrington Place branch, which grew into the largest of their vast network of over 70 branches (at the time).

In 2004, an opportunity arose as Key Account Manager with My Travel representing Sunquest, Holiday House, Alba Tours and Network. It was an interesting change for Glenda and gave her great insight on the wholesale side of the business.

In July of 2005 Glenda had the privilege to secure a 6 month contract with the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency. Glenda was a Travel Coordinator working in Camp Julien in Kabul, Afghanistan assisting members of the Canadian Forces book their leave to either home or a 3rd location. From a personal point of view, this role was one of her most fulfilling and gave her the greatest sense of accomplishment she has had in her career.

Glenda returned to Halifax in December 2005 and after a few months sabbatical, was awarded the position of Travel Centre Manager at CAA in Halifax. Glenda now holds the position of Vice President, Retail and Service. CAA Atlantic has 8 branches and each of the mangers, the Regional Travel Manager and Groups Manager/Groups Coordinator all report into Glenda.

While this is a major responsibility, Glenda is committed to shaping the industry, giving her time to the ACTA regional advisory council and welcomes the opportunity to participate on the ACTA national Board of Directors.

8) First At-Large vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Louise Gardiner CTM of be elected to the ACTA Board.

Louise Gardiner has served as Member of the ACTA National Board for 2016-2019, and has been an active member of the ACTA Ontario Council and ACTA representative on the TICO Board of Directors since 2012. She welcomes the opportunity to continue her participation and offer her ability to strategically lead the ACTA organization through mission, vision, and strategic planning exercises with both short term and longterm objectives.

In addition to Louise’s strength in governance, she offers executive management experience in overseeing a multi-billion dollar retail sales and loyalty division including strategic planning and P&L accountability. She is a former leader of the CWT Associate Franchise program with 110 locations across Canada and oversaw all regulatory legislation for CWT Leisure including PCI, CASL, PIPEDA, CTA, TICO and ACTA. Adding another acronym to this “alphabet soup”, Louise is proud to have earned her ACTA Certified Travel Manager (CTM) designation.

Louise is committed in her preparation and participation in company and industry meetings and events. She managed CWT leisure meetings from three person team meetings to large 500+ annual conferences. Louise has held various positions on TICO committees including the Legislative Review and Audit committees.

Fully bilingual, Louise possesses excellent communication skills with a confidence to present to large, diverse meeting attendees, while engaging them with passion, creativity to secure buy in and enthusiasm within a constantly changing environment. Being a good listener with the ability to be open to different points of view is valuable when sitting around a boardroom table of your peers. Louise brings this along with a core competency to work collaboratively with team members.

Acknowledgement of Louise’s work has also been recognized with earning the KW Better Business Bureau Integrity Award as well as being nominated as Kitchener Waterloo Woman of the Year in 2002 for her philanthropy leadership as President of the Rotary Club in Kitchener.

Advocacy, Education, Promotion and Connection are levers that ACTA Canada uses to ensure that consumers have professional and meaningful travel counselling and Louise looks forward to continuing to contribute to the success of each pillar and to the Mission and Vision and subsequent strategies as set out by the current ACTA Board of Directors.

9) Second At-Large vacancy and proposed candidate
The Committee recommends that Richard Vanderlubbe of tripcentral.ca be elected to the ACTA Board.

Richard Vanderlubbe is the founder and owner of tripcentral.ca, a travel agency with 25 locations and a national website focused on leisure travel for Canadians. It has been in business under prior trade names since 1989 where it began as a single startup travel agency in Hamilton. Along the way, Richard has been a franchisee with two different brands, partnered with a public company and an independent operator, which allows him to see the diverse perspective of the industry.

Richard has been involved in industry affairs since the late 1990’s. Over the years, he was elected the Chair of ACTA Ontario, sat on the national board, and chaired ACTA National. He served on the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) Board of Directors from 2001-2006, 2009-2019 in various capacities including Chair, Vice Chair and most recently Chair of the Legislative and Regulatory Modernization Committee. He’s had the pleasure of serving on the ACTA Board as a “Director at large” for the past year.

There are many active files in the area of advocacy where ACTA has the ability to shape the environment for travel agencies, both at the federal and various provincial levels. In particular, in Ontario, there remains unfinished business in the Travel Industry Act Comprehensive review. The regulations are yet to be developed, and while the industry was promised a “comprehensive review”, the Government failed to deal with the compensation fund coverage, funding, or limits. This elephant remains in the room and requires an
active ACTA campaign of lobbying and communication.

Richard has seen progress in ACTA’s governance, however there is a lot or work and expectation for a small organization funded by voluntary membership. He would be delighted to continue as a director on the ACTA national Board of Directors.

Nominations
Should a member wish to stand for election for an available position on the proposed slate, they must identify which position(s) on the slate they are seeking to challenge and then obtain a nomination form from ACTA. The nomination form, signed by at least five voting Members, may be submitted to the Nominating Committee no later than 4 weeks prior to the Annual General Meeting and nominations must be received at ACTA by 5:00 p.m., EDT, May 17, 2019. In the event that a member wishes to challenge multiple positions, a separate nomination form must be submitted for each position.

Nominations should be directed to: