Former travel agency owner, Kathy Bedell, to lead BCD Travel Affiliates

UTRECHT, Netherlands, Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- BCD Travel announced today that Senior Vice President Kathy Bedell has been appointed to lead the company's Affiliates program.

The BCD Travel Affiliates program has a long track record of providing its partner agencies with outstanding programs, a global network, personal attention and responsive assistance.

A former travel agency owner, Bedell led the growth of her Ohio-based business from an annual turnover of $3 million to $300 million before BCD Travel acquired the business in January 1998. One of the earliest adopters of modern meetings technologies and the on-site travel service concept, Bedell has a history of tapping technology and innovation to help businesses succeed. In her 16 years with BCD Travel, she's led many of the company's most important accounts and played a critical role in its growth.

The organizational change lets Latin America President Barbara Blue, who previously headed the Affiliates program, direct more of her time and energy to the company's fastest-growing region and its leading economy, Brazil.

"Throughout 30 years in travel management, Kathy's helped clients find solutions to every imaginable challenge in building and maintaining effective air, hotel, ground transportation and meetings programs," said Mike Janssen, BCD Travel Global COO and Americas Region president. "Barbara will now build on her great success in growing BCD Travel's business in Latin America — expanding our network of partners; supporting regional sales, account management and technology; and helping to win bids in South American, including expansions of some of our biggest global multinational clients."

In addition to Bedell's leadership, BCD Travel Affiliates also will benefit from the experience of North America President Craig Bailey, who assumed leadership of the North America region in September.

About BCD Travel
BCD Travel helps companies make the most of what they spend on travel. For  traveler's, 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 more than 100 countries with more than 11,000 creative, committed and experienced people. And it's how we maintain an industry-leading client-retention rate of over 97%, with 2013 sales of US$22.4 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 12,000 people and operates in more than 100 countries with total sales, including US$ 9.2 billion partner sales, of US$ 24 billion. For more information, visit www.bcdgroup.com.

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SOURCE BCD Travel

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