American Express Global
Business Travel is adopting a “global, segment-driven model” in which it will intensify
its focus on two segments: global and multinational (GMN) businesses
and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Jason Geall takes on the newly created role of executive vice president, global SME at Amex GBT
The new strategy sees the
promotion of Jason Geall from senior vice president & general manager EMEA
to the newly created position of executive vice president, global SME, reflecting
the TMC’s belief in the potential of the sector.
Geall first joined the
company in 2015 as VP and regional general manager for the UK & Nordics.
Meanwhile, David Reimer, who
was EVP global client group and general manager Americas, will lead the GMN
side of the business as EVP of global, multinational.
Manuel Brachet, vice president and commercial lead of Egencia, which was acquired by Amex GBT in 2021, will work closely with Geall and Reimer, said the TMC.
“Having market-leading solutions for
each of the segments we serve has put us in a very strong position,” the
company’s VP of public affairs, Martin Ferguson, told BTN Europe. “To
accelerate growth, drive consistency and deliver unrivalled value to customers,
we are moving to a global, segment-driven model. Our management structure and
operating model will therefore become global and segment driven.”
David Reimer becomes executive vice president of global, multinational at the TMC
The company’s chief executive
Paul Abbott has previously described the SME sector as the “largest,
fastest-growing and highest-margin segment” and the TMC’s assessment of it was set out in investor disclosures and presentations filed in the run-up to its
going public last year, as reported
by BTN Europe sister publication The Beat (report requires subscription).
In the company’s most
recent trading update, GBT said transactions among its SME customers hit 80
per cent of 2019 levels in the third quarter of 2022 while large client transactions
came in at only 61 per cent.
Furthermore, of the $4.1
billion in new client wins it secured in the previous 12 months, $2.5 billion
has come from SME clients, said Abbott. Of those SMEs, about half of the
clients previously did not have managed travel programmes.
In other recently announced moves, chief revenue
officer Michael
Qualantone will retire in June after 34 years with the TMC while Drew
Crawley has been appointed president of the company.