Meet the Judges
We're committed to honest and transparent judging...
The finalists and winners of The Business Travel People Awards are selected by a panel of independent and impartial judges.
They are astute and highly-respected figures representing a range of knowledge, expertise and skills from across the business travel sector.
To ensure complete impartiality, each judge is required to declare any conflicts of interest to the Judges Chair before being given access to the submissions.
Each judge is then allocated specific categories and will extensively study each entry in that category.
The judges will score and comment on each submission and this will be used to determine which candidates will be shortlisted.
Successful nominees are contacted in person towards the end of May before the final shortlist is announced on thebusinesstravelmag.com and in The Business Travel Magazine.
The number of shortlisted candidates in each category will depend on the quality of the entries.
Judges get together virtually in early July to choose the winners.
Shortlisted candidates for the Rising Star and Shining Star categories are also interviewed in person by the judges before a winner is chosen.
Following tradition, the winner of the Rising Star Award will become a judge in this category for the following year’s awards.
In order to support the impartial process, feedback on any submissions cannot be shared.
Our Judges
Carlos Almendros
Carlos Almendros is the Director Travel, Card & Marketing at Cisco Systems, Inc., a leading technology firm based in San Jose, California. With over 84,000 employees and $55 billion in annual revenue, he leads a diverse team spanning four countries, focusing on delivering a world-class travel and marketing category prioritising safety, innovation, cost optimisation and sustainability. He was recently promoted to oversee Cisco’s Marketing and Communication category, managing procurement activities for over 93 countries. His commitment to excellence and continuous improvement drives his involvement in global advisory meetings and initiatives.
Elizabeth Anderson
Manager of Global Travel Operations at Inmarsat (recently acquired by Viasat), Elizabeth started her career working as a travel agent following her IATA/UFTAA certification. Since joining Inmarsat in 2014, Elizabeth has worked in a number of business travel-related roles at the company with her main remit being in travel risk management.
Cristina Chimenti
Cristina Chimenti is Head of Global Travel at Sky and has been at the company since 2011, having picked up travel procurement in 2017. She covers Sky UK, Sky Italy, and Sky Germany, with a combined yearly spend of $100m across the three territories including Sky News and Sky Sport specific programmes and manages a travel population of 34,000 people. Since 2020, Chimenti has included Meetings and Events and Credit Cards in her portfolio and is always working on implementing additional innovations to drive compliance and savings in the travel category. In 2022 she won the People Awards Travel Buyer of the Year, was highly commended in the travel manager category at the Business Travel Awards and won the ITM Rising Star Travel Manager in 2020. Since 2020, Cristina has also been involved with ITM as a Board Director and more recently joined two GBTA committees on Payments and DE&I. Cristina is also a former board member and CFO at Women in Banking and Finance (WIBF), Glasgow Print Studio and a former Chair of children’s arts charity Giant
Leigh Cowlishaw, Judges Chair
Joint Managing Partner of business travel consultancy Black Box Partnerships, Leigh has more than 25 years’ experience in travel, accommodation, and meetings. Cowlishaw is former Chair of the HBAA, and former interim Global Supplier Partnership Director for the Advantage Travel Partnership. Leigh has been the chair of the judges for over 6 years.
Paul Dowdy
Paul Dowdy is Category Manager EMEA Procurement for Travel and Marketing at Chubb Insurance. He is an experienced indirect and direct purchasing professional with over 30 years of service with Diversey, Unilever, Sealed Air and currently for Chubb Insurance. He has a proven track record of delivering both commercial and process improvements across an international arena in specific categories, especially within travel and implementing change management procedures while improving critical business service and performance levels, with a penchant to attention to detail and a ‘right first time’ goal on any implementation initiatives.
James Foice
James is the CEO of the Association of Serviced Apartment Providers, the trade body for serviced apartments. James has 37 years’ experience in the hospitality and travel sector and has orchestrated the introduction of the International Serviced Accommodation Accreditation Process (ISAAP) which has 154 participants, in 27 countries.
Lynne Griffiths
CEO of Sirius Talent Solutions, Lynne began her career in the travel industry as a trainee business travel consultant in 1984, progressing through senior management roles to Managing Director of a leading TMC. In 2003, Lynne founded Sirius; a specialist recruitment and headhunting firm dedicated to the business travel industry. In response to the global pandemic, Sirius introduced additional services, including outsourced HR, training, coaching and mentoring programmes, winning the company the Business Transformation Initiative of the Year in the 2021 Business Travel People Awards. Lynne was also recognised for her contribution to, and support of, the business travel industry by winning the Shining Star Award in 2022.
Calum Hawley
Karen Hutchings
Formerly EY Global Head of Travel, Meetings & Events, Karen Hutchings founded Cobb & Hutch Consulting in January 2024 and co-founded AI-powered tech platform Pioneera in September 2025. As part of Cobb & Hutch Consulting, she is on the Board of HeadBox and acts as a strategic advisor to HeadBox and Silverdoor. Additionally she is supporting Badge and Clarasight. At EY, Hutchings managed US$2.1bn travel spend and $400m in meetings and events spend and became renowned for the adoption of alternative technologies to support the EY programme. She has won numerous industry awards and was voted one of the top 25 most influential in the travel industry in 2015, 2018 and 2023. Previously she led the travel meetings and events team at AIG, was ASPAC and EMEIA Regional Travel Head at Citi and Global Head of Travel at Merrill Lynch.
Dani Ives
Dani began her career age 19 in the Marine travel sector with Instone International. She soon moved into supplier relations at ATPI before moving to Advantage Travel Partnership, where she was named in the ‘TTG 30 Under 30’, and then onto Focus Travel Partnership as Events Manager in 2020. Dani was promoted to Commercial Manager with Focus in 2023 having undertaken a variety of roles within the partnership including technology supplier relations, PR, Social Media, and the ongoing Focus Events planning. In 2021 Dani won the first ever coveted Shining Star award at the Business Travel People Awards, highlighting her continued exceptional dedication and contributions in the Business Travel industry.
Juliette Jackman
Juliette Jackman is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the corporate travel industry, excelling as both a buyer and supplier. Renowned for her technology-driven approach and innovative thinking, she has led cross-functional and international teams to deliver exceptional results. Notable roles include her time as Senior Manager at Deloitte, Travel Programme Manager at Wood Plc, and Head of Business Development for EMEA at TripBam, where she championed sustainability, growth, and industry-leading client retention strategies. Fluent in French, with additional proficiency in German and Spanish, she also holds a degree in European Business. She is an active member of GBTA and ITM and has been recognised with multiple awards for her contributions to the industry.
Jan T. Jacobsen
With 26 years of senior-level and entrepreneurial career experience in the global hospitality and travel industries, Jan offers a wealth of expertise in sourcing, procurement, vendor management and programme development. A Corporate Travel Manager specialising in multi-national programme management in the corporate travel and meetings sector, he is currently Global Category Director Travel & Mobility Accenture.
Darren Jeacock
Darren Jeacock is Associate Director Global Airline and Ground Programme Manager Global Supply Chain Services for EY, where he began his business travel career 11 years ago as Assistant Travel Manager for EMEIA. Following the successful launch of the travel agency, he moved to the supplier category managing the hotel programme in Asia Pacific and EMEIA and then to a newly-created role with overall responsibility for the travel supplier category. In addition, Darren manages EY’s global Corporate Jet Programme and meals suppliers. Following a review of the supplier category in April 2024, he moved to a newly-created role overseeing the global airline and ground transportation programme, focusing on optimisation of the company’s deals. The combined programme has an annual spend of US $1bn. Before EY he worked at Marks & Spencer PLC and J. Sainsbury’s PLC.
Barbara Kolosinska
Barbara Kolosinska is Managing Director and Co-Owner at C&M Travel Recruitment. She has worked extensively in the travel industry for three decades and is firmly established as one of the sector’s key figures. After enjoying roles at Air Jet and Holiday Autos, Kolosinska has spent 25 years at C&M, the UK’s largest specialist travel recruitment company, working her way up to become Managing Director and Co-Owner. She also holds a place on the Board of Directors at the Institute of Travel and Tourism and was voted one of the most influential women in travel.
Emma Lamb
Emma is the Global Travel Safety & Security Specialist for Milestone Tech @ Facebook, looking at all areas of travel risk best practices, training and education. She was previously the Global Travel Safety and Security Coordinator at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for seven years, helping to build and establish the Travel Safety Program.
Wayne Lappage
Wayne Lappage is Senior Global Travel and Expense Manager at Yunex Traffic and is an ITM Buyer Board Director. With over 18 years’ experience in the TMC sector and eight years as a buyer, he has proven success in designing and delivering sustainable travel programmes for number of diverse global organisations, helping them gain control and visibility of their travel spend. Previously he worked at the London Stock Exchange Group as Multi Regional Travel Manager, at Mondelez as Senior Travel Category Manager EMEA and APAC and as Travel Manager EMEA and APAC for Palo Alto Networks
Zander Gregor
Sonia Michaels
Sonia is Head of Business Travel Services and Events for the Advantage Travel Partnership with 25 years’ experience working in the travel industry. Sonia joined Advantage in 2009, originally appointed as Business Development Executive but quickly progressed to Corporate Relationship Manager, before moving into the Head of Business Travel role in 2014. Currently, Sonia is responsible for the consortium’s overall business travel and events proposition. Sonia was appointed to the Level UK Leadership team in April 2019.
Kate Scully
Kate Scully joined Smith+Nephew December 2025 in the role of Global Category Manager for Travel. Kate is a subject matter expert in global corporate Travel & Expense (T&E), with more than 15 years’ experience building and shaping high‑performing travel programmes across complex international organisations. She has established a reputation for strategic leadership, and her ability to manage multi‑million‑dollar category portfolios with a strong focus on service and measurable business impact.
Kate has held senior roles at Howden Group Holdings, Allied (G4S), and Petrofac, and been a consultant for Balfour Beatty amongst others. Her expertise spans global RFP leadership, VAT reclaim strategy, supplier optimisation, and large‑scale technology transformation
Clive Wratten
Clive was appointed to the position of Chief Executive of The BTA in 2019. Clive joined The BTA from private equity backed travel partnership company Amber Road, where he was Chief Executive Officer. Clive spent eight years as General Manager UK at Etihad Airways. Clive joined Etihad Airways from HRG as Head of International Business Group and has also held senior positions with Gulf Air, Qantas and British Airways.
Carol Fergus
Carol is Director of Global Travel, Events and Ground Transportation for Fidelity International with over 30 years Travel experience. Carol has an MSc in Facilities Management and is CIPS qualified. Recently appointed on the GBTA Europe Advisory board, she is also Vice Chair of their Diversity Equality & Inclusion strand as well as Co-Leading the TAMS DI&E group. She has written and critiqued key topics in various travel magazines, sat on panels, steering committees and spoken at many industry events.
Deborah Short
Global travel, meetings, card and expense leader with 20+ years of experience delivering scalable programmes across multiple industries. Proven track record of partnering with senior stakeholders to optimise end-to-end travel and expense strategy, strengthen governance and compliance, and enhance colleague experience through process redesign and digital enablement. Known for building high-performing teams, driving supplier and commercial value, and leading change at enterprise scale.
Margaret Mann
Margaret Mann is the Membership Services Director at beam, one of the UK’s leading industry associations for the business events, accommodation, and meetings sector. With over 13 years of specialised experience, Margaret is a central figure in driving the association’s mission to champion best practice, ethical standards, and positive change across the industry.
Margaret’s career began with a focus on global destination marketing, where she worked extensively with Convention Bureaus and DMOs for major international hubs including Japan, Thailand, and New York City. This background provided her with a deep understanding of the global business travel ecosystem, having spent over a decade supporting a diverse range of stakeholders—from CVBs and airlines to venues and event planners—to facilitate high-impact international events.
Kathryn Kearns
Kathryn is a Global Travel and Procurement Manager with over two decades of experience in corporate travel, procurement, and facilities management. She specialises in global programme management, sourcing strategy, vendor management, travel risk, and operational transformation, with a proven track record of delivering and optimising complex, multi-regional travel programmes for multinational organisations and family offices.
Throughout her career, Kathryn has led global travel operations across a range of industries, including oil and gas, finance, and professional services. She partners closely with senior stakeholders, C-suite leadership, finance, IT, and legal teams to drive cost efficiency, strengthen compliance, and enhance both traveller experience and safety across global programmes.
Darren Jeacock
Darren is an Associate Director at EY and serves as the Global Airline Program Manager within the Global Supply Chain Services team. He’s responsible for sourcing and management of EY’s global airline program. With nearly 20 years at EY and close to 14 years in the travel industry, Darren brings extensive experience in strategic sourcing, supplier partnerships, and global travel operations.