Travel and Meetings/Event Management Professional

SUSAN D CHAMBERLAIN

Brookline, NH ***** 603-***-****

***************@*****.*** www.linkedin.com/in/sdchamberlain18 TRAVEL & MEETINGS MANAGEMENT LEADER

Passion for Service Excellence, Spend Transparency, Traveler Satisfaction and Safety and Security Accomplished professional with a broad knowledge of travel and meetings management, demonstrating a clear understanding of industry trends and best practices with a focus on cost savings/avoidance. Expert with VIP Travel, maintaining the highest of service standards. Adept at leading the transition from a Corporate Travel Department to a Travel Management Company. Skilled in creating and implementing a centralized meeting planning department for all meetings of 10 or more attendees. Passion for traveler safety and security. Demonstrates good judgment and a commitment to service excellence to internal and external stakeholders.

• Corporate Travel Management

• Meetings & Event Management

• Corporate Card Management

• Spend Transparency

• Traveler Safety and Security

• Policy Compliance

• Relationship Building

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE, Waltham, MA

Director, Travel & Meetings Management (2008 to 2017) Responsible for management and tracking of the Company’s North American travel and meetings program, with more than $46 million in direct spend. Led team of 9 travel and meeting professionals. Managed the transition from a Corporate Travel Department (CTD) and implementation of a Travel Management Company (TMC). Formulated the transition and implementation plan to a new TMC which delivered significant cost reductions and service enhancements after legacy TMC contract expired in 2013.

• Managed $70M Corporate Card Program, reducing losses and increasing spend and company incentive.

• Co-managed implementation of automated expense management system with IT, including rolling out tool to 5 separate divisions, reducing reimbursement time from 1+ weeks to 3 days which allowed for better spend transparency.

• Identified and redesigned travel process and / or system bottlenecks and inefficiencies, driving service improvements and reducing costs across the travel program.

• Developed Travel Risk Management and Duty of Care protocol with TMC to identify travelers that could be affected by political unrest, catastrophic event, airline strike, inclement weather, etc., allowing organization to identify location and communicate with travelers at all times in the event of an emergency. Partnered with Medical Office to communicate health precautions to travelers regarding Zika virus, Avian flu, etc.

• Owned the Travel & Expense Reimbursement Policy, included communication and training. Frequent communication of policy allowed for increase in preferred vendor usage, cost reduction and spend transparency.

• Worked closely with in-house disaster recovery team and field dialysis clinics, finding alternate housing and transportation for clinical staff affected by hurricane, flooding, etc.

• Served as member of various cost saving task forces, working closely with stakeholders and procurement to identify areas of focus that reduced costs.

• Collaborated with procurement and finance to implement UNSPSC global product & services classification for better spend analysis and transparency.

• Managed annual hotel RFP process, resulting in annual incremental savings (vs cost avoidance).

• Partnered with Health, Safety and Risk on preferred hotel program, identifying safest hotels for travelers.

• Built and maintained partnerships with TMC, airlines, hotels, event management and car rentals, building trust amongst each other, focusing on win-win for both client and supplier.

• Educated travelers and executive assistants: online booking tool, T&E tool, TMC travel tools, travel policy, allowing travelers to better understand policy and available tools for more efficient use.

• Nominated by peers for Exceptional Customer Service award. Susan D Chamberlain ***************@*****.*** Page 2 Manager, Meetings Management (2004 to 2008)

Led team of meeting planners responsible for planning 200+ meetings annually.

• Created and implemented centralized meeting planning department for all meetings of 10 or more attendees, allowing budget, contract and preferred vendor review. Review of contracts increased savings spend transparency and mitigated risk.

• Evaluated program history, budget constraints/requirements, contractual provisions and internal requests; developed and determined program requirements, including site selection, hotel contract, negotiations and rooming list, food and beverage, audio visual, entertainment, group air, ground transportation.

• Negotiated contracts based on guidelines from corporate legal, mitigating risk and increasing cost effectiveness without sacrificing safety or service.

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

PAYMENTECH, Salem, NH (formerly DMGT, Corp & Litle & Co.), Travel Administrator CARLSON TRAVEL NETWORK, Ft Lauderdale, FL, Business Travel Consultant AMERICAN EXPRESS, Memphis, TN, Unit Leader and Business Travel Consultant EDUCATION

Associate in Travel and Tourism

BECKER COLLEGE, Worcester, MA

TECHNOLOGY

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Lotus Notes, Sabre, SAP T&E, Concur Travel, GetThere PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Member, Association of Travel Executives (ACTE)

Direct Member, Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Direct Member, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT

Selected Member, Delta Airlines – Boston Corporate Council 2016 to 2017 Selected Member, Associated Luxury Hotels (ALHI) – Industry Advisory Council 2004 to 2017 Selected Member, Mohegan Sun Resort – Hospitality Industry Advisory Council 2002 to 2005 COMMUNITY AND GLOBAL INVOLVEMENT

Home Health and Hospice Care / hospice volunteer and alternate team lead We Honor Veterans Program Habitat for Humanity Global Village / home build / volunteer Mending Kids / medical mission / non-medical volunteer

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