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ICANN Travel Management Company Review: Ensuring Excellence in Travel Services

5 August 2024
By
Sally Costerton

Sally Costerton

Sr. Advisor to President & SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement and Interim President & CEO

Sr. Advisor to President & SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement and Interim President & CEO

Sally is an experienced global leader. She has served as Senior Advisor to the President and Senior Vice President, Global Stakeholder Engagement (GSE) since 2012, and is also currently serving as ICANN's Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. In her role, she is responsible for ICANN's international offices and internationalization strategy. Her direct reports include the regional office managing directors and regional vice presidents, as well as the vice presidents of Meetings and Public Responsibility Support (PRS). Most recently, Sally led the development phase of the ICANN Grant Program, the Emergency Support Infrastructure Project and ICANN organization's contributions to the Anti-Harassment Board Working Group. Under the GSE function, she leads the GSE, Meetings, and Public Responsibility Support teams.

Prior to joining ICANN, Sally led one of Europe's largest public relations firms, Hill & Knowlton, as EMEA CEO. In this role, she was responsible for more than 1,000 staff members in 33 offices. Throughout her career, Sally has worked with diverse international companies and senior leaders to maximize their resources and build strong relationships with their stakeholders. She is an experienced Board Director, including roles as Board Chair.

 and
Ergys Ramaj

Ergys Ramaj

VP, Public Responsibility Support

Ergys' professional career spans over 18 years in global technology policy, management and public diplomacy roles.

He joined ICANN in October 2013 and currently serves as VP, Public Responsibility. In this capacity, Ergys oversees ICANN's newcomer programs, online learning platform, and core public responsibility functional areas that touch on the global public interest, human rights and diversity.

Prior to joining ICANN, Ergys worked in various capacities for the U.S. government, the Woodrow Wilson Center and the U.S. National Democratic Institute.

Ergys received his Bachelors in International Affairs and Masters in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.

Ergys has worked, lived and studied in several different countries. He is trilingual in English, Albanian and Greek, fluent in Italian, and conversational in Russian and Spanish.

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement and excellence, we periodically review ICANN's service providers to ensure alignment with our evolving needs and to assure they are delivering the best possible value. Our current focus is on our travel management company, or travel agency. Given the significant changes in the travel industry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are conducting a thorough review to ensure that we have the right partner to support ICANN's very specific needs.

Need for Review

In recent years, the global travel industry has faced unprecedented challenges, including significant technological advances, mergers, acquisitions, and overall loss of talent. Since fully resuming travel in 2023, ICANN has noticed and been affected by these changes. This review aims to ensure ICANN's travel program remains resilient and adaptable. This is part of our ongoing effort to ensure continuous improvement and alignment with business needs.

Project Goals

The primary goal of this review is to identify a travel partner that meets ICANN's needs in this changed travel landscape. We aim to identify a travel management company that best matches ICANN's needs now and into the future.

Review Methodology and Strategy

We have conducted a thorough review involving internal and external assessments. This included analyzing current travel needs, gathering feedback from stakeholders, reviewing the latest travel market conditions, and comparing a large pool of potential travel management companies.

We have narrowed our selection and released a request for proposals. We will finalize our choice through cost and capability comparisons in the coming weeks. We are on track to meet our established deadlines, which include an announcement of the selected travel management company in November 2024 and the expectation that the selected vendor, if changed, will begin supporting ICANN in January 2025.

Partnering with Festive Road

To support this initiative, we have engaged a third-party company called Festive Road, a leading consultancy in travel management strategy and sourcing. Festive Road's approach focuses on cultural alignment, capabilities, and commercial criteria to ensure the best fit for ICANN. Their proven methodology and extensive experience in delivering successful travel management sourcing projects will be invaluable in guiding us through this review process.

Next Steps

We are committed to conducting this review with clarity and thoroughness. Our goal is to ensure that ICANN continues to receive the highest-quality travel services that are aligned with our strategic objectives. We will keep you updated on our progress and look forward to sharing the outcomes of this critical project.

Authors

Sally Costerton

Sally Costerton

Sr. Advisor to President & SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement and Interim President & CEO
Sally Costerton

Sally Costerton

Sr. Advisor to President & SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement and Interim President & CEO

Sr. Advisor to President & SVP, Global Stakeholder Engagement and Interim President & CEO

Sally is an experienced global leader. She has served as Senior Advisor to the President and Senior Vice President, Global Stakeholder Engagement (GSE) since 2012, and is also currently serving as ICANN's Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. In her role, she is responsible for ICANN's international offices and internationalization strategy. Her direct reports include the regional office managing directors and regional vice presidents, as well as the vice presidents of Meetings and Public Responsibility Support (PRS). Most recently, Sally led the development phase of the ICANN Grant Program, the Emergency Support Infrastructure Project and ICANN organization's contributions to the Anti-Harassment Board Working Group. Under the GSE function, she leads the GSE, Meetings, and Public Responsibility Support teams.

Prior to joining ICANN, Sally led one of Europe's largest public relations firms, Hill & Knowlton, as EMEA CEO. In this role, she was responsible for more than 1,000 staff members in 33 offices. Throughout her career, Sally has worked with diverse international companies and senior leaders to maximize their resources and build strong relationships with their stakeholders. She is an experienced Board Director, including roles as Board Chair.

Ergys Ramaj

Ergys Ramaj

VP, Public Responsibility Support
Ergys Ramaj

Ergys Ramaj

VP, Public Responsibility Support

Ergys' professional career spans over 18 years in global technology policy, management and public diplomacy roles.

He joined ICANN in October 2013 and currently serves as VP, Public Responsibility. In this capacity, Ergys oversees ICANN's newcomer programs, online learning platform, and core public responsibility functional areas that touch on the global public interest, human rights and diversity.

Prior to joining ICANN, Ergys worked in various capacities for the U.S. government, the Woodrow Wilson Center and the U.S. National Democratic Institute.

Ergys received his Bachelors in International Affairs and Masters in International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University.

Ergys has worked, lived and studied in several different countries. He is trilingual in English, Albanian and Greek, fluent in Italian, and conversational in Russian and Spanish.

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