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John Snyder to step down July 1 as president and CEO after 30 years with BCD Travel

BORON CEO (and former BCD CFO) Stephan Baars named president and CEO

UTRECHT, The Netherlands, May 11, 2023 – After more than 30 years with the company, BCD Travel President and Chief Executive Officer John Snyder will step down on July 1, transitioning his responsibilities to current BORON CEO and former BCD Chief Financial Officer Stephan Baars.

“After three decades of doing what I love, there was never going to be an easy time to say goodbye and step away, but this is the right time,” Snyder said. “It was important to me to help get BCD well on the road to recovery, with the pandemic in our rearview mirror. As a testament to what a fundamentally strong company and culture we have here, we’ve maintained an extraordinary track record of client retention and sales success. We’ve rebuilt our teams with an eye on delivering the world’s very best travel solutions and customer service. And we have a clear path for our next phase of growth. I can say with full confidence that BCD’s best days are yet to come.”

A Wisconsin native, Snyder in 1992 joined what was then called WorldTravel Advisors. In various leadership roles, he helped guide the company through periods of rapid growth, including the 2006 acquisitions in Europe that led to the creation of the BCD Travel brand and established the company as a leading player on the global stage. In the years that followed the launch of BCD, Snyder oversaw acquisitions designed to meet the needs of a growing client base. In 2013 and 2019, the BTN Group named Snyder to its list of Top 25 Most Influential Business Travel Executives, citing his role in fueling BCD’s growth.

During Snyder’s time as president and CEO, he and BCD have earned numerous accolades that reflect the company’s core vision to be the world’s most trusted, innovative and sustainable travel management company. Among them, BCD has received EcoVadis’s top sustainability rating every year since 2016. In 2018, Corporate Responsibility Magazine named him “Responsible CEO of the Year.” In one of Snyder’s proudest achievements, readers of The Beat have recognized BCD as the “Most Admired TMC” a record 10 times.

Snyder turns the reins of BCD over to longtime friend and colleague Baars, a transition that speaks to the BCD culture.

“So robust is our culture that it lets us refer affectionately to ‘boomerang’ colleagues — people who leave for other opportunities but return to the BCD Travel family, drawn back by the strength of our values and our commitment to living them,” Snyder said. “Stephan has almost 14 years of travel industry experience, and I had the pleasure and privilege of working closely with him during his 11-year tenure as BCD Travel’s CFO. Stephan shares my conviction that client focus lies at the heart of a successful enterprise. He also  believes in the importance of people and innovation, and in long-standing relationships with business partners. His track record in steering companies through times of change and growth speaks to his skill in aligning commercial, operational, technology and central service teams toward common goals.”

“In his more than three decades with BCD Travel, John has accomplished an amazing body of work that has benefited not only our company but the entire travel industry,” Baars said. “I’m honored to follow in his footsteps and build on that incredible success. Like John, I’m a ‘people person,’ and I believe that perhaps his greatest legacy is promoting and nurturing a strong company culture, guided by core values that feed long-term success.”

A native of Hanover, Germany, Baars has three decades of executive leadership experience in the telecommunications, oil and gas production, business travel and investment sectors. In 2013, he became chairman of the Supervisory Board for BCD Travel Germany, a role he still holds today. In 2017, Baars left BCD Travel to become CEO of BORON, the private investment company of BCD founder John Fentener van Vlissingen. “As founder, I am grateful to John for his role in building BCD to what it is today. And I am confident that Stephan is the right person to guide our family company into the next, next generation,“ van Vlissingen said.

Bio and images
Bio John Snyder
Image John Snyder
Image Stephan Baars

About BCD Travel

BCD Travel helps companies make the most of what they spend on travel. We give travelers innovative tools that keep them safe and productive and help them make good choices on the road. We partner with travel and procurement leaders to simplify the complexities of business travel, drive savings and satisfaction, and move whole companies toward their goals. In short, we help our clients travel smart and achieve more. We make this happen in 106 countries with a global client retention rate of 97%, the highest in the industry. 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 and its subsidiary BCD Meetings & Events, global meetings and events agency) and Park ‘N Fly (off-airport parking). For more information, visit www.bcdgroup.com.

About BCD Meetings & Events

BCD Meetings & Events are experts at creating experiences that connect organizations with the people that matter most. With 2,000+ passionate people servicing clients in 60+ countries around the world, we offer services across event design, brand experience, meetings management, production and content, venue search and sports travel and hospitality. For more information, visit www.bcdme.com. BCD Meetings & Events is a division of BCD Travel Group.

About BCD Travel

BCD Travel helps companies travel smart and achieve more. We drive program adoption, cost savings and talent retention through digital experiences that simplify business travel. Our 15,000+ dedicated team members service clients in 170+ countries as we shape a sustainable future for business travel. BCD’s leading meetings and events management and global consultancy services complete our comprehensive suite of solutions for all aspects of corporate travel. In 2023, BCD achieved US$20.3 billion in sales. For more information, visit www.bcdtravel.com.