Meet the finalists

Shaik Abid, International Travel Manager, Adobe

Cheryl Anne Neo, Regional Travel Manager, London Stock Exchange Group

Bianca Garrad, Corporate Contracts Senior Specialist, Perenti Group
16 - 17 April 2025 • Marina Bay Sands Singapore
The BTN Group is thrilled to announce the finalists for the inaugural APAC Travel Buyer of the Year Award, celebrating excellence and innovation in corporate travel management across the Asia-Pacific region.
Building on the 30 year success of the Business Travel Awards Europe where a European travel manager is recognised, as well as Business Travel News’ coveted Travel Manager of the Year and Best Practitioner awards, this award will be the first of its kind presented to the APAC travel buyer community and will be awarded to a travel buyer/manager who is based in the APAC region and/or oversees a global travel/meetings programme or is responsible for the APAC region of the travel/meetings programme. The award will be presented at the conclusion of the inaugural Business Travel Show APAC.
The APAC Travel Buyer of the Year award is judged by an independent panel of about 10 senior corporate travel buyers and independent travel management consultants. The BTN Group strives to ensure the diversity of the judging panel is reflective of our industry and includes representatives from across the APAC region, as well as from a variety of industries with managed travel programmes of varying scope and size. All judges are asked to keep the information contained in entries confidential and the BTN Group recuses judges from reviewing/scoring certain entries if there are conflicts of interest or if there is some specific/historic negative experience that would influence their judging.
The APAC Travel Buyer of the Year awards uses a two-stage judging process.
Stage 1: The judges individually review and score the stage one entries online. The BTN Group recuses judges from certain entries if there are conflicts of interest or if there is some specific/historic negative experience that would influence their judging. Using the criteria the BTN Group has established and a scoring rubric, the judges score the entries to determine the finalists.
Stage 2: The BTN editorial team will conduct extensive interviews with the buyer finalists, as well as any key suppliers that have supported their efforts to determine the winner.
How do I submit an awards entry?
You can submit your entry here.
What information do I need to submit an entry?
You can access the submission questions here.
How are the awards judged?
Initial entries are reviewed and scored by an independent panel of judges made up of experienced travel buyers and independent travel consultants. We hold our judges to the highest standards of fairness and integrity. The awards finalists are scored only by the judging panel whose scores and decisions are in no way be influenced by the event organisers, or any other outside influences. The top scoring entries will be identified as awards finalists and from there, the BTN editorial team will conduct extensive interviews with all finalists and their key suppliers that have supported their efforts to determine the winner.
Contact BTN Senior Director of Content Solutions and Conferences, Jen Bankard at jbankard@thebtngroup.com if you have any questions.