WINiT for Women, a career development network for women in the travel, meeting, event, and exhibition industries, is being acquired by the Global Business Travel Association. The announcement came at GBTA’s annual convention being held this week in San Diego, the same conference the network was launched at four years ago.
The non-profit organization was founded by Michelle (Mick) Lee in response to a lack of female representation at senior executive levels and at speaking engagements in the travel and hospitality industry, and now has more than 3,000 members in 40 countries. "I founded WINiT to drive long-term change for women across our industries,” said Lee, president of the organization and managing director of ARROW212. “As WINiT entered its fifth year, it became clear that merging with GBTA would advance our mission. Its global footprint, industry reach, and shared vision were obvious points of synergy—ones we believe will facilitate the next stage of growth.”
"Merging WINiT into GBTA allows us to take WINiT’s mission worldwide,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO. “We look forward to bringing WINiT content to GBTA events across the globe, and also finding unique ways to engage WINiT members focused on meetings and exhibitions.”
WINiT’s events and educational offerings will continue under GBTA, staffed by WINiT team members Dawn Repoli, Laura Richey, and Sue Wyslick. GBTA says it will make an announcement this fall about forming of a senior-level advisory board for the group.
