Texas Roadhouse President Accepts Award for Meeting Travel Advocacy
In the last year, the meetings industry has been hit especially hard by travel industry critics. Uneven media coverage of travel for incentive programs, meetings and events have caused some uneasiness in both the American people and politicians. Travel has largely been undervalued as a whole due to the “AIG effect”. In recognition of his encouraging voice during a diffi cult time for the meetings industry, the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) selected G.J. Hart, Texas Roadhouse Director, President and CEO, to receive the prestigious 2009 PCMA Chair- man’s Award. PCMA honored Hart at the 2010 PCMA Annual Meeting held in Dallas. In light of bad publicity, many companies and businesses slashed travel spending, a ripple effect that extended far beyond the hospi-
tality industry, in essence, causing economic consequences in both related and seemingly unrelated businesses and industries. A limited number of people took an active role in supporting meetings, events and incentive travel like Hart did. His leadership in this realm should be looked to as a strong example for others in the industry. Hart supported the incentive travel program on behalf of Texas Roadhouse by hosting a multi-million dollar week of meetings in
San Francisco. One-thousand managing partners and their spouses gathered for an all-expense paid reward and recognition program. CNBC covered the story as Hart championed the value of meetings. During the interview Hart highlighted the cost-effectiveness of meetings, explaining the investment and value was worth the cost. He eloquently explained that meetings have extraordinary value during diffi cult economic times. “The PCMA Chairman’s Award is the highest honor PCMA bestows each year to someone who has been important to the industry,”
said 2009 PCMA Chairman, John Folks. “G.J. proved an important voice and advocate for the value of meetings at a crucial time and deserves to be recognized for his bravery and eloquence in the face of an anti-meetings media fi restorm.”
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MIDWEST MEETINGS SPRING 2010
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