Meeting/Event Information

Ohio Valley Business Travel Association

Meeting Agenda, September 26^th, 2019

Doubletree Lakeside, Cleveland OH

This meeting has been approved for 3 GTP Continuing Education Credits for GBTA

Ask Us About Our Scholarship and Sponsorship Opportunities!

Speaker Bios

Patrick Linnihan is the President and CEO of Gant Travel Management, a travel agency that specializes in serving corporate travelers on the Concur Platform. While serving with Gant, the team has earned numerous innovation and operations awards. Recently, technology innovations include a turnkey virtual card program, an account/traveler self-service portal that enhances all aspects of account and travel management, and Gant's Interactive Assistant (GIA) program, a newly launched AI-enhanced chat service tool. A former Army officer and graduate of West Point and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, he and his wife raise a family in the Milwaukee area.

Nadim Hajje has over 15 years of travel industry experience ranging from Leisure, Corporate, and Government travel. He started in the industry working at TUI Marine as Yield Manager for Sailing Yacht Charter Holiday company, Sunsail. In past 5 years, he has served as Vice President of Technology and Data Analytics at Omega World Travel where he has built Omegalytics. Omegalytics is Omega’s proprietary analytics platform that provides insight into travel and expense data as well as saving opportunities, benchmark, and call center metrics. Omegalytics was finalist for 2015 Most Innovative Product of Year by Business Travel News. Recently, Nadim has developed Alexa skills for Duty of Care, OmegaCare, where in 5 seconds, you can know where your travelers are. It was featured in Business Travel News, The Company Dime, Phocuswire, and Travel Weekly. Omegalytics Alexa Skill was also published where in 5 seconds, you can know everything about your travel data.

Teresa M. Stafford serves at the Chief Advocacy Officer at Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, the largest independent rape crisis center in the nation. The Center is a non-profit organization that leverages 65 employees and 100+ volunteers to reach more than 40,000 people annually. Its mission is to support survivors of rape and sexual abuse, promote healing and prevention and advocate for social change in our community.

Teresa has over 20 years of experience providing direct service to both offenders and victims of crime, with a specialization in sexual violence, domestic violence and families of homicide victims. As Chief Advocacy Officer, Teresa advocates for system change needed to create a climate that is trauma informed for all survivors. She provides support, consultation and training to staff and the community at large both locally and nationally. She provides expertise and consultation to communities developing their Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART), training to law enforcement agencies regarding the dynamics of sexual violence, human trafficking, intimate partner violence and working with sexual assault survivors. Teresa specializes in working with faith-based communities, multi-disciplinary teams and systems to enhance their ability to respond to all in a trauma informed manner. She is a social justice activist who is committed to eliminating factors that marginalize survivors and increase their ability to access services.

Prior to joining CRCC, she held the position of Witness-Victim Coordinator for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, where she oversaw the creation of the Witness Victim Unit. Teresa also provides mentorship to new advocates in the field and is a leader with the Women of Color Caucus in Ohio. She is the founder and principal consultant for Inspiring Change, LLC where she is dedicated to shifting thoughts through transformative conversations that inspire individuals and organizations to flourish. Teresa is also a contract consultant with International Association of Chief of Police and RTI International.

In addition to her current role, Teresa is the Cuyahoga and Lake County SART Coordinator, a member of the Ohio Attorney General’s SART Training Team, advisory board member for Safe Harbor Docket, Cuyahoga County Untested Sexual Assault Kit Taskforce member, and former Board President for Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence. Teresa has received several awards over her career including the Gloria Pointer Award for Supporting Families of Victims, Peter DeMarco Exemplary Service Award, National Sexual Violence Resource Center Visionary Award and 2018 Robert Denton Achievement Award. Teresa is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and graduated from Tiffin University majoring in Criminal Justice Administration.