Kansas City, Missouri, June 2007 – For the past 21 years, it has been Ernst & Young’s incredible honor to recognize excellence in business and the tremendous efforts of entrepreneurs. These men and women have tackled adversity and risen to change the world as we know it. They create jobs, support their communities, and provide the products and services that help drive the economy.
Ernst & Young is pleased to recognize All About Travel, Inc. as a 2007 Finalist.
We all applaud the leadership and success that each of the finalists and award winners has achieved. We are pleased to bring you their stories of success and inspiration!
2007 FINALISTS
All About Travel, Inc.
Brent Blake and Gary Davis
Inspired by the book Good to Great, Brent Blake and Gary Davis took a perfectly good travel agency and transformed it into something great by developing strong client relationships and deploying forward-thinking technology. Today, All About Travel is Kansas City’s largest locally-owned corporate and leisure-travel company.
As co-presidents, they have grown revenues 400 percent in 10 years by transforming their company from a traditional travel agency to a corporate travel-management firm. All About Travel has three divisions: a corporate travel center, a meetings and incentives called Cypress, and Platinum Vacations, a leisure travel for businesses, monitoring travel and entertainment spending, assisting with employee travel, handling travel crises. It offers large customers an on-site employee who spends all of his or her time serving that corporate client.
When they took over in 1999, they make a few key changes that boosted the fortunes of All About Travel. They altered the firm’s pay structure to a variable, performance-based system, allowing high-achieving employees to earn substantially larger incomes when they meet measureable goals. The team implemented technology to help clients proactively manage the risk associated with business travel, delivering unique products like Cliqbook , an online booking tool that rivals consumer-driven web sites like Expedia and Orbitz. Gary and Brent also consolidated all company business units into one corporate headquarters.
All About Travel serves many of the Midwest’s largest corporations, including Russell Stover Candies, American Century Investments, Payless Shoe Source and Zimmer Companies, making it amoung the top 1 percent of travel agencies nationwide named All About Travel to is All-Time Winners Honor Roll for fastest-growing companies. A mainstay on the list for 11 of 13 years, All About Travel was the only Kansas City-based travel company to make the honor roll.
Brent and Gary set the tone at All About Travel, focusing on advancing employees’ professional development, the pursuit of excellence, and profitable growth. They apply the “help others develop†philosophy and support numerous Kansas City nonprofits through volunteer work, donations, and contributions of travel packages for charity auctions.
Article contents taken from the Advertising Supplement to the Kansas City Star, June 2007