Director, Global Travel Operations, Corporate Card & Meetings Management

Allstate • McCullom Lake, IL

12d • $167,500 - $229,750 • Hybrid

About The Position

This role provides enterprise-wide leadership for Allstate’s global travel, meetings & events, corporate card, and travel & expense ecosystem across a complex, regulated, multinational environment. The Director serves as the operational owner and strategic integrator of travel operations, payment programs, meetings governance, duty of care, supplier performance, traveler experience, and financial controls—translating enterprise strategy, supplier agreements, and policy into consistent, compliant, and scalable operational outcomes. The role sits at the intersection of Procurement, Finance, Risk, Security, HR, Technology, Legal, and Internal Audit, requiring strong executive presence, operational rigor, and the ability to lead through influence. Accountability includes governance, risk mitigation, cost optimization, and employee experience across approximately $180M+ in annual global T&E-related spend.

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive leadership in global travel operations, meetings management, corporate card/T&E programs, or adjacent enterprise operations.
• Demonstrated ownership of enterprise-wide programs in large, complex, regulated organizations.
• Deep experience with supplier negotiations, governance, and performance oversight.
• Strong financial and analytical acumen managing large budgets, KPIs, and risk controls.
• Proven success leading cross-functional initiatives across Finance, Procurement, Security, Technology, Risk, and Audit.
• A digital native demonstrates strong fluency with technology, effectively navigating digital tools, platforms, and data to communicate, create, and collaborate. They also exhibit adaptability and self-directed learning, quickly adopting new technologies and leveraging digital resources to drive efficiency and innovation.
• Executive-level communication skills with the ability to influence without authority.
• Track record of operational transformation, process improvement, and technology adoption.
• Relationship-based role: Acts as a strategic partner responsible for building and maintaining end-to-end stakeholder relationships across all touchpoints, ensuring alignment, trust, and long-term value—rather than focusing solely on individual, one-time transactions or task completion.

Nice To Haves

• MBA or advanced degree.
• Professional certifications (GTP, CMP, or similar).
• Hands-on experience with platforms such as Concur, SAP, Workday, Cvent, and/or new disruptive technological solutions supporting New Distribution Capability (NDC).
• Background in insurance, financial services, healthcare, or other highly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with global duty of care standards, travel risk frameworks, and ESG-driven travel strategies.
• Active engagement in industry forums, boards, or peer networks to bring modern practices into the enterprise.

Responsibilities

• Global business travel operations and policy
• Corporate card and T&E payment strategy (individual, virtual, payment cards, meetings cards)
• Meetings & events governance, sourcing, and risk oversight
• Duty of care, traveler safety, and crisis response alignment
• Supplier performance management and commercial governance
• Financial controls, compliance, and audit readiness
• Operational reporting, analytics, and executive insights
• Change leadership across policy, process, technology, and suppliers
• Owns end-to-end global travel operations, ensuring consistency across regions, agencies, airlines, hotels, ground transportation, rail, meetings travel, and technology platforms.
• Develops and executes a multi-year travel operations roadmap aligned to enterprise financial goals, employee experience, sustainability, resilience, and risk tolerance.
• Partners with the Allstate Catastrophe organization and external service providers to ensure readiness and resilience in response to climate related events and other perils.
• Oversees travel policy governance, exception management, executive travel frameworks, and global compliance.
• Leads continuous improvement in booking adoption, traveler satisfaction, operational efficiency, and policy adherence.
• Acts as the operational counterpart to Procurement on travel supplier sourcing, negotiations, contracting, and performance governance.
• Serves as the enterprise travel operations liaison for duty of care, partnering with Security, Risk, Legal, and external providers.
• Establishes governance frameworks including decision rights, escalation paths, incident response, and business continuity playbooks.
• Ensures global compliance with SOX, internal controls, audit standards, and regulatory requirements, including documentation and remediation.
• Owns the global corporate card and T&E payment strategy, including program design, controls, compliance, and user experience.
• Oversees operations for individual cards, ghost/virtual cards, lodge cards, and meeting cards.
• Partners with Finance and AP to improve reconciliation accuracy, reporting, audit readiness, and payment efficiency.
• Manages banking and card issuer relationships, optimizing rebates, service levels, controls, and automation.
• Develops executive dashboards highlighting spend trends, compliance, leakage, and savings opportunities.
• Leads enterprise meetings and events governance, including policy, sourcing standards, budgeting, approvals, and risk management.
• Oversees third-party meeting planning agencies and venue sourcing partners.
• Supports executive meetings, leadership summits, sales conferences, client events, and large employee gatherings.
• Partners with the Meeting and Events team to ensure meetings align with brand standards, financial controls, inclusive supply goals, sustainability objectives, and duty of care.
• Establishes standardized processes for registration, contracting, payments, and post-event analytics.
• Owns operational supplier relationships and service delivery across travel, card, expense, and meetings vendors.
• Establishes KPIs, SLAs, scorecards, and performance governance routines.
• Drives supplier optimization, issue resolution, and continuous value realization.
• Partners with Procurement to create the multimillion-dollar global spend categories, balancing cost optimization with service quality.
• Identifies savings opportunities, demand management strategies, supplier rationalization, and efficiency improvements.
• Prepares executive-level reporting and decision materials for senior stakeholders.
• Advances enterprise ESG priorities through responsible travel strategies and supplier engagement.
• Leads and develops a global operations team across travel, meetings, and card administration.
• Sets operational standards, role clarity, and accountability.
• Leads change initiatives related to policy updates, technology implementations, supplier transitions, and operating model shifts.
• Acts as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on travel, expense, and event strategy.

Benefits

• Comprehensive technology setup, including a laptop, monitors, headset, keyboard, and mouse.
• Monthly connectivity reimbursement to help offset internet costs for eligible remote employees.
• Opportunity to find meaning and value in work.
• Environment that fosters innovative thinking.
• Opportunity to shape the future of protection.
• Support for causes that mean the most to you.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive