Karen Hutchings

Founder Cobb & Hutch Consulting Cobb & Hutch Consulting

Founder of Cobb & Hutch Consulting – EST January 2024 and CoFounder of Pioneera EST September 2025 Karen is known as a Global Leader learning the nuances of business by living and working in all areas of the globe. Recognized as having an innovative mindset and known for challenging the status quo and driving change across the travel, meetings & events industry. She has never been afraid to take chances and try new ideas and initiatives, an intrapreneur by choice with a desire to always be part of a diverse and high performing team. As part of Cobb & Hutch Consulting Karen is on the Board of HeadBox, and a strategic advisor to SilverDoor, Badge and Clarasight. • As the EY Global Head of Travel, Meetings & Events Pre COVID managed US$2.1 billion travel spend and approximately $400M in Meetings & Events spend. Karen was regularly engaged by the client serving team to support EY client engagements acting as a subject matter expert and became renowned for the adoption of alternative technologies to support the EY Travel Meetings & Events program which was unique in the industry. EY STAT was her brainchild which was implemented initially within EY and now being sold to clients. • The Merrill Lynch team that Karen lead won travel team of the year in 2007 and the EY Travel, Meetings & Events team were named Team of the Year 2015 by Buying Business Travel Magazine, and ITM in 2017. Karen herself was recognized as the BTN Multinational Travel Manager of the Year in 2015 and 2018 and one of the top 25 most influential in the travel industry in 2015, 2018 and again in 2023. 2022 saw Karen inducted into the Business Travel News Hall of Fame in recognition of her innovative approach and driving change across the travel industry and was awarded a life time achievement award in 2023 by GBTA Winit • Previously Karen lead the travel meetings & events team at AIG, was ASPAC and EMEIA Regional Travel Head at Citi and Global Head of Travel at Merrill Lynch Awards • Travel Team of the year – Merrill Lynch 2008, Travel Team of the year – EY – 2015 and 2016 • BTN Hall of Fame 2022, Lifetime Achievement Award GBTA Winnit 2023 • Travel Manager of the year 2015 and 2018 • BTN Most Influential 2015, 2018, 2023 • Meetings & Events Top 50 - 2017 On a personal note … While running was always a passion, having run 26 marathons around the world, Karen now spends her spare time with her horses, sheep, cats, rescue dogs Buddy& Bubbles and two goats Billy & Benny as supporting her husband in his downhill mountain bike adventures and supporting a dog sanctuary in Goa India to retain her connectivity with the country she has come to love.

Monday, June 1, 2026

8:25 AM Morning Mind-Sharing Meetup: Policy Power-Up: The New Rules of the Road for 2026 and Beyond

Fuel your morning with a stimulating mindshare designed to engage, enlighten, and evolve your thinking about one of the most critical pillars of travel management: policy. As traveler expectations shift, remote work blurs borders, and organizations demand more strategic value from travel programs, the traditional travel policy is being rewritten in real time. This highly interactive session brings together industry leaders, peers, and innovators to explore what's next. Together, we'll break down the do's and don'ts of next-generation policy design from flexibility and compliance to personalization and performance.

Topics:

Risk -  Kevin Coffey, Travel Skills & Meeting Risk Trusted Advisor | People Risk Management Evangelizer
AI, Your Policy & You -Karen Hutchings, Founder, Cobb & Hutch Consulting 
Personalization vs. Compliance - Michelle Amos, Associate Director of Travel, Qualtrics
Policy as a Traveler Experience Tool - Terri Moreno, Senior Manager - Travel, Expense & Fleet, The Aspen Group
Policy That Wins Leadership Support – Lindsey Balram, Sr. Sales Director, Americas, FCM

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

10:00 AM Panel: Meet the Disruptors: How Emerging Tech is Rewriting the Travel Playbook

The next generation of travel platforms and solutions is challenging traditional models and redefining how programs are run. This panel brings together leaders from the most disruptive companies in travel tech to explore what is coming next innovative companies in travel tech to explore what's next and how you can leverage and how you can use innovation to your advantage.

3 Actionable Takeaways:

Understand how disruptive platforms are changing sourcing, booking, and payment strategies.
Explore new ways to drive cost savings, flexibility, and traveler satisfaction through technology.
Gain practical insights on how to evaluate, pilot, and scale new tools within your organization.

2:30 PM The Consumerization Of Travel Spend: Why Clean Data And Unified Workflows Are The New Standard

Business travel hasn't slowed down, but it is getting more intentional—raising the stakes for every dollar spent on employee movement. At the same time, employees expect the same ease, speed, and reliability at work that they experience as consumers. For procurement teams, that creates a new challenge: deliver a traveler-first experience while improving visibility, control, compliance, and cost discipline.

In this session, Global Head of Uber for Business, Ash Kebriti, will explore how companies are moving from after-the-fact cost management to proactive program visibility—using cleaner data, unified workflows, and integrated mobility, meals, and expense programs to modernize travel spend.

Key Takeaways:

Learn why procurement teams are moving from retrospective spend oversight to more proactive, real-time travel program design.
Explore how integrated mobility, meals, and expense workflows can reduce reconciliation costs, improve compliance, and simplify global operations through real-time data and unified reporting.
Understand how traveler experience can become a lever for financial discipline—and how consumer-grade tools can make compliant behavior easier.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Karen.

Download The Latest Agenda