{"id":228051,"date":"2026-01-09T10:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=228051"},"modified":"2026-01-09T10:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T20:51:20","slug":"suzanne-neufang-alum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/09\/suzanne-neufang-alum\/","title":{"rendered":"<abbr>东精影业<\/abbr> alumna rises to top of global business travel industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_72373\"  width=\"676\" height=\"380\"  data-origwidth=\"676\" data-origheight=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sAqkbLbpqyw?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Alumni Hali\u02bba Aloha\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>As a student, Suzanne Neufang gravitated to the University of <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> at M&#257;noa because of its location and connection to the Pacific. Today, she works to strengthen the bonds that hold the business travel industry together as the <abbr title=\"Chief Executive Officer\">CEO<\/abbr> of the Global Business Travel Association (<abbr>GBTA<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Having grown up in the middle of the continent in North America, it was so enriching for me to have such a view of not just Asia, but the Pacific, and then <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span>\u2019s history in and amongst that,&rdquo; said Neufang.<\/p>\n<h2>Inspired by <abbr title=\"东精影业\">东精影业<\/abbr> professors<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_228052\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-228052\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-husband-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"three people smiling for a photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-228052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-husband-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-husband-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-husband.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-228052\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suzanne Neufang with husband Ralf and son Yannik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While studying <a href=\"https:\/\/sci.manoa.hawaii.edu\/programs\/communication\/\">communication<\/a> at <abbr>东精影业<\/abbr>, Neufang became fascinated by telecommunications&#8212;especially how vital technology is for a geographically isolated island chain. Encouraged by her professors, she researched and submitted a paper that was selected for discussion at the Pacific Telecommunications Conference in Waik&#299;k&#299;. Her thesis examined Integrated Services Digital Network, an early digital standard for transmitting voice and data over phone lines that was once viewed as the next stage of broadband.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Thinking about what technology has to do with something as old as human communication, I think without the professors and the students who are challenging each other, I don\u2019t think I would have made it that far,&rdquo; said Neufang. &ldquo;Both the theoretical as well as the practical was something that I enjoy mixing every day.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Forging a path in communication industries<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_228053\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-228053\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-hawaii-public-television-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"people standing and smiling for a photo\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-228053\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-hawaii-public-television-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-hawaii-public-television-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-hawaii-public-television.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-228053\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suzanne Neufang working at <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Public Television<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After graduating with a master\u2019s degree in communication from <abbr>东精影业<\/abbr> in 1992, Neufang spent a decade at <span lang=\"haw\">Hawai&#699;i<\/span> Public Television and <abbr title=\"General Telephone and Electronics\">GTE<\/abbr> Hawaiian Tel. That cemented her understanding and belief that communication and connection to others is integral to the human experience.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;While telecom and broadcasting can be considered mediated connections, travel as a face-to-face or now as we say in-real-life connection, was a natural evolution for me to navigate towards professionally,&rdquo; Neufang said.<\/p>\n<p>Neufang oversees the <abbr>GBTA<\/abbr>\u2019s mission to deliver community, learning and advocacy for industry members worldwide. That includes delivering innovative business-to-business solutions to customers who need them. The tools she learned at <abbr>东精影业<\/abbr> help to lay the foundation needed to make connections on a global scale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Suzanne Neufang is the <abbr>CEO<\/abbr> of the Global Business Travel Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":228053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,301,661,1466,1026,319,9,56],"class_list":["post-228051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-communications","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-social-science","tag-uh-foundation","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/manoa-alum-suzanne-neufang-hawaii-public-television.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228051"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228059,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228051\/revisions\/228059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}