xt witness here is michael mccormick, executive director and chief operating officer for the global business and travel association. previously, he served as managing partner of hudson crossing, l.l.c., a travel industry advisory business. mccormick has served as president of bistravel.com and president of rosen bluth international. mr. mccormick, you are now recognized forify minutes for n opening statement. thank you, chairman katko, ranking member watson coleman, members of the subcommittee. we appreciate the opportunity to testify today. i'm michael mccormick, executive director and chief operating officer of the global business travel association, a role i have been since 2009. his is gbta is headquartered in alexandria with operations on six continents. we have over 9,500 members and manage over $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. gbta has 38 chapters across this country and operations around the world. i want to thank chairman katko for the time he recently spent in our new york state chapter. they're bragging to all the chapters about your janua

michael mccormick, the executive director and chief operating officer for the global business travel association. in his current role, mr. mccormick leads gbta's growth and globalization initiatives. previously, he served as managing partner of hudson crossing llc, a travel industry advisory business. mccormick has also served as president of biztravel.com and vice president of global supply relations for rosenbluth international. you are recognized for five minutes for an opening statement. >> thank you, chairman katko, ranking member watson coleman and members of the subcommittee. we appreciate the opportunity to testify today. i'm michael mccormick, executive director and chief operating officer of the global business travel association, a role i've been in since 2009. gbta is the world's premier business travel and trades association headquartered here in alexandria with operations on six continents. we have over 9,500 managers and manage over $345 billion worth of global business travel and meeting expenditures annually. gbta has 38 chapters and affiliates across this country an

michael mccormick and photo journalist aaron smellser were killed monday when a tree fell on their suv>> it is a freak of nature. it's one of those things that you -- you know it's going to happen or you can predict that it may happen. you don't know when. >> reporter: the governor warning that north carolina residents need to take the storm seriously as the governor's in florida, alabama and mississippi issue states of emergency. >> it's a first severe storm of the season here. >> it's kinda early. it makes me leery of what's ahead. >> reporter: this as residents of ellicott city maryland begin another daunting cleaning effort. police releasing this new drone video showing the level of destruction across the city. roads washed out, cars scattered among mud and debris. >> they're devastated, as you can expect. they have gone through hell to get where they are today before this flood and now they're facing it all again. >> reporter: emergency responders continuing to search for a national guardsman who was helping a woman rescue a cat when he was pulled underneath the raging floodwaters