Our Team

 

Professionals You Know... People You Trust

 

Lynn Boccio - Vice President, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Ed Perez - Director, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Dustin Collins - Manager, DBE Compliance Reporting

Susan Pettit - Senior Procurement Specialist, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Lyndelle Abela - Program Coordinator, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Robert Bouta - Senior Vice President, Properties & Facilities Department

 

Lynn Boccio
Vice President, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Lynn Boccio heads the supplier diversity team at Avis Budget Group and oversees the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program at Avis and Budget’s two hundred and thirty-eight airport locations, as well as the company’s corporate world headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Lynn is involved in several outreach activities designed to increase supplier diversity and community relations both nationally and in the New York Metropolitan Area. She is presently the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization and the 2nd Vice Chair of the Airport Minority Advisory Council. In addition, Lynn serves on the Board of Directors of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Lynn has held numerous other positions on other regional and national boards and committees that advocate for minority and woman businesses.

Lynn has been repeatedly awarded for the excellence she displays in the Supplier Diversity field. In 1999 she became the first woman ever to be honored by the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. That same year, Minority Business News USA selected Lynn to appear in the limited special edition “Best of the Decade in Supplier/Workforce Diversity 1990-2000” for her contributions over the previous 10 years in the area of minority business. She was awarded the 2002 Women & Diversity Award from America’s Athletes with Disabilities. Lynn has also made various television appearances on “Hispanic Business Today,” a weekly program on WNBC-TV in New York, and was MBE Advocate of the Year in New York City at the New York New Jersey Minority Purchasing Council’s Annual Partnership Awards Gala. In 2004, Lynn received the prestigious Award of the Chair of the Airport Minority Advisory Council, recognizing Lynn’s outstanding, direct and personal contributions toward the success of AMAC. Avis Budget Group has also recognized her twice for her outstanding work at making the Avis and Budget brands more diverse.

Prior to joining Avis in 1996, Lynn practiced as a defense attorney with one of the nation’s leading law firms. She is a former prosecutor who worked for tele¬vision personality “Judge Judy,” and as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of New York, she defended the City in high profile cases. On top of her role with Avis Budget Group, Lynn is a faculty member at The National Institute of Trial Advocacy at Hofstra University School of Law in Hempstead, NY. Lynn holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Ohio State University and a Juris Doctor from the Hofstra University School of Law. She is fluent in Spanish and lives on Long Island with her two daughters.

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Ed Perez
Director, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Ed Perez joined Avis Budget Group, Inc. in September of 2007.   As Director of Strategic Business & Diversity Relations, he is responsible for managing the procurement related operations of the department and reports directly to Lynn Boccio.  In this capacity, Ed leads the team’s process of identifying potential disadvantaged, minority and women-owned business enterprise suppliers and assists in implementing business opportunities at Avis and Budget’s airport locations throughout the country.  In addition, Ed is part of Lynn’s team in marketing Avis Budget Group’s supplier diversity program through trade shows, conventions and by outreaching to D/M/WBE partner organizations.  Ed is Lynn’s liaison between the Strategic Business & Diversity Relations unit and other departments within Avis Budget Group, Inc.

Ed Perez has extensive experience with marketing and D/M/WBE business development in both the corporate and governmental sectors.  Most recently, Ed served as the Director of the Office of Minority Affairs for Suffolk County, New York. As Director of Minority Affairs, Mr. Perez’ responsibilities were to advise and assist the County Executive  and other high level administrators within the executive office on issues and concerns affecting over 300,000 Hispanics, African Americans, Asian Americans, and other ethnic groups that make up Suffolk County’s minority communities.  Mr. Perez has a distinguished history of service to his community.  He has served as Chairman of the Board of La Fuerza Unida Community Development Corp, and President and CEO of the Long Island Hispanic Business Roundtable.  In addition, Ed was a Board Member of several community organizations including the Heckscher Museum of Art, the Family and Children's Association, and La Fuerza Unida, Inc.

Mr. Perez is a recipient of the Long Island Hispanic Counseling Center's Humanitarian Award. Long Island’s TeleCare Television honored Ed as one of Long Island’s Latino Leaders. He has been presented with community service citations by both the County Executive and County Legislature of Nassau County, New York.

Mr. Perez earned his BBA in marketing from Bernard M. Baruch College and is presently pursuing an MBA from Dowling College, Oakdale.  He resides in Huntington, New York.

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Dustin Collins
Manager, DBE Compliance Reporting

Dustin Collins joined Avis Budget Group in January 2007 where he assumed the role of Manager of DBE Compliance reporting within the Strategic Business & Diversity Relations Department.  In this capacity, he reviews, and analyzes spending with diverse suppliers for each of Avis and Budget’s more than two hundred and thirty airport locations throughout the United States.  In addition, Dustin prepares government-mandated reports on a monthly, quarterly, and fiscal basis to inform the local airport authorities of Avis Budget Group’s commitment to excellence in the field of supplier diversity.  In August of 2007, Dustin was appointed Chairman of the by-laws committee of the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC), where he is deeply involved in researching various statutes concerning compliance with Disadvantage Business Enterprise regulations.  He also serves on AMAC’s Legal Committee.

Prior to joining Avis Budget Group, Dustin served as a Senior Paralegal for various law firms in the New York City Metropolitan Area, where he focused on drafting motions and appeals and trial preparations on the local, state and federal level.  Most recently, Dustin assumed the role of President of Magna Carta Legal Services, LLC, a small private company, which provided various law firms and individuals with extensive legal and administrative research services.

Dustin earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government and Politics from St. John’s University in Queens, New York, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.  He is presently a 2008 candidate for a Juris Doctorate at Touro College’s Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Central Islip, New York.  Dustin is the Associate Editor in Chief of Touro’s Moot Court.  Additionally, he was the Winner and Best Oralist of the 2006 Bainbridge Moot Court Competition and the 1st runner up in the Regent University National Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition in 2007.

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Susan Pettit
Senior Procurement Specialist, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Susan Pettit gained more than fifteen years of procurement experience in the Purchasing Department with Avis Rent A Car System, Inc. prior to joining the Strategic Business & Diversity Relations team in 2002. In her various capacities in Purchasing, Susan set up, implemented and maintained numerous national account programs and was responsible for purchasing the commercial print/forms in addition to maintaining inventory for over 100 line items. Through the years of close contact with field operations and the World Headquarters business units, Susan has acquired the working knowledge of the company’s various department operations and their specific procurement requirements. As Senior Buyer in the Purchasing Department, Susan worked closely with the Strategic Business & Diversity Relations unit to infuse certified Disadvantaged, Minority and Woman-owned businesses into the supplier chain. Being an advocate of Disadvantaged, Minority and Woman business development, Susan was a natural addition to the unit.

Susan is involved in and coordinates outreach activities designed to increase supplier diversity and community relations both nationally and locally. Her main responsibility includes increasing corporate and airport utilization of diverse suppliers. She is an active member of a number of local supplier advocacy organizations throughout the New York Metropolitan area, and participates in various airport, national, and regional supplier advocacy events throughout the United States.

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Lyndelle Abela
Program Coordinator, Strategic Business & Diversity Relations

Lyndelle Abela, joined our unit in 2005, after serving in various capacities in the Information Technology Department for Avis Rent A Car System. With the Avis Budget Group since 2001, Lyndelle’s background includes more than 25 years experience working in the accounting, engineering, and IT fields. As the program coordinator, Lyndelle works with all members of the team and serves as a liaison between our department and others within the company. She also works extensively with our advocacy group partners, helping promote our team commitment to diversity. In addition, she lends critical support to our team, communicating with aviation boards on daily issues and processing all departmental invoices. She also arranges our team’s numerous trips to trade fairs and conferences across the nation.

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Avis Budget Group Senior Leadership

 

Robert Bouta
Senior Vice President, Properties & Facilities Department

Bob Bouta is responsible for the management and construction for all Avis and Budget airport and urban locations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean. He has direct oversight of supplier diversity efforts at all of Avis Budget Group’s domestic airport locations.

Bob is a twenty-five year veteran in the real estate and airport business with previous positions at APCOA, Airport Logistics and the Welsh Companies, and another car rental company.

Bob is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a degree in Political Science and earned a Juris Doctor cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law. He is admitted to the bar in both Minnesota and New York.

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