The TIM School will serve as secretariat and chair of the Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel (BEST) Education Network beginning November 2003. This network’s activities are to design and plan for the annual Think Tanks, created by BEST, and the development and distribution of the university-level curriculum modules that are initiated at these think tanks.  The secretariat and chair term is for three years at which time it will move to another university. 
 
BEST was launched in 2000 as an initiative of The Conference Board in New York.  Its objective was to increase awareness and encourage the adoption of sustainable practices among businesses, communities and travelers in the tourism industry.  Between 2000 and 2003, with funding form the Ford Foundation, it created seven different initiatives:  think tanks, travelers philanthropy, community tourism, native American tourism, business education, public education and local tourism initiatives. 
 
A shift in funding and leadership in July 2003 required a transition of the BEST incubator out of The Conference Board.  This transition process resulted in the need for these initiatives finding new homes and going through some re-organization themselves.  The location where most of the BEST activities will be coordinated is with the International Tourism Partnership (ITP), a division of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum in London, England. 
 
The TIM School has always been connected with the think tanks, hosting the second one of three in 2002.  TIM faculty members have attended all think tanks and have been involved with the curriculum module design. A TIM graduate student also attended the last think tank in Costa Rica.  Each Think Tank is held at a different university that provides most of the planning and fiscal support for the one that it hosts.  The next think tank will be held July 4-9, 2004 at the University of Southern Denmark.
 
Pauline Sheldon is the current chair of the network and Fred Collison is on the Curriculum Module Committee designing the module on sustainable transportation.