Expedia Group has appointed Rathi Murthy as its chief technology officer/president of Expedia Services and Jon Gieselman as its president of Expedia Brands. As part of Murthy and Gieselman joining, the company will evolve its operating structure into four key pillars: Expedia Services, Expedia Brands, Expedia Marketplace and Expedia for Business.
“Today, we take an important next step in Expedia Group’s journey as we add two exceptional talents to our leadership team and simplify our organization for clarity and speed,” said Peter Kern, vice chairman/CEO, Expedia Group. “Rathi and Jon represent the character of executives, depth and breadth of experience and success in their respective fields we seek at our leadership table. Our chairman and I have complete confidence in what they will deliver and we are excited to welcome them to the team.”
Gieselman joins Expedia Group from Apple, where he led marketing for Services, a broad portfolio of businesses. While there, he worked closely with product, engineering and design to expand Services through his brand, digital and direct marketing approach. He has decades of experience working in multi-brand and product marketing environments and a proven track record driving outsized growth, the company reports.
In his new role, he leads Expedia Brands, which will house Expedia’s consumer-facing businesses and focus on bringing to life unique experiences customers love that connect the world through travel, the company reports. Jeff Hurst, previous president/co-lead of marketing, becomes the Expedia Brands COO reporting to Gieselman. This role expands on his work, bringing together the marketing teams and driving Vrbo through a critical year.
Murthy joins Expedia Group from Verizon Media and is a widely recognized transformative technology executive with deep experience and knowledge in platform environments at Fortune 500 e-commerce, financial services, telecommunications and media companies, according to the company. Most recently, she managed innovations in 5G and the platform technology and infrastructure at Verizon Media. In her new role, she will lead Expedia Services, which includes data and artificial intelligence, e-commerce, payments and customer experience, focusing on evolving the company’s technical strategy and underlying platform.
John Kim, previous president of Platform & Marketplaces, becomes president of Expedia Marketplace. In this role, he oversees strategy, product, technology and operations for all lines of business—lodging, air, car, cruise and activities—bringing Expedia Group products to life to create locally relevant and customer-centric travel experiences, benefitting its customers and suppliers, the company reports.
Ariane Gorin will be bringing together the Travel Partners Group and Expedia Business Services to create a powerhouse B2B organization, according to the company. As president of the newly formed Expedia for Business, Gorin will oversee the future of our B2B relationships, from powering our business partners to helping our supply partners achieve greater success. Gorin is responsible for optimizing the millions of connections we have with the travel ecosystem that fuels our marketplace as we aim to deploy the power of our platform through these partnerships.
Kern added, “As we move into four clearer operating divisions, the addition of Rathi and Jon and new roles for John and Ariane demonstrate our commitment to simplifying our business so we can be more agile and deliver innovative products faster. We set out last year with a clear mission: to power the entire travel ecosystem, and these positions fill the core skillsets we need to accelerate forward.”
Gieselman added, “Having served on the board of directors for 18 months, I can see clearly the opportunity we have in front of us. Expedia Group has a winning strategy for the business. There is tremendous leverage in going to market as a coordinated portfolio of brands, positioning us perfectly to bring to life new customer experiences they will absolutely love. We all miss traveling, so we’ll enjoy some natural tailwinds, but the real opportunity is to accelerate growth through meaningful innovation. I’m really excited to help transform the company from the inside.”
“It’s exhilarating to join Expedia Group at such a pivotal time for the industry,” said Murthy. “Travel is a personal passion, so the opportunity to pair my technological expertise with a company driven by such a clear purpose to connect people all around the world was an opportunity I had to pursue. I look forward to leading the team driving the platformization of travel.”
As part of these updates, Cyril Ranque, president, Travel Partners Group; Adam Jay, president/co-lead, marketing; and Tucker Moodey, president, retail product and technology, will all depart at different timeframes over the next several months.
