Expedia Inc. named one of its veteran financial leaders, Alan Pickerill, as its new chief financial officer this morning — quickly filling a vacancy created by the promotion of the online travel giant’s previous CFO, Mark Okerstrom, to the role of president and CEO after Uber picked longtime Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO earlier this week.
Pickerill has worked at Expedia for almost 10 years, previously working as the company’s senior vice president, treasurer and head of investor relations. His 30-year finance and accounting career has included roles at publicly traded companies including Microsoft and Getty Images.
In an internal email to employees this morning, Okerstrom said the choice of Pickerill to succeed him as CFO was a natural one, resulting from “strong succession planning and Alan’s excellent track record.”
We chose Alan for many reasons. Over his years here, Alan has established himself as a trusted advisor to me (as well as Dara and Barry Diller) with respect to all things Investor and Capital Markets related. He has a solid strategic head and excellent financial and business acumen. These skills combined with Alan’s keen eye for detail, even temperament and a deep understanding of (and love for) all things Expedia make him a great fit for the role. It’s also why he has earned the respect of the Investor/Wall Street community as well as our Board, which will go a long way to making this transition super smooth.
Expedia Inc., based in Bellevue, Wash., includes travel and lodging brands Orbitz, Travelocity, Trivago, Hotels.com, Hotwire, HomeAway and the flagship Expedia site, among others. Khosrowshahi led the company for 12 years before his surprise selection as Uber CEO earlier this week.
Diller, Expedia’s chairman, foreshadowed the internal succession process in a memo earlier this week, saying that Khosrowshahi would leave behind “a tremendously talented corps of executives” at the online travel conglomerate.
