Seattle-based travel company Expedia Group Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE) has hired Kurt John as chief security officer.
John announced the hire on his LinkedIn page earlier this month, and an Expedia spokesperson confirmed the move to the Business Journal Tuesday. John is joining Expedia from the German manufacturing and technology conglomerate Siemens.
“The culture, values and mission of Expedia Group were an enormous draw for me; however, what I’m most excited about is the people. We have the right mix of people that can continue to build trust and drive innovation around the traveler experience — and have fun while doing it,” John said in a statement to the Business Journal.
John is replacing Charlie McNerney, who recently retired from Expedia, a company spokesperson said.
John spent more than five years at Siemens, and his most recent role was chief cybersecurity officer for Siemens USA, according to this LinkedIn page. Earlier in his career, John spent more than six years as an IT audit manager at the New York City-based accounting firm BCA Watson Rice LLP.
John is joining Expedia as the company works to declutter and reorganize its businesses. Last year, the company restructured its business to consist of four departments: Expedia Brands, Expedia Services, Expedia Marketplace and Expedia for Business. At the time of the restructuring announcement, Expedia also named former Verizon Media Chief Technology Officer Rathi Murthy as CTO and president of Expedia Services, and it named Jon Gieselman, Apple's former head of marketing, as president of Expedia Brands.
"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," Expedia CEO Peter Kern said in a release at the time of the new hires and restructure.
In April, Expedia hired longtime Google executive Rob Torres as senior vice president of Expedia Group Media Solutions, the company's global advertising business that falls under Expedia for Business.
John's role will fall under Expedia Services, an Expedia spokesperson said.
