Greg Schulze: From Land to Sea, and Everything That Moves
To say that Expedia’s Senior Vice President, Greg Schulze has a lot on his hands would be an understatement. He and his team are responsible for overseeing the company’s global, integrated strategies, which basically includes managing relationships and partnerships with airlines, insurance, car rental companies etc. The travel leader’s operations span from land to sea, as they manage everything from cruises to air travel, not to mention cars, rail and vacation packages. Essentially, it has to do with travel, Expedia are involved.
Starting out with a Bachelors Degree in Engineering from Northwestern University, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Greg has always had a knack for understanding the overlap between tech and business. While his engineering degree initially led him towards a manufacturing career, Greg found a factory work environment just wasn’t for him. Nevertheless, it showed him that working with numbers and being involved in the general operations of a company was right up his alley.
During his days at business school, Greg leaned towards a travel-focused career, eventually leading him to a job at American Airlines, where he gained experience within revenue management. This provided Greg with the analytical and numerical skills that have been vital throughout his career.
Building on Expedia’s customer-centric approach has inspired Greg to take notice of how technology is evolving customer experiences in travel, as the company acts as an informative wingman for consumer decisions. Expedia eases the customer experience by almost acting as a one-stop-shop, presenting price and preference trade-offs on everything from flight tickets to hotel deals and car rentals.
Greg is motivated by Expedia’s ability to inspire people to travel, whilst adding ease and enjoyment to their experiences. Not to mention, since having to leave his two dogs behind after his move to Singapore, he is a strong believer in dog-friendly filters in the travel search process. Dog-filters are already part of Expedia’s hotel search, but who knows, air travel could be next.
This genuine interest in travel, combined with his understanding of travel operations, and belief that “technology is always a good investment,” has helped Greg build his highly successful travel career today. To hear more about his personal journey, be sure to catch him in the ‘Travel Leaders Share Their Stories’ panel at the event.
Greg is also one of the coaches in our ‘Element’ Pitch, where participants will get the chance to work directly with him (and other speakers), to prepare for a competition at the end of the day (and of course, there are plenty of prizes to be won).
If you miss out on that one-on-one time, don’t worry! Greg will also host a table in our speed learning rounds at 3pm, where you can get up close and personal, ask your burning questions, and pick up tips on how to succeed in travel careers.
To catch Greg’s top advice on how to thrive in the new world of travel and technology, join us at Tern’s event on the 27th of August in Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay!