Steering Corporate Strategy

Since arriving at Expedia in 2006, Okerstrom, 39, has presided over more than 20 transactions, including last year’s divestiture of travel review and advice site TripAdvisor, as well as Expedia’s most recent acquisition, in December, of a $632 million majority stake in trivago, a German online travel company. Expedia is striving to expand its reach internationally and build its market share in travel bookings from a current 3% of the $1 trillion industry.

When Okerstrom joined Expedia in 2006 as a senior director on the corporate development team, he was responsible for leading its corporate strategic planning and mergers and acquisitions activities globally. He was able to put his previous M&A experience to good use immediately, he recalls.