After first joining Expedia Group in 2007, David Asahara has been on quite the journey with us. What started as a Marketing Strategy Internship in our Seattle office has led to a fulfilling and impactful career at EG, now leading Commercial Operations & Partnership Experience as a Senior Vice President.

In this blog we explore how it was to start as an intern, his fascinating career journey across our Private Label Solutions division, and the type of leadership that David finds to be the most impactful and rewarding. Read the full story, below.

David Asahara | Sr. Vice President, Commercial Operations & Partner Experience | London, UK

Tell us about your role as Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations & Partner Experience, and what your team does.

The Commercial Operations and Partner Experience team helps partners maximize the value they get from our EG assets through growth initiatives, driving operational efficiency, and governance. This can be via our global sales team, the APIs that our tech teams build, the supply that the Travel Partnerships & Media division sources, or the marketing expertise of EG. As a collection of functions, my role focuses on ensuring alignment so that the teams can execute in the short-term and to connect-the-dots to identify opportunities and challenges in the future. 

You started at EG as an Intern – tell us about your career journey.  

I began as an MBA intern in 2007 in the Seattle HQ. Upon graduation, I joined full-time in our Tokyo, Japan, office as a Business Development Manager. It was my first time in a sales role and in a new industry, so I had a lot to learn. In my first year, my focus quickly shifted to starting our Private Label Solutions (PLS) business. I grew my EG career in Asia Pacific, ultimately leading the PLS Account Management team for the region. In 2020, I got an opportunity to lead the Sales Operations and Partner Connect teams in London. Not only was the country and role new to me, but I was also a new father, and we were in the middle of the pandemic. While this transition time had its challenges, what helped me through it was the people here. I am now in a really interesting role in London which has expanded to include our PLS supply distribution, our third party platform, and B2B marketing teams. It’s been quite the journey, and one I’m proud of. 

What was your experience like as an EG intern? And what advice can you share with our new interns joining EG this summer for how to make the most of the opportunity?

Although I started the internship with a group of MBA students, I actually joined the loyalty marketing team, where I was the only intern. My first impression was how great the culture was, everyone was really engaged with the work and always had time to help me. My advice to our incoming interns would be:

Curiosity. I believe curiosity was key for me. I asked so many questions. That really helped me understand what I was working on. Curiosity is something I look for in candidates today. 

Execution. During my internship, I was able to ship out a couple of direct marketing campaigns as well as deliver a recommendation to not pursue a new co-branded venture. Making this impact really set me up for success.

Why are you passionate about the travel tech industry? What excites you about working at Expedia Group and the future?  

The travel tech industry continues to grow and is ever-changing. This means there are always opportunities for EG as a company, as well as for Expedians, to grow and do interesting work. To share an example, in the B2B space, historically distributors used a net rate model or a % of booking value, in PLS, we changed the norm by introducing a profit-sharing model, which was very impactful.

I believe our purpose to strengthen connections, broaden horizons and bridge divides and our culture of bringing people together to do amazing work is what makes EG special.  Like many other Expedians, I am an avid traveller, so working in an industry that I can personally relate to and at a company where we’re building transformative technology for travelers by travelers, is very fulfilling.

What does good leadership look like to you? What is your leadership style?

As I started my EG career being new to sales, I quickly learned that I don’t need to be the best sales person to lead the team. This laid the foundations to include others to build high performing teams with a variety of skills and backgrounds, as well as to help the team grow by being a coach, rather than the expert. I always felt that people want to own their work, and this means that my role is to empower and support them to achieve that. 

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