Skift Power Ranking: Alex Dichter

As president of STR, Amanda Hite oversees the hospitality division of parent company CoStar, and her 290-person team produces the hospitality sector’s most widely read benchmarking reports.

Jonathan Gray is a heavyweight in finance. He’s the chief operating officer of Blackstone, the largest private equity firm in the world, which manages over $1 trillion in assets. Gray is also widely seen as a successor to the firm’s CEO Stephen Schwarzman. 

In an industry often criticized for sluggishness, Sébastien Bazin is known for moving fast. Bazin spent much of his early career as a financier at investment banks and private equity firms rather than rising through the ranks of a hotel company.

Ariane Gorin, who took the reins as Expedia Group CEO in May, is trying to make the company more global. Gorin, who’s been a member of the Expedia Group senior leadership committee since 2015 and previously headed Expedia for Business, is well-positioned for the international challenge.

Brad Gerstner founded Altimeter Capital in 2008, and his first trade was for Priceline at $50 per share. Now known as Booking Holdings, the company trades at around $3,440, and has a market cap of $115 billion.

Whether it’s his strong stance on ultra-low-cost carriers or his brutally honest criticism on the current state of Boeing, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has become one of the most influential — and candid — voices in the airline industry. 

Sundar Pichai is CEO of one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world: Google. The company’s growing Flights, Hotels, Vacation Rentals, Maps, and other businesses have made the tech giant a powerhouse in travel as well. 

Christopher Nassetta, a Virginia native with a shock of salt-and-pepper hair, has the air of a senior industry statesman. Since taking the reins at Hilton Worldwide in 2007, Nassetta has orchestrated a dramatic turnaround in the hotel group’s fortunes while also advocating on behalf of the whole travel industry at the governmental level.

Of all the cabinet positions in a presidential administration, Transportation Secretary has never been seen as the sexiest. But Pete Buttigieg, also known as Mayor Pete, has made an often-overlooked department relevantHe’s probably the most high-profile Transportation Secretary in recent times. 

It’s February 2020 and Ahmed Al Khateeb was just been named the first-ever minister of tourism for Saudi Arabia. He didn’t know it yet, but there was a global pandemic just weeks away. It was horrible timing, but Al Khateeb has nevertheless created one of the world’s fastest-growing tourism sectors. 

Royal Caribbean Group CEO and President Jason Liberty makes waves in the industry with his ability to pull off industry-changing projects.

Fred Dixon has won a lot of fans during his 30 years in the tourism industry, in large part because of his willingness to fight for the interests of travel businesses.