Skift power rankings tips

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.

Brian Chesky, who co-founded Airbnb along with Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia, changed the world – or at least how many of us travel through it.

Dara Khosrowshahi, along with Barry Diller, built Expedia as we know it today. Khosrowshahi became CEO of Expedia in 2005 after it was spun out of Diller’s IAC, and spent the next 12 years overseeing multiple major acquisitions to consolidate the consumer travel industry and create a giant. The largest deals among them: Orbitz for $1.6 billion and HomeAway (now Vrbo) for $3.9 billion.

Greg O’Hara founded the private equity firm Certares in 2012. It now has nearly $11 billion in assets. In 2014, Certares led a $900 million joint venture to buy half of American Express Global Business Travel, and to spin it out of American Express Co.

It ain’t easy running a profitable airline, but listen to Delta CEO Ed Bastian and you’re left wondering why others are faltering. His laser focus on simplicity at all levels of the business has helped Delta become the kingpin of U.S. network carriers.

In China, gender equality remains elusive, with progress in women’s labor force participation advancing at a pace that makes a sloth look speedy. However, Jane Sun, the CEO of Trip.com Group, is shaking up the status quo.

Decades before the Burj Khalifa or even the Dubai Mall entered the global lexicon, one Brit already had the UAE firmly on his radar. Sir Tim Clark’s visionary leadership of Emirates, the Dubai-based airline, has seen the carrier grow at lightning speed in tandem with the glitzy city it serves.