Expedia Group Names Ex-Williams-Sonoma CFO Julie Whalen as its CFO

Expedia has announced that Julie Whalen will be the new Executive Vice President (EVP) and CFO of Expedia Group, a press release said, coming from her previous job at Williams-Sonoma.

She’ll succeed Eric Hart, who will still stay with the company until Oct. 1.

Whalen will be in charge of Expedia’s global finance organization and various activities like accounting, corporate development, financial reporting and analysis, internal audit, investor relations, real estate, tax, and treasury.

She has over two decades of experience in finance, and she reportedly has a “strong understanding of Expedia Group’s business, finances, and operations,” as she’s been on the Board of Directors and Audit Committee before.

“I have developed a great a deal of respect and admiration for Expedia Group’s business and leadership team over the past three years through my Board position,” she said. “I am excited to join Expedia at such a pivotal time and to help deliver on the Company’s growth strategies to maximize shareholder value.”

And Peter Kern, vice chairman and CEO of Expedia, cited Whalen’s years of previous work in finance and as a leader.

“We are excited to bring Julie’s energy and drive to our leadership team and look forward to the impact she can bring to our finance organization and across our entire enterprise,” he said.

Expedia announced last year that its home-sharing platform Vrbo was recovering as the world started to come back from the crippled travel business from the pandemic.

Read more: Expedia Group Says Vrbo on Track to Be $2 Billion Business in 2021

PYMNTS quoted Kern as saying over half of Vrbo customers last year were new customers, with Expedia expecting at the time to make over $2 billion in earnings from new hosts who joined the platform.

“And looking ahead, we’re already seeing better bookings for next summer than we saw this time last year, so the trends continue to be quite strong there,” he said.