American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) has announced that Andrew (Drew) Crawley will join as Chief Commercial Officer on April 1, 2020, based in London.
He is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Avios Group, the loyalty company owned by International Airlines Group (IAG), and a member of the IAG management committee.
Paul Abbott, GBT’s CEO, said that Drew is ideally placed to lead their commercial organization on the next phase of its journey. He is a dynamic leader with a deep knowledge of the global travel sector. Drew has broad commercial, marketing, and digital experience, and a proven track record of driving innovation and change.
Crawley’s previous roles include CEO of IAG Cargo and Chief Commercial Officer of British Airways (BA). He was also an Executive Board Member at BA, and has chaired the Boards of BA Holidays and OpenSkies, B.A.’s wholly-owned French airline subsidiary. Crawley started his BA career in 1992, working in a variety of sales, marketing and operational roles in the UK, Europe, and Asia.
As Crawley joins, GBT’s President Philippe Chereque will leave on March 31 to join Certares, the travel industry investment firm led by GBT’s Executive Board Chairman, Greg O’Hara. Certares leads a private equity group that holds a 50% stake in GBT. In more than five years with the company, Chereque was responsible for designing GBT’s industry-leading product and technology platform, spearheading the acquisition of travel and expense technology firm KDS in 2016 and cementing GBT’s position as the world’s leading travel management company.
