Skift Power Rankings: Greg O’Hara

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.

At that time, Amex GBT handled about $19 billion worth of corporate travel bookings. In 2023, that number was $28.2 billion, and the company generated $2.3 billion in revenue. It went public in 2022 at a valuation of $5.3 billion. 

Amex GBT acquired Egencia from Expedia in 2021, among a string of other acquisitions. Amex GBT, earlier this year said it plans to acquire CWT for about $570 million. 

O’Hara is currently the chair of the World Travel & Tourism Council and Amex GBT.

O’Hara has been involved in many travel industry deals. Certares was among three firms that bought Hertz in 2021 for $6 billion under a bankruptcy reorganization plan, focusing on integrating AI into operations and preparing for the future of carshare, electrification, and a digital-first user experience. O’Hara last year stepped down as board chair of Hertz. 

Other Certares investments include Internova Travel Group, Latam Airlines, Liberty Tripadvisor (Tripadvisor’s controlling shareholder), and multiple hotels and hotel groups.

Before Certares, O’Hara was chief investment officer of JPMorgan Chase’s special investments group and managing director at One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JPMorgan. Prior to that, he was an executive at travel tech company Worldspan​, which later sold to Travelport. 

In addition to his chairman roles at Amex GBT and the World Travel & Tourism Council, O’Hara is a board member of TripAdvisor, Hertz Global Holdings, and Certares Holdings.

O’Hara is Canadian and now lives in Italy.

Greg O’Hara at Skift Global Forum