Less than three months after Expedia launched its corporate travel service, the man who created it is retiring. Byron Bishop, a member of Expedia's senior management team since its inception within Microsoft during 1994, is leaving his position as senior vice president of corporate travel to focus on environmental protection and not-for-profit interests.
Expedia marketing manager Mitch Robinson, who said Bishop's decision was announced to employees last week, told
Business Travel News that a succession plan in which director of product development Matt Hulett would replace Bishop "has been in the works for a period of time." Robinson said Hulett, who joined Expedia in 2001, worked closely with Bishop on the launch of Expedia Corporate Travel
(BTN, Dec. 9).
He said the timing of Bishop's departure, just weeks after CEO Rich Barton announced he would leave Expedia, is "a complete coincidence."