Veteran corporate travel innovator Johnny Thorsen has joined artificial intelligence-powered startup company Mezi as VP travel strategy and partnerships.Thorsen departs SAP Concur, where he most recently served as senior director of SAP mobility services, after ConTgo, the SMS-based messaging company that he founded and where he served as CEO, was acquired by Concur in 2013.
Mezi launched in December 2015 as a virtual assistant blending
chatbots with human assistance to help users discover products and services and
make purchases across verticals. Within a year, Mezi focused its efforts on mobile travel booking and management. "After seeing the level of disruptive innovation created by the
Mezi team I realized I had to be a part of this exciting development,” said
Thorsen. “Ten
years ago, our team at ConTgo created the concept of automated mobile
communication for corporate travel, and now the time has come for the industry
to evolve from a simple messaging engine to advanced AI-driven conversational
services, designed to simplify the life of the corporate traveler and enable
travel suppliers to engage with travelers in new ways."