Skyscanner chief technology officer Bryan Dove is now CEO of
the Edinburgh-based company, moving into a role that had been held by
co-founder Gareth Williams.
Williams will take on the new role of chair of the metasearch
engine.
The deal comes almost 18 months to the day following the company's acquisition by Ctrip.
“I’m very excited to take on the role of chairperson, where
more of my focus will be on Skyscanner’s long-term vision,” Williams says.
“Former CTO Bryan Dove is a natural fit as my successor,
having been pivotal in shaping our current strategy and structure. He has a
wealth of experience and is additionally supported by a brilliant senior
leadership team.”
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Dove joined Skyscanner in 2015 after being director of
engineering at Amazon Web Services’ S3.
At Skyscanner he has lead the engineering teams across ten
global offices.
"Gareth is a tremendous leader and I'm delighted to
continue working with him in his role as chairperson,” Dove says.
“I've never been more excited or optimistic about Skyscanner's
future and our ability to make a positive impact on travelers and partners
around the world."
Skyscanner launched in 2003 and has since expanded from
flight comparison to also include hotels and car hire, with service available
in more than 30 languages and more than 70 million monthly active users.
Williams is the last of the original three co-founders to step aside or away from the business, following the departures of Bonamy Grimes and Barry Smith in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
The trio created the basis of the company as a way of finding air tickets to ski resorts, famously starting out as an ExCel spreadsheet that was converted to a web-based platform.
In late-2016 Chinese travel giant Ctrip acquired Skyscanner
in a deal valued at more than £1.4bn. Skyscanner remains operationally independent and acquired
London-based user-generated content business Twizoo in November last year.
* Check Dove's presentation at Phocuswright Europe 2018 in Amsterdam...
3 in 30: The Tech Talk - Skyscanner - Phocuswright Europe 2018