by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:05 AM ET, Thu December 5, 2019
Expedia officials announced Wednesday that CEO Mark Okerstrom and CFO Alan Pickerill have stepped down from their roles with the online travel agency.
According to NBCNews.com, Expedia Chairman Barry Diller revealed the departures of Okerstrom and Pickerill came as a result of disagreements over strategy between the company's senior management team and the board of directors.
Following the changes, Expedia announced Diller would take over the day-to-day operations of the company and chief strategy officer Eric Hart would serve as acting chief financial officer. The remaining members of the board will focus on the long-term leadership plan.
Okerstrom has served as Expedia's CEO since 2017 when he took over for the departing Dara Khosrowshahi, who jumped to Uber in the same role. Before the promotion, Okerstrom served as the company's CFO.
Expedia released an official statement on the executive changes via Diller:
"Earlier this year, Expedia embarked on an ambitious reorganization plan with the goal of bringing our brands and technology together in a more efficient way. This reorganization, while sound in concept, resulted in a material loss of focus on our current operations, leading to disappointing third quarter results and a lackluster near-term outlook.
The Board disagreed with that outlook, as well as the departing leadership's vision for growth, strongly believing the company can accelerate growth in 2020. That divergence necessitated a change in management.
Mark Okerstrom is a talented executive and his 13 years of service to Expedia has greatly benefited the enterprise. The Board and I wish him the best for the future, as we do for Alan Pickerill."
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