Leadership Team

In his twenty-four years at American Express, Paul served in a variety of senior roles across the business. He has led the rapid and successful expansion of the American Express global commercial payments and introduced innovative new products and services to 4 million businesses of all sizes in over 150 countries.

In addition, Paul led the expansion of American Express’ card-issuing partnerships with some of the world’s largest financial institutions. His reputation for developing diverse, high performing teams that embrace change, deliver strong results and have an intense focus on building enduring relationships with clients is well-deserved.

No stranger to the travel business or to GBT, Paul began his career at British Airways, spending nine years with the company. He subsequently worked in the corporate travel business at American Express. Paul was invited to join the GBT Board in 2015.

Paul is based in London. He lives in Buckinghamshire, in the UK, with his wife Angela and their twins. A keen traveler, Paul never misses a chance to explore the world with his family, where they often find the time to indulge in the other family passions of cricket, golf, rugby, football and international cuisine.

He joins GBT from International Airlines Group (IAG) Loyalty, where he was Chief Executive and Board Chairman. In addition, he was a member of the IAG Management Committee from January 2016. He is also a non-executive director of Travelopia, a KKR company.

Previously Andrew – known as Drew – was the Chief Executive of IAG Cargo and prior to that Chief Commercial Officer at British Airways and an Executive Board Member of British Airways plc. He also held positions of Chairman of British Airways Holidays, Chairman of OpenSkies (British Airways wholly owned French airline subsidiary) and a board member of Avios Group Ltd.

Andrew started his travel career in British Airways in 1992 and worked in a variety of sales, marketing and operational roles in the UK, Europe and Asia ending up on the board of the company.

Prior to joining British Airways, Andrew spent two years in advertising after graduating from London University (QMC) with a BSc degree in Chemistry. He is a Harvard AMP graduate and member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization).

Outside work his passions are travel, cycling, sailing and all things French.

Before joining American Express Global Business Travel, Karen served as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Strategy and Planning at IHG, where she led a global team overseeing the group strategy function. Prior to this she was CFO at IAG Loyalty. Earlier in her career, she had numerous divisional CFO roles at American Express where she spent 15 years.

Karen received a Political Science degree from the University of Leicester, and is a qualified accountant (ACCA: Association for Chartered Certified Accountants).

Prior to joining GBT, Bock served as executive vice president, chief legal officer and chief administrative officer, as well as chief compliance and ethics officer of Travelport and as a member of the board of directors of eNett International, a leading provider of innovative, integrated payment solutions. In addition to playing an integral role in developing and implementing Travelport’s strategic plans, he also was chairman of the enterprise risk management committee and a member of the employee benefits, charitable, disclosure and investment committees.

Prior to Travelport, Bock was executive vice president, law and corporate secretary for Cendant Corporation, overseeing the company’s legal practice groups in securities and corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate secretarial and governance matters, executive compensation, travel distribution services and marketing services. He also served on Cendant’s business ethics committee, disclosure committee, employee benefits committee and business continuity planning committee. Before Cendant, Bock was associated with the corporate group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

Bock is a graduate of Lafayette College and Fordham University School of Law.

Thompson joins GBT after most recently overseeing IT strategy, operations, information security and product development as chief technology officer and executive vice president of global operations at Western Union, an international financial services company. His extensive background also includes previous chief technology and information officer positions at leading technology companies Symantec, Oracle and PeopleSoft.

While earning his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Marymount University, Thompson also served as an intelligence systems officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Prior to becoming CPO, Huska was previously Vice President of Global Human Resources for GBT, responsible for the development and execution of strategies aimed at attracting talent, while retaining and engaging the existing employee base. She also has significant merger and acquisition experience and most recently, spearheaded the HR integration of HRG from due diligence to execution.

An accomplished human resources leader with 25 years at American Express and GBT, Huska has a broad HR background including employee relations, recruitment, change management, and organizational effectiveness. Throughout her career, she has led the creation of many corporate initiatives including home-based servicing for travel counsellors, workforce flexibility initiatives, and leadership development programs.

Huska has a master’s degree in Management from Lesley University and a bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

After joining GBT in 2014, Evan spent three years as Vice President (VP) of Digital Traveler before becoming VP of Marketing and Product Strategy, where he led the team through historic partnerships, industry-leading product launches, and a global rebrand.

Evan is passionate about the power of travel and making it more accessible, efficient, and fun. With his background as a startup entrepreneur, he is uniquely skilled in bringing innovation to the corporate travel world. Prior to joining GBT, Evan was co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Skylark. He also built two other digital travel products: Farely and FlightCaster.

Earlier in his career, Evan spent several years consulting for travel management companies, airlines, global distribution systems and travel media companies. He also served as a consultant at Bain & Company and spent time working at Kayak. He has been recognized as an influential executive in business travel, as a past board member of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, and a frequent critic/judge at the Phocuswright Innovation Summit. He also facilitates the Phocuswright Young Leaders Summit, helping accelerate the pipeline of young talent into the travel industry.

Evan earned his MBA and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College.

After starting her career in marketing and business development with the energy industry, Boriana has spent the last 14 years at American Express in New York holding various roles, including Chief Operating Officer for the company’s digital group and Head of M&A Integration. During her tenure at American Express, Boriana successfully led multiple business transformation functions and championed some of the company’s largest enterprise-wide change initiatives, including the creation of global shared services and centers of excellence.

Having been raised between Europe and Africa, Boriana is well traveled, multilingual and highly passionate about diversity in ideas, innovation, and talent development. Outside of work, Boriana supports various non-profit causes through board service, fundraising, and strategic consultation.

Boriana studied law at Loyola University and earned her MBA from the University of New Orleans.

Previously, Joakim served for five years as VP of Commercial Strategy, Consulting and Sales Enablement at GBT, a role that also included supporting mergers and acquisitions, global commercial strategic initiatives, and executive planning.

Joakim has a proven track record in driving results and developing talented, engaged, and high-performing teams, having spent over 16 years in various leadership roles at American Express. Before re-joining GBT in 2015, Joakim served as VP of Business Development of U.S. Merchant Services, where he led a business development team to increase transactions and customer satisfaction.

Joakim achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business Studies at European Business School London.