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Amex GBT Creates Team to Enhance Focus on AI

Immediate areas of interest will be traveler care, finance, engineering and enabling a modern workplace.

Written by:

Harvey Chipkin

Published on:

March 1, 2024

American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) announced an increased focus on existing AI projects, including the creation of a team tasked with “driving purposeful innovation and greater efficiencies for clients and the corporate travel management ecosystem.”

The immediate focus of the AI initiative will be adopting next-generation AI technologies and enhanced governance across four key areas of the organization: traveler care; finance; engineering; and enabling a modern workplace. The team will be conducting several assessments and partnering with legal, privacy, compliance, procurement and cybersecurity to determine the right technology solutions and advise on the new risks introduced by AI.

Michael Esquibel, senior technology strategy & engineering, assembled the new team, which includes:

  • Marilyn Markham, vice president, engineering & AI strategy, will lead the team in fostering the adoption of AI capabilities across the organization in a secure, compliant, and scalable manner.
  • Erica Trevino, vice president, operations strategy & optimization, will focus on using AI for greater efficiencies on the frontlines for global travel counselors.
  • Jake Hautly, vice president, finance strategy & optimization, will be dedicated to modernizing finance processes and creating greater confidence in financial forecasting.
  • Neil Kirk, vice president, technology services, will be engaged in initiatives for staff productivity in view of updating enterprise tools with AI components.

Said Markham, “Artificial intelligence will supercharge our colleagues and bridge a path to automation previously limited by the language-data barrier.” Scaling AI for Amex GBT, she said, “will unlock efficiencies and inspire product innovation to elevate user experiences for our colleagues, our clients and their travelers.”

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Amex GBT, according to the company, actively uses proprietary AI across its portfolio of services including proactive disruption management and personalized recommendations. In 2020, the company acquired AI start-up 30SecondsToFly, which has been instrumental in developing the natural language processing in Amex GBT’s chat and email channels. Amex GBT also acquired Egencia from Expedia Group in 2021, which brought additional AI and data science expertise, complementary technology, and enterprise capabilities.

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