With the help of her stewardship, Expedia became one of the first large scale platforms to accept Bitcoin payments for hotel bookings; a move that was heralded as a ‘coming of age moment’ for blockchain in the travel industry.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – Universal travel rewards company KeyoCoin is announcing the appointment of Jeanie Zheng as software and technology advisor for the company; a crucial role in the development of what will soon be the world’s first universal travel rewards program to be integrated with a live travel marketplace.
Currently VP of Engineering at GoDaddy, Jeanie spent four and a half years (between December 2012 and April 2017) as Director of Software Development for Expedia, the world’s second largest online travel agency (OTA) with an annual revenue of over $10billion. Here she led a global team of more than 100 engineers, developing platform level services for all Expedia brands and products, including the ordering platform, booking management system, and booking data analytics.
During that tenure Jeanie became a driving force for the adoption of cryptocurrencies through a partnership with Coinbase in 2014. With the help of her stewardship, Expedia became one of the first large scale platforms to accept Bitcoin payments for hotel bookings; a move that was heralded as a ‘coming of age moment’ for blockchain in the travel industry.
Jeanie joins KeyoCoin’s advisory team at a pivotal moment for the company, as it gears up to launch a universal travel rewards platform which will incentivize travelers to get more from their travel experiences, and arm independent travel businesses with the tools they need to attract and reward customers.
Matt Baer, CEO and Founder of KeyoCoin commented: “Jeanie is one of those rare finds in the world of business: an extraordinarily accomplished engineer with a strong track record at traditional software companies such as IBM, Yahoo, Microsoft and Expedia, yet with the foresight and open mindedness to experiment with new and untested technologies such as blockchain.
“In particular, her experience implementing Bitcoin payments at Expedia, all while overseeing the development of booking and customer service software for the travel distribution giant is something we are keen to employ here at KeyoCoin.”
Jeanie Zheng added: "It’s not every day you come across a startup with the ambition to take on the tech giants currently dominating distribution in the travel space, while also having the creativity and technical capability to follow through on those ambitions. I’ve been extremely impressed by the KeyoCoin team, and believe that their unique rewards-centric approach has what it takes to disrupt the status quo in the industry, for the good of travelers and hotel and tour providers alike."
KeyoCoin’s advisory team now includes:
- Rick Savage, Head of Social Media for Apple Music, Beats 1 & iTunes
- Federico Pistono, Head of Blockchain for Hyperloop
- Dan Marchese, Former Director of Mobile for TripAdvisor
- Jeanie Zheng, Former Director of Software Development for Expedia
- Layla Revis, VP at Oracle
- Tamara Camp, VP of Global CEM, Growth & Loyalty Programs at Western Union
- Sheri Kaiserman, Co-Founder of Maco.la and former Head of Equities at Wedbush
- Marat Gaziev, SEO Director at IGN and Ziff Davis.
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