Darren Huston named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Booking.com
The Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) today announced that former Microsoft executive Darren Huston, 45, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com. Booking.com is part of The Priceline Group and is the number-one online hotel reservation service in the world, offering over 165,000 hotels in 43 languages. As announced earlier this year, Booking.com's previous CEO, Kees Koolen, will transition to Chairman of Booking.com. Mr. Huston, who is a Canadian native, brings a deep portfolio of related experience to Booking.com. Since 2008, he served as Microsoft Corporation's Corporate Vice President, Consumer & Online, responsible for the company's consumer and advertising businesses in over 40 countries. From 2005-2008, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Japan, which is the company's largest subsidiary outside the United States. Before joining Microsoft in 2003, Mr. Huston was a Senior Vice President at Starbucks Corporation, responsible for acquisitions and new product development. He has also served as an executive with McKinsey & Company, and as an economic advisor to the Government of Canada. Mr. Huston holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA/Economics from the University of British Columbia, and a BS/Economics from Ontario's Trent University.
