A conversation with American Airlines’ Vasu Raja

Vasu Raja is American’s Chief Commercial Officer. He oversees the airline’s Customer organization, global network and has oversight of the airline’s alliances and partnerships, revenue management, and American’s AAdvantage program.

Previously he served as Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice President of Network Strategy, where he was responsible for Network and Alliances. Vasu joined American in 2004 and has held a variety of roles in Sales, Planning and Revenue Management.

He began his career with Teach for America in 1999 and taught for three years in Baltimore City Public Schools. In 2013, he was named one of the Top 50 Executives under 50 by Diversity MBA Magazine.

Vasu earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities from the University of Texas at Austin, where he serves on the Advisory Council for the College of Liberal Arts. 

Lauri Reishus is passionate about connecting stakeholders throughout the travel ecosystem and sees ARC as the industry leader for data insights, flexible distribution services and innovative financial solutions. She works closely with the executive team in leading ARC’s mission to accelerate the growth of global air travel.  

Lauri has spent more than three decades in the industry because she believes in travel’s power and potential to connect the world. She began her career at American Airlines before moving to the travel agency side of the business where she led global customer success management with SatoTravel/TQ3 Navigant before joining ARC in 2005.  

Lauri hails from northern Wisconsin. She’s a graduate of George Mason University, an avid traveler and now lives (and explores the world) with her family in Northern Virginia.  

A lifelong entrepreneur and innovator, Alex brings more than 25 years of knowledge and experience in technology, airline distribution, and travel to ATPCO. He founded six startups, including Orbitz and G2Switchworks, before serving as Executive Vice President, Global Head of Strategy, Innovation, and Technology at Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He brings his business acumen and experiences from the hospitality world to concepts the airline industry can use, such as addressing digital booking flows, digital display, unstructured datasets, and dynamic pricing. When not working, Alex enjoys spending time with his wife and four daughters, making music, building rockets, and learning new things.