As founder and CEO of Hotel Engine, Elia Wallen is responsible for defining and executing the company’s strategic vision.  Under his leadership, the company experienced 122% growth in 2020 during a pandemic that devastated the travel industry. In late 2021, the company raised $65M in a Series B round, resulting in a $1.3B valuation — nearly nine times higher than the $150M valuation it achieved when it raised $16M in a 2019 Series A round after bootstrapping for two years.  Prior to Hotel Engine, Elia founded another bootstrapped company, Travelers Haven, which provides corporate housing solutions that reduce the cost of workforce housing for employees. 

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Fun Fact: Elia's been a hobbyist beekeeper since he was 15, and his very first company sold honey.

Danielle Press is Senior Vice President of Sales at Hotel Engine. She is instrumental in leading the sales function and team amidst the company’s immense growth, re-building and re-imagining their core business and sales culture.  Danielle previously held a 16-year track record building, leading, and scaling high performing sales teams at Staples. This included inside and outside sales, new business management, and account management. While at Staples, Danielle turned around underperforming teams (No 31 to No 1) in 18 months. She also built an inside acquisition engine that generated 4X productivity.   Danielle is passionate about supporting women in the workplace. She enjoys volunteering her time with professional groups such as the Revenue Collective — a sales and marketing organization — and #GirlsClub — a professional community aimed at empowering women.

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Fun Fact: Danielle secretly wishes to be an American Idol Superstar.

Amita Agnihotri is the Senior VP of Product for Hotel Engine. She ensures the company continues to provide a world-class platform and top-notch customer experience. She is also responsible for managing Hotel Engine’s product team and driving the planning and execution of their product roadmap. Amita brings more than 17 years of professional experience in business and product roles. Most recently, she was a Product Lead at Airbnb, where she created and led two net new product verticals focused on increasing community trust. Prior to joining Airbnb, Amita was Head of Product Management at Amazon, where she focused on defining best-in-class customer facing experiences. She also served as the General Manager for Amazon Drive, driving Amazon’s consumer cloud storage product strategy. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

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Fun Fact: Amita loves live music and going to concerts. She (hesitantly) admitted that the first concert she attended was Christina Aguilera when she was 16.

Dave Oldershaw is Hotel Engine’s Senior Vice President of Operations, overseeing efforts to accelerate revenue growth, improve operations and efficiency, and build out Hotel Engine's network of suppliers and partners. A self-described “investor turned operator,” he brings a wealth of experience to the role. Prior to joining Hotel Engine, he was responsible for corporate strategy, corporate development, GTM operations, data and analytics, business development, sales enablement and monetization for a marketing SaaS company called Litmus. Earlier in his career, he held investment roles with Spectrum Equity and Harris Williams & Co.  Off the clock, you can find Dave rooting for the New England Patriots, enjoying a fantasy or sci-fi novel, indulging in his guilty pleasure for reality TV or planning his next adventure — he and his family are based in the Boston area, but love to travel the world. 

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Fun Fact: Dave is a direct descendant of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence!