J.D. O’HARA
CEO, Internova Travel Group
J.D. O’Hara serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Internova Travel Group, one of the world’s largest privately-held travel services companies providing unrivaled expertise in all facets of leisure, corporate and entertainment travel. With more than 3,000 employees, Internova Travel Group is comprised of over 6,000 travel agency locations with more than 100,000 travel advisors in more than 80 countries. Mr. O’Hara became CEO of the company in January 2020 after having served as President.
Prior to rejoining the company as President in 2018, Mr. O’Hara was Senior Partner at Certares Management, LLC., Internova’s majority shareholder. Mr. O’Hara also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Internova Travel Group.
WE STRIVE ON A DAILY BASIS TO EMPOWER OUR ADVISORS AND AGENCIES WITH EXCEPTIONAL SUPPORT AND CONTINUALLY STRENGTHEN OUR SUPPLIER PARTNERSHIPS SO THAT WE CAN DELIVER INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCES TO THOSE WHO TRAVEL WITH US.
Mr. O’Hara has played a key role in the growth and evolution of the company since its inception in 2008. He was part of the original management buyout of Carlson Leisure Group from Carlson Companies in January 2008 that eventually led to the formation of Internova Travel Group. The company most recently ranked 11th among Travel Weekly’s 2023 Power List of the largest travel agencies and ranked 7th among the top travel management companies by Business Travel Europe.
In his various operating roles within the company since joining, Mr. O’Hara has had direct oversight of Internova’s expansive investment activity, including the acquisitions of Protravel International, Tzell Travel Group, ALTOUR, Nexion Travel Group, Vacation.com and Andrew Harper, among many more. As the company sought to expand beyond its core U.S. footprint, Mr. O’Hara led Internova’s international growth strategy with the acquisitions of Mexico-based Corporate Travel Services, and UK-based agencies Colletts Travel and Barrhead Travel Group, as well as meeting and event services company Your Event Solutions (YES).
Prior to joining Internova, Mr. O’Hara worked in the investment banking industry at Lehman Brothers in New York. He received a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo (Canada).
