Former Nike Exec Joins Marriott Vacations Worldwide As CIO

Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation recently announced that Raman Bukkapatnam has joined the Company as Chief Information Officer. His first day with the company was July 10, 2023. In his role, Bukkapatnam will be responsible for leading the enterprise’s global technology strategy, transformation, and modernization. As a member of the Company’s Executive Committee, Bukkapatnam will report directly to John Geller, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“I am thrilled to add Raman to our executive team given his experience with some of the world’s most iconic brands and his knowledge in navigating large scale hybrid technology landscapes to deliver solutions that make the customer experience easier and more intuitive,” said Geller. “With Raman’s leadership, I am confident that we’ll be able to quickly and effectively deliver technology solutions for the next generation of travelers who seek flexibility and access, personalization, and simplified, seamless digital experiences when vacationing.”

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Once part of Marriott International, in 2011, Marriott Vacations Worldwide became a separate entity and earned $4.64 billion in revenue in 2022. Marriott Vacations Worldwide provides leisure travel experiences to 700,000 members visiting more than 120 resorts.

Prior to joining the Company, Bukkapatnam served as Vice President, Global Technology at Nike, Inc., where he played a critical role in reshaping digital retail, improving enterprise resource planning and supply chain platforms, and making significant contributions to productivity, growth, and margin improvements. Under his leadership, Nike successfully migrated to a cloud global enterprise resource planning application to allow for scale, performance, and operational efficiencies. Bukkapatnam was also responsible for leading the company’s retail store technology footprint, sustainability technology initiatives and digital connectivity with manufacturing factories and suppliers.

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Prior to Nike, Bukkapatnam had a more than 20 year-career at Starbucks serving in multiple leadership roles. As a Global Vice President at Starbucks, he was responsible for overseeing and leading critical functions like global supply chain and finance technologies, data engineering and analytics, and store development. He led a number of digital transformation initiatives impacting the company’s technological landscape, including Starbucks’ introduction of customer mobile applications.

In his new role, Bukkapatnam will lead the Company’s efforts to modernize the technology footprint across global sites and resorts, improve processes to maximize productivity for associates, drive adoption of automation and deliver new digital tools to improve the vacation experience for Owners, members and guests.

“This is an incredibly exciting time to join the leadership team at Marriott Vacations Worldwide and be part of the growth strategy for the future,” said Bukkapatnam. “I understand that a priority for the Company is a strong, agile technology infrastructure to power us forward as a leader in the leisure travel space. I’m happy to be part of building how digital will change what the future of vacation looks like for all of our stakeholders.”

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Peter High is President of Metis Strategy, a business and IT advisory firm. He has written three bestselling books, including his latest Getting to Nimble. He also moderates the Technovation podcast series and speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.