Tom Schmidt — Mentor profile, Title: Director of Program Management, Company: Expedia Group, Industry: Program Management | Management | Travel, Mentor Type: Albers

Background

Job Description

I lead a team of program managers delivering cross-functional strategic initiatives, partnering with Decision & Insights and Portfolio leaders on prioritization, governance, and execution.

Company Description

Expedia Group is a global online travel company whose brands (Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo) and B2B platform connect travelers and partners with lodging, flights, and other travel services worldwide.

Employment History

Director Business Programs - Commercial Operations : Expedia Group
Director strategy and program management : Starbucks
Senior Manager Global Distribution & Business Operations : Boeing

Education

Business Management and Leadership : University of Portsmouth

No civic involvement entered

Mentoring Objectives & Scope

1. A clearer picture of how the work actually gets done. Not the job-title version, how decisions get made, how priorities get set, how to navigate ambiguity when there's no clear answer yet.

2. Practical skills they can use immediately, how to structure a problem, communicate up and across an organization, and make a case for their ideas with evidence rather than just conviction.

3. Honest, specific feedback on their thinking and communication, delivered in a way they can actually act on. I'd rather tell them something useful that's a little uncomfortable than something comfortable that's useless.

As a mentor, I can support students in the following: 

- Resume review, interview prep, LinkedIn branding
- Career exploration, matching interests and talents with professions and industries
- Student transition from college to first professional role
- Building technical or subject matter expertise (hard skills)
- Improved communication and interpersonal skills
- Development of leadership skills, confidence, and executive presence
- Expanding a network, building connection, navigating an organization
- Helping entrepreneurial students define a business or product and business plan
- Career Pivot - transition to new role, career, and industry

 

When and where do you hold meetings with your students?

Hybrid (mix of in-person and virtual) Queen Anne

Additional Information

I run strategic transformation and execution of the program portfolios at Expedia Group, leading teams of program managers against cross-functional work that touches commercial operations, customer experience, and long-range planning.

Before Expedia, eight years at Starbucks, strategy and program management across store development, airport transformation, and the three-year commercial roadmap that shaped growth across licensed and company-operated stores.

Before that, Boeing. Jet parts, leased inventory, distribution networks across three continents. That's where I learned supply chain and global operations the hard way.

The common thread: I take on stuck, complex, or under-resourced work and make it move. I build the governance, the prioritization framework, the operating rhythm, and the trust across teams that lets programs actually ship. I care more about whether the work landed than whether the deck was pretty. I lead with clarity, candor, and real investment in the people doing the work.

My strongest reference is the PMs who have worked for me and still reach out years later. Certifications: PMP, PPQ, LUMA.

I also ship products. The PM Toolkit (directorpm.com) is a growing set of practical tools, status report generators, QBR builders, risk trackers, interview prep, drawn from real PM work, not theory. Browse the Featured section below.