UpLift Appoints former Cisco Executive Rob Soderbery as Company's First President

"Rob brings the operational skills and leadership scale to enable UpLift in our mission to make travel more accessible, affordable and rewarding for everyone," said UpLift Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Barth, "His experience managing the $20B enterprise product business at Cisco and deep understanding of enterprise needs is a perfect complement to our team of deep travel, financial and consumer expertise.  With Tom's proven ability to create value in travel markets and Noha's global capital markets experience we are ready to serve the largest and most complex travel providers in the world."

Barth, who founded SideStep  - acquired by Kayak in 2007, now one of 6 primary brands of Booking Holdings - and created the meta-search for travel category, founded UpLift in 2013 to change the way consumers are able to purchase travel.   UpLift Pay Monthly has been adopted by top travel suppliers and is enabling those brands to drive conversion, enhance profitability and build loyalty with travelers.  Uplift is live today on the vacation package sites of Universal Studios, American Airlines, JetBlue, Funjet, Spirit as well as United Vacations and Southwest Vacations.

"We set out to build the best digital lending platform for Point of Sale," said UpLift President Rob Soderbery. "With that platform, we are now focused on creating great experiences for travelers while driving conversion, revenue and ancillaries for our travel partners.  I am excited to take an operating role at UpLift helping Brian and the team achieve their vision."

UpLift enables travel providers to offer low, fixed monthly payments to their travelers.  Uplift is focused on responsible lending, security and privacy for both consumers and providers.  UpLift offers are always simply and clearly presented enabling consumers to make responsible choices.  UpLift is PCI Level 1 compliant, and never shares or sells partner or consumer data. 

Rob Soderbery - President

Rob Soderbery brings more than 30 years of product, technology and general management experience, most recently at Cisco as SVP and General Manager of the Enterprise Segment, with responsibility over $20B in Cisco products.  He is active as an investor and advisor to numerous startups.  Prior to Cisco, he held executive roles at Symantec and Veritas Software.  He holds a BSEE from Caltech and MSEE from Stanford University.

Tom Botts - Chief Commercial Officer

Tom Botts brings deep travel industry knowledge and experience to UpLift.  Botts has held positions in hospitality, online travel agencies and airlines including mostly recent serving as SVP and CMO at Miraval Group, a KSL Capital Partners portfolio company acquired by Hyatt Hotels and Resorts.  Earlier, Botts co-founded travel industry consulting practice Hudson Crossing where he served as Managing Partner.  Botts also has senior management experience at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Hotwire.com, and Delta Air Lines.  He is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, and is an active investor and advisor across the travel landscape.

Noha Carrington - Chief Capital Officer

Noha Carrington brings proven ability to work with the most demanding global equity and debt investors, with deep experience in capital markets in New York, California and the Pacific Rim. Most recently, as founder and Chief Investment Officer at Carrington Strategic Advisors she provided customized investment products for clients around the globe. Prior to her shift to the buy-side, she spent 15 years as a global equity derivative sales trader with senior roles at Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers.  She started her career with roles at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.

Carrington received her BS Finance summa cum laude from the University of Connecticut and her M.B.A. cum laude in Finance from New York University Stern Business School. She serves on the Board of the University of Connecticut and is a member of both the Investment and Governance committees.

About Uplift

Built by world-class travel technologists, UpLift helps the world's biggest travel brands build top line revenue and decrease transaction costs - boosting conversion rates, merchandising specific products and increasing total trip value. We are digital marketers and fintech experts whose core technology, the UpLift Engine, was designed by the team that created the original travel meta-search. Our flagship product, Pay Monthly, lets travelers buy now and pay later, with monthly installment payments offered at the industry's lowest rates.

Contact:

Michael Frenkel, MFC PR

(201) 317-7035

[email protected]

SOURCE UpLift