Navan Bolsters Executive Leadership Team with Return of Rich Liu as CEO of Navan Travel
Former Navan CRO boasts deep expertise in spearheading and scaling high-performing teams to deliver growth for the world's most influential technology companies
PALO ALTO, April 23, 2024 — Navan, the all-in-one super app that makes travel and expense easy, today announced that Rich Liu, formerly Navan CRO, will rejoin the company as the CEO of Navan Travel. An expert on scaling companies from seed to IPO and beyond, Liu boasts a strong track record of building high-performance teams and creating and dominating new market categories. In his newly-created role, Liu will report to Navan CEO, Ariel Cohen, and oversee the broader travel business line to drive growth and execute against larger company initiatives.
“I’ve always had a deep, personal connection with Navan’s mission to make travel and expense easy,” says Liu. “As a growth leader, I know firsthand how integral travel is to driving growth for companies — my own use of Navan travel and expense data show the very top salespeople travel 2–4x more than their colleagues. Internal teams are also 20–30% more productive, and I suspect that in the coming years, those who haven’t invested in an in-person strategy will fall behind. I’m incredibly excited to be back to help ensure Navan customers stay a step ahead.”
Liu has helped drive five multi-billion-dollar unicorns across two IPOs, a successful acquisition, and numerous funding rounds at Navan (then TripActions), MuleSoft (Salesforce), Meta (Facebook), and other transformative SaaS companies, including most recently as Chief Business Officer at Everlaw, a leading AI litigation and investigation platform. Over the course of his career, he has built global business organizations spanning sales, account management, customer success, operations, strategy, partnerships, alliances, and business development.
As CEO of Navan Travel, Liu will spearhead various aspects of the business, including profit and loss, go-to-market, strategy, business development, product, design, and operations. As Navan CRO from 2018–2021, Liu helped drive Navan’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) certification, three funding rounds, and the launch of Navan Expense, which eliminates expense reporting.
Liu’s return to Navan’s executive team coincides with the appointment of Amy Butte as Audit Committee Chair and follows several years of fast growth, recording a nearly 5x increase in revenue from 2021–2023. Recent advancements include generative AI optimization and the launch of Ava, Navan’s automated virtual assistant; the establishment of Navan as a leading NDC-enabled travel management company with 14 connections; and the company’s global expansion, with five acquisitions in two years.
“Rich is a long-time friend and Navan champion who played a key role in Navan’s evolution, instilling the customer-first growth mentality that remains our north star today,” says Navan co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen. “I am thrilled to welcome him back as Navan revolutionizes the travel and expense industry globally.”
About Navan
Navan is the all-in-one super app that makes travel and expense easy so you can focus on being there, not getting there. Say goodbye to spending hours on the phone trying to change your flight or saving stacks of receipts to manually input expenses. From EAs and finance teams to travel managers and employees, Navan empowers people to concentrate on the things that matter most to them — all while providing companies with real-time visibility, savings, and control. Learn more at navan.com
