Wheels Up has appointed Vinayak Hegde as president. The move comes during a time of historic demand and revenue growth and on the heels of its public listing in July 2021. Since May 2021, Hegde has served as chief marketplace officer, responsible for leveraging innovative and proprietary technology to both grow and expand its customer base beyond its traditional membership model.

With its technology driven platform, the Wheels Up Marketplace says it is expanding the addressable market and increasing the accessibility of private air travel from hundreds of thousands to millions of consumers. Hegde will continue to report directly to Wheels Up chairman and CEO Kenny Dichter.

"I am excited to announce the promotion of Vinayak Hegde to president," says Dichter, "Since joining our team in May, Vinayak has successfully leveraged his proven, successful track record with product, engineering, sales, marketing, data and operations to deliver substantial value to the enterprise. Over the last five months, Vinayak has immersed himself in our business and has rapidly implemented several system enhancements, driving disciplined reporting rooted in transparency and accountability, and hired key leaders, which enables us to take Wheels Up to the next level at an accelerated pace."

Hegde has spent over two decades leading the technology, marketing and product development sectors within organisations, including Amazon and Airbnb. Wheels Up says he has been recognised as one of the early innovators to combine data, product, engineering, marketing and revenue management to help companies scale their consumer internet offerings.

In his expanded role, he will focus on developing and implementing a seamless and holistic approach to the customer, from sales to the management of its members' and customers' experience and loyalty. Hegde will drive world class execution through ownership of enterprise wide KPI's across sales, revenue, product and operations that measure our performance and drive accountability.