Executive Leadership Team

Gary Morrison – Chief Executive Officer

Gary is the Chief Executive Officer of Hostelworld Group. He also serves as a Director of the Group, a position he has held since 2018.

A veteran of digital travel companies, Gary spent seven years at Expedia, where he was most recently Senior Vice President and Head of Retail for the Expedia brand worldwide. In addition, Gary also served on the Board of Directors of Despegar (NYSE DESP), AirAsiaExpedia and Voyages SNCF.

Gary also held senior management positions at Google as Head of Global Sales Operations for Google’s Online Sales Channel and Motorola as VP and Head of Product Management for Motorola’s Smartphone division (2007-8). Prior to this, he co-founded Webrewards, a UK based startup which he sold to Bertelsmann AG in 2001.

Earlier in his career, Gary spent 10 years in corporate development/M&A, consulting and engineering roles at General Electric, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and Schlumberger France respectively. Gary holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Masters in Engineering (Meng, Distinction) from Leeds University UK.

Caroline Sherry – Chief Financial Officer

Caroline Sherry was named Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors in September 2020 to oversee the global finance function at Hostelworld Group.

Caroline joined Hostelworld Group in November 2019 as Group Financial Controller, joining from Glanbia plc's Performance Nutrition division where she was Director of FP&A. Prior to this, Caroline held a number of strategic and commercial finance roles at Ulster Bank Group DAC, a subsidiary of NatWest Group. Caroline is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and completed her training in PwC. Caroline holds a BSc (Hons) in Food Science and a MBS (Hons) in eBusiness.

Chris Berridge – Chief Technology Officer

Chris joined Hostelworld Group as Chief Technology Officer in April 2023.

Chris has broad technical and commercial management experience in and around software development gained across multiple sectors in a 30+ year career. Chris spent the last 12 years working with CTOs and CPOs in companies such as TUI Travel, Santander, Credit Suisse and Three Mobile to radically transform their software development using agile principles.

Chris has a first in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Lissa Rao – Chief Product Officer

Lissa joined Hostelworld Group as Chief Product Officer in April 2024. An experienced leader with over 15 years' experience across product, engineering, data science, and user research, Lissa built her career in Travel and Ecommerce, holding senior roles at Zalando, Trivago, Booking.com, and VRBO.

Most recently, Lissa served as Vice President of Product and Tech at Zalando, leading all aspects (Product, Engineering, Design, User Research, Analytics) of the Lounge by Zalando product. Her proven track record in global B2C and B2B product development positions her to leverage her strategic expertise and optimise performance at Hostelworld, driving company goals.

Lissa is a graduate of Southwestern University from where she holds a Dual Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Spanish.

Fabrizio Giulio – Chief Supply Officer

Fabrizio joined as Chief Supply Officer in April 2019 to lead the Global Markets Team at Hostelworld Group.

Prior to Hostelworld, Fabrizio spent 14 years growing the global supply footprint and expanding the European business for Expedia Group. During the first half of his career, he oversaw supply acquisition and account management across various roles and European cities culminating in his appointment as interim VP of Emerging Markets. During the second half of his career at Expedia, he served as Managing Director Southern Europe managing Expedia’s businesses in France, Italy, and Spain.

Fabrizio most recently served as SVP Global Growth for rental property management company Hostmaker in London leading the supply, pricing, and distribution teams.

Fabrizio is a graduate of International Law at II University of Rome Tor Vergata, and has a Masters in Hospitality from SIAI Rome.

Barry McCabe – Chief People Officer

Barry joined Hostelworld Group as Chief Human Resources Officer in September 2023. Barry built his HR career over 25 years spanning a range of companies and industries including Amazon, Cadbury, Kraft Foods, Mondelez International, AOL and Gateway.

Barry has a record of accomplishment supporting businesses to unleash the potential of people through strategies that deliver personal and business growth. Prior to joining Hostelworld he was a member of the Amazon Ireland Country Leadership Team and led HR for the Amazon Web Services software development organisation across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Barry is a graduate of Dublin City University from where he holds a Bachelor of Business Studies.

Dave Rooney – Chief Analytics Officer

Dave joined Hostelworld Group as Chief Analytics Officer in October 2023. With over 15 years’ experience in analytics, data and strategy development, Dave has worked in a range of sectors and companies, including Ancestry, Cartrawler and Allied Irish Banks.

With a wealth of experience in marketing, product and content analytics across multiple countries and products, Dave most recently spent 10+ years at Ancestry, where he led the Analytics function for International Family History products and the global DNA business. Dave was also member of the Ancestry International Leadership Team in Ireland.

Dave is a graduate of Dublin City University from where he holds a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations.

John Duggan – General Counsel & Company Secretary

John is the General Counsel & Company Secretary of Hostelworld Group, having joined the company in May 2018. His responsibilities include overseeing the Group’s legal and corporate/PLC compliance activities and providing legal support to the Group’s Board of Directors.

Before joining Hostelworld, John worked in a number of senior commercial legal roles in O2, Telefonica Digital and IONA Technologies plc. John holds a BCL from University College Cork, an LLM from University College Dublin and the degree of Barrister-at-Law from the Kings Inns’, Dublin.