SA Expeditions co-founder returns as Chief Product Officer

As SA Expeditions enters our tenth year of operations, our co-founder, David Rottblatt, returns as Chief Product Officer.

For the first five years of our existence (2010-2015) David led the development of much of the company infrastructure that we rely on today. A process engineer by trade, David instilled in the SA Expeditions DNA the importance of efficiencies which reduce errors and transaction costs – an absolutely vital consideration in the detail-heavy business of tailor-made trip design. Today, this philosophy is being further refined as we chart a path that doesn’t base our organizational identity on employee or office count, but rather on the depth and quality of our network and the technological tools we use to connect it.

Following his first stint with SA Expeditions David has been immersed in the start-up world of ride-hailing applications, helping Cabify to extend their footprint across South America. “To have David back on the team is like getting the band back together,” says CEO Nick Stanziano. “Because of our long history building the company together, David deeply understands our business and where we’re headed. There couldn’t be a more appropriate person in the world to lead our current pivot towards using technology to create an intelligent platform that connects discerning travelers with the very best trip designers in the market.”

David will oversee the development of digital products that build on our philosophy of agility and efficiency. These will afford our travelers unparalleled resources when planning (and going on!) private vacations, while also giving our trip designers industry leading tools that enable them to emphasize their expertise as a team of on-the-ground explorers.

David holds a BS in engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Stanford University. He rejoins the company as a director alongside Riva Bacquet COO and Nick Stanziano CEO. “It’s amazing to be back,” says David. “To see how the unique culture that makes SA Expeditions thrive has been cultivated and extended to incorporate a diverse group of key contributors, from DEs to design support, tech to creative, operators to marketing…All of them working collaboratively and complementarily to make the vision of sustainable, perspective-altering travel a reality. I’m excited to use what I’ve learned over the past few years to implement tech as an enabler for impactful growth, richer experiences, and frictionless processes.

“To be able to put all this together with such a talented and fun team,” he adds, “Is a dream come true.”