As an official Georgia Tech “Double Jacket,” Ashish Arya earned both his undergraduate (BA’06) and Executive MBA (EMBA’13) degrees from Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. A high-energy leader, Arya is currently the Global Head of Strategy and Marketing for Travel at Pinterest and is responsible for building solutions that drive value for Travel brands and leading all marketing communication for how Pinterest takes these solutions to market.
Prior to joining Pinterest, Arya spent his career building some of the world’s largest brands including The Coca-Cola Company and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. “I started at Starwood Hotels as an intern while pursuing my undergraduate degree from Georgia Tech. It was an incredible opportunity to build a base of knowledge in both the travel industry and as a marketer. I was able to learn how to build brands online and to help start and grow a digital team when online marketing and social media were just becoming mainstream channels for brands,” he shared.
His experience helping Starwood Hotels build their online brand led him to the opportunity to join one of the world’s premier brands, The Coca-Cola Company, as Director of eCommerce and Digital Marketing. “I was lucky to work with some of the smartest, creative marketers in the business,” he recalls. It was while working at Coca-Cola that Arya decided to pursue his MBA in Scheller College’s Executive MBA program. “I worked at Coca-Cola full time during the week and pursued my Executive MBA on the weekends,” he stated.
Never one to shy away from new challenges, Arya eventually left Coca-Cola to pursue a career at Pinterest where he now leads cross-functional teams to develop and execute the company’s travel and marketing strategies. “I’ve always enjoyed working at companies where we are creating something new; where we can take risks, and build and grow in uncharted territory,” Arya said. His current goal is to promote Pinterest’s growing travel industry (which attracts over 21 million people) and encourage customers to visit Pinterest first for help in planning and executing their trips.
As for his own travel, Arya said one of his favorite parts of the Scheller EMBA experience was the opportunity for international travel. “The global trips and experiences we took as an MBA program were fascinating. We met with many different types of businesses and enjoyed learning about local cultures in China, Istanbul, and Budapest,” he recalled.
“The Scheller Executive MBA experience was truly unique,” Arya stated, relating that it provided him with the knowledge, skillset, and networking opportunities that have catapulted him to go even further in his career than he ever imagined.
In addition to his role at Pinterest, Arya serves as Executive Advisor to the Georgia Tech Marketing Association, is a member of the Board of Directors for the Children’s Museum of Atlanta, a strategic advisor to hospitality companies and in November of 2017, was named 40 under 40 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.