When it comes to work-life balance, Steve Singh has an interesting approach. “There is no distinction between my work and my family – they are both my life and my source of joy and I derive incredible energy from both.”

It helps, of course, that his wife, Heather, and son, Naveen, one of the couple’s three children, also work in corporate travel. Heather is the Chief Product Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at group meetings and event platform Troop Travel and Naveen is the founder and CEO of expense management company Center. Alongside fellow investors in the Madrona Venture Group, Singh has invested in both Troop and Center, and also in Travel-as-a-Service platform Spotnana, where he is taking a more hands-on approach as CEO. Most recently, in April of this year Singh and his investor buddies acquired US travel management company Direct Travel. Singh is Executive Chairman in all four companies, plus others not related to travel. 

So, how does he manage his time? “I try to be 100% present in whatever I am doing, although I am not exceptional at this yet,” he admits. “I leave each conversation with action items and walk into each conversation with a set of goals on what I want us to accomplish in that discussion.”

Along with his brother Raj, Singh founded Concur in 1993 and was the company’s Chairman and CEO through its IPO, 16 years as a public company and sale to SAP in 2014 for $8.3 billion. He could have left the industry then but didn’t. “There were two things that pulled me back into the travel industry. A fundamental shift in the technology landscape (cloud computing and Machine Learning) and the opportunity to work with four incredible executives – Sarosh (Waghmar) at Spotnana, Naveen (Singh) at Center, Dennis (Vilovic) at Troop, and Christal (Bemont) at Direct Travel. Working with incredible leaders, leveraging a modern technology stack allows me the opportunity to deliver on a vision that I had real passion for – the perfect trip. It also feeds a personal need. I get great joy in helping others succeed,” he explains.

The latest step in Singh’s quest for ‘the perfect trip’ is Avenir (French for future). Billed as “Direct Travel’s new, state-of-the-art technology stack, uniquely designed to be the first open, end-to-end solution of its kind”, it brings together Spotnana “for cutting-edge travel management”, Center “for advanced expense management,” and Troop “for efficient meetings and events planning”. 

“With Avenir, we believe Direct Travel is poised to spark a movement that will fuel the modernisation of the business travel sector and a new era of unprecedented technical innovation,” says Singh.

“I leave each conversation with action items and walk into each conversation with a set of goals on what I want us to accomplish in that discussion”

Avenir’s “open and extensible design” allows innovators from any field to contribute, he adds. Singh sees potential for further innovation partnerships to use AI to automate travel bookings, predict and manage disruptions and ensure compliance, and for hotel and property management, which he believes is ripe for transformation. 

“We have nothing to immediately announce, but we are engaged with folks across the industry on a regular basis,” he says.

The decision to buy a TMC took some in the industry by surprise, but Singh says the deal was about “distribution, customer acquisition and high quality customer service”.

“We looked at several TMCs, but none of them were as well managed, nor did they have the same level of customer loyalty as Direct Travel enjoys,” he says.

A recent Direct Travel report found most US business travellers believe TMCs no longer have a role in the ecosystem and are long overdue for disruption. Singh agrees the TMC model needs to change. “I believe TMCs will evolve to deliver a single technology stack (in the case of Direct Travel it will be Spotnana, Troop and Center) upon which they can deliver unique, ongoing innovation that leads to a better customer value proposition at a lower cost of operation,” he explains.

“Good TMCs do more than just manage costs. They play a key role in modernising programmes, enabling travel managers to anticipate challenges, mitigate disruptions and enhance traveler wellbeing and satisfaction.

“Moreover, TMCs should elevate the travel leader’s role to that of a strategic business advisor who is viewed as helping advance the company’s interests.”

“We are living in the golden age for travel industry innovation”

He believes there are three key priorities for travel managers – improving the traveller experience, travel programme cost management and duty of care, and that technology will play a key role with all three.

“AI can be used to automatically adjust travel budgets in a tightening economic climate. Rather than a flat x per cent cut across the board, a modern travel and expense platform can adjust travel budgets to align with economic opportunities and business priorities. Platforms like Avenir can be used to identify, communicate with and help travellers navigate out of locations where there might be a safety concern – all while keeping the traveller manager and line managers apprised of the situation. Travel managers have an opportunity to leverage modern, open, integrated platforms and AI to dramatically improve the traveller experience while reducing their operating costs.” 

He also predicts “compelling and exciting” changes on the horizon for travellers.

“In the near future you will be able to ask solutions like Avenir to book your travel with just a simple voice request. Modern solutions will integrate with your calendar, understand your preferences and pattern of behaviour, your corporate policies and book your travel – no matter how complex – inclusive of ground logistics and dining or venues,” says the serial travel entrepreneur, fuelled by the possibilities.

“Cloud computing and AI are enabling a level of value creation that wasn’t possible when I started Concur. We are living in the golden age for travel industry innovation.”

In brief

Tell me about your family and how you spend your leisure time.

I am fortunate to have an amazing wife and three children that are wonderful human beings. I want to be better each day because I want to be worthy of being her husband and a father to my children. We spend a lot of time together on family trips to various locations around the world, holidays at home, and as many dinners as we can share.

Do you travel frequently and do you enjoy it? Has the way you travel changed in recent years?

During my Concur days, I tried to be efficient when I was traveling. I still had young kids and I wanted my business trips to be short and sweet. In the last few years though, now that my children are adults, my wife and I travel together. We like to extend work trips to visit the cities we travel to, or visit our daughters, who both live out-of-state now.

Do you worry about your personal carbon footprint and, if so, what are you doing about it?

We all have an obligation to positively impact climate change. I look for ways to offset my own footprint and leave the world better for my children and grandchildren.

That said, conservation is not enough and does not embrace the fact that travel is central to being a human being and that we all consume resources in the course of our lives. As a society, we need to bring about technologies and services that can reduce our carbon impact, and invest in the creation of industries that fundamentally change the energy sources that are available and consumable at a global scale. These investments will range from carbon sequestration to alternative energy generation.

I’ve worked with The Nature Conservancy for many years and one of the initiatives that my family supports is land and tree conservation as a method for offsetting human impact on the environment.

You have your own charitable organisation, the Singh Family Foundation. What is its purpose?

Our focus is primarily on the environment and education, although we do support a number of charities that are important to our community or family and friends. Our main focus is funding a girls school in India that was created and is run by my parents, Kamala and Gopal Singh. My mother was only able to attend school through fourth grade and, as an adult, she made it her mission to make sure the girls in her village were afforded an opportunity for a full formal education.

My parents have run the Jangi Singh Girls College for almost 20 years, have seen more than 5,000 girls graduate (95% graduation rate) and receive high-school-level diplomas, three-quarters of which have gone on to attend university.

If society can enable educational opportunities for underserved communities, we dramatically increase the number of people that can contribute to the advancement of humanity.

Who has had the biggest influence in your life/career and why?

It is a long list. At the top of the list are five people.

My parents immigrated to the US in the 60s to seek out a better life and opportunity for themselves and their children. It took unbelievable courage to leave everything they knew and grew up with to give their family an opportunity for a better life. Whatever I am blessed with today was only possible because of their courage.

Also on my list are Bill Campbell [former CEO of Intuit], Bill McDermott [CEO of ServiceNow] and Ed Gilligan [former Vice-Chairman of American Express], all incredible people first leaders. I convinced Ed to join the Concur Board of Directors. His insights were always amazing. Even more impressive was that his guidance was always constructive, concise and delivered with grace.

Who was your best boss and why?

I’ve not had a large number of bosses, but I have been fortunate that I have worked for some amazing people. Bill McDermott, my boss at SAP, gave me a lot of latitude in running the various Cloud businesses at SAP. We spoke once every few weeks and had a high-bandwidth conversation that focused on strategy and people development. I loved his optimistic, people-driven approach to leadership.

Are you a good boss?

I would like to think so. I demand clarity in goals and alignment of the entire company against those goals. But that must always be matched with a deep commitment to the people that trusted you to come to work for you. 

What would your advice be to anyone thinking about entering the travel industry/following in your footsteps?

Imagine the way the world should work, at least in the corner of the industry you are focused on, independent of what benefits you. Then go make that a reality.

Who would you like to sit next to on a long-haul flight (dead, alive or fiction) and what would you talk about?

Brian Cox – Professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester. He has an amazing gift of simplifying complex topics – his lectures on the interaction of atomic particles, their behavior in light, black holes, and quantum mechanics are inspiring.

Are you a good packer? Any tips?

Cultural changes have made this easier over the past decade. For business travel, I never pack more than what can fit into an overhead bag + carry on. Modern clothing materials allow for wrinkle free and multi-venue appropriate packing. A pair of dress shoes and sports coat allow you to “dress up” for evening events.

What’s your most annoying habit?

I am very demanding. When you make a commitment to me, or your colleagues or company, I expect you to deliver without excuses. I expect the same of myself. I can be very hard on you if you do not live to your commitments.

What’s your pet hate about travelling?

Check-in at hotels is way too slow and requires too much repetitive information.

Aisle seat or window?

Aisle seat, which works out well as my wife prefers the window seat.

Favourite Netflix series?

I am a sci-fi geek. I loved the Lost in Space series.

What keeps you awake at night?

Knowing that the sunrises in front of me are fewer than the sunsets behind me. I want to accomplish as much as I can each day.

How would you like to be remembered?

For making a positive difference in the trajectory of life for as many people as I can. The only enduring legacy we leave behind is the cumulative impact of each of us incrementally improving the quality of life for all of us.

Steve Singh is one of the Managing Directors at Madrona Venture Group, which has invested in Direct Travel, Spotnana, Center, Troop and Otto. He became CEO of Spotnana in June of this year, adding to existing roles as Executive Chairman of Direct Travel, Spotnana, Center and Troop. He was a co-founder of Concur, which was sold to SAP in 2014. He lives in Seattle.