Ian Goldstein, partner at law firm Fenwick & West, a platinum sponsor for this year’s GCVI Summit, interviewed Bonny Simi, president of JetBlue Technology Ventures (JTV), the CVC arm of US-based airline operator JetBlue Airways, who co-chairs this year’s program.
Simi, a three-time Olympian and triple Stanford degree holder, has been with JetBlue for more than 16 years. Since 2016, she has overseen the travel industry-focused JTV unit in a collaborative way – including sharing lessons learned with the newcomers.
When Simi was tasked with launching the JTV scheme, she considered it a great opportunity because she could shape the unit with a clean slate.
Goldstein asked Simi to share how she had established the strategies, mandates and goals, to which she responded that JetBlue wanted someone who had experience in the VC industry – JTV managing director of investments Raj Singh – and someone from the parent corporation itself – that was where Simi came in.
“If JTV can have an impact on the parent organisation by just a tiny per cent, think about the value for JetBlue – so that is how we think about it, we uphold both strategic and financial disciplines,” Simi noted.
