About Me
Carl G. Shepherd is a veteran of the sharing economy. A semi-retired serial internet entrepreneur Shepherd co-founded HomeAway, one of the first sharing economy based companies, in 2005. As Chief Strategic and Development Officer (2005-2015) he was the architect of the company’s acquisition strategy, negotiating and closing 22 acquisitions and investments and served on the board of directors until the company’s sale to Expedia, Inc.
His career began as a consultant, working for what is now Accenture, and establishing a practice based in the advertising industry. He later served as CFO of magazine publishers Texas Monthly, Inc. (Austin, Texas) and Hanley-Wood, Inc. (Washington D.C.).
Shepherd has invested and serves on the board of two privately held travel companies based in Austin, Turnkey Vacation Rentals and OnceThere.com, as well as Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group. He is an active angel investor. He is a frequent speaker at travel industry events such as PhocusWright, WIT, EyeForTravel, the China Travel Daily Conference, HostelWorld Conference, and NOAH.
Shepherd holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration (Advertising) from Texas Christian University and an MBA (Finance) from the University of Texas at Austin.