Leadership Team

Stephen Scherr
Stephen M. Scherr
Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Stephen Scherr is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Hertz. He is focused on transforming the iconic American company into a global leader in shared mobility, electrification, and digital-first customer experience.

Prior to joining Hertz in February 2022, Stephen spent nearly three decades at Goldman Sachs. He served as Chief Financial Officer from 2018 through 2021, a period during which the firm undertook considerable growth across its new and existing businesses. During his time at Goldman Sachs, Stephen led a number of the firm’s most important businesses, including as Chief Operating Officer of the Investment Banking Division, Global Head of the Financing Group and leader of the firm’s consumer business. 
 
Stephen serves on the boards of the Jewish Museum and the New York Stem Cell Foundation. He is also a member of Business Roundtable, the Council on Foreign Relations and the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. 
 
He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Paul E. Stone
Paul E. Stone
President and Chief Operations Officer

Mr. Stone has served as President and Chief Operations Officer since October 2021. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Hertz from May 2020 to October 2021, and Executive Vice President and Chief Retail Operations Officer North America from March 2018 to May 2020. From November 2015 to December 2017, Mr. Stone served as the Chief Retail Officer at Cabela’s Inc., an outdoor outfitter retail company. Prior to joining Cabela’s Inc., Mr. Stone spent 28 years growing his career with Sam’s Club, a retail warehouse subsidiary of Walmart Inc., a multinational retail corporation. His most-recent position with Sam's Club was as Senior Vice President - West Division from 2007 to 2015, where he led operations upwards of 200 locations with more than 30,000 employees.

Darren Arrington
Darren Arrington
Executive Vice President, Revenue Management and Fleet Acquisition

Mr. Arrington has served as Executive Vice President, Revenue Management and Fleet Acquisition at Hertz since September 2020.  He previously served as Senior Vice President of Fleet Planning at Hertz from 2012 to September 2020.  From 2000 to 2012, Mr. Arrington was in a variety of leadership roles at Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, which was purchased by Hertz in 2012.  Mr. Arrington has leadership experience in fleet acquisition, fleet remarketing, fleet planning and revenue management.

Batcheler
Colleen Batcheler
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Ms. Batcheler has served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since May 2022. She has more than 15 years of experience as a business-oriented general counsel and senior leader and more than 20 years of experience advising public companies. Previously, Ms. Batcheler served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Conagra Brands, Inc., one of North America's leading branded food companies, where she oversaw all legal and governmental affairs for the company. Prior to joining Conagra, Ms. Batcheler was Vice President and Corporate Secretary at Albertson's, Inc., Associate Counsel with The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and an Associate with the law firm of Jones Day. She earned her J.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the State University of New York College at Fredonia, NY.
Liz Bowyer
Liz Bowyer
Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs

Ms. Bowyer has served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs since June 2022. She has spent her career working at the intersection of communications, politics and law. Previously, she was global co-head of Brand and Content Strategy at Goldman Sachs, responsible for the firm’s strategy to engage with the public and other key stakeholders through content related to markets, industries, and the global economy. Ms. Bowyer has been a crisis communications strategist to corporate leaders across industries, helping to navigate the political, legal and media crosscurrents of crisis management. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, she practiced law at Boies Schiller Flexner in New York, specializing in complex civil litigation. She was also a producer for Tom Brokaw in his documentary unit at NBC, Tom Brokaw Reports, and helped with Brokaw’s bestselling books, The Greatest Generation and Boom: Voices of the Sixties. Ms. Bowyer is a veteran of two presidential campaigns and was a researcher and speechwriter at the White House. She is a graduate of the University of Florida and Columbia Law School.

Alexandra Brooks
Alexandra Brooks
Chief Accounting Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Brooks has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer of Hertz since October 2020. She previously served as Senior Vice President, Internal Audit from June 2020 to October 2020. Prior to joining Hertz, Ms. Brooks was the Vice President, Internal Audit at Aptiv PLC (“Aptiv”), a global technology company, beginning May 2015. Before joining Aptiv, Ms. Brooks was the Chief Financial Officer for Champion Windows and Home Exteriors, a home improvement company, from 2013 to 2015. Prior to that, Ms. Brooks was in a variety of leadership roles at the General Electric Company, a multinational conglomerate, including Global Controller for the Aviation segment, Executive Technical Advisor to the Corporate Audit Staff, and Global Controller for the Plastics division. Ms. Brooks also worked at the General Motors Company in a variety of finance and accounting roles. She began her career with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a professional services firm, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Davis
Wayne Davis
Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Mr. Davis has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer since January 2023. He is responsible for leading the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty brands and shaping the company’s marketing strategy to drive effective brand reach and customer engagement. Prior to joining Hertz, Mr. Davis led the Café brand for GE Appliances, the sales of which tripled under his leadership. Mr. Davis serves on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana, Amplify Louisville and Fund for the Arts. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Morehouse College and an MBA from Xavier University. 
Tim Langley-Hawthorne
Tim Langley-Hawthorne
Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Mr. Langley-Hawthorne has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer since October 2021. He previously served as CIO at Hitachi Vantara, a hi-tech subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. operating in more than 100 countries. In that role, he led transformational infrastructure, application and information security efforts and all technology integration for global M&A transactions. He also received industry recognition for the business value his teams delivered through end-to-end digital innovation. Prior to Hitachi, Mr. Langley-Hawthorne held various executive technology and operations positions at Western Union, leading transformational projects including the implementation of full-stack technologies that significantly advanced the capabilities of the global customer service team. In addition, he spent 20 years in various IT, consulting and commercial roles at Information Services Group, Electronic Data Systems, and IBM Australia. Mr. Langley-Hawthorne holds an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Eric Leef
Eric Leef
Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

Mr. Leef has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Hertz since February 2021.  He previously served as Senior vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer from September 2020 to February 2021.  Mr. Leef has nearly 20 years of leadership experience with success leading global HR organizations, managing labor relations, developing employee engagement and diversity & inclusion initiatives, and overseeing HR operations at corporate and field levels.  Before joining Hertz, Mr. Leef most recently was the Chief Human Resources Officer at Atria Senior Living Community.  Prior to that role, he held several executive HR roles over 16 years at GE Appliances, supporting the supply chain, technology and consumer service divisions.

 

Mr. Ryan
Ned Ryan
Executive Vice President and Chief Product Development Officer
Mr. Ryan has served as Chief Product Development Officer since May 2022. He previously served in a senior capacity at Ford Motor Co., where he worked on new, digitally connected mobility businesses. Prior to Ford, Mr. Ryan founded Canvas, a vehicle subscription service that was purchased by Fair.com in 2019. In 2013, Mr. Ryan launched Breeze, the first flexible rideshare financing platform, which was purchased by Ford in 2016. 
Laura Smith
Laura Smith
Executive Vice President, Sales and Customer Experience Officer

Ms. Smith has served as Executive Vice President of Sales and Customer Experience since December 2020. She previously served as Executive Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Customer Experience. Ms. Smith has more than 20 years of expertise in the travel industry and customer experience. She joined Hertz in 2002 in Dublin, Ireland where she held various leadership roles at the company’s international customer contact center. In 2013, she relocated to the United States to lead Hertz’s Customer Care team and contact center in North America. In 2019, she was promoted to Senior Vice President of Customer Experience, overseeing the company’s global Customer Care and Customer Experience organizations.