Mike Gomes
“I fundamentally believe that you cannot pursue a great customer experience, while not equally committing to the pursuit of a great employee or associate experience.”
Mike Gomes joined Hertz in November 2025 to lead a 300-plus-person organization spanning customer insights, experience design, customer care, and operational support. He arrived after two decades at Disney and later CX leadership roles at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Cortland, bringing experience across hospitality, live events, and residential services.
Gomes believes the customer, rather than the company’s assets, departments, or systems, should define the experience. At Cortland, that meant pushing beyond a property-centric model that split the renter journey across different teams and platforms and instead treating every interaction as part of the same relationship.
That thinking also shapes how he uses data and AI. Gomes has argued for moving beyond traditional “service recovery,” where companies react after something goes wrong, toward what he calls “service discovery.” AI can analyze resident communications to uncover recurring friction and flag potential problems earlier, while connected customer data gives teams a broader view of each resident’s journey.
Gomes sees the value in using automation to make simple interactions easier, giving people more time to focus on the complex conversations and moments customers are more likely to remember.
Hertz is a global car rental and mobility company operating the Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, and Firefly brands. With roughly 11,000 rental locations across 160 countries, the company manages a fleet of about 550,000 vehicles and handles around 25 million rentals annually.