Amex GBT’s CPO on mastering cultural integration as part of a large-scale acquisition

When American Express Global Business Travel last month completed its $540 million acquisition of travel and meeting solutions provider CWT, chief people officer Patti Huska faced a breathtaking task: seamlessly integrating 8,600 new employees into her existing organization of 27,000 people across more than 40 countries.

To say she was prepared for the challenge is something of an understatement. With more than 30 years at the company and a dozen acquisitions under her belt, Huska has refined an approach that prioritizes speed, clarity and human connection.

“Moving quickly to assimilate new colleagues into the organization is very important,” Huska said. “It’s important for your colleagues, it’s important for your customers, and it sets the tone.” Her philosophy echoes findings from Amex GBT’s research with Ipsos, which revealed that companies prioritizing positive culture and employee well-being significantly outperform their peers in growth metrics.

Their study, titled “The Growing Business Report,” found that 64% of “growth leaders” consider attracting and retaining high-quality talent a top priority, compared to just 48% of “followers.” That data reinforces Huska’s belief that cultural integration isn’t just an HR initiative but a business imperative.

Huska’s integration playbook begins with the fundamentals — chiefly, ensuring that the equipment works, and that comprehensive answers to FAQ are at the ready. But the real work aside from the machinery lies in the human element. Within days of the CWT acquisition, she had already conducted multiple town halls, including one exclusively dealing with HR functions and another focused on bringing GBT and CWT colleagues together.

“The best way to address uncertainty and retention is to give people clarity as soon as possible,” Huska said. “That could be a positive outcome for them, or perhaps it’s not, but clarity is just so important.”

Huska’s communication strategy centers on three principles, she explained: clarity, consistency and frequency. It leverages multiple leadership layers, not just c-suite executives. During the town halls, Huska deliberately structured sessions with team members to discuss their contributions, ensuring that recognition extends beyond leadership roles to the critical, behind-the-scenes workers who make such acquisitions successful.

Huska and her department integrated CWT’s employees into all GWT’s systems without skipping a beat: a technical feat that required extensive coordination between tech teams, sophisticated data and careful org-structure mapping. “Day one of when the acquisition closed, the CWT colleagues were in our HRIS [human resources information system] and we were doing town halls with them,” she said. “They got GBT email addresses; they were in the company. I’ve never been prouder.”

Huska said she tracks employee success by way of employee and customer retention rates, engagement scores and customer satisfaction — metrics that align with Amex GPT’s broader business objectives. The company’s own research supports that approach, indicating that growth leaders are 52% more likely to prioritize employee well-being versus 41% of followers.

The company conducts onboarding surveys at the 30-day mark, includes new employees in its annual colleague surveys, and revisits onboarding questions at four months to ensure sustained connection. That data-driven approach helps identify gaps and adjust strategies in real-time, Huska explained.

“I don’t believe that the best route for driving retention is financial,” she said. “I think it’s about creating an environment where people want to stay.” That philosophy aligns with research indicating that employees increasingly value recognition, purpose and growth opportunities over purely monetary incentives.

Huska acknowledges that an acquisition on this level does take time. For example, benefits transitions can require a year or more, while harmonizing compensation structures across dozens of countries involves complex analysis and careful change-management tactics. Still, her exhaustive, detail- and data-oriented process aims to minimize disruption at the outset while building toward full alignment for the long term.

Huska credits her team with pulling together to pull it all off — stressing that such a herculean task is never the work of just one person. As she puts it, “It takes a village.”