John M. Padgett

John M. Padgett (born 1969) is the Chief Experience & Innovation Officer. for Carnival Corporation & plc, overseeing the company’s Guest Experience & Innovation (GXI) division. He joined the company in 2015 and is credited with the creation of the OceanMedallion wearable device and the OCEAN guest experience platform, fashioning the first Internet of things for humans and formulating the first-ever smart city at sea. In January 2017, he joined Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold W. Donald on the keynote stage at CES 2017 to announce the innovation, which rolled out in November 2017 in stages aboard the Regal Princess and was fully activated in August 2018 on Caribbean Princess.
In December 2020, Princess Cruises announced its entire global fleet of ships would feature the MedallionClass Experience when it resumes service.
The MedallionClass Experience includes handsfree cabin unlocking, on-demand delivery, entertainment, dynamic navigation, payment, anywhere wagering, and media content delivery.
In 2020, Padgett and team modified the OceanMedallion device to enable contact tracing. The OceanOrbit contact tracing solution debuted on Costa Smeralda in fall 2020.
Padgett also oversees Carnival’s content production unit, Ocean Studios, and has been executive producer for seven TV series with more than 300 episodes of Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin (American Broadcasting Company), The Voyager with Josh Garcia (NBC Network), Vacation Creation (ABC), Good Spirits (A&E (TV network)), La Gran Sorpresa (Univision), Go. (direct to digital), and Local Eyes (direct to digital).
In fall 2017, he oversaw the launch of OTT channel – OceanView - streaming travel content to Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku.
John M. Padgett Born 1969 (age 51) 
Occupation Chief Experience & Innovation Officer 
Known for Disney's Magic Band; Carnival's OceanMedallion Padgett with an OceanMedallion wearable device.
In Dec 2017, Padgett was named one of the most innovative people in cruising by Travel Weekly for Cutting Edge Technology in the Guest Experience.
At CES 2019, Padgett joined Patrick O. Brown, CEO and Founder, Impossible Foods; Arlan Hamilton, Founder and Managing Partner, Backstage Capital; and Shelly Zalis CEO, The Female Quotient for the Technology’s Innovators and Disruptors Super Session.
At CES 2020, he participated in the AI and VR in Travel panel with Robert Patterson, VP, Marketing Technology, MMGY and Audrey Hendley, President, American Express Travel. 
Prior to joining Carnival in 2015, Padgett spent 18 years with Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Parks & Resorts there in a range of positions spanning finance, travel industry marketing and sales, consumer marketing, call center, facilities and engineering, products and services planning and development, and experience development. In his last role, he served as Vice President, Business Development and is recognized as one of the “Founding Five” inventors behind Disney’s Next Gen Experience tasked to “reinvent the vacation experience – and keep [Disney World] relevant” and the force that created Disney’s MagicBands and MyMagic+.
He holds 35 patents and multiple innovation awards for wearable devices, experience itinerary scheduling and optimization, digital experience interaction platforms and operational processes.
Education
Padgett studied at Virginia Tech, where he received a bachelor's degree in finance from the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business in 1991 and a master's of business administration with a concentration in management science in 1994
Category:1969 births
Category:Innovation Officer
Category:Chief executive officers