An Interview With Savio P. Clemente
Yes, COVID19 shook things up, but it’s a little late to be asking how companies will be adjusting. It’s been 5 years at this point, and the travel and hospitality industries have adapted. They’ve built internal networks designed to make the travel experience more stress-free. More and more, consumers are focused on a quality experience. We make sure that their experience is quality even before they get to their hotel, making it easier for their destination to impress them further.
As part of my series about “developments in the travel industry over the next five years”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mario Medina.
Mario Medina is a seasoned business leader with over 20 years of executive experience across small, medium, and large enterprises. A dynamic strategist with a deep understanding of technology and business operations, Mario excels at driving growth and innovation in fast-paced environments. As the former President of DGTEC, one of the top three telecommunications companies in the Dominican Republic, and Latin America Operations Director for Canon’s Office Products Division, he has spearheaded large-scale operations and transformative projects throughout Latin America.
As an inventor and holder of a U.S. Patent (Patent No. US 12,073,338 B2), Mario has developed a highly automated vehicle dispatch system that eliminates the need for human interaction in dispatching, revolutionizing the transportation industry with a leading edge technology.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
During the financial crisis of 2008, a high school friend of mine was struggling to keep his limo company afloat, and I stepped in to help him navigate those tough times. What started as a favor quickly turned into an eye-opening experience. I noticed firsthand how outdated and fragmented the ground transportation industry was — manual processes, disconnected systems, and a general lack of innovation. That experience sparked something in me. I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of technology and logistics, and I realized there was a massive opportunity to bring real structure and intelligence to this space. I set out to create a solution that would not only elevate the user experience but also empower businesses to manage ground travel at scale with precision and ease. That’s how drvn and our proprietary FUSE system came to be.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
The most interesting part of drvn’s story, and subsequently my career, has to be when COVID hit. The moment COVID entered the scene, there was a lot of fear, a lot of questions, and not a lot of travel. Our bookings went down to zero for months. Not a single ride. Our perspective went like this: If we can’t have business, we’re just going to focus on making our company more valuable. We spent the next several months building an in-house CRM designed specifically for travel managers, all while running on zero revenue. It was a do or die situation. Through a lot of stress, all-nighters, and near breaking points, we somehow managed to not fire a single person, kept our team running at 100%, and came out the other side stronger than most of our competitors. I’d like to think that a commitment level of that magnitude is rare, and the most interesting thing about us.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
This industry moves fast, and the demand for perfection can be relentless. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that building strong systems and empowering a great team is the key. Early on, I was involved in every detail every client interaction, every ride, every issue but that’s not sustainable. Burnout usually happens when people confuse control with leadership. True leadership is about creating structure, supporting your team, and building trust so that things run smoothly whether you’re in the room or not. The moment I started focusing on strategy and vision rather than task execution, drvn really scaled. My advice? Set clear expectations, build processes that run without constant oversight, and invest in people you trust. If you do that, you’ll not only protect your energy, you’ll multiply your impact.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Can you share a story about that?
This industry moves fast, and the demand for perfection can be relentless. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that building strong systems and empowering a great team is the key to avoiding burnout. Early on, I was involved in every detail, but I realized that scaling a business means creating processes that don’t depend on you personally. Delegating and trusting my team has allowed me to focus on strategic growth instead of being consumed by daily operations.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
It’s hard to say who got me here today. Not because I can’t think of anyone, but because I can’t think of just one. As corny as it sounds, every person at drvn is here because they play a critical role. If we lose even one person, we have to rework items, rebuild workflows, and restructure departments. However, if I had to pick just one, I’d probably go with Brian Jones, our Director of IT & Dev. He’s been here from the very beginning, and seen everything, including our ugliest moments. He makes the magic happen. He built our platform from the ground up. Without him, drvn would look very different today.
Thank you for that. Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?
The sad reality of our industry is that it is usually painfully outdated. At the time that we entered the seen, it was still industry practice to rely on fax machines. Now, we are streamlining the chauffeur and travel management industries faster than anyone else. We offer white label solutions to our clients, we have an in-house CRM that is the best in its class, and we’re finding ways to introduce AI like never before. We expect that the travel industry will improve so rapidly that it will hardly be recognizable in 5–10 years.
Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation?
Ground transportation for businesses, events, and VIPs has historically been fragmented, inefficient, and difficult to manage at scale. Companies struggle with multiple vendors, lack of transparency, and operational headaches. drvn eliminates that complexity by offering an end-to-end solution that ensures reliability, cost control, and a premium experience.
How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?
The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t hold up in today’s world of innovation and technology. The carriage wasn’t broken, but we still made the car. Newspapers weren’t broken, but we still developed the internet. The mail system wasn’t broken, but we still built cell phones. Fax machines weren’t broken, but we still created drvn. We understand that there’s going to be an adoption period, but we see the travel management industry becoming more streamlined, efficient, and overall, more valuable than ever thought possible.
As you know, COVID19 changed the world as we know it. Can you share 5 examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers will prefer to travel?
Yes, COVID19 shook things up, but it’s a little late to be asking how companies will be adjusting. It’s been 5 years at this point, and the travel and hospitality industries have adapted. They’ve built internal networks designed to make the travel experience more stress-free. More and more, consumers are focused on a quality experience. We make sure that their experience is quality even before they get to their hotel, making it easier for their destination to impress them further.
You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?
The thing about travel is that most people don’t care about it. They care about their destination. Saying “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey” tends to be forgotten. Often, the only reason people recognize their journey is because of the roadblocks and delays along the way. We like to think that the “perfect vacation experience” in the modern day is the experience where you don’t worry about travel. You know you’re going to be at your destination on time, every time. That’s what we aim to accomplish. If our passengers remember their travel experience, it’s because it’s the best they’ve ever had. That’s what we think the perfect vacation should be.
Travel is not always about escaping, but about connecting. Have you made efforts to cultivate a more wellness driven experience? We’d love to hear about it.
At drvn, we recognize that travel can be exhausting, and we’ve built a service that prioritizes ease and comfort. From stress-free airport transfers to seamless event logistics, our goal is to remove the friction from travel so that our clients can focus on what really matters — whether that’s business, leisure, or a little bit of both.
Can you share with our readers how you have used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I believe success is about more than just growth — it’s about impact. We’ve built a company that prioritizes excellence, reliability, and service, not just for our clients but for the people behind the scenes who make it all possible. Whether it’s providing opportunities for our team, setting new industry standards in duty of care, or ensuring that every interaction with our brand reflects the highest level of professionalism, our mission is to elevate the experience of ground transportation while fostering a culture of trust and respect in everything we do.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Oftentimes, service industry people are treated as invisible, despite being the ones who make everything move. If I could start a movement, it would be about renewing dignity in the industry. Our goal at drvn is to elevate the travel industry’s people.
The movement would promote fair treatment, professional development, and respect among service workers across all industries. Because everyone wins when you treat people with dignity. Guest experience is positively impacted, as is workforce morale, and a ripple effect extends far beyond a single company or industry.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
People can find us on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ridedrvn/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Mario Medina Of drvn On The Future Of Travel was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.