D. Bradley Bourland

International Member 

Brad is the Chief Operating Officer at Virtuoso, a global luxury travel network that serves more than 20,000 travel advisors and 2,200+ luxury travel providers across more than 50 countries. In this position, Brad supports the senior leadership team in delivering the company’s vision and ensures progressive operational practices are in place to guide global growth. His financial and business acumen are a driving force in accelerating the vision of innovation and digital transformation laid out by Matthew D. Upchurch. In addition to serving Virtuoso, Brad owns a boutique financial services firm, AKG Financial Group, which focuses on working with high-net-worth families to identify and execute bespoke investment and wealth management strategies.

After graduating from Texas A&M University with degrees in information and operations management and business management 1998, Brad began his career working for a computer system integrations firm in Dallas, TX that specialized in legal information technology systems. While there, Brad designed, sold, and oversaw the installation of complex computer systems, concentrating primarily on meeting the unique needs of the legal industry.

In 2000, Brad transitioned to the professional sports industry and became the Director of Information Technology for the Houston Astros Baseball Club in Houston, TX. As the youngest director in Major League Baseball, Brad designed the network infrastructure for Houston’s new ballpark, Enron Field (now Daikin Park, also formerly Astros Field and Minute Maid Park), and worked with the team’s business leaders, players, and coaches, as well as MLB, to integrate the Astros’ disparate technology systems into a more unified information system. Working in professional baseball during the “Moneyball” era also allowed Brad to delve into the emerging field of predictive data analytics as small- and mid-market teams sought to leverage data to level the playing field with the more heavily financed, big-market organizations (such as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox).

In 2005, Brad became the Senior Director of Procurement and Technology, during which time he took on non-baseball purchasing responsibilities for the organization—including contract negotiations with vendors and suppliers, inventory control and maintenance, and procurement systems development. With this increase in responsibility, Brad was also charged with reengineering the club’s internal logistics processes to reduce costs and increase productivity.

After receiving a master’s degree in business administration from Rice University in 2008, Brad joined the finance industry by becoming a portfolio manager at Diesslin & Associates, Inc., in his hometown of Fort Worth. In this role, his hands-on approach to serving clients helped him perform complex qualitative and quantitative analyses of traditional and alternative investments, risk-return analysis, performance measurement, and asset allocation for client portfolios. From there, he went on to serve as the Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and, ultimately, Chief Executive Officer, managing the firm’s business operations and long-term strategic initiatives and working with families and high-net-worth individuals to prepare and execute financial plans and strategic transactions through careful research and analysis.

Brad’s dedication to providing clients with comprehensive solutions led him to take on many other responsibilities at Diesslin. For example, he led the development of the firm’s family office service offerings, which were designed to maximize family wealth strategies through the coordination of intergenerational financial goals and the implementation of investment management, tax planning, risk management, and estate planning. He also performed business consulting services by working with business owners and managers to develop strategic, actionable objectives to improve the performance and efficiency of small and midsize, family-owned, global businesses.

Brad’s passion for finance and business is outmatched only by his dedication to his three children: Ashlyn, Kendall, and Griffin, and his wife, Stacie. And when he is not working, Brad can usually be found traveling with his family or cheering on his children in one of their many activities. Brad also feels a profound responsibility to give back to his community and serves on the boards of directors of the University of North Texas Foundation, the North Texas Community Foundation, and previously the Families in Nature Foundation, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, the LegUp Program, and the NAPFA Consumer Education Foundation.