More top officer hires on upcoming cruise ships and other executive moves in the travel industry are on the docket this week.
Princess Cruises announced the leadership team for the Enchanted Princess a year ahead of the new vessel’s launch on June 19, 2020. Captain Nick Nash and Captain Gennaro Arma, both of whom are longtime officers of Princess, will rotate as the captains of the new vessel. Captain Nash will helm the ship at launch, joined by Chief Engineer Officer Ignazio Cappelluti, Hotel General Manager Dirk Brand and Staff Captain Raffaele Di Martino, while Captain Arma will serve with Chief Engineer Officer Massimiliano Imperiale, Hotel General Manager Richard Harry and Staff Captain Richard Dalton.
Signature Travel Network announced a number of new hires for its cruise and hotel preferred partnerships. Janet Anderson, who has served with Princess, Windstar Cruises, Tauck and Insight Vacations, will be the organization’s director, cruise partnerships, while Jordin Greene, most recently part of the strategic partnership and marketing team at American Express Travel & Lifestyle Services, will be vice president, hotel partnerships. Jill Sabila, whose family agency just celebrated their 10th year with Signature and who has also spent time at Bell Labs, the MIT Media Lab and America Online, will take on the role of data analysis manager. All three new positions will report to Phil Cappelli, senior vice president of Preferred Partnerships.
In hotel news, a number of properties announced new leadership appointments this week:
- The Hotel Indigo Williamsburg Brooklyn, which is set to open this July, appointed Tracey Rucks as GM and Ryan Ocker as director of sales and marketing.
- Luminary Hotel, another new property coming to downtown Fort Myers in late 2020, announced the appointment of Bob Megazzini as GM.
- The Hilton Des Moines Downtown, the only hotel connected to the Iowa Events Center, named Dan Carlino its GM.
- The Grand Hyatt Nashville, which is set to open in the fall of 2020, announced the appointment of John D’Angelo as its GM. D’Angelo most recently served as the resort manager of the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas.
- Six Senses appointed Dant Hirsch as GM of the Six Senses New York.
- Bagatelle Miami Beach hired restauranteur Raffaele Mitrugno as its GM.
- Hyatt Place Grand Rapids/Downtown, which is opening this fall, named its leadership team: Christi VanHeulen as sales and events manager; Haleigh Wright as assistant GM; Jason Denick as rooms operations manager; and Joe Goudie as food and beverage operations manager.
- The Harpeth, a Curio Collection by Hilton hotel, announced the appointment of Kimberly Elder as director of sales and William Friedrichs as director of food and beverage. The new property is set to open in the heart of historic Franklin, TN, this August.
- Guillaume Benezech joined the team at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, as its hotel manager.
In destination news, there were two big appointments in the Caribbean this week. The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority named Beverly Nicholson-Doty as its CEO; she had most recently served as Commissioner of Tourism at the USVI Department of Tourism from 2007 to 2018, where she spearheaded a successful cruise development project as well as a number of other destination marketing initiatives.
The Bermuda Tourism Authority, meanwhile, hired head of communications and marketing at the Bermuda Business Development Agency Rosemary Jones as its director of corporate communications and strategy. She will report directly to BTA CEO Kevin Dallas and replace Glenn Jones, who in April was promoted to chief experience development officer.
Finally, Matt Zuccaro, president and CEO of Helicopter Association International (HAI) announced he will retire effective June 30, 2020. Zuccaro has been in his current role at HAI since 2005, a board member of the Alliance for Aviation Across America since 2011, vice president of the Alliance Board since 2018, and a champion of the helicopter and general aviation industry for decades, HAI said.
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