New position
and reorganization of sales department focused on enhancing
service to travel agents
MIAMI – May 15, 2006 – As the
innovator in the cruise industry, NCL Corporation
("NCL") today announced that it would be taking
the first step in redefining its North
American sales department. Scott Rogers, senior vice president
of marketing and sales
said: “Our long-term strategic focus is on our travel
agent partners, therefore, we want to
demonstrate that goal in separating our selling and servicing
areas – allowing our awardwinning sales team the
ability and freedom to further develop the selling efforts
of travel agents.”
This first step involves the promotion of
Terri Burke, formerly the director of key
accounts, to a new position of vice president of business
development. Burke will report
to Rogers.
The new sales department structure redistributes
executives into three core groups:
• Business Development – Burke
will lead the business development team,
including Wayne Peyreau, director of field sales, Joe
Jiffo, director of national
accounts, and a replacement to be named to lead Key Accounts
replacing Burke,
in cementing NCL and travel agents as strategic long-term
partners. In addition,
her area will develop future business opportunities with
increased focused on
homebased agents and new emerging retail business models.
• Sales, Strategy and Planning –
Clark Reber, director of sales planning will
continue to lead this team, comprised of Strategy and
Planning and Inside Sales,
and will report directly to Rogers. Strategy and Planning
will support the business
development group by creating and managing training programs,
events,
promotions and tools for travel agents as well as provide
for the continued growth
and success of popular travel agency loyalty programs;
and the NCL President’s
and Captain’s Clubs. Inside Sales will expand its
focus on being a “one stop”
shop for both travel agents and field sales with questions
and issues regarding
business on the books. “Inside Sales is going to
evolve and alleviate the need
for District Sales Managers to be involved in important,
but non-selling activities,”
Rogers said.
• Charter, Meetings & Incentives
– This team, which targets corporations for fullship
charters, corporate meetings and incentive travel, will
continue to be led by
Marianne Schmidhofer and now report directly to Rogers.
“This new organization structure allows
us to dedicate more time to existing
accounts, as well as building new relationships as the
industry continues to evolve,”
Rogers said. “I’m pleased and excited that
Terri has accepted this new role to lead the
business development unit. Her extensive experience and
her enthusiasm and energy
make her the perfect person to lead this new unit.”
Burke, who first joined NCL two years ago
as director of key accounts, has 27
years of experience in the travel industry. During that
time, she worked in the retail and
corporate travel areas, with such well known travel companies
as AAA National and
National Leisure Group – and on the cruise supplier
side, with Holland America.
“As a former travel agent, I believe
this structure allows NCL to exceed agent needs
and build upon the company’s reputation for forward
thinking," Burke said. “With three
new ships scheduled for delivery in the next year and
a half it is a crucial time for our
sales team to be at its most efficient, innovative and
passionate.”
NCL Corporation ("NCL") is an
innovative cruise company headquartered in Miami,
Florida, with a fleet of 15 ships in service and under
construction. The corporation
oversees the operations of Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL
America, and Orient Lines. The
company will christen its newest ship, Pride of Hawai'i
on Saturday, May 20, 2006, the
largest and most expensive U.S. flagged passenger ship
ever built. It is currently
building two ships, Norwegian Pearl scheduled for delivery
in November 2006 and
Norwegian Gem scheduled for delivery in 2007.
For further information, please contact
NCL in the U.S. and Canada at (800) 327-
7030; visit NCL’s website at www.ncl.com or on AOL
at keyword: NCL; or to download
high-resolution photography, visit www.ncl.com/hires.
Return
to News Index
