|
 Richard
E. Sasso, president of MSC Cruises USA, announced a dedicated and specialized
executive team has been assembled to build on the momentum of MSC Cruises’
expansion into North America and to ensure that the needs of the line’s travel
agent partners are met.
Ken Muskat, former senior vice president Sales & Marketing, who joined the line
in June of 2013, has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Sales,
Marketing, PR and Guest Services. In this expanded role, he will continue to
oversee the North American sales, marketing, public relations and customer
service aspects of the organization, while adding responsibility for the
reservations department, handling trade and consumer reservations.
Image: Richard Sasso
In making
the announcement, Sasso said, “Ken’s contributions in under a year have helped
propel awareness of MSC Cruises to our travel agent partners and consumers in
North America. It’s been an eventful twelve months and we look forward to
hitting even more milestones in the coming years.”
Muskat started with MSC Cruises in June 2013 as the line finalized preparations
to home port the MSC Divina in Miami, its first ship with a year-round presence
specifically for the North American market. Muskat led the orchestration of
celebrations for the ship’s arrival, including the escort provided by a fleet of
FIAT 500 watercrafts, as well as a number of travel agent specific initiatives,
such as road shows, a dedicated radio program, launch of a travel agent a
travel agent Facebook page more.
Image: Ken Muscat
Sasso
also announced the appointment of Rick Cazzell in the newly created position of
Vice President of Trade Support & Guest Services. He will take on
responsibilities for reservations, consumer direct sales, customer service and
IT.
Image: Rick Cazzell
 Cazzell
will report to Muskat, who commented, “Rick brings tremendous experience running
call center operations, delivering customer service training and expertise in
systems and technology that will elevate the service we provide to our trade
partners.”
Cazzell brings more than 25 years of experience in a number leadership positions
within a variety of travel contact centers. Most recently at Silversea Cruises,
he oversaw day-to-day operations of the direct sales team working directly with
various other departments, including Marketing and IT, to deliver bottom line
results. Prior to that he has also led other such travel related contact center
operations for companies like Interval International; PRC where he oversaw the
Expedia.com’s Care and Sales teams; and American Express where he spent over 12
years in a variety of roles.
Shoring up MSC Cruises group sales department, Sasso also announced that MSC
Cruises veteran Jim Henwood will take on the expanded role of Senior Vice
President Hotel Operations and Group Services. This new position will ensure
total alignment and flawless execution of group business, especially the
affinity group market, from the quoting process to the execution onboard. |
