Silversea Cruises has announced that it is reorganizing its trade sales team in the Americas. Following Katina Athanasiou’s move to sister brand Celebrity Cruises, the line announced that cruise industry veteran Joe Leon will lead Silversea’s trade sales in the market. The reorganization of Silversea’s trade sales team comes at a time of strong growth for the ultra-luxury cruise line, which has named three new ships in 2022 and will take delivery of two new ships in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Leon, who joined Silversea as vice president of field sales, North America, in 2016, has accrued more than 20 years of sales experience in the travel industry. Among his expanded responsibilities, Leon will oversee Silversea’s national accounts team, field sales team and expedition sales team.
- National accounts team: Christian Sierralta, vice president of national accounts, will continue to lead Silversea’s national accounts team. Now in his second term at the company, Sierralta joined the cruise line in 2016 and has since overseen the strategic growth of national accounts.
- Field sales team: Rachel Woodward, who has been with Silversea for nearly 10 years, was recently promoted to the position of senior director of field sales, and will report to Leon. Rachel counts on the support of 10 area sales directors.
- Expedition sales team: Also reporting to Leon, Karl Kannstadter is the senior director of expedition sales. Bringing solid area expertise, Kannstadter joined Silversea Cruises in January 2018. Since October 2022, his responsibilities have had a global perimeter.
- Inside team: Marcus Kenny, director of business development and agency sales for the Americas, will continue to report directly to Leon.
“The travel advisor community is the lifeblood of Silversea’s success and we are proud to count on the expertise of one of the industry’s strongest trade sales teams, who serves them,” said Mark Conroy, Silversea’s managing director, the Americas. “I congratulate Katina on her new role and thank her for her leadership, which has led to the evolution of one of the industry’s most talented teams,” he added.
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