Ambassador Cruise Line, the first cruise line to launch in the UK for a decade, has appointed Glynn Perkin as Chief Technology Officer.
Glynn is the latest member to join the company’s Executive Management Team, and as CTO will be responsible for the overall IT strategy and management of the technology infrastructure both shoreside and on board, as the brand continues to grow.
The Chief Technology Officer role also comes with a significant responsibility for making Ambassador’s customer journey digitally forward thinking in order to meet sustainability goals and reduce paper usage on board.
Christian Verhounig, CEO at Ambassador, says: “It is with great pleasure that we welcome Glynn Perkin to the Ambassador team. Glynn’s extensive consumer IT skillset and proven track record during his career will help drive continued success as Ambassador maintains its upward trajectory, with strong sales and positive feedback for cruises aboard our first ship, Ambience, and our second ship, Ambition, to launch in 2023.”
Glynn, who has more than 20 years’ experience setting up highly secure consumer IT infrastructures, moves to Ambassador following a 10-year tenure at Net-A-Porter, and 5-year tenure at online estate agency Strike. During Glynn’s distinguished career, he helped to grow Net-A-Porter’s business from £50m to over £1bn in annual revenue, and helped Strike grow to become the second largest single branded estate agency in the UK.
He is highly experienced in developing infrastructure across multiple countries and currencies across consumer goods and related high-growth environments.
Glynn Perkin, new CTO at Ambassador says: “It is an exciting time to be joining the Ambassador team, and I look forward to leading on ensuring the brand’s technology resources and processes are the most efficient and impactful they can be, helping drive business development and optimising sales.”
Interim CTO, Gary Hides, will be shifting focus towards his IT company Castus following a successful 18 months helping set up Ambassador. Castus is a leading IT and design agency that continues to work closely with Ambassador.
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About Ambassador Cruise Line
Ambassador Cruise Line is a brand-new premium-value cruise line. It is the first new British cruise line to be launched since 2010, offering no-fly cruises to the UK market.
Ambassador’s extremely experienced management team is led by Chief Executive Officer, Christian Verhounig supported by Chief Financial Officer, Matthias Seeger, Chief Commercial Officer, Philip Gardner, Chief Operating Officer, Nick Hughes, Chief Administrative Officer, Simon Weeks, Chief Technology Officer, Glynn Perkin, and Chief Marketing Officer, Gordon Nardini. The Chair of the Board of Directors is Gordon Wilson who has over 30 years of experience in the global travel industry. This includes his role as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Travelport until July 2019. He is also Chair of the Board of Interactive Investor, the second largest direct-to-consumer investment platform in the UK, and a member of the Supervisory Board of BCD Holdings which owns global corporate travel management company, BCD Travel and US airport car park operator, Park ‘N Fly. Njord Partners LLP, London is Ambassador’s main shareholder,
In addition to having the required insurance by The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, Ambassador also operates a fully independently managed Trust Account where guests’ funds are deposited and only released when the cruise departs. In the event a cruise is cancelled, all guests will be offered a full refund.
Ambience is the first ship to enter the Ambassador fleet, carrying up to 1,400 guests with 789 cabins, 11 guest decks, 70,285grt and a length of 245m. She has a crew of 608 from 27 nationalities and has been upgraded to operate at IMO Tier III from her inaugural voyage, placing her amongst the top 10%-15% of cruise ships to achieve this level of environmental operation. She operates a programme of departures to multiple destinations including the Grand Round the World Cruise, Nordics, Greenland, Iceland, Canada, and the Mediterranean from her home port of London Tilbury.
Ambassador’s second ship, Ambition, will enter service in May 2023, carrying 1,200 guests in 714 cabins, 10 guest decks. She will operate itineraries from London Tilbury but will also offer cruises from six UK regional departure ports including Newcastle, Dundee, Liverpool, Belfast, Bristol and Falmouth.
Ambassador is based in Purfleet, Essex.
For more information: www.ambassadorcruiseline.com
