Royal Caribbean UK & Ireland sales director Amanda Darrington has left the company after just over a year.
She will be replaced in the short-term by Royal Caribbean’s insights director Stuart Byron, who joined the cruise line just six months ago having held senior roles at FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) firms, including Johnson & Johnson.
Royal Caribbean’s UK & Ireland managing director Ben Bouldin said Darrington was departing “to pursue personal projects”.
He said Byron would take on the sales remit for the next six months, in addition to his insights brief, until a permanent replacement for Darrington is found.
Bouldin, who previously worked with Byron when he was at Pepsi, said: “Stuart is more than capable of stepping up to fill the gap and take responsibility for sales in the interim. He has got sales experience in previous roles and is commercially very strong.
“But such is the importance of his role overseeing insights for the business, we will be advertising both internally and externally; in the UK and in the US, for a permanent sales director.”
Bouldin anticipated it would take up to six months to fill the position.
And he added that other senior members of the sales team would take on extra responsibility as part of the short-term restructure.
These include Vicky Billing, head of retail for the north; Lucy Preece, head of retail for the south; Jennifer Callister, who heads up Ireland; and Angela Hall, who will assume the role of head of key accounts.
Darrington started her role with Royal on April 24, 2017, following just over 12 months as sales director of Funway Holidays.
Prior to that, she was head of trade sales at Kuoni for more than three years.
Bouldin said: “Amanda has been a passionate supporter of the [Royal Caribbean] brand in her time as sales director and I’d like to thank her for this and wish her the best for her future.“