Costa Group Appoints Rahul Chakkara As New Chief Digital Officer
Hamburg,
July 31, 2015 - As of August 1, 2015,
Rahul Chakkara will be joining and strengthening the Costa Group leadership
team as the new Chief Digital Officer following the creation of the Costa Group
Digital Unit in Hamburg earlier this year. He will report directly to Michael
Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group.
“I am
very pleased that, with Rahul, we have acquired a top leader with international
experience, who will successfully drive the continuing growth of our company by
placing digital at the heart of the customer engagement, operations and
service, and employee experience", said Michael Thamm.
Before joining the Costa Group Rahul Chakkara
was at TalkTalk PLC, a telco company in United Kingdom, where he successfully led the digital transformation in the consumer
division. Previously he was General Manager, Future Media of the BBC where he
played a leading role in the development of BBC iPlayer and Youview.
The Costa Group Digital Unit was founded in
spring 2015 in Hamburg (Germany) with the aim to support the Costa Group
brands, Costa Cruises, Costa Asia and AIDA Cruises, by using digital
innovation, products and technologies to improve customer engagement and
satisfaction and - above all – to further increase the safety of our guests and
crew through the additional digitization and support of environmental, safety
and security processes within the Costa Group.
Costa
Crociere S.p.A. is the leading cruise company in Europe. The 25 ships of the
brands Costa Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Costa Asia together have a total
capacity of 68,000 beds. The fleet will be further strengthened by six new
vessels by 2020. The company has a global workforce of 27,000 employees working
onboard and in its 20 offices in 14 countries.
For
further information:
Costa Crociere S.p.A.– Communication & Sustainability
Department
Hansjoerg Kunze – Vice President Communication – cell.
+39 3387127870 – kunze@costa.it
Gabriele Baroni – Communication Director – cell. +39 349
7668013 – baroni@costa.it
Costa
Press Office - costapressoffice@costa.it
