A premium, experience-led travel business backed by private equity was entering its next phase of international growth. With ambitious expansion plans, particularly in North America, the company needed to evolve from a UK-led operation into a globally unified brand.
The customer journey was fragmented, with accountability spread across multiple teams and no single view of the customer. Marketing efforts leaned heavily on digital acquisition rather than lifecycle management, limiting loyalty and repeat engagement. Brand storytelling, data and digital capability were inconsistent across regions, creating further disconnect between markets.
Initially briefed as a Chief Marketing Officer search, it became clear that the underlying challenge was ownership of the end-to-end customer experience and the commercial value it could unlock.
Working closely with the CEO, Chair, and investors, we evolved the brief into a Chief Customer Officer mandate – a newly created role designed to bring together marketing, digital, CRM, loyalty and data strategy under one global leader.
We recognised that the ideal candidate would likely sit outside the travel industry, where customer lifecycle ownership and digital maturity are more advanced, such as premium consumer goods, D2C, and digital-first retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.
The search centred on commercially sharp, internationally experienced leaders with strong digital acumen, brand storytelling expertise, and proven success driving growth across multiple markets. The process required aligning multiple stakeholders around a newly defined brief while maintaining momentum through to appointment.
After an extensive cross-sector search, a global marketing leader was appointed as the business’s first Chief Customer Officer.
With over two decades of international experience across consumer, luxury and digital-led brands, she brought deep expertise in brand transformation, customer engagement and lifecycle growth.
Notably, she transformed a premium drinks brand from a single-category player into a full lifestyle portfolio, delivering 50% international growth, an 80% increase in non-core product sales, and establishing the US as the company’s largest market. She also doubled e-commerce penetration and professionalised global marketing capability, scaling budgets fourfold through team development and strategic clarity.
Her appointment brings the leadership to align brand, marketing and customer experience under one strategic vision, strengthening commercial performance, and building a scalable customer engine fit for international growth.
