A public relations heavyweight has been drafted in as Carnival Corporation seeks to rebuild a reputation tarnished by last year’s Costa Concordia tragedy and a series of mishaps to Carnival Cruise Lines ships since February.
Former American Airlines top PR executive Roger Frizzell (pictured) has taken the newly created position of senior vice president of corporate communications. He joins the world’s largest cruise conglomerate on Monday (June 24).
He will report to Carnival Corporation chairman and chief executive Micky Arison and vice chairman and chief operating officer Howard Frank.
Frizzell will serve as chief communications officer, handling all corporate-level communications and public relations activities for the organisation, the parent company of 10 cruise lines including P&O Cruises.
He joins from Pacific Gas & Electric in San Francisco where he was vice president and chief communications officer.
Frizzell previously held a senior PR role at American Airlines for almost 10 years after holding high-level communications positions at Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies and AT&T.
Frank said: “We are extraordinarily fortunate to have an individual of Roger’s talents and background join our company to lead this critical function.
“His extensive experience will be a tremendous asset to our organisation.”
Frizzell was inducted into the PR News Hall of Fame in 2011 and was named as one of the top chief communications officers in the industry.
Carnival Corporation has seven new ships due for delivery between May 2014 and April 2016.