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. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
“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
