President of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Steps Down
March 21, 2005
Jack Williams announced today he will be stepping down as President and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to dedicate more time to his work with charity. In a straightforward letter to employees, Williams had this to say:
"Over the last couple of years, I have struggled with my desire to become more involved in my charitable work, while still meeting the stringent demands of being president and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. With the strong management we have in place now, I have decided I no longer need to fight that desire."
Organizations in which he focuses most of his energy include, among many others, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Andre Agassi Foundation. In addition, he will remain the executive director of Royal Caribbean's 'Shine On' fundraisers, a program founded by Williams two years ago. The program consists of a weekend of activities developed by Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation and United Way of Miami-Dade County.
Williams joined the company as president of Royal Caribbean International in 1997 and in 2001 became president and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. where he managed both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. In the past eight years he has strengthened the company to industry leader status. "As president, he has made lasting and significant contributions to our brand marketing, outreach to shipboard staff, revenue management systems, and safety and environment practices," said Chairman and CEO Richard Fain.
Over recent years, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has strengthened its brand management leadership. Just last month, then senior executive Dan Hanrahan, was named president of Celebrity Cruises and Adam Goldstein, also senior executive at the time, was named president of Royal Caribbean International.
Williams went on to say in his letter, "These last eight years have been the most incredible eight years of my executive career. I have had the pleasure of working with the strongest management team in the industry and I leave at a time when both brands, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, are industry leaders. I am particularly proud of what we have all accomplished on the environmental front and equally proud of the fact that we have institutionalized the Anchored in Excellence program within our culture."
Williams has helped Royal Caribbean establish an award winning environmental compliance plan and Anchored in Excellence is a program used by Royal Caribbean as a standard of employee relations. It has helped dramatically reduce their annual turnover and improved the quality of service for the customer.
Williams has agreed to help with transition which is estimated for completion by the end of June, 2005. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has three new ships under construction in Turku, Finland, the Freedom Series. The first of the series, Freedom of the Seas, debuts in April 2006. The Freedom of the Seas will top Cunard's Queen Mary 2 as the largest ship on Earth.
--Meghann PorterBook your cruise online
