Celestyal Promotes Two Senior Executives

Celestyal Cruises has announced two senior leadership promotions. Based in Greece, the line operates in the Greek Islands and Eastern Mediterranean. In July, it moved Chris Theophilides from the COO position to CEO.

Newly promoted are Leslie Peden, who will take over as Chief Commercial Officer. Peden will oversee all global commercial activities for the line, including strategic business development, marketing and commercial PR.

Additionally, Captain George Koumpenas will become Chief Operations Officer. He will continue his supervisory role over operations, plus add day-to-day oversight responsibilities for operations in the Piraeus office.

In light of the new executive changes, Celestyal has updated its executive committee. That body now consists of Koumpenas, Peden, Theophilides and CFO Marios Theodosiou.

“All of the activities we’ve undertaken since the latter part of 2017 are core to the commercial transformation we need to make to continue building our global brand,” said Theophilides. “I am confident that through the collective efforts of the entire Celestyal team we will continue to deliver our outstanding product to more and more people around the world.”

Celestyal Cruises is Greece’s primary home-port cruise operator. The line operates two mid-sized vessels, the Celestyal Crystal and the Celestyal Olympia. Celestyal focuses on providing authentic, culturally-immersive experiences on board and on shore.