ATHENS — As part of its ongoing plans for growth in North America, Celestyal has ramped up its sales and marketing team to 12 executives in total, the most in the company’s history.

Recent hires include Stephanie McDonald, who has been named business development manager in Canada. Prior to joining Celestyal, she served as a BDM with Royal Caribbean Cruises in Canada and Florida for the past 15 years. 

n her new role, McDonald will help grow Celestyal’s market share in North America alongside newly hired Richard Sandoval, business development manager, west coast, who’s based in California. 

Both McDonald and Sandoval will be responsible for developing strong relationships with key travel agents, group and tour operators, increasing trade awareness, providing training and marketing support in their respective territories, and representing the company at industry events. They will report to Jon Grutzner, vice president – business development for the Americas.

Other new hires include Morgan Hatfield, marketing executive, North America, based in Virginia, who’ll be responsible for developing and executing both B2B and B2C marketing campaigns throughout Canada and the United States. 

On welcoming the new hires, Grutzner said: “As we continue to expand Celestyal’s visibility in North America, I’m thrilled to expand our team to meet the increasing demand we are experiencing from one of our fastest growing markets. It’s also key that we have invested in a highly-experienced business development team to support our travel advisor and wholesale business partners who are key to our success in this market.”