CWT Meetings & Events has restructured its executive team, naming six new divisional leaders under the direction of Derek Sharp, senior vice president and managing director.
“We are doing business with more and more global companies who want to add new services and scale services into new countries or markets,” says London-based Sharp. “Clients want to ensure that they’re getting the same level of service and consistency wherever they do business with CWT. … This new organizational structure helps us do that more effectively.”
The new divisions and their corresponding leaders include both CWT M&E veterans as well as some new faces. Tony Wagner, vice president/head for the Americas and South Pacific region will continue in his current role and as adviser to CWT M&E leadership team through the end of the year, but his role into 2020 has not yet been announced.
• Kari Wendel, vice president of strategic customers: Wendel’s group will handle top accounts, including many strategic meetings management customers
• Ian Cummings, vice president of commercial: Cummings division will deliver all M&E services (SMM, events, incentives, group air, etc.) at the local, multinational, and regional levels.
• Saskia Gentil, vice president of global sales and marketing: Gentil is adding to her current portfolio of global sales and global marketing.
• Nathan Brooks, global lead of supplier management: Brooks will focus on growing the preferred supplier base and driving business to preferred suppliers.
• Cristina Scott, vice president, global operations: Scott joined the company in September from Sabre Corp. Her group will work to ensure discipline in how CWT M&E operates globally.
• Stuart Whatley, head of product and technology strategy: Stuart, who had been with CWT, will develop product and technology roadmaps and partnership strategies.
“Organizationally, we need to break down those regional or country silos and make sure that best practice, technology, and information are flowing more seamlessly across our enterprise,” Sharp says. “The new structure makes that much easier because we're focusing on global functional roles. … I believe the quality and consistency of what we deliver to clients going forward is going to be much better.”
