New role created to lead business and proposition development and market strategy across the EMEA region
Dubai, UAE-: Collinson, a global leader in customer benefits and loyalty, has today announced the appointment of Chris Ross as Chief Commercial Officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Ross, who comes to Collinson from Grey Group in New York, will be Collinson’s first EMEA Chief Commercial Officer, and has been appointed following the company’s decision earlier this year to more closely align its Europe and Middle East, Africa regional operations to create a new EMEA region. Chris will lead the company’s EMEA regional go-to-market strategy to continue to drive profitable growth across the region.
In his new role, Ross will have ownership of business development and marketing strategies throughout EMEA, will take accountability for driving profit within Collinson’s Loyalty Agency and Columbus business units, as well as leading the regional go-to-market strategy for its Travel Experiences division. Ross will be responsible for further regionalising Collinson’s products and propositions, creating a framework and approach that maximises revenue opportunities, and delivers enhanced services for the company’s existing and future clients.
Ross is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and comes to Collinson after 30 years working across four continents. Most recently, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Grey Group in New York, one of the world’s leading advertising and marketing services organisations. During his 10 years at Grey, the company enjoyed record new business growth and achieved Global Agency of the Year recognition. Prior to his time at Grey, he was Chief Operating Officer for Euro RSCG Fuel, where he oversaw and managed the global advertising for key accounts including Volvo and Jaguar.
“We’re delighted to have Chris join Collinson as Chief Commercial Officer for our newly formed EMEA region” said David Evans, Joint CEO, Collinson, “We have always had very close alignment between our Middle East, Africa and Europe teams, and the decision to create a new EMEA region allows us to be closer aligned to how our global accounts are structured and enables us to better unify our approach and leverage expertise across the region. Chris, in this new role, will ensure our propositions across the business are specifically tailored to what’s happening in the region and lead our EMEA go-to-market strategy across our Loyalty Agency, Travel Experiences and Columbus business units. It’s an exciting time for Collinson with many projects underway, and we’re delighted to have Chris on board.”
“Collinson has been doing some really innovative work in EMEA and beyond this year, not least its recent initiatives aimed at driving the safe return to global travel” added Ross. “It’s an honour to join the company at this time and to be taking responsibility for Collinson’s EMEA commercial operations. I look forward to working with the team to build upon our regional go-to-market strategy, a strategy that will enable us to consistently provide the very best services to our existing and future EMEA clients and customers.”