Teri West

Atlas Ocean Voyages is ready to grow, and it wants travel advisors to be the ones to help it do so.

That's the reasoning behind the expansion of the cruise line's sales team, which has begun with five hires and will continue through the year, executive vice president of global sales Kristian Anderson told me.?

The five new hires include Kelly Popovski as senior director of field sales, Richard Whitaker as director of national accounts and?Logan Steele as regional sales director for the Southeast U.S. Other positions are a director of guest services, filled by Juan Lopez, and a director for charter and meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition operations, filled by Pedro Jaimot.

"This is just the first wave," Anderson said. "We've got a great deal more to do before the end of the year."

The work is in preparation for expansion, which CEO James Rodriguez hinted may include Atlas' first itineraries in Asia, the South Pacific and Australia.?Rodriguez declined to say whether the company is planning for a new vessel, though Anderson said, "you have to get [to those new destinations] somehow."

Anderson joined Atlas this month after several years leading global sales for the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and work at Silversea Cruises.

He has an established professional relationship with Rodriguez, which was clear on a Zoom call where the two sat side by side, exchanging smiles and laughs.

"He adds tremendous credibility to the Atlas brand," Rodriguez said of Anderson. "His name is really synonymous with the luxury markets. He's worked with several different luxury products out there, and he's very well respected in the trade."

Atlas sees more potential in leveraging advisors as the ones to bring in guests who enjoy land-based resorts or hotels but are new to cruising, he said. The company wants to be front and center in advisor's minds and available to attend to their needs at all times, he explained.

In addition to sales restructuring, Atlas has also created a department of operations and systems development, which the company's vice president of global business development and sales strategy, Isabel Galvan, is transitioning to lead, Rodriguez said.

It's just one more investment to prepare the company to expand, he said.

"We're not ready to make any announcements just yet, but we are building the infrastructure for growth as we speak now," Rodriguez said. "It's due in large part to the success that we've had and the demand for the product."