McLeod.Applebaum & Partners was a successful boutique management advisory practice serving providers of leisure travel and cruise tourism products and services. Additionally MAP provided counsel to private equity, institutional investment, and capital markets companies with interests in the international cruise tourism industry. My long-time cruise industry colleague, MAP partner, and dear friend, Michael Applebaum, and I decided to orderly conclude MAP's business activities at the end of 2013.

Rejoined Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to assist with a prescribed portfolio of assignments & projects centered on the development of sales strategies and strengthening the company's industry relations activities. At the conclusion of this project-focused employment I resigned to cultivate an active portfolio of consulting assignments prior to forming McLeod.Applebaum & Partners in 2007.

Joined the Sam Zell-controlled, publicly-traded AMCV to lead the operational development of "Project America"; a $1.1-billion initiative to revitalize the U.S.-flagged passenger cruise industry. In the Fall 1999 I was assigned operating responsibilities for AMCV's stable of cruise brands including the venerable Delta Queen Steamboat Co. & American Hawaii Cruises. Highlights:- Development of the Delta Queen Coastal Voyages brand (Cape May Light & Cape Cod Light) to expand Delta Queen's unique brand franchise to include U.S. coastal operations (i.e. The Great Lakes, New England/Canadian Maritimes, U.S. Mid-Atlantic & Southeast Coast).- Introduction of the Delta Queen Steamboat Co.'s Columbia Queen to expand DQ's Mississippi River System franchise to include the U.S.Pacific NW's Columbia River System.- Acquisition & revival of the venerable "United States Lines" brand and the introduction of the msPatriot (ex Nieuw Amsterdam) into the year-round 7-night Hawaii cruise market.- Operational development of the "Project America" initiative including the keel-laying of what was to be the new USL's first cruise ship and the first new 'blue water' cruise vessel to be built in a U.S shipyard in more than 50 years.- Key member of AMCV's public offering team that raised more than $250-million in equity & convertible debt financing.- Initiated the relocation of AMCV's New Orleans HQ offices to South Florida and led the recruitment of an exceptionally talented, mission-driven management team.This frenzied 32-month odyssey was capped by the events of September 11, 2001 which impacted the U.S. travel industry as a whole and served a swift death-blow to the highly-leveraged AMCV which ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy on October 2001.

Joined Carnival Corporation in a senior corporate staff position to lead the development and implementation of a coordinated cross-brand marketing initiative across C-Corp's family of brands: Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Seabourn Cruise Line, and Costa Crociere; This was the platform for Carnival Corporation's "World Leading Cruise Lines" promotional program.Additionally, my responsibilities included: (1) serving as a resource to the senior management of the C-Corp. brands in the development of marketing driven projects; and (2) assisting in the development of business expansion opportunities including Carnival Asia and the acquisition of Cunard Line Ltd.

This fascinating one year career interlude was the result of a "non-competition" clause in my RCCL employment agreement and my agreement to join Carnival Corporation eff. 07.01.1997; my thanks to team owner, Micky Arison, and the legendary coach and NBA executive, Pat Riley, for one of the most memorable experiences of my business career.Highlights of my year in the NBA include: - Assisted the team's ownership and senior management in the development & implementation of a unique organizational structure that effectively separated basketball operations and business operations while maintaining a singular focus on excellence both on and off the basketball court.- Restructured the team's sales (i.e. ticket sales, sponsorship sales) & marketing organization (i.e. advertising, promotional activities); recruited my talented replacement.- Revamped the team's ticket pricing and promotion strategy to (1) improve ticket revenue yields; and (2) optimize attendance.The 1996/97 season was Pat Riley's second season as President & Head Coach of the Miami HEAT and proved to be the team's best season since its founding in 1988; we went to the NBA Eastern Conference Championship but lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Quite a year!

Rejoined Royal Caribbean with an expanded portfolio of management responsibilities including a seat on RCL's Executive Committee . During this +7-year period RCL rapidly evolved to a publicly traded (NYSE & OSL) international cruise provider positioned to lead the modern cruise industry's expansion into passenger source markets around the world. Highlights:- Led an award-winning sales, marketing & passenger services organization that set an innovative pace for the cruise industry.- Introduced five new vessels: Nordic Empress, Monarch of the Seas, Majesty of the Seas, Legend of the Seas & Splendour of the Seas, and the acquired Viking Serenade and authored the "of the Seas" naming convention.- Spear-headed Royal Caribbean's brand expansion into core seasonal destination markets: Alaska, Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Southeast Asia(China & Vietnam), Panama Canal, Hawaii & Canada/New England; broadened RCL's core volume product line-up to include year-round 3/4-night cruises from Miami & Los Angeles.- Launched Automated Reservations Systems (1991) - RCL's acquisition & development of the Cruise Match Reservations System advanced the introduction cruise booking availabilities on airline GDS systems: an industry first.- Introduced Dynamic Pricing (1992) - RCL's innovative "Breakthrough Pricing" strategy became "the model for similar advance purchase programs for virtually every other major (cruise) supplier" (TA Magazine - Jan. 4,1993)- Launched a major restructuring and expansion of RCL's international sales & marketing network spanning more than 50 countries; a key first step in RCL's globalization strategy.- Named to the "25 Most Influential Executives in the Tour & Travel Industry" (1994, 1995) by Tour & Travel Magazine; "North American Travel Executive of the Year" (1995) by Travel Trade Magazine.- Served (1992/93) as Chairman of the Managing Committee of Cruise Lines International Association.

After a lengthy recruitment period led by Heidrick & Struggles accepted an enticing offer to lead the turn-around of this pioneering, family-owned cruise operator. Following are highlights from my 26-months & 10-days working for the Kloster family:- Consolidated & stream-lined the NCL management structure through a combination of functional integrations, divestitures, and outsourcing- Changed the name of the company from “Norwegian Caribbean Lines” to “Norwegian Cruise Line”; introduced an updated brand identity program; and launched an award-winning advertising campaign.- Broadened NCL product offerings to include year-round 7-night cruise operations from San Juan PR and 3 & 4-night cruise from Los Angeles.- Led the development of and introduced the msSeaward, NCL’s first new ship in more than 15-years.- Implemented a pricing & revenue management discipline and created the cruise industry’s first freestanding Pricing & Revenue Management Department - In a period of 26-months NCL went from a net operating loss of $6.0-million a profit of $26.0-million on revenues of $375.0-million with a solid plan in place for an expansion of the brand.As NCL’s 10th president in 14 years I was not surprised when changes at the Kloster Cruise Ltd. BOD-level and parent company (VARD) level resulted in a clear breach of my well-crafted employment contract. As a result I was able to resign from NCL, activate the termination benefits of my contract, and be freed from all ‘non-compete’ restrictions. Within 30-days I returned to Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. as Executive Vice-President- Chief Marketing Officer.

Joined RCCL's founding management team as the line's first marketing director; prior to joining the fledgling cruise line I served as the account supervisor at the Miami-based cruise line's first advertising agency: Miami-based Hume.Smith.Mickelberry. During this first 14-year stint with RCCL progressed from Marketing Director to Senior V.P. - Sales & Marketing. Highlights:- Implementation of Royal Caribbean's founding product marketing strategy..."7 & 14-day Caribbean cruises every Saturday, year-round from Miami" ...which remained intact through the company's first twelve years of cruise operations.- New ship introductions of RCCL's founding fleet: Song of Norway (1970), Nordic Prince (1971), and Sun Viking (1972) as well as the innovative Song of America (1982).- Led a ground-breaking marketing development initiative to introduce air/sea cruise packaging to more than 125 gateways across North America bringing the prospect of cruise vacationing to America's land-locked passenger source markets.- Initiated the evolution of the cruise industry's traditional "ship-centered" marketing strategies to a "brand-centered" strategy employing communication strategies/tactics associated with consumer packaged goods to tap the high-potential fist-time cruiser market.- Spearheaded the initiative for RCCL to enter the strategically significant 7-night NYC-Bermuda cruise market; this was Royal Caribbean's first ship deployment utilizing an embarkation point other than Miami and provided direct exposure to the major Northeast U.S. population centers.- Served as the Chairman of the Managing Committee (1980/81) of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) as well as Royal Caribbean's representative.During this critical period RCCL evolved from a "start-up" to one of the front-running brands in the emergence of the modern cruise industry.

Late in my college years a beloved and highly successful uncle counseled me to use the first 10-years of my young career to explore a variety of career experiences with the objective of defining a career position and industry that truly excited and challenged me: That industry proved to be the fledgling North American cruise industry and the career opening was a key slot on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's founding management team as RCCL's first Director of Marketing. Following are the waypoints of the first 10-years of my career:- Hume.Smith.Mickleberry (Miami, FL) - July 1969 - January 1972 - Advertising Account Supervisor MacArthur Dairy, FL Dairy Farmers & Royal Caribbean Cruise Line- Needham, Harper & Steers (NYC) - June 1968 - June 1969 - Advertising Account Executive Campbell Soup Co (Swanson Division) & Borden's Inc. (Cremora)- Young & Rubicam (NYC) - Nov. 1965 - June 1968 - Account Management Development Program / Acct. Executive. My Mad Men Days @285 Madison Avenue: Procter & Gamble (Safeguard); Frito-Lay (Lay's Potato Chips / Rold Gold Pretzels); Bristol-Meyers (Excedrin); Time Inc. (Life Magazine)- Scott Paper Co.(NYC-Brooklyn) - Sales Representative - Nov. 1964 - Nov. 1965 Selling to supermarkets & paper wholesalers from "Bed-Stuy" to Ocean Parkway- Aetna Fire & Casualty Co.(Long Island, NY) - Field Sales Representative - June 1962 - Oct. 1964 Working with appointed, independent insurance agents/brokers to increase Aetna's personal and commercial casualty insurance sales in my assigned Long Island NY territory.