Edward French has been named as the chief sales and marketing officer for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. As a member of the Corporate Operating Committee, he will oversee the strategic positioning of one of the hotel brand.
In his role, French will serve as the strategic business partner to the president and global chief operating officer of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, and play a leadership role for the Marketing, Global Sales and Revenue Management discipline. With oversight of Sales, Marketing, Revenue Management, eCommerce, CRM, Public Relations and Social Media, he is responsible for driving top-line revenue for The Ritz-Carlton brand, ensuring the strategic priorities of the discipline are aligned and designed to yield profitable sales, increased market share, and expanded competitive advantage.
Prior to his current role, French was senior vice president, marketing platforms, which included overseeing the operations, marketing and strategic direction of the award winning loyalty programs, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards. This included guiding the hotel reward programs’ communications, customer service, partnership development, database, and member acquisition efforts. Additionally, French led total customer relationship management, marketing systems and segmentation, incentive and gift card marketing for the company, as well as the internal creative agency.
French joined Marriott from American Airlines, where he led the Advantage program, the world’s largest customer loyalty program. In that role, he was responsible for direct operations, marketing and customer service for the airline’s frequent flier program. French started his career at American Airlines in 1992 as an analyst in revenue management. Previously, he worked for Chase Manhattan Bank.
