MSC Cruises USA has appinted Bonnie Levengood to the newly created position of senior vice president of marketing, leading the company’s consumer and travel industry marketing and digital activities throughout North America.

“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Bonnie Levengood to the MSC Cruises family,” said Richard E. Sasso, president cof the company. “As our new senior vice president of marketing, she joins the company at an auspicious time to help grow and strengthen awareness of our brand to both consumers and our travel agent partners.”

Levengood’s appointment is a critical piece of MSC Cruises’ recently announced “Serving You” initiatives to the travel agent community at CLIA’s Cruise3Sixty in April.  Ramping up the “human factor,” according to Sasso, includes strategic senior level appointments such as Levengood’s, more than doubling the MSC Cruises’ sales force by adding Business Development Managers in critical regions around the country and undertaking its most extensive roadshow to-date. 

Levengood brings extensive expertise to her new position, with nearly two decades of marketing and financial experience and a proven track record creating successful multichannel campaigns.  Most recently, she ran her own marketing company.  Prior to that, she headed up marketing and sales for nearly eight years for 1-800-PetMeds, America’s largest pet pharmacy, leading the company’s annual revenue to more than $239 million by creating new direct marketing programs that included comprehensive email marketing campaigns, new TV commercials and direct mail and catalog programs.