Posts Tagged ‘corporate blog’

Our President and CEO Shares Some Random Thoughts

Randomness:

- Someone once said the business of America is business. Even taking that into consideration, the outpouring of grief and accolades for Steve Jobs after his death was remarkable. And it wasn’t limited to America. There is a global recognition that his leadership and accomplishments were transformational. As both an admirer and a customer, I join in the mourning of his untimely passing and wish the leadership of Apple well in the daunting task of carrying on with Jobs’ vision. He obviously inspired a lot of people. Who else do you find similarly inspirational?

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BY:Adam|28th October, 2011 4 Comments

In Memory of Congressman John Adler; Husband, Father and Friend

Last week I attended the funeral of one of my best friends, John Adler. Most people knew John as a U.S. Congressman from 2008 - 10 and prior to that a New Jersey State Senator for 17 years. He appeared to be on a first name basis with everyone in New Jersey. He was everything we could wish for in a public servant. Intelligent, caring, honest, dedicated, and humble.

People from all walks of life attended the funeral. Coincidentally, my wife and I walked out of the memorial service next to Olympic hero Carl Lewis, who grew up in the same part of New Jersey, and came to admire John.

I interact with Senators and Members of Congress on a regular basis. I don’t understand how they derive enjoyment from what they do. Yet John visibly loved representing his constituents and performing his duties. He was an articulate, polished, hilarious public speaking machine. John lived in his office to save money and traveled home to his wife and four sons as soon as he could every week. He was a loyal Democrat who could work across the aisle, as well as differ with his party on principle on occasion.

I am proud of John for all of the above, but none of that has anything to do with why his death has had such an impact on his circle of close friends. He was an even better husband, father and friend than he was a politician.

We and the Adlers are two of six families of law school friends who go on vacation together every other year bringing many, if not all, of our collective 18 children along with us. It is a recurring, happy Big Chill that dates back to the mid-1990’s. There is nothing we prize more highly.

As a long time friend, I’ve come to believe that John was genetically incapable of speaking five consecutive sentences without being funny. He was funny about everything. In a group of strong personalities (surprise!), John was a constant source of amusement. I looked forward to every interaction with him for 30 years (after the very first one while we were at rival colleges, which degenerated into a mild verbal altercation, two years before we found ourselves in the same law school class). One vivid memory from the first year of law school is of John walking around our classroom on top of the desks parodying one of our professors by giving a spontaneous and hilarious lecture on entrapment.

Add to the mix between the Adlers and the Goldsteins that both of our families are full of Philadelphia sports fanatics and the four parents are members of the (unofficial) 1000+ hour club of people who frequent the sidelines of youth soccer fields, and there was no shortage of conversation or levity.

We will miss John enormously. The Vacation Gang will never be quite the same again. Our thoughts and prayers are with Shelley and the boys during this very difficult time.

BY:Adam|11th April, 2011 12 Comments

Pushing the Envelope: Guest Blogger Bill Martin Discusses How Royal Caribbean Stays Ahead of the Curve

 

I am the Chief Information Officer for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, which basically means that my desk is where the proverbial “buck” stops if it involves technology. Our IT organization is responsible for all of the technology onboard the Royal Caribbean International ships as well as those of her sister brands. We also have more than 40 shore side offices around the world that we operate.

2010 was a year of major technological innovation, from redesigned websites to the delivery of Allure of the Seas, who along with her sister, Oasis of the Seas, are the two most technologically advanced ships at sea. It was also a year of awards, winning Information Week magazine’s top innovation honor in the category of customer intimacy. And 2011 is shaping up to be even bigger.

It’s difficult to talk about my role without recognizing the 500+ technology employees on our ships and on shore that make nearly half a billion dollars worth of technology assets work. We have an amazing team of technology professionals. Combine this team with the best operating teams in the industry and you’ve really got a powerful combination. It’s partnerships like this that create the many award winning innovations you’ll see on our ships. From facial recognition applications that eliminate the “Photo walls” where you had to look at almost every professional photo until you found yours, to interactive digital signs that let you know where the action is, it all comes together to make an amazing vacation experience even better.

Many in our organization refer to me as a “rogue CIO” (a moniker I wear proudly by the way). This doesn’t mean I break the rules, it simply means I press our teams to “push the envelope” of what can be done with technology. I am an avid user of technology, and trying new stuff is something we must do if we expect to stay ahead of our guest’s expectations. It’s this constant experimentation that gave me the nickname.

When Adam asked if I would write a guest blog post about going from “Res to glitches” (a cute way of covering my 27 year career here at Royal Caribbean), I was proud to take a shot. I won’t bore you with a lot of career details but suffice it to say that I have been very lucky at Royal Caribbean, finding the right opportunities at just the right time over the years, to maintain a career with the same company. That’s very rare these days, so I consider myself very lucky. As the phrase implies, I started in the call center taking reservations over the phone way back in 1984 while I put myself through college. Computer reservations in 1984 were very different … everyone agreed that seeing available staterooms in less than TWO minutes was a real step forward from the “berthing books”, but the system would frequently go down, so the computers could be a real pain! Today we measure down time in minutes per year. So I guess it has gotten a little better.

There have been many steps along the way, including stints in Accounting, Revenue Management, Customer Service, even running all of the call centers in North America, and finally, to my current role as CIO, which started a little over three years ago.

Funny side note about my current role, I called my brother to share the news of my move to the CIO role. His reaction? “ARE YOU CRAZY! CIO stands for Career Is Over!” He said I wouldn’t last two years in the role. I’m happy to report that Tom was wrong.

On a personal note, I have 4 children (ages 21 to 8 ) and have been happily married going on 25 years (I guess I have a thing for sticking around)! We love living in South Florida (even if it felt like Chicago this past December – Yea yea, spring time in Chicago We’re planning to vacation in Hawaii this summer but still have to convince the kids of this since they are hoping for another cruise on Allure! LOL

We produced a webisode about some of the technology highlights on Oasis and Allure. Take a look. It’s pretty ground breaking stuff.

BY:Bill Martin|25th February, 2011 10 Comments
 

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