Amadeus appoints new Head of Marketing

Alison Kirk brings with her 20 years’ strategic experience across the marketing mix, with a wealth of knowledge in B2B and consumer marketing. With a strong background in visitor experience and tourism, Alison cut her teeth at leading attractions such as Alton Towers, Warwick Castle and London’s Science Museum where she was responsible for implementing a strategy to deliver 2.5m visitors each year. Previous to her role at Amadeus, she spent seven years leading the strategic marketing and income generation plan for VAST, a voluntary and community charity in Staffordshire.

She will be responsible for driving key initiatives and raising the profile of Amadeus’ diverse portfolio which includes catering for four million visitors a year as part of the NEC Group – comprising home venues the NEC, ICC, Vox Conference Centre, Genting and Barclaycard Arenas. It also delivers catering solutions for over 30 external venues who want to provide visitors with memorable and unique food experiences.

Alison’s appointment comes at a time when Amadeus is experiencing phenomenal growth. In the last five years, Amadeus has grown from a £25m – £42m business with a 206% growth in profit under Managing Director Kevin Watson’s leadership. Last year was the strongest yet in Amadeus’ 40-year history, with a record amount of new business tenders totalling over £30m secured and YoY profits up by 36%.

Kevin – who took on the role of Managing Director in 2012 relaunching the business in his vision and style – said:

“Alison joins a diverse and committed board comprising some of the best talent in the industry. Over the last five years we have transformed the image of Amadeus from the NEC Group’s caterer, to one of today’s most exciting and innovative providers, punching its weight among the industry’s key players.

“Today, Amadeus is growing at pace – with Alison’s appointment we are adding to our skills pool as we aim to take Amadeus to new levels by expanding our reach and penetration into new areas of the leisure and retail industry.”

Alison said: “This is such an exciting time to join the Amadeus team at a pivotal point in the businesses history. I can already see the massive potential to grow the business and the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.”