The Cruise Planners Franchise Blog | Cruise Planners Franchise

Cruise Planners Welcomes Jeff Sherota as VP of Operations

Written by Thuy Phan | February 22, 2023 at 7:22 PM

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. Feb.22-- Cruise Planners is excited to announce key promotions and a restructuring of their organization to solidify an already formidable and talented executive team. Former Chief Sales Officer Theresa Scalzitti, who is a 28-year veteran of the travel industry, has been promoted to Chief Operations Officer. She celebrates seven years at Cruise Planners and was recently named the Godmother of Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Traveller. Scalzitti’s contributions to Cruise Planners have been through the development of new marketing programs, strong annual sales growth helping Cruise Planners achieve #18 on the Travel Weekly Power List and oversight of several new programs and tools.  Scalzitti will continue to oversee the departments of Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Groups, CPV, Franchise Marketing, PR and Corporate Relations, Business Intelligence, Creative Programs, Special Programs and CARE team for Cruise Planners. 

In addition, former SVP of Strategic Development Scott Koepf has also been promoted and will move into the role of Chief Strategy Officer. Koepf is a 38-year industry veteran, CLIA Hall of Fame recipient and has been a valued member of the executive team for 5 years. Koepf has contributed to the success of Cruise Planners through his oversight of their award-winning training programs, events team and franchise sales.  Koepf will continue to oversee the departments of Franchise Sales, Training and Events.    The C-Suite at Cruise Planners now consists of Michelle Fee - CEO & Founder, Brian Shultz - Chief Information Officer, Theresa Scalzitti - Chief Operating Officer and Scott Koepf - Chief Strategy Officer.

Cruise Planners also welcomed Jeffrey Sherota as Vice President, Operations. Sherota  is a 27-year travel industry veteran and spent the past 15 years as a part of the Executive Team at World Travel Holdings.  This new role will be responsible for oversight of Cruise Planners CARE Team, Franchise Marketing and Special Programs.  Sherota will report to Theresa Scalzitti, Chief Operations Officer.

“As the travel industry continues to bounce back with incredible fervor, we have been very strategic in hiring experienced industry veterans to ensure Cruise Planners continues to be an industry leading innovator offering our network of advisors the best in training, technology, marketing and support,” said Michelle Fee, CEO and Founder. “We have a powerhouse team both at the executive level and from every team member within Cruise Planners. We are looking forward to a great future of continued innovation and growth.”