Lisa Lutoff-Perlo
Author and Vice Chairman, External Affairs, The Royal Caribbean Group
Lisa Lutoff-Perlo is the author of Making Waves, a powerful new leadership book sharing her rise from an unassuming young woman to the top role at one of the world’s leading cruise lines. Currently, she is Vice Chairman, External Affairs for the Royal Caribbean Group, where she works on broad strategic initiatives with industry organizations and key external stakeholders. Prior to that, she served as President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises from 2014 to 2023, the first woman to take the helm of a Royal Caribbean Group brand and one of the few women then leading a multi-billion dollar brand.
Lutoff-Perlo is a recognized trailblazer in the global hospitality industry. She was the driving force behind transforming and re-defining today’s relaxed luxury cruise experience with a bold, innovative approach to ship design and service for both the industry and the Celebrity Cruises brand. Launching Celebrity’s Edge Series in 2018, the ships were immediately hailed as game-changing for the industry and recognized on TIME Magazine’s annual “World’s Greatest Places” list. She also led the Celebrity brand through a digital transformation, tapping into new market opportunities, customer trends, a robust digital marketing focus and increasing guest loyalty.
In the years leading up to the global pandemic, Lutoff-Perlo led Celebrity Cruises to historic financial performance. She then led the industry back into service on June 26, 2021, when Celebrity Edge was the first ship to sail from a U.S. port and she went on to return the brand’s business performance to within historical ranges in the first full year of post-pandemic operation. In 2023, Celebrity Cruises’ ships were the first in the world to earn the coveted star rating from Forbes Travel Guide, further solidifying the brand’s relaxed luxury resorts at sea brand positioning.
A purpose-driven leader, Lutoff-Perlo also catalyzed cultural progress in the 200-year-old cruise industry by appointing the first American female Captain and the first West-African woman to work on the bridge of a cruise ship; making history with the first all-female bridge and leadership sailing in 2020; and, ultimately, increasing Celebrity’s percentage of women on the bridge to 32%, far exceeding the maritime industry average of 2%.
She has been recognized with numerous awards for business transformation, outstanding leadership, diversity and inclusion, and her numerous philanthropic efforts.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of Fortune 500 company AutoNation (NYSE: AN) and actively lends her expertise to numerous international and regional nonprofit organization boards.
Lutoff-Perlo shares her powerful career stories and lessons learned in her leadership book, “Making Waves: A Woman’s Rise to the Top Using Smarts, Heart and Courage,” available in February 2024.
