Innovator – Isis Ruiz

Isis Ruiz was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in NYC. She studied History in Boston where she had an early career within the legal field. 

Isis moved to Miami 20 years ago and that’s when she landed in the Cruise and Travel industry working with: Carnival, Karisma Hotels, Norwegian, Oceania, Regent, American Queen Voyages, and now Virgin Voyages! 

Today, Isis is a high-performing Marketing Executive with 20+ years of experience in global brand strategy, a proven record of driving revenue growth, and a passion for building and leading top-performing teams. 

Over the last 2 decades, Isis has held various roles in the hospitality industry, and is known for breaking ground and delivering high-impact business results. 

In 2021, Isis was recognized as one of “Top Ten Líderes” by Hispanic Executive for her work launching the award-nominated “Break Free” campaign, highlighting Norwegian’s offerings and delivering brand growth, despite a pause in operations. 

Currently, as Chief Growth Officer for Virgin Voyages, Isis is responsible for the demand-generating functions that will help the brand scale over the coming years as they prepare to launch new capacity through 2024 and beyond. 

Previous roles included Chief Commercial Officer for American Queen Voyages, with responsibility for Sales, Marketing, and Contact Center Operations, with a focus on driving commercial performance and top-line revenue for the brand. 

Additionally, as the first Global Chief Marketing Officer for Norwegian Cruise Line, Ruiz led the go-to-market plans designed to drive demand, and was responsible for brand strategy, consumer advertising, partnerships, promotions, digital and ecommerce, across all phases of the customer journey, from acquisition through loyalty, to deliver annual revenues of $2.5B+. 

Prior to joining Norwegian, Isis spent 6 years at Carnival building trade marketing capabilities and launching programs to drive growth through 3rd party distribution (B2B2C) channels. 

Early in her career, Isis worked in M&A division for notable corporate law firms in her hometown of NYC before pivoting to Marketing. 

Key Accomplishments include: 

• Led the launch of Norwegian Prima - delivering the brand’s “most in demand ship ever”. The new product launch campaign resulted in Norwegian achieving record-breaking bookings, at a 20% price premium; making history for the brand. 
• Development of Partners First, a B2B strategic platform now celebrating 10+ years in market. 
• Created a new revenue stream with launch of the Norwegian Cruise Line Gift Card; $8M+ in Y1. 

Summary: 

• A natural collaborator, with expertise in brand marketing and strategy development, and a unique ability to rally people around a clear vision. 
• Proven success leading a fully integrated marketing and customer experience function, with an extensive background in hospitality and global markets. Her passion is building - teams, brands, vision. On a personal level, Isis lives in Miami with her husband Jesus and their amazing 3 kids - Alyssa, Aidan and Andrew. In her free time she loves to travel, is obsessed with Pilates, enjoys reading and is always reading two books at a time. Her next big trip on her bucket list is Egypt.

Her passion is building - teams, brands, vision. 

On a personal level, Isis lives in Miami with her husband Jesus and their amazing 3 kids - Alyssa, Aidan and Andrew. In her free time she loves to travel, is obsessed with Pilates, enjoys reading and is always reading two books at a time. Her next big trip on her bucket list is Egypt.