Carnival Corporation today announced Josh Leibowitz as the company’s executive vice president of group strategy and corporate operations, effective October 1.

Leibowitz, 42, comes to Carnival from the consulting firm McKinsey, where he served as its managing partner of the Miami office and the leader of the company’s work in big data and channel management — experience that will be important as Carnival strengthens its marketing and customer relationship capabilities.

Leibowitz succeeds Richard Ames, senior vice president of corporate business services, who is retiring after 24 years of service.

“Richard has been a tremendous asset to our company and we thank him for his significant legacy, undivided loyalty and dedicated service,” said Howard Frank, chief operating officer and vice chairman of Carnival Corporation & plc. “Josh was the first person who came to mind for this role given his tremendous experience with McKinsey.”

Before joining McKinsey in 2001, Leibowitz was a managing director at Idealab, where he ran early stage e-commerce companies. He began his career as an entrepreneur founding retail, wholesale and e-commerce businesses.