Anthony Kaufman has been appointed by Carnival plc to the new position of senior vice president, Asia operations for the Princess Cruises brand. 

In this newly created role, Kaufman will oversee multiple sales and marketing teams throughout Asia that are focused on growing the Princess brand throughout the region and supporting the brand’s itineraries in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore.

In addition, he will continue to develop Princess Cruises’ strong relationships with government authorities, industry associations and business partners in the region. He will also facilitate coordination with the many operating departments that support Princess’ growing Asia deployment.

Previously Princess’ senior vice president of commercial affairs, Kaufman will now focus on the company’s new program to base ships in both the Japan and China cruise markets. In Japan, the Princess brand is entering its second year with two ships based in three homeports. New this year, one Princess ship will be based in Shanghai to introduce a brand-new premium “Princess Class” cruise experience to the China vacation market, and will then move to homeport in Singapore to offer a series of cruises in the Southeast Asia region.

“Tony’s appointment will provide a single point of focus as we continue to expand in Asia,” said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises president. “He brings to this role more than 20 years of experience with Princess, and his extensive commercial experience, coupled with his strong relationship and leadership skills, will harness the great work happening across our growing Asia teams.”

Kaufman’s background includes a variety of positions at Princess including onboard revenue, shore operations, supply chain, newbuild contracting, and legal, among others. He joined Princess in 1993 as assistant general counsel and director of business affairs. In 2000, Kaufman was appointed general counsel of Princess’ then-parent company, P&O Princess Cruises plc, based in London. In 2003, he returned to Princess Cruises’ headquarters in California to take on his role in commercial affairs.

Kaufman will be based in the company’s Santa Clarita, California headquarters office.

He holds a B.A. degree in communication studies from UCLA and a law degree, cum laude, from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, where he was an editor of the Loyola Law Review.