Mandarin Oriental's VP of CRM departs to join Virgin Australia

Andrew Cleary, vice president of global CRM and customer strategy at Mandarin Oriental, has joined Virgin Australia as chief customer officer and CEO of its loyalty programme.

Based in Sydney, the role brings together all aspects of customer experience under one team, aimed at accelerating customer initiatives across Virgin Australia and Velocity Frequent Flyer.

With deep experience in customer experience and loyalty, Cleary has held senior executive positions at major Australian and international companies. Most recently, at Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, Cleary led the global customer experience team, which included the luxury hotel group’s loyalty and customer relationship management (CRM), data and insights, and product innovation functions. 

Previously, Cleary spent over seven years in diverse senior management roles at Qantas Airways, including loyalty, customer experience transformation, alliance partnerships, and investor relations.

Cleary is also experienced in delivering large-scale customer-focused business transformation programmes across the aviation, hospitality and retail industries. Prior experience includes working as a financial journalist specialising in aviation and listed consumer brands.

Meanwhile, Velocity Frequent Flyer and VARA Group executive Nick Rohrlach will depart the airline on 30 April, prioritising the next chapter in his family life. He will work closely with Cleary during the transition period to ensure continuity for Velocity partners and members.

Virgin Australia has also announced that the strategy and transformation team will transition to report directly to the CEO, effective 30 April. 

Virgin Australia chief strategy and transformation officer, Alistair Hartley will also step down from his role on 30 April. He joined Virgin Australia as chief strategy and transformation officer in March 2021 and has been instrumental in the successful delivery of the airline’s transformation programme. He was also key to Virgin Australia’s strategic partnership and integrated alliance with Qatar Airways. While the airline’s transformation journey remains ongoing, Hartley has decided now is the right time for him to leave the company.

Don’t miss: Virgin Atlantic releases sign language commercial to highlight inclusivity

Dave Emerson, CEO and managing director at Virgin Australia, said Cleary brings deep industry knowledge to the role and will "find new ways" to make the customer journey easier.

"As Virgin Australia continues its transformation strategy following a successful IPO and the integration of our Qatar Airways partnership, we are reorganising our leadership structure to drive greater customer-centricity and commercial performance. Combining our customer experience, marketing, and Velocity loyalty capabilities under unified leadership will enable faster decision-making, better integration of customer data and insights, and enhanced value creation from our loyalty ecosystem.," he added.

“Bringing customer experience and loyalty together as one team is a commitment to putting the end customer at the forefront of everything Virgin Australia does. In this next chapter of growth, there is an incredible opportunity to continue to build deeper loyalty among flyers, pursue new strategic partnerships, and realise the commercial potential of Velocity Frequent Flyer,” Cleary said.

Related articles:

Mandarin Oriental and Daniel Boulud join hands to debut Terrace Boulud in HK
Mandarin Oriental expands portfolio in China with new Suzhou hotel
Virgin Atlantic releases ad done only in sign language to highlight inclusivity