Kelly Craighead to Step Down from CLIA at the End of 2024
by Daniel McCarthy
Photo: Kelly Craighead
Kelly Craighead will step down as president and CEO of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) at the end of 2024.
Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean and current CLIA Global Chair, made the announcement on Wednesday in a message to members, explaining that Craighead is readying to “seek out her next big challenge.”
“Her many contributions will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on our industry, and we should all be profoundly grateful for that,” he said.
Craighead, who joined CLIA in 2019 and led the organization and the cruise industry through the pandemic, will remain as president of CLIA through December, giving CLIA time to search for a replacement.
During her last Seatrade Cruise Global as head of CLIA in April, Craighead spoke about the resilience and growth of the industry—CLIA reported 31.7 million total global passengers in 2023, 2 million more than in 2019.
“We’re an industry breaking records in ways we might never have imagined only a few years ago,” she said.
