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Four new hires come ahead of the company's first newbuild, debuting in August.
June 12, 2026
Transcend Cruises, the charter-only river cruise company, expanded its team with four appointments across sales, European commercial development strategy and finance.
Gayle Lehmann joined as head of sales, Anita Gonsalves as director of affinity sales, Johannes Jungwirth as director of sales, Europe and Mario Tramacere as CFO, Europe.
Lehmann will report directly to Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Daley, and lead Transcend's global sales organization across key charter verticals. She will develop and manage global sales strategy, scale the company's commercial team and directly support revenue growth through strategic accounts and high-value charter opportunities.
Lehmann joins Transcend from Ultimate Jet Vacations where she headed the Africa division. Before that she served on the executive leadership team of Geographic Expeditions, holding head of sales and director of global sales positions. Lehmann also brings years of operational experience from Bushtracks Expeditions, where she most recently served as operations program manager.
Gonsalves brings deep expertise in the affinity and special interest group travel markets. She will be responsible for identifying and securing new charter business from organizations with built-in networks and shared interests. This includes alumni associations, clubs, membership-based groups, lifestyle brands, cause-driven organizations and other affinity-based networks.
Gonsalves has deep expertise in the affinity market, most recently as director, affinity group sales at Aurora Expeditions for the past two years. Before that she was director of affinity sales at Grand Circle Travel/Overseas Adventure Travel in Boston. She also spent six years as director of operations with Grand Circle Travel.
Since Europe is both the operational hub for Transcend and a key source market for future growth, the company is building its European-based team.
Jungwirth joins as Europe sales director based in Bonn, Germany. He will lead meeting, incentives, conferences and events sales efforts throughout Europe with a special focus on German-speaking markets. He brings more than 15 years of hospitality experience, most recently as general manager of Hotel Rheinland in Bonn for the past eight years. Prior to that he held sales, marketing, operations and consultancy positions across the hospitality industry in Germany, Australia and Spain. Jungwirth also formerly served as Germany's president of Skal International.
Tramacere also joins Transcend as CFO, Europe, based in Basel, Switzerland as a key member of the executive leadership team, responsible for oversight of European financial operations. That includes the finance function of shipyard milestone management, construction financing and long-term financing for newbuilds and ongoing financial institution and investor relations.
Tramacere brings extensive management and finance experience within the global travel industry. Most recently he spent a decade as a partner at EOS Management, a Switzerland-based company active in the tour and cruise industries. Earlier he had more than 15 years at Grand Circle, holding various senior leadership positions.
"As Transcend prepares to launch our first ship this summer on the Rhine River, expanding our in-market expertise is essential to supporting both our operations and commercial growth," Daley said. "Europe is central to our ship operations and an increasingly important source market, while North America remains a primary commercial driver.
"The appointments add targeted leadership and specialized expertise across global sales, affinity, European MICE development and finance as we continue scaling the team and infrastructure needed for Transcend's next stage of growth."
Fuente: sea-trade cruise
