COLOGNE, Germany – Acentic named Richard Robinson chief executive officer, effective July. Robinson is a 20-year veteran of the media industry, including 15 years in hotel television technology, and has been an executive director at Acentic since its founding in 2003.
Robinson takes the helm at Acentic at a time when the company is experiencing solid growth internationally and serves customers such as Starwood, Hilton and InterContinental. He will continue to focus on extending Acentic’s digital TV and high speed Internet access (HSIA) services throughout the European market and to the Asia-Pacific region, the world’s fastest growing hotel market.
As chief operating officer, UK, Robinson has delivered major contract wins with Hilton, Marriott and InterContinental and has been instrumental in Acentic’s strategic planning process with direct responsibility for overall business performance of three international territories. At a group level he has been responsible for the overall guest proposition and both acquisition and merchandising of all content. During his tenure, Acentic has seen a fourfold increase in sales volumes with 40 percent market share.
Before joining Acentic in 2003, Robinson was marketing and development director at Granada, one of Europe's leading TV media businesses and former owner of Le Meridien. He developed Granada’s brand proposition and was directly responsible for all guest-derived income where his consumer marketing experience realised significant success. At Granada, he also previously served as trade marketing controller, product manager, financial reporting manager and management accountant.
Robinson studied accounting and international finance at Nottingham Trent University and has attended numerous professional development courses, including the KPMG Senior Executive Development Programme, the Chester Karrass Programme and courses run by Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Institute of Direct Marketing. He acts as a Young Enterprise business advisor providing commercial experience in marketing to sixth form students.
Robinson succeeds Alistair Forbes, who served as Acentic’s CEO for seven years.
