HEADS above the Rest
by Benoit
Gateau-Cumin
The Newsletter of The Boutique Search Firm, a
worldwide retained recruiting firm specializing in hospitality management.
For any information, please
contact us at 1-310-552-2221 or visit our website at http://www.boutiquesearchfirm.com
Global Update: Who's where and doing
what:
April 2007
THE AMERICAS
Steven Heyer
has resigned as Chief Executive Officer
of Starwood, where he had been
chosen thirty months ago to succeed Barry Sternlicht. Heyer was previously the President and Chief Operating
Officer of Coca Cola. No successor
has been announced by Starwood.
Kerzner International has appointed Robert Cotter President. He was most recently the President and Chief
Operating Officer of Starwood Hotels, from which
he had retired in December 2005. Cotter had originally joined ITT
Sheraton in 1973, a company that
morphed into Starwood in 1998. He
had become Starwood’s Chief Operating Officer in 2000 and President in
2004.
John Arnett has joined Millennium &
Copthorne as Chief Executive, North
America Operations, based in Los Angeles. He had previously served as Chief
Executive Officer for the Kor Group,
Chief Operating Officer for the Odyssey Club in San Francisco and Vice President of Operations for
Kimpton.
Michel
Ducamp has been promoted to Chief
Operating Officer of Solstice based
in Scottsdale. He originally joined the company in 2005 as Senior Vice
President Hospitality and was previously the Managing Director for Nantucket
Island Resorts. Ducamp is a Cornell
graduate.
MGM Mirage has named Aldo Manzini Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative
Officer. He comes from the Walt Disney Company, where he served as Senior Vice President for Strategic
Planning.
Four Seasons has named Scott Woroch Executive Vice President, Worldwide Development. A
Cornell graduate, he originally joined the company in 2000, and had been its
Senior Vice President Business Development, Asia Pacific, since 2003.
Roy Paul, Senior Vice President of Development for Four
Seasons, will be leaving the company
after twenty years to become the Chief Executive Officer of a real estate
development company launched by London-based businessmen Robin Paterson
and Mike Pemberton. The company is building two Four Seasons resorts in
Barbados and Grenada.
Eric
Calderon has joined Auberge
Resorts as Vice President Operations.
He was most recently the Chief Operating Officer of Ty Warner Hotels and
Resorts, following seventeen years at
Aspen’s Little Nell as Vice
President and General Manager. At Auberge Resorts, Calderon makes up for the
recent departure of Chief Operating Officer Rick Riess.
Robert Gormley has joined Juno Development in Dallas as Head of Asset Management and Hotel
Development. The company is getting ready to launch two
Kimpton hotels in Dallas. Gormley
comes from eleven years with Starwood, most
recently as General Manager at the W Dallas – Victory. He also served as General Manager at the W San
Diego for three years and the W
Chicago Lakeshore for two
years.
Elias Assaly has rejoined Rosewood as Vice President Operations, taking over for Brian
Young, who left to join Sea Island
Resorts. Assaly, who was the Managing
Director of Dallas’ Crescent Court,
had left Rosewood in the summer of 2004 to become the opening General Manager of
the St. Regis San
Francisco. Prior to the Crescent Court,
he had been the opening General manager of the W San
Francisco.
Sandra
Rintelen has been named Vice President
Hotel and Casinos by Station Casinos
of Las Vegas. Among many others, the company owns and operates the Green
Valley Ranch and the Red Rock Hotel
and Casino. Rintelen, a Cornell
graduate, spent six years with Starwood, the last three of which as Senior Corporate Director
of Operations Worldwide for their W brand.
Toni Knorr
will be moving a few blocks from her position of General Manager at the W San
Francisco to that of General Manager at
the St. Regis San
Francisco where she takes over from
Elias Assaly, who has returned to
Rosewood.
Tracy Mercer has been named General Manager at the Four Seasons
Silicon Valley. Since 2001, he had been
the General Manager of the Four Seasons Tokyo at Marunouchi. In Palo Alto, he replaces Robert
Whitfield, now the General Manager of
the Four Seasons Hualalai in
Hawaii.
Paul
Cherrett has been named Director of
Hospitality for the Aspen Skiing Company, following twenty five years with Four
Seasons. He was most recently the General Manager at the Four Seasons
Jackson Hole. He also served as General Manager at the Four Seasons
Austin and Resort Manager at the
Four Seasons Dallas.
Robert
Rechtermann will become the General
Manager of the Peninsula New York,
taking over from Niklaus Leuenberger, who will be leaving the company. Rechtermann took his
current position of Resident Manager at the Peninsula Chicago a year ago. He previously served as Director of
Operations at the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common and Executive Assistant Manager, Director of Food and
Beverage at the (former) Ritz-Carlton Boston.
Bill Doak has been appointed General Manager at the Loews
Santa Monica Beach Hotel. For the past
two years, he served as President of the Oceana Hotel Group. Doak also served as General Manager of Mondrian
for the Morgans Hotel
Group. He was the Director of Sales and
Marketing at the Loews Santa Monica in 1992 for two years.
Brian
Panozzo
has been appointed General Manager of the Omni Royal Orleans. He joined Omni in 1997
and served as Food and Beverage Director at the Omni Chicago, the Omni Tucson
National Golf Resort and Spa and the Omni Mandalay
in
Dallas.
Vince Parrotta has been promoted to General Manager at the Four
Seasons Jackson Hole. He
originally joined the company in 1999 as Director of Rooms at the Four
Seasons Chicago before his promotion,
three years later, to Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Las
Vegas. Since 2005, he had been the
Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Aviara.
Omar Said has been named
General Manager of Villa Del
Sol in Zihuatanejo, recently purchased
by the Kor Group. He comes from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
where he most recently served as Regional Director of Residences. He has
previously held executive management positions at the Ritz-Carlton
Sarasota, the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas, the Ritz-Carlton
Dearborn and the Ritz-Carlton Cancun.
Valeriano Antonioli has joined the
InterContinental Montelucia Resort And Spa in Phoenix as General Manager.
He comes from the W Los Angeles where he was until recently the General Manager.
Previously Antonioli served as General Manager at the Sheraton Diana
Majestic in Milan and as Resident
Manager of the Hotel Principe di Savoia and the Hotel Duca di
Milano.
Peter
Walterspiel has joined the Southern
Highlands Resort Casino and Spa
in Las Vegas, due to open in 2009, as Vice President Hotel Operations. Since 2005, he was with
the proposed W Las Vegas as Vice
President Residential Development. Walterspiel also served as Assistant Vice
President of Hotel Operations for Wynn Las Vegas and Vice President Hotel Operations for the Venetian
Resort Hotel Casino.
Drew Schlesinger has been appointed Vice President and General Manager of the Water Club at Borgata, scheduled to open in early 2008. He most recently served as Director of Operations and General Manager of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants in New York and Miami. Schlesinger was also the closing General Manager of the former InterContinental New York Central Park South.
Edward
Andrews has joined the newly re-branded
InterContinental Los Angeles (formerly the Park Hyatt Century City) as General Manager. For the past six years, he served
with Hyatt as General Manager at the
Hyatt Regency Barsey, the Hyatt
Regency Casablanca and, most recently,
the Hyatt Regency Belgrade.
Thierry Demart is the new General Manager of the Beach Paradise Hotel in Cancun. He has previously served as General Manager of the Orient Palace and Amir Palace in Tunisia.
Federico
Echaiz has joined Orient
Express’ Maroma Resort
in Mexico as Managing Director. For the
past year, he has served as Resort Manager at Rosewood’s Las Ventanas Al Paraiso. Echaiz previously was the Director of Food and
Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Santiago, the Hyatt Regency Santiago, the Park Hyatt Mendoza and the Regency Casino Mendoza.
Biras Creek Resort has appointed Michael Deighton General Manager. Most recently, he was the General
Manager at the Bay Harbor Resort & Marina.
Kathy Faulk has joined the Hilton Checkers in Los Angeles as General Manager. She was most
recently the Interim General Manager at the Driskill in Austin.
David Bartek has been named General Manager of the Royal Pacific
Resort at Universal
Orlando. Most recently, he was Vice
President of Operations for Centex Hospitality.
Kathryn Mace has joined Casa Laguna in Laguna Beach as General Manager. She previously
served as Director of Sales at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Manhattan Beach and
Sacramento.
Luca Sparacino
is leaving his position of Hotel
Manager at the Four Seasons Houston
to become the Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Dallas. Sparacino originally joined Four Seasons in 2002 as
Director of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago.
The King Pacific
Lodge in British Columbia has named
Robert Penman Lodge Manager. For the
past nine seasons, he was the General Manager of the
Clubhouse, West Coast Fishing
Club's wilderness resort on Langara
Island. Previously, he served as Food and Beverage Director of the Aerie
Resort.
Maria Jagla has been appointed Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons
Chicago. She comes from the Four Seasons New
York, where she was the Director of
Rooms, a position she also held at the Four Seasons Sydney.
Christophe
Olivro joined the Beverly Hills
Hotel & Bungalows as Resident
Manager last summer. He previously spent eleven years with
Ritz-Carlton, most recently as
Director of Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Atlanta.
Nikolay Hotze
has been promoted by
Rosewood to Resident Manager at
Caneel Bay, from the position of
Hotel Manager of Acqualina. Prior to
joining Rosewood in the summer of 2004, he was the Director of Food and Beverage
at the Loews Miami.
Rajiv
Malhotra has transferred to the Four
Seasons Great Exuma as Resort Manager.
A Cornell graduate, he has been with the company since 2001, serving as Hotel
Manager at the Four Seasons Las Vegas and Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons
Biltmore.
Jeff David has joined the soon-to-open Viceroy in Anguilla as Resort Manager. He comes from the
landmark Chatham Bars Inn on Cape
Cod, where he held the same title. He is no stranger to Anguilla where he once
was the Food and Beverage Director at Cap Juluca.
Barbara Bowden
has been promoted to Assistant General
Manager at the Peabody Orlando. She
has been with the hotel since it opened twenty years ago and has held various
positions, most recently as Corporate Director of Revenue Management for all
three Peabody Hotels, a role she
will continue to assume.
Kathy
Wilbourn, who had been Director of
Finance at the Beverly Wilshire for
the past thirteen years, is leaving Four Seasons to join Rosewood as Rooms Executive at the Mansion on Turtle
Creek.
Patrick Loo, Director of Rooms at the Beverly
Wilshire, is moving back to Hawaii, to
be the Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Resorts Lanai'i, Manele Bay
and Lodge at Koele.
Michelle La
Motte has joined the JBG
Companies in Chevy Chase, as Vice
President of Asset Management. Previously she has held executive level positions
with City Hotels, the Getty's
Group and
Deloitte-Touche. La Motte is the
current President of the Cornell Hotel Society.
Kevin
Osterhaus has returned to Austin as
Director of Operations for
Fairmont has promoted Andrea Torrance to Vice President, Rooms, from her position of
Executive Director, Rooms. She joined the company in 2002 after holding various
positions with Hilton International
and the Mark in New
York.
Yvette Thomas-Henry has been appointed Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons New York. She comes from the Taj Boston (formerly the Ritz-Carlton Boston) where she held the title of Executive Assistant Manager. At Four Seasons, she takes over from Maria Jagla, who has been promoted to Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Chicago.
Mickael
Damelincourt joins Chicago’s Trump
International Hotel and Tower as
Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Finance. He comes from the Conrad
Chicago after serving as Controller for
the Méridien Chicago, in the same
location.
Julian
Griffiths will become the Executive
Director of Food and Beverage at Wynn Las Vegas. For the past three years, he served in a similar
position at the New York Palace,
following a two-year stint as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the
Waldorf=Astoria.
Lausanne graduate Jean Weiss has left his position of Director of Food and Beverage at the St. Regis San Francisco to become the Director of Hospitality at Sebastiani Winery. It runs in the family as Weiss' wife Hélène has been the Hospitality Director for Farniente and Nickel & Nickel in Napa.
Laurent
Boisdron is now with Norwegian
Cruise Line as a Corporate Director of
Food and Beverage. For the past two years, he had been the Director of Food and
Beverage at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower after serving in the same position across town at the
Sofitel Chicago O'Hare.
Sean Carney is the new Director of Food and Beverage at
Rosewood’s Caneel
Bay. He was most recently the Assistant
Director of Food and Beverage at the Hilton Short Hills.
It is as Director of Food and
Beverage that Thomas Harlander has
joined the Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires, not as Director of Operations as we had mistakenly
announced. That position continues to be assumed by Antonio
Alvarez.
Don Jones has been promoted to Director of Corporate and Travel
Industry Sales for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, based in Los Angeles and replacing Susan
Devins who will be moving to Singapore
as Regional Director of Sales and Marketing. Jones had been the Director of
Marketing at the Beverly Wilshire
since transferring from the Pierre in 2003.
Gloria Lloyd moves up from Director of Sales at the Four Seasons
New York to replace Don
Jones as Director of Marketing at the
Beverly Wilshire. Prior to joining
Four Seasons in 2003, Lloyd had been the Director of Sales and Marketing at the
St. Regis New York, and a Director
of Sales for the Ritz-Carltons of
New York.
Lara Weiss has joined Thompson Hotels as Regional Director of Sales and Marketing, West
Coast. She comes from Raffles L’Ermitage, where she was the Director of Sales and
Marketing.
Dianna Balabon was named Vice President of Sales and Marketing to be
based at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York. In 1998 she
joined the Peninsula New York as Director of Marketing and was promoted
in 2004 to her recent position of Vice President, Sales and Marketing for the
group. Before joining Peninsula, Balabon was the Director of Sales for
Leading Hotels of the World.
Maria Hirt becomes the Director of Marketing at the Four
Seasons Las Vegas, coming from the
Four Seasons Palm Beach where she
served in the same position since 2002. In Las Vegas, she replaces Kathy Van
Vechten who is retiring. Van Vechten
opened the hotel eight years ago, after opening the Four Seasons Wailea
Maui. Prior to joining Four Seasons,
Van Vechten was with InterContinental in San Diego and Hawaii.
Boutique Hotels &
Resorts International has appointed
David Moth Senior Vice President
Marketing. He has previously served as Executive Vice President of
Distinguished Hotels International
and as the Director of Meetings for the Caribbean Hotel
Association. In addition, Moth once was
the General Manager at the Tides and
the Sagamore Hotel both in Miami
Beach.
Greg Hanss moves to the Intercontinental Montelucia Resort and
Spa, in Paradise Valley, as Director of
Sales and Marketing. Since 1999, he had been the Director of Marketing at the
Four Seasons Scottsdale. Hanss also
served as Director of Sales and Marketing at the St. Regis Aspen
and as Director of Sales at the
Phoenician.
David Akin comes from the Four Seasons San
Francisco to replace Greg
Hanss as Director of Marketing at the
Four Seasons Scottsdale. He had
opened the property in 1999 as Director of Sales, following six and a half years
at the Breakers in Palm
Beach.
Austin Watkins takes over from David Akin as Director of Marketing at the Four Seasons San Francisco. He comes from the Four Seasons Whistler where he had been the Director of Sales since leaving a similar position at the (former) Four Seasons Newport Beach.
Loews Hotels announced the appointment of two executives in sales
and
InterContinental Hotels
Group has named Jill
Cady Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Strategy, based in Atlanta. She joined the company in 1995 as Director of
National Sales, Mid-Atlantic region, for Crowne Plaza and most recently held the position of Director, Global
Sales Strategy and Systems.
The Renaissance Las
Vegas has promoted Christie
Bustamante to the position of Director
of Sales and Marketing. She joined the hotel in 2004 as Director of Sales.
Heather Miles moves up from her
current position of Sales Manager to take over for
Bustamante.
Warren
Breaux has been named Director of Sales
and Marketing for the Lansdowne Resort in Virginia. He previously served as Vice President of
Sales and Marketing for the Gaylord National Resort & Convention
Center after holding the position of
Vice President of Sales for the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention
Center in Nashville.
Samantha
Spurgeon has joined the St. Regis
Resort Anguilla as Director of Sales
and Marketing, based in Miami. She comes from Méridien French Polynesia
as Director of Sales and Marketing,
after working in both New York and St. Martin for Orient Express Hotels
Trains and Cruises.
The Renaissance
Worthington has appointed Jim
Gabler Director of Sales and Marketing.
He was most recently the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Adams Mark
in Dallas, following seventeen years
with Marriott.
Dave Coskey has been named Vice President of Marketing for
Borgata, in Atlantic City. Most
recently, he served as President of Dave Coskey Associates.
Jay Smith has joined the InterContinental Los Angeles
as Director of Sales and Marketing. He
was most recently in the same position at the Hilton Long
Beach. In addition, he held various
sales positions at the (former) Westin Century Plaza, the Beverly Hilton and the (former) Westwood Marquis.
Gérald Feurer has joined the New York sales office of the Peninsula Hotel Group as Regional Director of Sales, taking over from Karim Meslem who has been promoted to Director of Sales for the soon-to-open Peninsula Tokyo. Most recently, Feurer has held the position of Director of Food and Beverage for Exclusive Catering by Abigail Kirsch. This a second return to Peninsula for Feurer, who served as Director of Food and Beverage at the Peninsula New York from 2004 to 2006, and as Assistant Food and Beverage Manager from 1997 to 1999.
Joe Stern has been named Director of Marketing for the
Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. He
was most recently the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Grand Hyatt
Washington D.C.
Michael
Lynch has been appointed Director of
Group Sales for the InterContinental Mark Hopkins. Since 2002 he had been the Director of Sales at the
Renaissance Parc 55.
Cherri
Lamont has been named Director of
Leisure Sales at the Broadmoor in
Colorado Springs. She was most recently the Director of Leisure Sales for JW
Marriott Resorts of Arizona.
Renée Tao has been named Director of Sales-Western U.S for
Travcoa/ Tcs Expedition. For the
past seven years she had been with Fairmont, most
recently as Associate Director of Sales in their Los Angeles national sales
office. She previously served as Senior Sales Manager at the Fairmont
Miramar in Santa Monica.
Michael
Albrecht has joined the Beverly
Hilton as Travel Industry Sales
Manager. For the past two years, he had been a Sales Manager at the Sofitel
Los Angeles.
L’Auberge Del
Mar has named Chris
Ohara Director of Catering and
Conference Services. Ohara previously served as Director of Catering at World
Trade Club in San
Francisco.
Dawn Steele has joined L’Auberge Del Mar as Sales Manager. She had previously served as
Corporate Group Sales Manager at the Doubletree Metropolitan
Hotel in New York and has held various
positions with Four Seasons and
Ritz-Carlton.
Stephen
Judge has been named President of
Seasons 52, a division of Darden
Restaurants, after three years as Vice
President Food and Beverage for the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Previously, Judge served as Vice President Operations
and Vice President Food and Beverage for Rosewood Hotels and
Resorts.
Jacques Van
Staden has joined Elizabeth Blau and
Associates. After several years working
with famed chef André Rochat, most
recently as Executive Chef for Alizé
(Palms Resort), Van Staden will work
with Blau as a culinary expert and consulting chef.
Sean
O’Connell is relocating to Las Vegas as
Corporate Chef for Fontainebleau Resorts. For the past two years, he had overseen the kitchens
of the recently-reopened Mandarin-Oriental Hong Kong as Executive Chef. He also served as Executive Chef at
the Banyan Tree Resort in Phuket and
the Legian Bali.
Brian Young has joined Tavern On The Green as Executive Chef, replacing John
Milito. He previously held the position
of Executive Chef at Mainland in New
York and L'Escale in
Greenwich.
Barnaby
Jones has been named Executive Chef at
Hodges Bay Club in Antigua, due to open in November. He most recently
served as Executive Chef at Carlisle Bay, also in Antigua. Jones was also the Executive Chef at Nick
Jones’ Babington
House in England. He also spent five
years with
Amanresorts, as Executive Chef at Amanjena and Amandari.
Chad
Blunston is returning to
Fairmont as Executive Sous Chef at
the Fairmont Algonquin. He had been
with the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman
since before opening in November 2005, as Banquet Chef, as well as the
Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas in the same
capacity.
The Mandarin Oriental New
York has appointed Paul
Nolan Executive Pastry Chef. Most
recently, Nolan spent eight years as Executive Pastry Chef of New York’s 21
Club. He previously worked for Le
Bernardin, the Four Seasons New
York and the Pierre.
Mitch Rosen has joined Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas as Food and Beverage Manager. He was most
recently the Director of Restaurants at the Jackson Hotel Mountain
Resort and previously worked as
Assistant Food and Beverage Director for the Norwegian Cruise Line - Pride of
America.
Charles
Pouchot has moved to Charlie
Palmer’s Aureole in New York as General Manager. He was most recently
the General Manager of Café Boulud.
Spotlight
Live in New York has named Douglas
Alexander General Manager. For the past
six years, he had been a Managing Partner at Jean-Luc Restaurant Group
in New York. Previously, he held the
position of Managing Director at Vine and Michael Jordan's The Steak House
NYC where he served as Consulting
Managing Director.
Justin Hall has rejoined Rose Pistola in San Francisco as Sommelier. He originally joined the
restaurant in 2001 as Assistant General Manager then joined
Aqua as Dining Room Manager. Most
recently, he was a Sommelier at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago.
Scott
Josephson has joined the Barton
Creek Resort in Austin as Director of
Spa, Wellness and Activities. Since 2000 he had been with Hunter's Run Golf,
Spa & Racquet Club most recently as
Director of Operations.
EUROPE
Frank
Fiskers has been appointed President
and Chief Executive Officer of Scandic Hotels in Stockholm. Since 2003, he had been a Regional Vice
President with Hilton UK & Ireland. He had previously overseen Sweden and Germany for
Hilton International.
Michael
Spamer has been promoted to Vice
President - Asset Management of Hospitality Europe for the German Hotels of the
Interhotels portfolio, recently
purchased by Blackstone. In the past
years, he had managed for Blackstone the Watergate, the Sheraton East Rutherford and the Miami Beach Resort & Spa.
Véronique Claude has
been named General Manager of the Sofitel Le Faubourg in Paris.
She comes from the Hotel de Crillon where she was an Operations Manager.
Valentin Schoubs has been named General Manager
of the Sheraton Paris Charles de Gaulle. Schoubs originally joined
Starwood in 1998, and was most recently the General Manager of the Sheraton
Aérogolf, in Luxembourg.
Aurelia Occhiminuti, a Lausanne graduate, has
been promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing at the Sheraton Paris
Charles de Gaulle, a property she had joined in 2004 as Key Accounts
Manager, prior to a promotion to Associate Director of Sales.
Lausanne Graduate Paul Chevalier has been
appointed Assistant General Manager at the Westin Paris (formerly the
InterContinental Paris) from a similar position at the Sheraton Paris Charles
de Gaulle. He had originally joined the
property in 2003 as its Front Office Manager.
Hermann Simon is now Managing Director for Austrian Hotels International, overseeing its hotels in the Czech Republic. Since 2004, he had been the General Manager at the Monarch Hotel in Bad Gouging, Bavaria.
Nicola
Sterilize has been appointed General
Manager of the Trip Verona Hotel and Convention Center. Sterilize was most recently the General Manager at
the Holiday Inn Verona.
Emmanuel
Richard is the General Manager of Le
Méridien Dona Filipa in Portugal. He
was most recently the Executive Assistant Manager at the Hotel Méridien
Penina. Previously, he served as
Director of Food and Beverage at the Hotel Méridien Juan Les
Pins and Assistant Food and Beverage
Director at the Méridien Montparnasse.
Volker Brunk is the
owner of the newly opened Hotel Goldene Kanne in Dinkelsbühl, Germany. He previously served as
General Manager of the Breezes hotel
on Zanzibar, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Andels
Hotel in Prague and Sales Director at
the Grenada Grand Beach Resort.
Jean-Pierre
Dabadie has been named Financial
Controller at the Hotel Napoléon in
Paris. He comes from the same position at the Copthorne Roissy Charles De
Gaulle. Previously, he served twelve
years at Société des Hotels Concorde
at their Hotel Ambassador,
Concorde Lafayette and the
Concorde Saint Lazare, all in
Paris.
Pascal
Engelhardt has been promoted to
Corporate Director of Food and Beverage for Accor. He comes from his position as Director of Food and
Beverage at the Novotel La Défense.
Gaetano
Petruzzella has transferred as Director
of Food and Beverage to the Boscolo New York Palace Budapest. He previously served as the Food and Beverage Manager
at the Exedra Boscolo Hotel Rome.
Vincent
Monavon has become the Director of
Sales and Marketing at the Hotel Warwick Geneva. He takes over from Franck Boizot, now the General Manager of the Nash
Carlton in Lausanne and the Nash
Rex in Geneva. Monavon comes from the
Crowne Plaza Geneva where he was the
Director of Sales and Marketing. He previously served as Director of Sales and
Marketing at Le Méridien Ile Maurice
and the Radisson Plaza Beach Resort,
both in Mauritius.
The Hotel de
Castille
in Paris has named Facira Mercenier Director of Sales and
Marketing. Mercenier has previously held positions at Le
Crillon,
the Plaza Athénée, the
Warwick
and, most recently, Groupe Concorde.
Stéphane Trabet joins
the Hotel Juana and the Belles
Rives in Juan les Pins as
Director of Sales and Marketing. He was most recently the Director of Sales at
the Palais de La Méditerranée in Nice.
The
Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris names
Mario Ballarino Conference and
Events Manager. He was most recently in the same position at the Hilton Rome
Airport.
Mélanie
Joyez has joined the Hotel Juana
and the Belles Rives in Juan Les Pins as Director of Rooms. Since 2004, she
has been serving as the Front Office Manager at the Hotel Belles
Rives.
Brigitte
Calles joins the Hotel Juana
and the Belles Rives as Director of Housekeeping. She was most recently the
Executive Housekeeper at the Miramar Beach Hotel in Théoule sur Mer.
Alexander
Noth has been promoted to Executive
Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Berlin,
where he takes over from Thierry Marais, who will be opening the Ritz-Carlton
Guangzhou in
China.
ASIA AND THE
PACIFIC
Christopher
Wong has been promoted to Vice
President, Development, Asia Pacific, for Four Seasons. He joined the company in 2003 as the Director,
Development, Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Four Seasons, he worked in Singapore
for Horwath Asia Pacific and then in
Hong Kong with Marriott International.
Antoine
Chahwan has transferred as General
Manager to the Four Seasons Macau,
currently under construction. He has been with the company since 1990, most
recently as the General Manager at the Four Seasons Great
Exuma. In addition, he has served as
Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Sydney and Director of Food and Beverage at the Four
Seasons Philadelphia.
Martin
Sinclair has been named General Manager
at the Regent Singapore. He
joined the company in 1992 as Front Office Manager at the Regent Auckland.
Most recently, he was the General
Manager of the Four Seasons Nevis
after joining the property in 2002 as Resort Manager. In Singapore, he takes
over for Ricardo Acevedo, now the
General Manager of the Four Seasons Miami.
Andrew
Steele has transferred to the
Shangri-La New Delhi as General
Manager. He was most recently the Resident Manager at Shangri-La's Tanjung
Aru Resort and has held various
positions at the Shangri-La Pudong
and the Shangri-La Jakarta.
Robert Van Der
Maas has been named opening General
Manager for the MGM Grand Macau. For
the past two years, he had been the General Manager for both the Four Seasons
Maldives at Kuda
Huraa and the Four Seasons
at Landaa Giravaru. Before heading to the Maldives, he was with Hyatt
International for twenty-three years,
most recently as General Manager at the Grand Hyatt Bali.
Brian
Connelly has been promoted to Regional
General Manager, Thailand, for InterContinental and will serve as General Manager of both the
Intercontinental Bangkok and the
Holiday Inn Bangkok. He was most
recently the General Manager of the Intercontinental Shenzhen.
Royal Rowe has been named General Manager of the Four Seasons
Resort Maldives, based at Landaa
Giraavaru. He was the General Manager of the Four Seasons Resort
Langkawi, which he joined to open in
2003. He was also the General Manager of the Four Seasons
Bali at Sayang.
Robert
Whitfield joins the Four Seasons
Hualalai as General Manager, taking
over from Kathleen Horrigan, who is
now managing the Four Seasons Palm Beach. Whitfield was most recently the General Manager at the
Four Seasons Palo Alto. He
previously served as General Manager of the Four Seasons
Nevis and the Royal St.
Lucian.
David Macklin
has been named Hotel Manager at the
Four Seasons Tokyo at Chinzan-so. He
comes from the Four Seasons Washington DC where he was the Director of Rooms. In Tokyo, he takes
over from Daniel Simon, who has
moved to the Four Seasons Sydney.
Dietmar
Kielnhofer has joined the Sheraton
Saigon as General Manager. He comes
from Bali where, for the past two years, he held the position of General Manager
at Le Méridien Nirwana. He also
served as General Manager at Le Méridien Amman and Le Méridien Jeddah.
Carlos
Monterde has been promoted to Hotel
Manager of Raffles The Plaza Singapore. He was previously the Executive Assistant Manager,
Food and Beverage, at the hotel.
Patrick
Martinez has transferred to the
JW Marriott Bangkok as General
Manager. He has been with Marriott International since 1996 and was most recently the General Manager of
the Marriott Hua Hin.
Laurent
Chaudet is the new General Manager of
the Grand Mercure Xidan Beijing. He
joined Accor in Paris in 1983. Since
2005, he was the General Manager of the Sofitel Suzhou.
The Ala Moana
Hotel in Honolulu has named Grant
James General Manager. He served as
General Manager of the Outrigger Sun City Resort at Surfers
Paradise, before being promoted to
Director of Operations for Outrigger’s Australia division.
Kevin Qin
has been promoted to General Manager of the Panorama Shanghai. He first joined Accor in 1997 and was most recently
the Resident Manager of the Sofitel Xanadu Hangzhou.
The Wakatobi Dive
Resort has appointed Reiner
Volkmann General Manager. He previously
served as the pre-opening General Manager for the Aston Nandini Ubud
Bali.
Francis Wang
has been named General Manager of the Grand Mercure Hongqiao
Shanghai, slated to open in June. He
joined Accor in 1999 in Shanghai and
was most recently the General Manager of the Panorama
Shanghai.
Nicholas Tse has been appointed General Manager of the Courtyard
by Marriott Bangkok. He comes from his
current position as Resident Manager at the JW Marriott
Bangkok. He previously served as
Director of Marketing at the Renaissance Seoul Hotel and Marriott Singapore.
Peter Erler
is the new General Manager of a complex of Accor hotels in Xian, China: the Sofitel on Renmin
Square, the Grand Mercure on Renmin
Square and the Mercure on Renmin
Square. He joined
Accor in 2001 as General Manager of
the Sofitel Royal Lagoon Dongguan.
Rudy Rodas
has been appointed General Manager of the Sofitel Plaza
Xiamen. He first joined Accor in 2000
at the Sofitel Raja Orchid Khon Kaen and was most recently the General Manager of the
Novotel Oasis Beijing.
Henk
Meyknecht has transferred to the
Marco Polo Wunan in China as General
Manager. He has been with the company since 2002, serving as General Manager at
the Marco Polo Shenzen Hotel and the
Marco Polo Omni Saigon.
The Renaissance Koh Samui
Resort & Spa in Thailand has
promoted Santiago Sagaz to General
Manager. Most recently he was the Hotel Manager at the JW Marriott
Lima.
Dominic Wong has been named General Manager of the Grand Mercure
Oriental Ginza Shenzhen. Prior to
joining Accor, he was working at the
Sands River Golf Club.
Krister
Svensson has transferred to the
Westin Resort Guam as General
Manager. He was most recently at Le Méridien Commodore in Beirut as General Manager and was previously with
Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts for
twelve years.
Robert Rippon has been appointed General Manager of the Sofitel
Macau@Ponte, slated to open at the end
of 2007. He has been with Accor for over fourteen years, most recently as General
Manager of the Novotel Atlantis Shanghai.
Patrice Larroque is the new General Manager at the Novotel Atlantis
Shanghai. He joined
Accor in 1997 from the former
Century International Hotels and
was most recently the General Manager
of the Sofitel Westlake Hangzhou.
Guido Milner
has been promoted to General Manager of the Sofitel Westlake
Hangzhou. He was most recently the
Hotel Manager of the Sofitel Jin Jiang Oriental Pudong.
John Gardner has been appointed General Manager of the Caravelle
Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. He comes
from opening the InterContinental Chongqing as General Manager and was previously with
Accor for nineteen years throughout
Asia Pacific.
Jean-Stéphane
Grasset has joined the Santiburi
Golf Resort and Spa in Samui as General
Manager. For the past two years, he had served as the General Manager at Les
Pavillons in Mauritius. He was
previously the Director of Operations at the Hilton
Singapore and Hotel Manager at the
Annabelle in
Cyprus.
The Hotel Nikko Kuala
Lumpur has appointed Michael
Borostyan General Manager. He comes
from the Crowne Plaza Auckland and
also served as General Manager at Rydges Auckland and Rydges Capricorn Resort in Australia.
Nick Downing has been named General Manager of the Hôtel de La
Paix, Siem Reap, Cambodia. He was most
recently the General Manager at Per Aquum’s Huvafen Fushi in the Maldives after joining them in 2002 as Director
of Operations.
Andrew
Quinlan has transferred to the
Shangri-La Hangzhou as General
Manager. He comes from New Delhi where he was most recently the General Manager
at the Shangri-La New Delhi. Quinlan
is also a former General Manager of the Oberoi New Delhi.
Brad Rice has transferred to the Intercontinental
Shanghai as Director of Rooms. He comes
from Hong Kong where he was the Director of Front Office at the
Intercontinental Hong Kong.
Previously, he served as Resident Manager at the St. Regis Los
Angeles and the Rooms Director at Le
Méridien at Beverly Hills.
Bangkok-based Minor
International has appointed John
Griffin Vice President of Marketing.
Griffin joins from Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts where he was the Vice President, Worldwide
Marketing.
The St. Regis
Shanghai has appointed Tom
S’prayoon Director of Sales and
Marketing. He recently held the position of Director of Sales and Marketing at
the Millennium Hilton Bangkok.
George Fleck has transferred to the W Maldives as
Director of Sales and Marketing. He was most recently the Director of Sales and
Marketing at the W Los
Angeles after joining the property in
2004 as Sales Manager. He previously worked as Front Officer Manager at the
W Chicago
Lakeshore.
Marc Nasser has been appointed Director of Sales, Groups, for the
Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. Most recently,
he served as Sales Executive for the Kahawai Development in Honolulu and previously was the Director of
Marketing for the Manele Bay Hotel
and the Lodge at Koele.
The JW Marriott
Bangkok has appointed Killian
Patrick Donoghue Director of Sales. He
was most recently the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Mayfair Bangkok
– Marriott Executive Apartments and
previously held various sales positions with Marriott in Hamburg and
Frankfurt.
Rajan
Viswanathan has joined the Four
Seasons Mumbai as Director of Rooms. He
joined Four Seasons in 1998 as Front Office Manager at the Four Seasons
Resort Maldives. He was most recently
the Assistant Director of Rooms at the Regent Singapore after joining the property as Front Office
Manager.
Thierry
Marais has transferred to the
Ritz-Carlton Guangzhou as Executive
Chef. He comes from the Ritz-Carlton Berlin where he had been the Executive Chef since 2005. In
addition, he previously served as the Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Hong
Kong and the Ritz-Carlton
Istanbul.
Pierre
Burgade is the new Executive Chef at
the Imperial in New Delhi. He comes
from the Oberoi Mauritius. He
previously served as the Executive Sous Chef at Raffles
Singapore and the Peninsula
Bangkok.
James
Viney has been appointed Executive Chef
at the Four Seasons Tokyo at Marunouchi. For the past two years, he has overseen the kitchen as
Executive Chef at the Saujana, Kuala Lumpur. Previously he served as Executive Sous Chef at the
Grand InterContinental Seoul and as
Chef De Cuisine at the InterContinental Sydney for four years.
Jean-Francois
Pelaez has been appointed Executive
Chef at the Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza in Taipei. He had been in New Delhi since 2005 as the
Executive Chef, first at the Oberoi,
then at the Imperial.
Ian Mancais has joined the Rangali Hilton in the Maldives as Executive Chef. He comes from the
Banyan Tree Phuket. He had
previously overseen the kitchens at the Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, the Bora Bora Lagoon
Resort and the Sheraton Nusa Dua
Beach in Bali.
Gerald
Reichstein has been named Executive
Sous Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta. He comes from the same position at
Rosewood’s Dharmawangsa
and previously held various culinary
positions at the Al Faisaliah in
Riyadh and the Kempinski Moscow.
Michel
Brelière has joined the Centara
Grand Hotel in Bangkok as Executive
Chef. He comes from Aruba where he was the Executive Chef at the
Marriott. He also served as
Executive Chef at Sandals Princesa Del Mar, Le Royal Amman, and the Taj Land’s End Hotel in Mumbai.
Guillaume
Bonnety has joined the Centara Grand
Hotel and Convention Center in Bangkok
as Executive Pastry Chef. He previously served as Executive Pastry Chef at the
Hotel Lotte in Seoul, the
Dinarobin Hotel Golf & Spa and Raffles Singapore, among others.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Group in Hong Kong has appointed Andrew Gibson Group Director of
Spas. He was most recently a partner and Chief Executive Officer with Raison
d’Etre Spas Discovery. From 2003 to 2006, he was the Managing Director of
Six Senses Spas.
Safak “Sam”
Guvenc has been named General Manager
for the opening of the W Doha. He
was most recently the Hotel Manager of the Westin Copley Place
Boston. Swiss-educated Guvenc also
served as Deputy General Manager at the Sheraton Cairo, as well as the Sheraton Gezirah, also in Egypt. He had been the Director of Food and
Beverage at New York’s Essex House.
Thorsten
Ries, General Manager of the
Ritz-Carlton Doha since 2005, has
been promoted to Area General Manager, Qatar. Ries joined Ritz-Carlton
in 1999 as Regional Director of Sales
and Marketing for Germany. In 2002, he joined the hotel in Doha as Hotel Manager
before being promoted in 2003 to General Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Sharm El
Sheikh.
Vincent
Bergmann has been promoted to General
Manager from Assistant General Manager at Le Prince Maurice. He also served as Director of Special Events and
Hospitality for the International Soccer Federation and as Director of Operations at the Hilton
Lyon.
Sherif Ezzat has been promoted to Executive Assistant Manager at the
Hilton Hotels have
appointed Samantha Wood Regional Director of
Public Relations and Communications for the Middle East, based in Dubai. She was
previously the Regional Marketing Manager for Hilton in the Arabian Peninsula,
having joined the company in July 2004. She has worked in Dubai since 1999,
first with Total Communications, and then ASDA'A
Public Relations, where she managed the Hilton account.
Rania
Abouzeid has transferred to the
Hilton Alexandria Green Plaza as Public Relations and Communications Manager. She
moves from the Four Hilton Resort in
Sharm El Sheikh where she has served as the Cluster Training Manager since June
2002. Previously, she spent three years in Human Resources and Training with the
Sheraton Sharm and Le Méridien
Sharm.
InterContinental
has appointed Sarah
Marron Director of Global Sales, Middle
East, based in Dubai. She comes from her current position as Director of Key
Accounts, UK and Ireland for Steigenberger Hotel Group and was previously the Global Sales Manager for Europe,
Middle East & Africa for Pegasus Solutions Utell London.
Marwa
Kasrawi has been promoted to Senior
Sales Manager of the Hilton Alexandria Green Plaza. Previously, she was a Sales Manager for the
hotel.
Frank Ruidavet has transferred as Executive Chef to the Four Seasons Amman. He most recently headed up the culinary team at the Four Seasons Singapore and had previously held the title of Executive Chef at the Four Seasons Kudaa Huraa and the Four Seasons Bali at Sayan.
Do you have news for
us? Please do not hesitate to send us an e-mail at benoit@boutiquesearchfirm.com
Edited
by Benoit Gateau-Cumin, Lisa Leroy & Susana Parks
The Boutique Search
Firm
http://www.boutiquesearchfirm.com
benoit@boutiquesearchfirm.com
lisa@boutiquesearchfirm.com