The Newsletter of The Boutique Search Firm, a
worldwide 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:
August/September 2005
THE
AMERICAS
Jean-Jacques Pergant
has
been named Co-President of the newly created LXR Luxury
Resorts
formed by Blackstone Real Estate Advisors following their
acquisition of Wyndham International. The group combines the
top eleven Wyndham properties (mostly luxury resorts including El
Conquistador and the
Boulders) with the former
Boca Resorts and New York's Rhiga
Royal.
Pergant shares the presidency with Joseph Berger, while John
Tolbert
is named President of Sales and Marketing.
Robert
Foster
has been named President of Noble House Hotels & Resorts. Foster, a Cornell
graduate, was most recently the General Manager of Noble House's Caleo Resort
& Spa in Scottsdale (the
former Sunburst Resort). Foster, who spent
nineteen years with Sheraton, had been the Chief Executive Officer of
GlobalRooms.com.
The Irvine
Company
has named Hansjoerg Maissen General Manager of the
(soon-to-be) former Four Seasons Newport Beach. Maissen had joined the
company two years ago as General Manager of the Pelican Hill and Oak Creek Golf
Clubs.
Maissen's prior international career including stints as General Manager of New
Orleans' posh Windsor Court for
Orient-Express as well as Frances luxe
Grand Hotel du Cap
Ferrat. No new name has been
announced for the hotel, as the Four Seasons flag will be dropped October
31.
William Hall
has
been appointed Vice President of Operations at RockResorts. Hall's extensive
background in hotel operations includes eleven years with Ritz-Carlton
in
Laguna Beach, Pasadena and Naples. Hall, who began his career at Westin
Hotels,
was most recently the General Manager of the Mayacama Club in Santa
Rosa.
Michel
Ducamp is the
Senior Vice President Hospitality for Parallel, a
limited-membership destination club in Phoenix. Ducamp, a Cornell graduate, was
previously the Managing Director of Nantucket Island Resorts,
following several years at Park Place Entertainment in Las
Vegas.
Jim
Alderman has been named Senior
Vice President Acquisitions and Development for Kimpton Hotels &
Restaurants. Before joining
Kimpton, Alderman was Senior Vice President of Development, North America, for
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
Michael
Fernandez has
joined the soon-to-open Regent South Beach as
General Manager. Fernandez was most recently the General Manager of the
Tides, also on
South Beach. He previously spent four years with Four Seasons as Resort Manager
at the Four Seasons Scottsdale and Hotel
Manager at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills.
Fresh from
his pre-opening experience at Wynn Las Vegas, Peter
Walterspiel has been
appointed Vice President of Residential Development for Harmon-Koval
Partners, the
developers of the future W Las Vegas due to
open in 2008.
Andreas
Ioannou transfers
to the Hilton Fort Lauderdale as
General Manager. Ioannou has been with Hilton since 1989 at the
Waldorf=Astoria,
Fontainebleau Hilton, and most
recently at the Hilton Charlotte, his
first posting as General Manager.
Mark
Hartman
has been named General Manager of the new Hilton Branson Landing
project
set to open mid 2006. Hartman has been with Hilton for twenty years most
recently at the Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center
on
Chicago's North Shore, where he has served as General Manager since December
2003.
Shaun
Robinson is the new General
Manager of the Hilton Costa Mesa arriving from the
Doubletree San Diego/Del Mar. Robinson began his
career in England and has spent time in various management positions for Hilton
in Irvine, Minneapolis, Beverly Hills and Scottsdale.
Robin
Harlow
was recently appointed General Manager at Hawaii's Aqua Palms
Hotel.
Most recently, he was the Domestic and Internet Sales Manager for the
Kaanapali Beach Hotel.
Roger
Ploum
has been promoted to General Manager of the Westin Grand
Bohemian in Orlando replacing
Stuart Newmark who was promoted to
Senior Vice-President of Operations for the Kessler
Collection. Ploum was
recently the General Manager of the Celebration Hotel.
Stéphane Zaharia
is the
new General Manager at the Cuisinart Resort in Anguilla taking over
from Rabion Ortiz who is leaving to join
the
Thomas
Meding
has joined the Parker Palm Springs as Hotel Manager taking
over from Manfred Moennich. Meding comes from the
Ritz-Carlton Tyson's Corner where he was the
Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Food and Beverage since 2003. Meding's
resume also includes food and beverage management positions at the Fairmont
Copley-Plaza, the
Pierre, the
Waldorf=Astoria and the St. Regis
New York.
Paul
Birchall has been named General
Manager at the Thompson Beverly Hills formerly the Beverly
Pavillon now operated by
Steven Brandman's and Jason
Pomeranc's Thompson
Hotels.
Birchall was previously the General Manager at both the Luxe Hotel Rodeo
Drive
and the Luxe Bel-Air Summit Hotel.
Martin Nicholson
has
been appointed General Manager of the
Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa. He was most recently the
General Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort Rose
Hall,
in Jamaica and has held various management positions in Ottawa, the US Virgin
Islands, Ireland and Carmel.
Jean
Guillaumeau is the new General
Manager at the Royal Méridien King Edward in Toronto. Guillaumeau
was most recently running the Habitation and Le Domaine
Méridien in St. Martin. This is
his second time around at the King Edward where he held the position of Hotel
Manager in 1998.
Les
Utley has been
named General Manager of the Hotel Zoso in Palm
Springs scheduled to open in October 2005. Utley also served as General Manager
of the Fairmount in San
Antonio and the Vail Athletic Club Hotel and Spa.
Previously, he has held Director of Sales and Marketing positions with
Ritz-Carlton and at
the Pierre.
Michael
Bastis has
joined the Hyatt Regency Monterey as
General Manager. Bastis joined Hyatt Hotels in 1982 and was most recently the
General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman Resort &
Villas.
Norbert
Relecker has been
appointed General Manager at the Highlands Inn Park Hyatt. Relecker
has been with the company since 1985 and was most recently the General Manager
of the Hyatt West Houston.
Before
that, he was the Executive Assistant Manager and Food and Beverage Director for
Grand Hyatt New York.
Tom
Robertson has been
named General Manager of the Renaissance Schaumburg due to
open in mid-2006. Robertson has been with Marriott since
1973 and began working with the Renaissance brand in March 2002 when he assumed
the position of General Manager at the Renaissance Chicago O'Hare
Suites, a title
he held until his most recent position at the Renaissance Dallas
in
2003.
Frank
Holtslag is the new General
Manager at Circa39 in Miami Beach taking
over from Frank Cook who will be the General
Manager at the soon to open Glenn Hotel in Atlanta. Holtslag
was previously the Corporate Director of Revenue Management at Island
Outpost
and Executive Assistant General Manager at the Tides in Miami. Most recently
he was the Miami-based Director of Sales and Marketing for the Bitter End
Yacht Club in the British Virgin
Islands.
André
Boersma
has been appointed Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sol
Kerzner's One&Only Ocean
Club in
the Bahamas replacing Russell Miller who was appointed
Senior Vice President and General Manager of the new Condo-Hotel being
constructed at Atlantis, Paradise Island. Boersma comes to the
resort after a two-year tenure as Resident Manager of the One&Only
Palmilla in Los Cabos. He was
previously the Resident Manager of Esperanza and Las Ventanas al
Paraiso.
John
Wells has been
named to the position of General Manager of the Hilton Chicago O'Hare
International Airport. Wells
has served as General Manager of the Hilton Boston Back Bay since
2001.
Michael
and
Luciana Nijdam have
transferred from the Pitcher Inn in
Vermont to its new sister property Winvian in
Connecticut scheduled to open in the spring of 2006. The Nijdams are succeeded
at the Pitcher Inn by Ari Sadri who has
been promoted to General Manager from the position of Restaurant Manager and
Sommelier.
Kate
Simpson has been
named General Manager at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, having
most recently served as General Manager at the Crowne Plaza at the
United Nations.
Michael
French has
resigned as Chief Operating Officer of the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort
and Casino. Brian
Parrish, VP
Marketing for the tribe, has been appointed acting Chief Operating
Officer.
Catherine
Mura is the
newly named General Manager of the Andrew Hotel on New
York's Long Island. Muro was most recently the Assistant General Manager of the
Garden City Hotel. She had
been with the hotel since 1990, starting as Front Desk
Manager.
John
Price has been
named General Manager of Chicago's
House of Blues. Price
has been with the hotel for seven years starting as Front Office Manager and had
been the Executive Assistant Manager since 2002.
Dirk
Burghartz has moved down the
street from the Pierre where he was the Hotel
Manager to assume the same position at the Four Seasons New
York.
Before joining Four Seasons, Burghartz was with Sheraton Hotels of New
York
and Ian Schrager's
Hudson.
He spent many years with the Rafael Hotel Group spending time at
Turnberry Isle, Elbow Beach
and the
Breidenbacherhof. At the Four Seasons
New York, Burghartz replaces Simon Pettigrew who has transferred to
Hawaii with the company.
Olivier
Thomas
will be joining the St. Regis New York as Hotel Manager. He was most recently the Executive
Assistant Manager at the Hotel Excelsior in Rome and has held
various management positions at the Savoy, the Hotel
Palace
in Milan and the
Plaza-Athénée New York.
Theresa
Fatino has been
appointed Chief Creative Officer for Sam
Nazarian's SBE
Hotel Group. Fatino
is credited as one of the creative founders of the W Hotel brand as
the former Vice President of Design and Brand Development. Prior to joining W
Hotels, Fatino served as Product Designer and Fashion Director of Product
Development for Pottery Barn and
Neiman Marcus.
Philippe
Villain
is now with Aramark
as Vice
President Convention Centers and Cultural Attractions. Villain was previously
with Planet Hollywood for over
ten years in various operational positions, most recently as Vice President
Operations. He also spent four years with Disneyland Paris.
Jeff
Yamaguchi has joined the
Sunshine Group in New York. A former
Four Seasons employee, where he
served as Corporate Director of Residences, Yamaguchi was previously at the
MGM Grand Las Vegas as Vice President
Residences.
Jonathan
Heath
is the new Director of Hotel Operations at the Kor Group. Heath started with the
group as General Manager of the Tides and has previously been
Development Manager for Soho House London.
Regula
Wipf
has been named Director of Operations at the Lodge at Rancho
Mirage
replacing Lesley Carey. For the past six
years, Wipf had been Vice President and General Manager at the King Pacific
Lodge
in British Columbia.
Kelley Jones
has
joined the Starr Restaurant Organization as Vice President
Operations, based in Philadelphia. Jones was most recently with Kimpton
Hotels and Restaurants as Vice President
Restaurant Development and Acquisitions. Prior to joining Kimpton, Jones spent
five years with Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill
Management.
Allan
Perales
has been promoted to Assistant General Manager of the Hotel Burnham
in
Chicago. Perales originally joined Kimpton in 2001 as Room Service Manager at
the Hotel Monaco New Orleans.
Paul
Sherlock has been appointed Vice
President of Food & Beverage Operations for Noble House Hotels &
Resorts. Sherlock was
previously the Director of Operations for Noble House's LaPlaya Beach &
Golf Resort, having joined the
company in March 2002 after serving as Food and Beverage Director at the
Lodge at Pebble Beach.
Jean
Weiss is
joining the soon-to-open St. Regis San Francisco as
Director of Food and Beverage. Weiss was recently the Director of Food and
Beverage at Napa Valley's Carneros Inn following
four years at the Lodge at Torrey Pines, a
property he opened.
Gamal El
Fakih
has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at Carlisle
Bay in
Antigua. El Fakih spent two years at the Hilton Tobago as Food and Beverage
Manager and was previously a Restaurant Manager at the Four Seasons
Caracas, the Ritz Carlton
Doha
and the Hyatt Regency Riyadh.
Paul
Cardona has
joined the Orrington as
Director of Food and Beverage replacing Dino Gregorio. Cardona
was most recently at the Lodge at Vail in the
same position. He has spent time in various food and beverage positions at
Bacara,
the
Crescent Court, Four
Seasons Olympic and the
Four Seasons Austin.
The
Coastal Hotel Group has named
Cornell graduate Peter LaFemina Chief
Financial Officer. Most recently, LaFemina directed a private Las Vegas-based
consulting practice and previous positions include Vice President of Finance for
Harrah's Las Vegas Resort & Casino,
Corporate Director of Financial Planning & Analysis for Primadonna
Resorts and Chief
Financial Officer at the Sheraton Desert Inn Resort &
Casino.
Tony Eccher
is the
new Controller at the Long Beach Marriott. Eccher was previously
the Director of Operations at the Sofitel Los Angeles, a property he joined
in 2001 as Financial Controller. He was also with Noble House Hotels and
Resorts as Regional
Controller.
Bryan
Guillot
has been named Chief Marketing Officer of Baha Mar Development Company
and
Cable Beach Resorts and Crystal Palace
Casino.Guillot most recently
served as a Marketing Consultant to Cable Beach Resorts. In addition, he was
responsible for the successful planning and opening of Universal
Studios' first hotel property
the Portofino Bay Hotel. Prior to his work with
Universal, Guillot served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for
Tishman Hotel Corporation.
Tom
Badley has
joined the Hertz Corporation in Las
Vegas as Director, Business Development. Badley has previously been with
Hyatt Hotels since
1999 at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, the
Hyatt corporate
office in Chicago and the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort.
Noam
Gafni
has been named Director of Business Development and Sales for the East Coast
market at Luxe Worldwide Hotels. He was most recently
the Director of Sales and Marketing at the
Andrew
in New York.
Kelly
Fogarty has been
appointed Director of Sales and Marketing for Noble House's
Portifino Hotel and Yacht Club. Fogarty
was previously the Director of Sales at the Kor Group's
Sheraton Delfina in Santa
Monica and Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hollywood
Roosevelt.
Marian Wilson has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the Carefree Resort. Wilson was prev