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:
JULY
2007
THE AMERICAS
Michael
Shindler has founded Four Corners
Advisors in Chicago. A well-known
development specialist, he was most recently the Vice President Development and
Asset Management for Las Vegas Sands. He also was the Senior Vice President, Acquisitions
& Development, for Hyatt Development. In addition, he held the top development spot with
RockResorts/Vail Resorts and
Mandarin Oriental.
Stan Brown has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer of RockResorts and
Vail Resorts Hospitality. Since
2006, he was the Vice President, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea and the
Philippines for Marriott, based in
Hong Kong.
Robert
Toubman has been promoted at Loreto
Bay in Mexico to the position of
President of Hospitality Operations. Toubman also serves as President of
Community Enterprises and Executive Vice President for Strategy and Development.
He was most recently the Senior Vice President for the company. Some of his
responsibilities were previously held by Steven Ast, who had the title of Executive Vice President
Hospitality and is now the President of the Boca Raton Resort and
Club.
Kelley Jones has been named President of Las Vegas-based Light
Group, a multi-concept company of
restaurants, lounges and very soon, a hotel. Jones returns to Vegas from the
position of Vice President Operations at Philadelphia-based Starr Restaurant
Organization. He also held a similar
position with Kimpton, following
five years with China Grill Management.
Martin
Lowery has been promoted to Senior Vice
President Organizational Development and Chief Learning Officer at Hilton
Hotels Corporation. He has been with
the company since 1982 and most recently held the title of Vice President Human
Resources/Education Professional Development.
Tecton
Hospitality has named Dave
MacRae Vice President of Finance. He is
the former Director of Finance and Area Controller at the Omni Resort at
Champions Gate in Orlando. Previously,
he was the Area Controller at the Omni CNN Center in Atlanta.
Roger Paull has been promoted to Senior Director of Brand
Operations for W Hotels Worldwide,
based in New York. He was most recently the General Manager of the W San
Diego and, prior to that, the Hotel
Manager and Acting General Manager at W New York Times Square.
Olivier
Maumaire has been promoted to General
Manager of the Costa Rica Hilton Papagayo Bay. He was most recently at the Caribe
Hilton as Director of Operations and
Regional Director of Food and Beverage for Hilton Caribbean.
Pierre-Alexandre
Maillard is the new General Manager at
the Hotel Carl Gustaf in St.
Barthelemy. He was previously the General Manager of the Hotel Napoléon
in Fontainebleau.
Ross Justice is the Managing Director of Hodges
Bay in Antigua. He is a former General
Manager of the Bitter End Yacht Club
and of Cap Juluca.
Alessandro
Cabella has been appointed Vice
President and Resort Manager at the One&Only Ocean Club in the Bahamas. For the past year, he was the Hotel
Manager at the Grand Hotel Europe in
St. Petersburg, part of Orient Express. Cabella had previously already worked for
One&Only, as Resident Manager of Le Touessrok on Mauritius.
Andrea Mayer has been appointed General Manager of Chicago’s
Allerton. She comes from the Wyndham
O’Hare and had previously served as
General Manager of Chicago’s Hotel 71 and Hotel Blake for the Kor Group.
Birgit Radin
has been appointed Managing Director of
both the Chicago City Centre Hotel and the Inn of Chicago. She was previously the General Manager of the
Westin Fort Lauderdale.
Russell
Miller has been appointed General
Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Rose Island in the Bahamas, set to open in 2009. A Cornell graduate,
he joins from Kerzner International's Harborside Resort at Atlantis on Paradise Island, where he was the Senior Vice
President and General Manager. His previous experience with Kerzner includes
positions as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Residences at
Atlantis and the One&Only Ocean
Club.
Charles
Naberhaus has rejoined Destination
Hotels and Resorts as Vice President,
Managing Director of Operations for the Southeast. He will also be Managing
Director of the InterContinental Tampa opening this summer. For the past six years, he has
served as the Managing Director of the Pointe South Mountain
Resort.
John Speers has been appointed General Manager of the Little
Nell. Since 2005, he had been the
Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Jackson Hole. He had joined the company in 2003 as Director of Food
and Beverage at the Four Seasons Chicago. Speers had previously been the Executive Assistant
Manager in charge of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Palm
Beach and the Ritz-Carton
Phoenix.
Stuart
Campbell is the new General Manager of
Amangani in Jackson Hole, taking over for Guy
Heywood. Campbell was most recently
with Wynn in Macau and previously
opened Uma Paro in Bhutan for
Christina Ong’s Como Hotels and
Resorts.
Euan Taylor is the new Managing Director at the Hotel
Vitale in San Francisco. He was
previously the Hotel Manager at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London. He also held various positions at the
Fairmont Turnberry Isle and the
St. Regis Monarch Beach.
Chauncey
Copeland has been named General Manager
at the Regent South Beach, replacing
Helena Blat, who has left the
company. Copeland recently served as Hotel Director at Fisher
Island.
The Pearl
Hotel in San Diego has appointed
Arron Reynolds General Manager. For
the past three years, he was the Guest Services Manager at the Loews Coronado
Resort.
Nicolas Kurban has been named Vice President of Food and Beverage at Atlantic City’s Borgata. He steps in the position left vacant by Victor Tiffany. Kurban previously held the position of Director of Fine Dining for Wynn Las Vegas. In 2006, he founded Kurban and Associates, consulting for Geoffrey Zakarian's Country at the Carlton Hotel in New York City and the Vintage Inn and Villagio Inn in Napa Valley. Kurban has served as Director of Operations and Development for Thomas Keller’s Restaurant Group, responsible for the group’s casual restaurants on the West Coast.
Jay Rosenthal has been named Vice President of Hospitality for Borgata. He formerly served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Midamerica Development, part of the Harp Group. Rosenthal is also an eight-year Starwood man, most recently as Area Managing Director for W in Chicago and General Manager of the W San Francisco.
The JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson has appointed Alex Ahluwalia General Manager. He was most recently the General Manager of the JW Marriott Fiji. He has also served as General Manager of the Renaissance Wailea Beach and Director of Operations at the Marriott Maui.
Steven Koerselman
has joined Bill
Shoaf’s soon-to-open Sky
Lodge in Park City as General Manager.
He comes from the Devils Thumb Ranch
where he was the Vice President/General Manager. Koerselman is also a former
General Manager at the Lake Placid Lodge.
Rick
Corcoran is the new Hotel Manager at
the Fairmont Vancouver. He moves up
from the position of Director, Food and Beverage, at the Fairmont San
Francisco. He also served as Director
of Food and Beverage at the Fairmont Manoir Richelieu and the Fairmont Château Frontenac.
Brent Martin has been named Hotel Manager at the Beverly
Wilshire. For the past six years, he
served as General Manager at the Sofitel Los Angeles. At the Beverly Wilshire, he replaces Gerhard
Stutz, who has been promoted to General
Manager of the Four Seasons Amman,
in Jordan.
Demi Ortega has been promoted to Resort Manager at the Four
Seasons Jackson Hole. He takes over
from John Speers, who is now the
General Manager at the Little Nell.
Ortega comes from the Four Seasons Palm Beach, where he has been the Director of Food and Beverage
since 2005. He had held the same title at the Four Seasons Newport
Beach, until it became the Island
Hotel in October
2005.
Philipp Real, currently Director of Food and Beverage at the
Ritz-Carlton Chicago
(a Four Seasons
Hotel), will be joining the Four
Seasons Palm Beach to replace Demi Ortega. Real first joined Four Seasons in October 2001 as
Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons
Punta Mita, then transferred to the Ritz-Carlton
Chicago in March 2004 in the same
capacity.
Steven Shotsberger has joined Malliouhana in Anguilla as Resident Manager. For the past five
years, he held various positions at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, most recently as Director of
Operations.
Mark
Ferretti is the new General Manager of
the prestigious Jonathan Club in Los
Angeles. He replaces fellow Cornellian Norm Rich, who moved to Oregon to manage the 21,000-member
Multnomah Athletic Club. Ferretti
spent the past five years as General Manager of the New York Yacht
Club. He also served as General Manager
of the Denver Athletic Club, the
Metropolitan Club and the
Knickerbocker Club in New York.
Meredith Quarnstrom has
been named Vice President Food and Beverage
for Hilton Hotels. She joined the
company in 1995 and has previously served as General Manager of the Hilton
Atlanta Airport and the Doubletree Tyson’s Corner in Virginia. In
addition, she has held the positions of Resident Manager, Director of Food and
Beverage and Director of Restaurants at the Capital Hilton in Washington,
D.C.
Michael
O'Donohue has been promoted to
Corporate Director of Food and Beverage for Starwood Hotels and
Resorts overseeing the
W, St. Regis and Luxury Collection brands. He will be based in the Chelsea corporate
offices in New York. He was most recently the Director of Food and Beverage at
the W San Francisco.
Pascal
Billard has joined the Novecento
Group in Miami as Chief Operating
Officer. He spent the past seven years with China Grill
Management, most recently as Regional
Director of Operations, Florida and Mexico. He previously served the company as
Director of Food and Beverage at Delano, the Royalton and London’s Sanderson. Billard was also the Food and Beverage Director at the
Hotel de Crillon, the Carlton
Casino Club and the Chateau de
Bagnols.
Richard Raab is replacing Attila Gyulai as Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons
Great Exuma. He comes from the Four
Seasons London and made prior stops at
the Four Seasons Maui, the Four
Seasons Beverly Hills and the Four
Seasons Cairo.
Rory Slater has been named Director of Food and Beverage at the
Peninsula New York. He was
previously the Director of Food and Beverage at the Mayfair in London.
Paul Pace has been promoted to Director of Food and Beverage at
the Westin Casuarina in Las Vegas,
after joining the hotel in 2005 as Director of Guest Services. He takes over
from Christoph Hoeflich who has been
promoted to Director of Operations, after joining the hotel in 2006 as Director
of Food and Beverage.
James Soulé has joined the Carneros Inn as Director of Food and Beverage. He was most recently
the General Manager at the Gaia Napa Valley. Soulé is a former Director of Food and Beverage at
Auberge du Soleil.
The Grand Del
Mar has appointed Daniel
Braun Director of Food and Beverage.
Previously with Four Seasons for
eight years, Braun was most recently the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage
at the Four Seasons Aviara. He also
held various positions at the Four Seasons Palm Beach, including that of Director of
Restaurants.
The Inverness Hotel and
Conference Center has appointed
Jonathan Baz Director of Food and
Beverage. He was most recently the Director of Operations at the Beach Club
at the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota.
Baz also worked at the Grand Cypress Resort, the Loews Portofino Bay and the Peabody, all in Orlando.
Lars
Danneberg has transferred to the Ritz-Carlton St.
Thomas as Executive Assistant Manager - Director of Food and
Beverage. He comes from the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman, where he was the
Assistant Food and Beverage Director.
Wolfgang
Jonas has been
named Director of Rooms at the Beverly Wilshire. He comes from the Hotel Kura Hulanda Spa and
Casino in Curaçao, where he was the
General Manager.
John Blanton has left Four Seasons to join the Barton Creek Resort in Austin, as Director of Sales and Marketing. He was
most recently the Director of Marketing at the Four Seasons
Dallas. He also was the Director of
Sales at the former Four Seasons Inn on the Park in Houston.
Jolinda
Everist-Cohavi replaces John
Blanton as Director of Marketing at the
Four Seasons Dallas. She comes from
the Four Seasons Atlanta where she
had been serving as Director of Marketing since June 2004.
Elissa Wallis has been promoted to the position of Director of
Marketing at the Four Seasons Atlanta. She had been the hotel’s Director of Sales since April
2006, following a stint in the same capacity at the Four Seasons
Palm Beach. She started her Four Seasons career in 1997 as a Sales
Manager at the Four Seasons Houston.
Joe Derks has joined Hawk’s Cay Resort as Director of Sales and Marketing. He previously held
various sales and marketing management positions for Hard Rock
Hotels and the Morgans Hotel
Group. He also spent ten years with
Four Seasons.
Erik
Grazetti has been appointed Director of
Sales and Marketing at the
Jefferson in Washington D.C. He was
most recently with Accor, as
Corporate Director of Sales, Pricing and Revenue. He also served as Director of
Sales and Marketing at the Sofitel Washington DC.
Tim Rector has been appointed Vice President of Sales and
Marketing at the Sheraton Cable Beach Resort in the Bahamas. He has previously held various sales
and marketing positions at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel &
Towers, the Walt Disney World
Dolphin and the Sheraton Music City
Hotel in Nashville. Most recently,
Rector served as Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for LXR Luxury
Resorts.
The Fairmont Washington,
D.C. has promoted Shannon Byrne
Schneider to Director of Sales and
Marketing. She joined the hotel in November 2005 as Director of Group Sales. She
had previously been with the Hiltons of Washington, D.C. since 1998.
Matt Brody has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the
JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa. He was most recently the Director of Sales and
Marketing for both the Renaissance Grand and Renaissance St. Louis Suites hotels in St. Louis.
The Ritz-Carlton Club Aspen
Highlands has appointed Phil
Pinto Project Director of Sales and
Marketing. He most recently served as Membership Executive at the
Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences San Francisco.
Tim Hemphill has been appointed Executive Director of Sales and
Marketing at the Orlando Sun Resort and Convention Center. For the past eight years, he was the Executive
Director of the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Jami Poe has joined the Solage Calistoga as Director of Sales. She was previously the Director
of Business Travel Sales at the Fairmont San Francisco. She also held various sales positions at the
Palomar in San Francisco and the
Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey.
Tara Grand
has joined London’s Maybourne Hotel Group (the Berkeley, Claridge’s, the Connaught) as its Los Angeles-based Head of Entertainment Sales.
She had been a Sales Manager at the Four Seasons Los Angeles for the past two years, after transferring from the Four
Seasons Los Angeles Worldwide Sales Office, where she represented the Four
Seasons Tokyo at Chinzan-so.
Emilie
Rekart has been named Director of
Catering at the Grand Del Mar. She
was most recently the Director of Catering at the Fairmont San
Francisco, and also worked as Catering
Manager at the Fairmont Copley Plaza
in Boston.
Matthew
Gabos has been appointed Director of
Banquets for the Grand Del Mar Resort, slated to open in the fall. He was previously the
Director of Operations at Coto de Caza Golf and Racquet Club. He also held the post of Director of Banquets for
Pebble Beach Resorts.
At the Kor
Group, Janne Clare has been promoted to Vice President of Training. She
was previously the General Manager of the group’s Avalon in Beverly Hills. Previously she served as General
Manager at the Hotel Nine Zero in
Boston.
Olivier
Rousselle has joined the Luxe on
Sunset as Executive Chef. He was most
recently in the same position at Camden House in Beverly Hills for the past two years. Previously, he
spent two years in France at the Le Florida in Verduzan and Les Jardins de l’Opéra
in Toulouse. Before moving to France,
he served as the Executive Chef at Michael’s in Santa Monica for four years.
David Werly transfers to Le Cirque Las Vegas as Executive Chef. He has been the Executive Sous Chef
at Le Cirque New York. Werly had
joined the company in 2002 and served as both Executive Sous Chef and Executive
Chef at Le Cirque Mexico City.
Shaun
Hergatt has joined the Setai Group
as Chef – Consultant, to develop the
food and beverage concept for the luxury condo building the Setai owners are
developing in downtown Manhattan. He was previously the Executive Chef at the
Setai Miami. He started his career
at the Ritz-Carlton Sydney and has
cooked at the Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C., the Ritz-Carlton Boston Commons and the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne. In 2002, he was appointed Chef de Cuisine for the
Atelier Restaurant at the
Ritz-Carlton Central Park.
Jonathan
Wright has joined the
Setai in Miami as Executive Chef. He
was most recently the Executive Chef at the Lark Creek Inn. He had previously served as Executive Chef at the
Hotel Conrad Indianapolis and the
Windsor Court in New
Orleans.
Lance
Thompson is the new Director of
Operations for the PlumpJack Group.
He worked for Auberge Resorts for
over six years as Director of Operations at Calistoga Ranch, Residence Club Administrator at
Esperanza and Director of Rooms at
the Lodge at CordeValle.
The Blue Water Grill
Chicago has appointed Joel
Dennis Executive Chef. For the past
three years, he was the Chef de Cuisine at Chicago's Tru. Before moving to Chicago, he spent four years under
the tutelage of Alain Ducasse as
Sous Chef, spending time in both Ducasse's New York and Paris
kitchens.
Curtis Smithen has been promoted to Executive Chef at the Four Seasons Nevis. He
originally started at the Resort in 1991 as a Cook and was promoted to Sous Chef
in 1995. He became a Senior Sous Chef in 2003, and Executive Sous Chef in 2004.
He takes over as Executive Chef from Cyrille Pannier.
John
Haueter has been
named Corporate Executive Chef for the Hashoo Group. He was most recently the opening Executive Chef at the
InterContinental Playa Bonita Panama.
Peter
Coppola has been appointed Director of
Purchasing at the Jumeirah Essex House. He previously held various positions in purchasing at
the Ritz-Carlton Central Park, the
Fitzpatrick Hotel Group and for
Princess Hotels International.
Sherry Lurie has been appointed Executive Director of Services at
Bellagio in Las Vegas. She was most
recently the Executive Director of Housekeeping at the MGM
Grand. Before joining the MGM Grand,
she was the Director of Housekeeping at the Greenbrier and the Breakers.
Donald
Gerrie has joined the Westin
Seattle as Director of Housekeeping. He
comes from Hyatt, where he served
for almost ten years as a manager in housekeeping and front office positions in
hotels in Bellevue, Vancouver and San Antonio.
Sergio
Rodriguez has joined the
InterContinental Century City as
Director of Housekeeping. He was most recently at the Standard Downtown Los
Angeles as Executive Housekeeper.
Alexandre
Firer is the new Rooms Division Manager
at the Hotel Carl Gustaf. He was
previously with the Royal Monceau in
Paris as Meetings and Incentive and Spa Manager.
Liz Ratcliff has been named Director of Spa Development for the
Kor Hotel Group. She comes from the
Four Seasons Beverly Hills, and also
held the position of Spa Director at the (former) St. Regis Los
Angeles.
At the Four Seasons Beverly
Hills, Derek Hofmann has taken over from Liz Ratcliff as Spa Director. He was previously the Spa Director at
the Four Seasons Silicon Valley.
Elaine
Russell is the new Spa Director at the
Four Seasons Nevis.
Originally from Jamaica, she joined the Resort from Beaches Turks
and Caicos Resort and
Spa, where she was the Spa Director for three
years. Prior to that, she held roles including that of Corporate Spa
Manager for Sandals Resorts and Spa
Manager for Beaches Grande Sport in
Jamaica.
The Mirbeau Inn & Spa
in Central New York has named Chris
Pulito Spa Director. He was most
recently the Spa Director at the Four Seasons New York. Previously, he held the title of Spa Director at
Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa
and at La Posada Resort &
Spa.
Véronique
Paquet is the new Spa Director at the
Springs Eternal Spa at Bedford
Springs Resort. She was previously the
Spa Director at Sundara Inn & Spa at Wisconsin Dells, the Inn & Spa at
Loretto in Santa Fe and Little Palm
Island Resort & Spa in Little Torch
Key.
Michael
Smutzer has been promoted to Director
of Front Office at the Westin Seattle. He joined the hotel in 2000 as Front Desk Manager and
was, most recently, the Service Express Manager. Dana Smith comes from her
position as General Manager at the Westin at the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
Opera House to take over for
Smutzer.
Kathy
Fuentes has been promoted to General
Manager of the Westin at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall Opera House, in Seattle. She moves up from her position at the
hotel as the Front-of-House Food and Beverage Lead
Supervisor.
EUROPE
Ivan Artolli has been appointed General Manager of the
Balmoral in Edinburgh, replacing
Debbie Taylor. He joined Rocco
Forte Hotels in 2000 as General Manager
of the Hotel Savoy in Florence and
in 2002 moved to Brussels to manage the Hotel Amigo. Previously, he had served as Director of Sales and
Marketing at the Plaza Athénée in
Paris and the Villa d’Este Grand Hotel.
Patrick
Phillips was named General Manager of
the Sofitel Royal Casino in Cannes
Mandelieu. He spent the past five years with the Lucien
Barrière Group as General Manager of the Hôtel du
Golf in La Baule.
Stéphane
Weit is the new General Manager at the
Hilton Newbury North in London. He
previously served as Chef de Cuisine at the Novotel Heathrow, as Food and Beverage Manager at the Novotel
York and as a Front of House Manager at
the Queensland Performing Art Center.
René Angoujard has been transferred to the position of General Manager
at the Sofitel Budapest. He had been
the General Manager of the Novotel London West for five years. Angoujard has spent most of his career
with Accor in various locations
including Australia, China and the U.S.
Heather
Jacobs has been promoted by Four
Seasons to the position of Vice
President Human Resources, Europe, Africa, Middle East. A Cornell graduate, she
started in 1994 in the Rooms Division of the Ritz-Carlton Chicago and
was appointed Human Resources Manager in 1995. She became the Director of Human
Resources ar the Pierre in October
1998. In June 2004, she relocated to Geneva
as Area Director of Human Resources for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Dale Wielgus
has been promoted to Director of Human
Resources for Sofitel Worldwide. He
was most recently the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Training for
Accor North America. He had
originally joined the group in 1998 as a Field Human Resources
Manager.
Stéphane
Bensimon has been promoted to Director
of Sales and Marketing for Sofitel France. He was previously in charges of sales development for
Accor France.
Eric
Thomas is the new General
Manager of the Grand Hôtel des Thermes, in Brides-les-Bains, succeeding
Danièle Féchoz. Since
July 2003, Thomas had been the Director of Operations of Les Thermes
d'Evian. He previously
was the Manager of the Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay.
Paul Rodwell has joined Evason Latitude in Spain as General Manager. He comes from Chile where
he was most recently the General Manager of the Explora Lodge. This is a return to Spain for Rodwell who previously
served as Director of Marketing at the Hyatt Regency La Manga, before heading to Chile as Director of Marketing and
Sales at the Hyatt Regency Santiago.
Knut Wylde is the new Director of Hotel Operations at the Loch
Lomon Golf Club in Scotland. He comes
from the One&Only Maldives at Reethi Rah where he was the Resident Manager. He previously served
in various positions at the Savoy,
the Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh and
Badrutt's Palace Hotel St. Moritz.
Nick
Yarnell is the new Director of
Rooms at the Four Seasons George V. He had joined Four Seasons in
1999, following several years at the Savoy Hotel Group in London. Recent
positions included that of Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons
Maldives.
Olivier
Voarick has been named Director of
Operations, France, for Ladurée, Paris’s most famous Salon de Thé since 1862. For the
past five years, he had been at the Chateau de l’Ile in Strasbourg, as General Manager. Previously, he had
worked at the Chateau d’Esclimont,
the Hotel Ambassador Concorde and
the Hotel du Louvre Concorde.
Michael Weil
has joined the Hotel Schloss Fuschl
in Austria, as Executive
Stéphane
Gras has transferred to the Four
Seasons Prague as Director of Food and
Beverage. He was most recently at the Four Seasons Hualalai where he had been the Assistant Director of Food and
Beverage since November 2005. A Lausanne graduate, Gras previously held various
food and beverage management positions at the Four Seasons Newport Beach, the Four Seasons Austin and
the Four Seasons New
York.
The Four Seasons Firenze
has appointed Thomas Citterio Director of
Sales and Marketing. He has been with the company for over ten years and
transfers from the Four Seasons Milano where he was promoted to the position of Director of
Sales and Marketing in 2002.
Vanina Sommer
has been named Director of Public
Relations for Concorde Hotels and Resorts. Since January 2003, she held a similar position in
Europe for Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
Régine
Ritzenthaler has been named Sales
Manager at the Hotel Carl Gustaf,
based in France. Ritzenthaler was previously with Le Méridien
Etoile and the Royal
Monceau in Paris.
Greg Kocsis will be joining the Four Seasons Gresham Palace
Budapest as Director of Food and
Beverage. He comes from the Four Seasons Los Angeles,
where he has been the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage since November
2005. Prior to that, he was the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the
Four Seasons Newport Beach.
Delphine Daniel has joined the pre-opening team of
Rocco Forte’s
Le
Richemond in Geneva as
Executive Housekeeper. She previously held the position of Executive Housekeeper
at both the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva and the Imperial
Palace in Annecy, France.
Simone Pietri will be joining Le
Richemond as Front Office
Manager, having previously been the Concierge at the Hotel de
Russie in Rome. Prior to
joining Rocco Forte Hotels, she served as Assistant Guest Services
Manager at the Regent Wall Street and as Front Office Intern at the
Ritz-Carlton Chicago.
Leonardo Temperini has been appointed Director of Food and
Beverage at Le Richemond. He joined Rocco Forte
Hotels in 2000 as Bar
Manager at the Hotel de Russie in Rome, where he was later promoted to
the position of Director of Food and Beverage.
Mickael
Meunier has joined the Hotel
Meurice in Paris as Restaurant General
Manager. He was most recently the General Manager at Café Boulud Palm
Beach after serving as Assistant
General Manager at Café Boulud New York.
Laurence
Agnew has been named Executive Chef at
the Capella Castlemartyr, set to
open in Ireland. He has previously served as Chef de Cuisine at L’Auberge de
Sedona and as Sous Chef at Victor’s
Restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton New
Orleans.
Rémy
Brigaudin has joined the Dubrovnik
Palace in Croatia as Executive Chef.
Most recently, he oversaw the opening of the Mövenpick Resort Taba
as Executive Chef after serving as
Executive Chef at the Conrad Cairo
for two years.
Laurent
Jeannin is the new Pastry Chef at the
Bristol in Paris, taking over for
Gilles Marchal. Jeannin started his
career with Fauchon in 1986 and then
joined the Crillon three years later
and worked for close to ten years under Executive Pastry Chef Christophe
Felder. He was most recently the Pastry
Chef at the Four Seasons George
V, a position he held for over seven
years.
Luc Debove is the new Pastry Chef of the Grand Hôtel du
Cap-Ferrat. He was previously in the
same capacity at the neighboring Royal Riviera, and also held the title of Pastry Chef at Le
Méridien Beach Plaza in Monte
Carlo.
ASIA AND THE
PACIFIC
Pierre Barthes
will be the opening General Manager for
the Mandarin Oriental Beijing. He
originally joined the company in 1998 as Director of Food and Beverage at the
(then) Kahala Mandarin Oriental.
Since November 2004, he has been the General Manager of the Mandarin Oriental
Macau.
Rudy Oretti has joined the Banyan Tree Ungasan – Bali as General Manager. He was most recently the General
Manager at the Leela Palace in
Bangalore. He has previously served as General Manager at La
Pirogue in Mauritius and Resident
Manager at the Peninsula Manila. In
addition, he has held the position of Resident Manager at the Ritz-Carlton
Hong Kong.
Bodo
Klingenberg has been appointed General
Manager of the Anantara Resort Koh Samui. He was most recently the Area General Manager for
Banyan Tree Resorts Maldives. He has
previously served as General Manager at Lucknam Park, Babington House and the Banyan Tree Phuket.
Le Méridien Bora
Bora has appointed Denis Le
Nohaïc General Manager. He was most
recently the Resident Manager of Le Méridien Copacabana. During the previous decade, he held management
positions with Méridien in Gabon, Chad and Guadeloupe.
Markus Kraus has been named General Manager of the Hilton
Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, scheduled to
open in 2008. A Lausanne graduate, Kraus previously managed the Hilton
Fujairah Resort where he will be
succeeded by Victor Louis.
Kurt
Wehinger has been appointed General
Manager of the Millennium Beijing.
He has previously served in various management positions at the Kempinski
Beijing Lufthansa Center and the
InterContinental Crowne Plaza NW in
Sydney.
Daniel Arbenz is the new General Manager of the Crowne Plaza Sun
Palace in Beijing, scheduled to open in
March 2008. He transfers from his position as General Manager of Crowne Plaza
Beijing. Previously, he has served as
the General Manager of Holiday Inn Semarang, the Crowne Plaza Terrigal and Holiday Inn Melbourne.
Jean-Christophe
Moreaux has been promoted to Commercial
Director, Asia, for Orient-Express,
based in Bangkok. For the past five years, he has served as the Director of
Marketing and Sales at Reid’s Palace in Madeira. Previously, he was the Director of Sales and
Marketing at La Mamounia in
Marrakech, at the
Martinez and the Concorde
Lafayette.
Matthew
Vandegrift has been appointed Director
of Rooms at the Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa. He had initially joined Four Seasons in Atlanta in 2000
as a Management Trainee. In 2003, he transferred to the Four Seasons
Aviara as Resort Club Front Office
Manager and was promoted early 2006 as Assistant Director of Rooms at the
Four Seasons Las Vegas.
Stefan
Leu has
been appointed General Manager of the Swiss-Belhotel Golden Sand
Resort in
Vietnam. He was formerly the General Manager of the Holiday Resort
Lombok.
Joseph Chong
has been promoted as Resident Manager at the Peninsula
Bangkok. He was most recently at the
Peninsula Beijing as Executive
Assistant Manager, Rooms. He was previously with Four Seasons for twelve years and assisted with their properties in
Bali, Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
Ram Hiralal has transferred to the Four Seasons Landaa
Giraavaru as Resort Manager. Since
2006, she had been the Director of Rooms at its sister resort, the Four
Seasons Kuda Huraa. She has been with
the company since 2003, joining at the Regent Kuala Lumpur as Director of Rooms.
T.W. Hughes has joined Indochina Hotels &
Resorts in Vietnam as Vice President of
Asset Management and Development. A Cornell graduate, he was most recently at
the Amata Spring Country Club after
serving as the Chief Operations Officer at the Pine Valley Golf Resort &
Country Club in
Beijing.
Dusit Hotels &
Resorts has named Jennifer
Cronin Vice President-Sales and
Marketing. For the past two years, she had held the position of Executive
Assistant Manager Sales and Marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia
Singapore. Previously, she served
as the Director of Marketing at the Grand Hyatt Singapore.
Starwood has promoted Dale Carstensen to Director of Sales-Leisure for Hawaii and French
Polynesia. Since 2003 he has served as Director of Sales and Marketing-Asia and
Leisure for the Sheraton Hotels & Resorts Waikiki.
David Lama has joined Raffles Singapore as Director of Sales and Marketing. For the past three
years, he was with Silversea Cruises
as Director of Sales, France, Belgium, Netherlands. He was previously the
Director of Sales at the Hôtel de Crillon.
Ken Poynter is the new Director of Engineering at the Four
Seasons Maui. He was most recently at
the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort and Spa where he served as Director of Engineering for the last
three years. He previously held various engineering positions in Hawaii and has
spent much of his time with Hyatt hotels in Hawaii and California.
The Mandarin Oriental Hong
Kong has appointed Uwe
Opocensky Executive Chef. He was most
recently with Shangri-La, where he
held Executive Chef positions at a number of Asian properties. Prior to that, he
was at El Bulli and managed the
culinary operations of the Anassa Hotel, Cyprus.
Mark
Bannon has
been appointed Executive Chef of the Langham Hong Kong. He has previously
served as the Executive Chef for
InterContinental in Shanghai and
Sydney and
held various senior kitchen management
positions at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco and the Mayfair
InterContinental in
London.
Andrew Brown
has been appointed Executive Chef at
the George hotel, Christchurch. He
was the Executive Chef at the Millennium hotel, Christchurch, for the past five years and prior
to that was head chef at the Nor’Wester Café and Bar at Amberley in the Waipara wine region of
Canterbury.
MIDDLE EAST AND
AFRICA
Michael
Luible has been promoted by
One&Only to the position of
Regional Director, Indian Ocean. As such, he is responsible for the
One&Only Le St. Géran on
Mauritius, as well as both One&Only Resorts in the Maldives. Luible was
previously the Regional Director for the Maldives. He is also a former General
Manager of Raffles Singapore.
Gerhard
Stutz has transferred as General
Manager to the Four Seasons Amman.
He joined the company in 1995 at the Regent Singapore as Executive Chef. He has previously served as
Director of Food and Beverage at the Regent Singapore, the Four Seasons
Newport Beach, and the
Pierre, before moving to California and
assuming the role of Hotel Manager at the Beverly Wilshire in 2003.
Andrew
Milton has been named General Manager
of the One&Only Le Saint
Géran in Mauritius. He previously spent
over six years with the Constance Hotel Group, as General Manager of the Prince
Maurice in Mauritius and the Lemuria
Resort in the Seychelles.
The InterContinental
Phoenicia Beirut has named Jan
Ifcic Resident Manager. He was most
recently the Executive Assistant Manager at the Holiday Inn Downtown
Kuwait.
Holger
Jackisch has been named Executive Chef
at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain. He was
previously the Executive Chef for three years at the Al Qasr-Madinat
Jumeirah.
Fabien
Martinez has been appointed Executive
Chef for the Sheraton Creek and Towers in Dubai, taking over from Stéphane
Chambon. Most recently, Martinez
oversaw the food and beverage operation at the Movenpick Doha. Chambon is going back to France, taking over the
family restaurant Hotel Pont de L'Ouysse, a One-Michelin-starred restaurant in southeast
France.
Martin
Knaubert has transferred as Executive
Chef to the Four Seasons Damascus.
He first joined Four Seasons in 1998 at the Four Seasons Berlin
and subsequently has worked at the
Four Seasons Palm Beach, the Four
Seasons Vancouver and, most recently,
the Four Seasons Maui.
Claudia Hardt transfers as the Director of Public Relations and
Communications for the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain. She was most recently the Director of Communications at
the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. She has
been with the company for over eight years, overseeing public relations at the
Ritz-Carlton Berlin as well the
Ritz-Carlton Istanbul, among
others.
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
P Please consider the environment before
printing this email!