H E A D S The Newsletter of The Boutique Search Firm | March 2001
above the rest
Global Update: Who's where and doing what
NORTH AMERICA
Steve Marx is no longer with Loews. He who had been lured away from Kimpton 18 months ago and was rumored to be very close to Loews Chairman Jonathan Tisch was already eclipsed when it was announced in December that Jack Adler would become the President of the company.
Tom Arasi has been named President of Lodgian, Inc. A Cornell Hotel School graduate, he was previously the President of Bass Hotels and ResortsAmericas.
At Bacara in Santa Barbara, Australian General Manager Jennifer Fox has resigned after a mere six months on the job. She is moving to Hong Kong and to a yet unannounced project: the word has it New World needs cash badly enough to be selling the Regent of Hong Kong to Bass, which would rebrand it an Inter-Continental...
Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts has added four new regional sales managers in Toronto, Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington DC. Susan Bernad, in Toronto previously worked for Inter-Continental and Loews. JoAnne Gresh, in Chicago is a former Regional Director of Sales for Méridien in Chicago, where she stayed ten years. Jill Jessup in Atlanta was previously with Hilton and Inter-Continental and also worked for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ava Sones, in Washington DC, worked with Canadian Pacific Hotels for ten years as a National Sales Manager and Director of Association Sales.
David Riley has been named Vice President of Catering and Convention Services for Wyndham International. Prior to joining Wyndham¹s corporate team, Riley spent several years at the Wyndham-owned Hilton Huntington where he held various positions including director of hotel sales and director of catering sales.
Park Place Entertainment Corporation announced that Dean Harrold has resigned his position as President of Caesar's Palace. He had spent 15 years with Caesar's, Hilton, and Bally's, all parts of Park Place.
Hans Turnovszky has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Grand America Hotel & Towers in Salt Lake City, while Mark Hodgdon was named Managing Director of the same property. Both are world-class hotelmen with five-star resumes. Interestingly enough they both were General Manager of the Phoenician Resort in Phoenix, albeit at different times. Edward Box has been named General Manager of the Little America Hotel and Towers in Salt Lake City. He has been with the company for close to thirty years. Also at Little America, Mark Erekson has been named Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing for the Grand America Hotel and the Little America Hotel and Towers. He previously served as Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing for the Little America Hotel and Towers Prior to joining the company, Erekson was Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing for Evans Hotels in San Diego, which include the Bahia Hotel, the Catamaran Resort Hotel, the Lodge at Torrey Pines and two Sternwheeler Boats. Michael Moore has been named Director of Human Resources for the Grand America Hotel and the Little America Hotel and Towers. The Grand America Hotel is a luxury hotel in downtown Salt Lake City scheduled to open in March 2001. Moore is a ten-year company veteran. Gérard Agid formerly of New Orleans¹ Windsor Court and Honolulu¹s Halekulani has been named Director of Food and Beverage Operations for the Grand America. His replacement at the Windsor Court is Clive O¹Donoghue, former Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Austin.
Jacques Chrétien has been selected as opening Executive Chef for Esperanza, the Los Cabos ultra-luxury project of L¹Auberge Collection (Auberge du Soleil, San Ysidro Ranch) He joins GM Severino Gomez after a two-year stint at Maxim¹s de Paris at the Inter-Continental Hotel Mexico City.
Jon McGavin is the new Director of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey. A Ritz-Carlton veteran, he previously served two years in the same position at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland. He replaced Erich Kaiserseder, who has left the company.
Christian Hellot has been promoted by Host Marriott from Director of Sales at the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey to Director of Sales and Marketing at the Renaissance Beverly Hills. Prior to that he had been an Associate Director of Sales at the New York Marriott Marquis
After a brief stint at Human Resources Manager at the St. Regis Los Angeles, Patricia Luc is the Corporate Director of Human Resources for ElKor in Los Angeles, owners/operators of Avalon and Maison 140 in Beverly Hills, Pacific Shore in Santa Monica and Estrellas Inn in Palm Springs. Luc previously spent nine years at the Hotel Bel-Air. Also at ElKor Paul Birchall joined as General Manager for the Estrellas Inn, coming from the Hotel Diva in San Francisco.
François Cnockaert¹s successor at the helm of the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia is Steven Bello. An eight-year Ritz-Carlton veteran, Bello comes from the company¹s Rancho Mirage property, now led by Elizabeth Mullins. She was previously the Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, where she was not replaced.
Todd Johnson is the new executive pastry chef at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino in the Bahamas, coming from the Ritz-Carlton Naples.
Michael Littler has just left his position of General Manager at the immensely successful Millennium Broadway in New York. He had held the position since 1990.
Robi Christen is the new director of restaurants at Bacara in Santa Barbara. She was previously the Assistant Food and Beverage Manager at the Four Seasons Las Vegas and at the Phoenician in Phoenix.
Jacques Cornelis is the new executive chef at the Resort at Squaw Creek near Lake Tahoe. He oversees five restaurants and 35,000 sq. ft. of banquet and conference facilities. He previously served as Corporate Chef for JC Resorts in La Jolla, a company he stayed with for 21 years. Also at the Resort at Squaw Creek, Bernard Kramer was hired as Director of Conference Services, hailing from the Scottsdale Hilton.
Alain Piallat has been named President of Marriott Lodging Canada, replacing Simon Cooper who was appointed President of Ritz-Carlton Hotels. Piallat, a Frenchman, has been with Marriott since 1974, save for a brief hiatus as opening General Manager of the now defunct Méridien Houston in 1978.
Herbert Pliessnig is the new Managing Director of New York's St. Regis. He just completed a very long tenure with Four Seasons, where he held positions at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, Seattle, Vancouver, New York (The Pierre) and Berlin (which he opened as General Manager). Until this week he was the General Manager of the Four Seasons New York.
At the Four Seasons New York, Pliessnig is replaced by Thomas Steinhauer. An Austrian, he was for the past three years the General Manager at the Four Seasons Wailea in Hawaii. Steinhauer's stellar career also included four years at The Phoenician and a one-year stint at the Doral for KSL. His successor at the Four Seasons Wailea is Radha Arora, until now the Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Philadelphia.
Joe Violi is the General Manager of the Swiss Grand Chicago. A Cornell graduate, Violi is a former Ritz-Carlton General Manager, for whom he opened what is now the St. Regis Aspen. 29-year-old Javier Rosenberg is General Manager of the Swissotel Atlanta, after six months as Acting GM at the Swiss Grand Chicago. He previously was the General Manager of Marbella Club in Spain.
Tobias Mattstedt has been picked as Vice President Food and Beverage for MGM Grand Las Vegas after an eight-month search A German citizen, Mattstedt had been since October 1998, the Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. He had previously logged four years with Peninsula in Hong Kong. At the MGM he will be reporting to Gamal Aziz, Executive vice President, Hotel Operations.
ASIA & THE PACIFIC
Tim Marsden has left the Peninsula Group and his position as General Manager of the Kowloon Hotel, a position he held for almost seven years. Marsden, a New Zealander, is travelling the world prior to returning to the industry.
Gregory Zahn has joined Rosewood¹s Hotel Dharmawangsa in Jakarta as Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Food and Beverage. An Australian, he spent the past five years with Shangri-La in Asia. Yvanka Jeffrey also joined the hotel as Director of Sales and Marketing. In other Rosewood news Lloyd Nakano has been named Managing Director of the Hotel Seiyo Ginza in Tokyo, after being the Executive Assistant Manager at the Dharmawangsa Nakano also previously worked for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
The Shangri-La Edsa Plaza in Manila has a new Director of Food and Beverage in Erich Kaiserseder. He was previously with Ritz-Carlton, where he held positions of Director of Food and Beverage in Shanghai and Marina Del Rey.
At Mandarin-Oriental¹s Ananda in the Himalayas, opening General Manager Sue Reitz has resigned for personal reasons, and was replaced by Bradford Zak. A Cornell Hotel School graduate, Zak joined Mandarin-Oriental in 1997, and was most recently the General Manager at the company¹s historical Hotel Majapahit in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Christophe Sadones has been named Area Food and Beverage Manager, Asia Pacific, by Hyatt International. A Lausanne graduate, he has been with Hyatt since 1992 and was previously the Director of Food and Beverage at the Grand Hyatt Singapore.
The Pan Pacific Hotel Kuala Lumpur International Airport bids farewell to general manager Lloyd Daser who returns to his native Canada after serving in various Pan Pacific hotels around the world since 1981. He is being replaced by Hans Winsnes, most recently General Manager of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon, Dhaka.
Dorsey Brady returns to Hawaii as General Manager of the Outrigger Wailea Resort after four years as Outrigger Hotels & Resorts¹ Vice President of Pacific Operations and General Manager of the Outrigger Guam Resort. He replaces Jay Furfaro, who has left the company.
EUROPE
There is a new Director of Sales at the Ritz in Paris. She is Catherine Hodoul, who joins from Méridien Hotels in Paris. She had previously worked at the Ritz in a lesser capacity. She replaces Nicole Habs, who left the company. The Ritz also has a new pastry chef, Eddie Benghanem, replacing Eric Bertoia, who joined New York's Restaurant Daniel for Daniel Boulud. Also at the Ritz, Carol Vallot joins as Director of Communication.
Tom Klein is now Vice President Operations for Swissôtel, coming from Moevenpick. He is also a former Hyatt executive, who had, as General Manager, opened the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch.
Edited by Benoit Gateau-Cumin
President
The Boutique Search Firm
http://www.boutiquesearchfirm.com
benoit@boutiquesearchfirm.com