At the recently held AGM, the HOSPA Council ratified the appointment of the Association's Deputy Chairman Chris Upton as the new Chairman of the Hospitality Professionals Association for Finance, Revenue Management and IT. He succeeds Paul Dukes who has stepped down, due to ill health, after seven years of devoted service at the Association's helm.

Commenting on the appointment, Chris Upton said: "It is an honour to follow Paul Dukes as Chairman of HOSPA. Under his guidance we have seen HOSPA develop out of the single discipline association of BAHA into a successful association catering for hospitality professionals, not only in finance, but also in the equally important growth areas of revenue management and IT.

"In line with HOSPA's continuing policy of providing information, education and inspiration, HOSPACE – our annual conference and exhibition – is now recognised as one of the UK's leading hospitality events. Indeed, it is the largest and most prestigious annual gathering of like-minded hospitality practitioners in the UK. We continue to develop highly successful professional development programmes for all our members – the latest being the HOSPA IT Education Training Programme scheduled to come on stream in 2016.

"I look forward to working with the team at HOSPA led by Carl Weldon, our Chief Executive, to build upon these strong foundations to ensure that HOSPA becomes an integral part of our members' professional lives."

It was also confirmed at the HOSPA AGM that Paul Nisbett, Finance & Commercial Director, The Hotel Collection, is to succeed hotel consultant Diana Mountain as Chair of the HOSPA Finance Community; and David Nicolson, Vice President Finance – Europe, Jumeirah Group, has been appointed to the newly created position of Vice-Chairman of the HOSPA Finance Community.

"We are greatly indebted to Diana Mountain for all she has done for the Association over the past years – her tireless work on our behalf has been invaluable and very much appreciated," said HOSPA Chief Executive Carl Weldon.

Commenting on the new appointments, Weldon added: "We are delighted that Chris Upton (pictured right), who has been such an excellent deputy to Paul Dukes, is to be the new Chairman of HOSPA; and we welcome David Nicolson and Paul Nisbett to their new roles. We are very fortunate to have such a high calibre and experienced team of professionals leading our Association into the next exciting phase of the Association's growth and development.

"HOSPA would like to offer a very big 'thank you' to Paul Dukes for his immense contribution, dedication and commitment to the Association at such a momentous time in its development."

Chris Upton is a Chartered Accountant and has worked in senior financial positions in the hospitality sector for over 20 years. He has been finance director of a number of hotel, pub and restaurant groups. Before that, he held senior positions in finance and IT at a number of commodity trading companies. He was Finance Director of Arcadian International plc for seven years – during which time the company developed a group of four-star country house hotels, started the Malmaison group and renovated the Great Eastern Hotel in the City of London. He was a founder and non-executive director of Pod Food; and co-founded Snoozebox Plc, an innovative portable hotel concept. In addition, he is currently non-executive director of a London hotel company and runs a consultancy practice, C U Associates Ltd, specialising in hospitality. He was appointed to the then BAHA Council in 2007 and served as Deputy Chairman until his new appointment as HOSPA Chairman this month.

Outgoing HOSPA Chairman Paul Dukes has steered the Association, in tandem with Carl Weldon, through the most momentous period in its 45-year history. Here are some of the landmark highlights:

  • 2007: BAHA formed the vitally important strategic alliance with Texas-based HFTP (Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals), with whom HOSPA works very closely today
  • December 2007: Paul Dukes is ratified by Council as Chairman of BAHA
  • 2008: BAHA officially changed its rules to integrate hospitality industry representatives from Revenue Management and IT
  • 2008: the Open University considered the BAHA Education and Training Programme (ETP) in Finance and assigned a credit value to the learning – an endorsement of the quality, amount and level of the learning within the Framework for Higher education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ)
  • 2008: first Hospitality IT Directors event held
  • 2009: the 40th Anniversary of BAHA, which was originally called the British Association of Hotel Accountants
  • 2009: official introduction of hospitality Revenue Management and IT members to BAHA's increasing sphere of finance-related influence within the industry
  • 2009: two UK Hospitality Finance Dinner Forums held in London
  • 2009: record attendance recorded at BAHA Annual Conference and Exhibition
  • 2009: BAHA LinkedIn group created
  • 2009: strategic alliance formed with the environmentally focused Considerate Hoteliers Association
  • 2009: course development work began on a BAHA ETP in Revenue Management, in conjunction with Oxford Brookes University
  • 2010: first time BAHA had a presence (networking lounge) at Hotelympia 2010
  • 2010: Official launch of BAHA Hospitality Revenue Management Community
  • 2010: 5th Annual BAHA Conference again broke all attendance records – for the first time HOSPA introduced its 'Career Development Investment Scholarships' for talented people, under the age of 30, in Finance, Revenue Management and IT related jobs within the hospitality industry. The winners were publicly recognised at the BAHA Conference, and were given the opportunity to learn and network at the event
  • 2010: 'Hospitality Revenue Management Director of the Year' and 'Hospitality IT Professional of the Year' award categories introduced at BAHA's annual Christmas awards
  • 2011: BAHA Networking Lounge at NEC Birmingham's 'Hospitality 2011'
  • 2011: BAHA strategic alliance formed with HSMAI
  • 2011: start of regular regional BAHA programmes outside London – in Edinburgh, Manchester and Birmingham
  • 2011: funding received from Savoy Educational Trust for the development of the Revenue Management ETP
  • Summer 2011: finalising major rebranding of BAHA as HOSPA – Hospitality Professionals Association for Finance, Revenue Management and IT. The Annual BAHA Conference and Exhibition to become known as HOSPACE; and the BAHA Times to changes its name to The Overview. In line with these innovations, logos are selected and a brand new state-of-the-art website is under construction to accommodate the three newly created HOSPA Communities of Finance, Revenue Management and IT, HOSPA's Professional Development Services, HOSPACE and other innovations such as the HOSPA Blog and The HOSPA Solutions Showcase – a one-stop shop where members can review suppliers' technology systems and service solutions by category specific to their field of hospitality.
  • September 2011: HOSPA is officially launched to great acclaim, together with HOSPACE 2011 and the new website. At the launch, Robert Cook, then Chief Executive of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin Hotels and recipient of Caterer & Hotelkeeper's prestigious Catey award for 'Manager of the Year' in 2006 – began his term of office as HOSPA President, having been elected by the HOSPA Council to replace outgoing President David Cook, who had been BAHA President since 2004
  • September 2011: as HOSPA launched, the Association reached 1,000 members for the first time in its history
  • September 2011: first cohort of students study new HOSPA Revenue Management ETP
  • November 2011: first Annual HOSPACE Conference and Exhibition – entitled 'New Approaches to a Bright Future' – once again beat all attendance records. The event also saw the addition of HOSPA's 'Future Career Investment Development Scholarships', open to the most talented final year hospitality college/university studies' students. The five winners were publicly recognised at the event and had the same opportunity as the 'HOSPA Career Investment Development' industry scholarship winners to network and learn from the conference programme. The two categories of HOSPA scholarship winners are now firmly established as an integral part of the annual HOSPACE Conference and Exhibition
  • November 2011: 'EHTEC@HOSPACE' – HFTP partnered its popular Hospitality Technology Education Conference EHTEC (held on 25 November) with HOSPACE2011 (held on 24 November) to make a two-day event
  • December 2011: Special Lifetime Achievement Award made at HOSPA's Annual Christmas Awards to former BAHA Secretary, Chairman ((1988 to 1994), Councillor, and one of the world's most distinguished and respected hotel advisers Russell Kett, in recognition of his 'outstanding commitment to improving best practice financial management', right from the Association's inception in 1969
  • 2012: redevelopment of the Patronage Scheme, following the switch to HOSPA – created a new sponsorship brochure attracting such sponsors as Barclaycard, HP, and Fourteen IP. Over 40 sponsors enabled HOSPA to support its membership services and activities, as well as the Association to contribute to, and be part of, the Savoy Educational Trust and the Springboard Mentoring Scheme
  • 2012: further strengthened links with HFTP with discussions on USALI (Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry) and HOSPACE. HOSPA Chief Executive invited to HFTP Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida, to address over 8oo delegates and spread the word about the Association
  • 2012: HOSPA Hub to become the Association's brand at major outside events – such as the Independent Hotel Show in both 2013 and 2014; and Hotelympia 2012 and 2014
  • 2012: HOSPA social media strategy launched with the help of partners in this area, such as Born Social. HOSPA's Twitter gathered a worldwide following, the LinkedIn group was rationalised and developed; and the HOSPA Facebook page redeveloped
  • 2012: Launch of 'Director Level' events for Finance, Revenue Management and IT hospitality Directors. Breakfast seminars and an ever increasing number of meetings/ workshops etc for the three HOSPA communities significantly increases HOSPA's influence within the hospitality industry
  • 2012: HOSPACE2012 attracted a record 400-plus delegates, exhibitors and speakers
  • 2012: Annual HOSPA Christmas Awards: first HOSPA Revenue Management ETP student award winners for stages 1 and 2 announced.
  • 2012: Annual HOSPA Christmas Awards: the recipient of the first ever special 'HOSPA Paragon Award' – for outstanding and exemplary work in the field of Hospitality Finance, Revenue Management and IT – was Debra Adams, HOSPA's Head of Education Services. She was honoured for her ground breaking achievements in Education for BAHA then its successor HOSPA, and for the highly efficient and inspirational way she managed the Association's membership services over the previous seven years
  • 2013: HOSPA Hub at NEC Birmingham's Hospitality Show 2013. There was also a HOSPA Hub at the Independent Hotel Show in London
  • 2013: launch of Revenue Management eBook, published on Apple iBook store and as a PDF – with the rapid rise of Revenue Management as one of the most important tools in hospitality management, HOSPA published a FREE introductory interactive iBook and an eBook version to the world of Revenue Management and how it can be used in the hospitality industry.
  • HOSPACE2013: exceeded the previous year's record attendance! The figure has more than doubled in growth since the 2007 BAHA Conference and Exhibition
  • 2013: First HOSPA Revenue Management ETP graduates named
  • 2014: New office created in Haslemere, Surrey, for HOSPA Membership and Events run by HOSPA member Jane Pendlebury, of the Penrose Partnership.
  • 2014: Debra Adams and her HOSPA Professional Development team at the Wimborne, Dorset, office now able to concentrate on HOSPA Education to meet the rapid expansion of HOSPA's Professional Development Services, which is now delivering two ETP programmes in Finance and Revenue Management. They are looking to expand HOSPA's Professional Development Services not just in the UK, but also overseas. Currently, HOSPA is in the process of developing an IT ETP, with the support of the HFTP and other organisations, which is expected to be delivered in 2016
  • 2014: HOSPA social media platforms reached record levels since the inception of the HOSPA social media programme in 2012 – e.g. there are 9,500 followers on Twitter and the HOSPA LinkedIn group has now reached 4,500 connections
  • 2014: HOSPA membership reaches a record number of nearly 1,100 members.

About HOSPA

HOSPA - the Hospitality Professionals Association - is a not-for-profit educational organisation, formed to bring together professionals involved in all things commercial within the hospitality industry in the UK. HOSPA is recognised as the UK's authoritative voice in the hospitality industry on financial management, technical accounting issues, as well as the leading arena for debate on investments, hospitality technology developments, revenue management and marketing. HOSPA's Professional Development Programmes provide rigorous and relevant education for all those seeking to further their careers in these important functions. It will also be launching its new course in Asset Management in September 2020. A regular programme of workshops and seminars provides the perfect opportunity for members to continue to develop their knowledge and network with colleagues. HOSPA is on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @HOSPATweets. For more information, visit: www.hospa.org

Jane Pendlebury
HOSPA Chief Executive
HOSPA