Heads Above The Rest - by Benoit Gateau-Cumin - Global Update: Who's where and doing what - November 2003
Richard Cotter has joined Wynn Resorts as Senior Vice President of Hotel and Food & Beverage Operations. Cotter, a Cornell graduate, is a distinguished hotelier who was most recently a Regional Director for Starwood in charge of New York¹s region. For Starwood, he also served as unofficial brand Vice President for St Regis, following tenure as Managing Director of the St Regis New York.
James McBride is the new Managing Director at Rosewood¹s Carlyle. He comes from London¹s Grosvenor House. A South African, McBride spent twelve years with Ritz-Carlton including stints as General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur and Regional General Manager for both Ritz-Carlton properties in Washington, DC.
Don Marrandino, who most recently served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Wynn Las Vegas, has joined Harrah¹s as Senior Vice President Northern Nevada. Marrandino made his name in Las Vegas as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Steven Jorns has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer at Interstate Hotels & Resorts. He previously was the company's Vice Chairman and Chief Investment Officer. Jorns joined the company in 1998 with the merger of CapStar Hotel Company and American General Hospitality. John Emery, President and Chief Operating Officer, has resigned from Interstate.
Clifford Reynolds has been named General Manager of the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center. He replaces Robert Thrailkill who is opening the Conrad Miami as General Manager. Reynolds most recently served as Assistant General Manager of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa, where he stayed an impressive sixteen years.
Swiss hotelier Charles Henning has been appointed General Manager of the landmark Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington. Henning most recently was the Chief Operating Officer of Florida¹s Windsor Club. Henning also served as Vice President of Richard Rainwater¹s Sonoma Mission Inn and Ventana Big Sur.
Tim Morrison was recently appointed General Manager of the Pan Pacific Whistler. A Pan Pacific veteran for the last fourteen years, he moved up the ranks at Pan Pacific Vancouver from Room Service and Banquets to Restaurants Manager to Director of Food & Beverage.
A.J. Jabbour has been appointed General Manager of the historic Riverside Hotel in Florida. Jabbour was previously the General Manager of the Clinton Inn in New Jersey. Prior to that, he held various managerial positions with Omni Hotels.
Jacques Roy was transferred by Starwood to be the opening General Manager of the Atlantic in Fort Lauderdale, a luxury condominium hotel slated to open in 2004. Since May of this year, Roy had been the General Manager of the W Honolulu. He originally joined the group in April 2002 as the opening General Manager of the Bora Bora Nui Resort and Spa, a Luxury Collection property in French Polynesia.
Robert Morse has been promoted from President of Hotel Operations to Chief Operating Officer at Interstate Hotels and Resorts. Previously, Morse served as President of Millennium Hotels and Resorts, the US division of Millennium and Copthorne Hotels.
Jean-Luc Maumus will be the opening General Manager at Elk Mountain Resort, outside Telluride. The 75-room property promises to be one of the finest venues in Colorado when it opens in the spring of 2004. Maumus joins from Monmouth Plantation in Natchez, after a seven-year stint as Managing Director of Maison de Ville in New Orleans.
Victor Giannelli has been appointed General Manager of the Hyatt Mountain Lodge in Avon, Colorado. He was previously Rooms Executive with the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa. Gianelli has been with Hyatt for almost twenty years and had been in Colorado for the past five years.
Rob Gunthner has been appointed General Manager at the Radisson Kauai Beach Resort. Most recently, he was the General Manager at the Wyndham El Conquistador Resort and Golden Door Spa in Puerto Rico for over three years. Gunthner comes home to Hawaii where he previously logged eighteen years with Hilton and Hyatt.
Steven Keup has been named General Manager of the Melrose Hotel, Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Melrose, Keup spent five years with Crestline Hotels and Resorts, as General Manager of the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs in Tennessee from 1998 to 2001 and as General Manager of the Norfolk Waterside Marriott from 2001 to 2003.
Florent Gateau is being promoted by Rosewood to Hotel Manager at the Mansion on Turtle Creek. He takes over from Bradley Reynolds who left the company to become the General Manager at Auberge du Soleil. Gateau transfers from Las Ventanas al Paraiso, in Mexico, a property he opened in 1997 as Director of Food and Beverage. He had since been promoted to the position of Resort Manager.
Jitka Wieland will soon be filling the vacant position of Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Newport Beach. The spot had been left vacant when Tom Roelens moved up to Hotel Manager a few months ago. Wieland joins from the Willard Inter-Continental where she had the same title.
Within the Garrett Hotel Group Mark Stebbings has been promoted to Assistant General Manager at the Willcox. He transferred from sister property the Lake Placid Lodge where he was the Food and Beverage Manager. Stebbings originally started his employment with Garrett Hotels at their Saranac Lake flagship, The Point.
Randolph Wilcott is Director of Marketing Western Region for Sentry Hospitality, following a stint as Director of Marketing at the Elbow Beach Mandarin-Oriental in Bermuda. Prior to that, Wilcott was the Director Sales and Marketing at the Arizona Biltmore.
David Ryan moved West with Ritz-Carlton, from Director of Sales and Marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch to the same position at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, where the position has been vacant since the departure of Robert Green.
Caroline Czirr has been named Hotel Monaco Brand Manager of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. Czirr has been with Kimpton for nine years and has served as the Director of Sales and Marketing for the Hotel Monaco Denver. Since 2001, she has been the Regional Director of Sales for the Mountain Region of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.
Maureen Stella has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the Melrose, New York. Prior to joining the Melrose, Stella spent over ten
years at the Rihga Royal in Manhattan where she served as Director of Sales and Marketing. For more than ten years prior to the Rihga Royal, she held sales and marketing positions at the Omni Berkshire Place
where she worked with Geoffrey Mills, now the Managing Director of the Melrose.
Jan Felix is the new Financial Controller at the Raleigh on Miami¹s South Beach. She came from the Hotel Eldorado in Santa Fe, where she was also the Controller.
Mark Feldman has joined Pebble Beach Resorts as National Sales Manager. He comes from the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua where he was a National Sales Manager. Christine Sandino also joined Pebble Beach Resorts as National Sales Manager, having previously been a Sales Manager for Destination¹s Royal Palms in Phoenix. Rounding up the Sales Team at Pebble Beach is Indy Newsome who migrates from KSL¹s La Costa.
Monmouth Plantation has hired Cynthia Parker-Brumfield as Director of Marketing. She currently serves on the Executive Board of the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce as Membership and Special Events Chairman.
Salvador Lira is the new Director of Catering at the Omni Houston, coming from the Four Seasons Houston where he was a Catering Conference Planning Manager. Lira also worked at the Warwick Houston as Catering Manager.
Jose Adames has been promoted to Assistant Director of Rooms at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. He was previously the Front Office Manager at the Pierre.
Darren Moll is the Chief Operating Officer of Planet Zolon a Fort Worth-based restaurant company. He was the Banquet Manager at the Four Seasons Palm Beach prior to joining Ritz-Carlton as the Director of Banquet and Catering Operations at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona.
Mario Barroso is joining Miami¹s Roney Palace as Director of Engineering. Since July 2002, he has been the Group Director of Engineering for Island Outpost, based at the Tides in Miami (which is no longer part of the group). Barroso also served six years as Chief Engineer at Delano for Ian Schrager Hotels.
Janice Nase is the General Manager of Lutèce at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Last year, she teamed up with husband Joseph Nase as co-General Manager of Aqua at the St Regis Monarch Beach. The couple also worked for Pebble Beach Resorts.
Chris L¹Hommedieu who had been the Chef de Cuisine at Aqua at the St Regis Monarch Beach, will be one of the key culinarians at Thomas Keller¹s Per Se due to open at New York¹s (AOL) Time Warner Center early next year.
David Bodette is Director of Tasting Room Operations at Niebaum-Coppola Winery in Napa Valley. Until this summer, he worked up the road as Director of Food and Beverage at Auberge du Soleil.
Husband and wife team Didier Lenders and Pilar Sanchez are partners in Sanchez, a restaurant in Napa. Lenders was most recently the Chef at Sutter Home Trunker Estate, following several years as Executive Chef at Meadowood. As for Sanchez, who has been a Chef de Cuisine for the restaurant at Meadowood, she most recently was a Chef Instructor at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.
Monica Charvet is the new Spa Manager at the Four Seasons Punta Mita. She previously held a similar position at Miami¹s Shore Club, where she opened the spa.
At Wynn Las Vegas, Frank Turner has joined as Director of Night Club Operations. He was formerly the General Manager at Rum Jungle at Mandalay Bay, for China Grill Management.
Chip Lawson is the Director of Hotel Service at Wynn Las Vegas. He previously served at MGM Mirage¹s Beau Rivage in Mississippi and in Macau with Wynn Resorts.
Judy Coll has been appointed Director of Rooms at the Marriott Evergreen Conference Resort. She was previously at the Four Seasons Atlanta as Executive Housekeeper. She had worked at the Marriott Evergreen prior to joining Four Seasons as Executive Housekeeper.
Ellen Seymore has joined the opening team of the Loews New Orleans as Director of Rooms. Seymore migrated there from the Windsor Court, New Orleans¹ luxest hotel, where she had held the same position for the past two years. She has joined the Windsor Court from a Rooms Division Manager position at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Dallas.
Martina Flores is joining the Four Seasons Beverly Hills as Executive Housekeeper, following a one-year stint in the same capacity at the St Regis Monarch Beach. Flores has previously been the Executive Housekeeper at the Mandarin-Oriental San Francisco. At Four Seasons, she replaces Marguerite Veber who will be opening the Four Seasons Jackson Hole.
Jean-Francois Houdré will be the new Pastry Chef at San Francisco¹s Westin St Francis. Houdré had moved back to France a year ago to launch his own pastry business. He previously served many years as Executive Pastry Chef at the Sutton Place (formerly Le Méridien) Newport Beach.
Kevin Spivey has been appointed Executive Housekeeper at Opryland in Nashville. He was previously at the Boca Raton Resort. His former assistant, Lorrisann Cole-Xumines is now the new Director of Housekeeping at Boca Raton Resort. At Opryland, Spivey is replacing Janis Dailey who has been promoted to Assistant Executive Rooms.
Alana Snyder has been appointed Director of Housekeeping at the Delano in Miami. She was previously at the Turnberry Isle Resort and Club in the same capacity.
Frédéric Loraschi is the new Pastry Chef at the famed Hotel Hershey following a thirty-month stint with Ritz-Carlton. Loraschi originally joined the company as Assistant Pastry Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, prior to being promoted to Pastry Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Boston in August 2002.
At the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, Stephanie Rowe is joining as Restaurant Chef, replacing Michael Gillard, who transferred to the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas. Rowe was previously the Executive Chef at Orient-Express¹ Maroma Resort and Spa in Mexico. She has also been a Chef de Cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. Also joining is Philippe Sabo as Restaurant Manager. He replaces Daniel Braun, who was recently promoted to Director of Restaurants at the resort. Like Rowe, Sabo is an Orient-Express alumnus, who served as Manager at Maroma.
Still at the Four Seasons Palm Beach, Executive Pastry Chef Jeffrey Smith takes over from eleven-year veteran Tom Worhach. Smith joins from the Pointe on South Mountain in Phoenix. Worhach had joined the property in 1992 after being the Pastry Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia and Rosewood¹s Remington in Houston.
Mickael Blais is the Chef at Bistro 100 in Charlotte. The restaurant is operated by Chicago-based Levy Organization. Blais has previously been the Chef de Cuisine at Marché in Chicago, and spent a year as Executive Sous Chef at Drew Nieporent's Montrachet in New York.
Shawn Mohamed will be opening as Chef de Cuisine the new Golf Club at Marco Island. He comes from tony Lake Placid Lodge, a Relais & Château.
ASIA AND THE PACIFICJean-Jacques Kiefer has been promoted to the position of Group Managing Director at Allsonn International. He had joined the company in November 1999 as the General Manager of its flagship, the Sunway Lagoon Resort in Kuala Lumpur. Kiefer previously had a 25-year career with Hilton International.
Accor has appointed Fumio Moroi as President & Chief Executive Officer for Japan and Senior Vice President for Accor Asia Pacific. Moroi was a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Majestic & Company, a specialist in hospitality asset advisory services.
Francis Zimmerman has been appointed General Manager at Le Méridien Jakarta. It is a promotion from his previous post as Resident Manager at Le Royal Méridien & Le Méridien President in Bangkok. Prior to joining Méridien, Zimmerman was the Executive Assistant Manager at Shangri-La's Golden Flower Hotel, in Xian, China.
Craig Smith is the new General Manager of the JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa. He replaces Kevin Beauvais who has joined parent company Royal Garden Resorts as Chief Operating Officer. Smith joined Marriott International in 1984, and Phuket is his sixth assignment as General Manager.
Bill Barnett has formed C9 Hotelworks, a Phuket based firm specializing in asset management and hospitality consulting. A former Deputy Managing Director of Laguna Resorts & Hotels, Barnett was previously Chief Operating Officer of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Asia Pacific and also spent nine years with Century International Hotels in Hong Kong.
Michael Jaehrling has been named General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Johor Bahru. Jaehrling most recently served as General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Cheju.
Daniel Tannenbaum has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing, China for Accor. Prior to that, he was Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hotel Sofitel Chicago. He has been with Accor for nine years.
Yusuf Ijsseldijk has been appointed Inbound Leisure Sales Director, Asia for Accor and will be based in the regional Bangkok office. Previously, he was General Manager Sales, Indonesia for Accor based in Jakarta.
Hermann Aha has been appointed General Manager-Designate at the Meritus Suites State Tower in Bangkok. Previously, he was the General Manager at Blue Tree Park in Brazil.
Jeroen Van Bregen has been appointed General Manager of VinPearl Resort for Furama Hotels and Resorts. Previously, he managed the Melia Benoa in Bali.
Robert Chiang has been appointed Director of Marketing at the China Hotel in Gangzhou. Previously, he held the position of Director of Sales at the Grand Stanford Harbourview in Hong Kong.
Michael Au has been appointed Director Food and Beverage at Hong Kong¹s Royal Garden Hotel. He comes from a similar position at Macau¹s Hotel Lisboa.
Subash Sasrur has been appointed Executive Chef and Food and Beverage Director at the St Regis Shanghai. Previously, he was in Food and Beverage Management in various Starwood Hotels in China, India and Australia.
Vittorio Lucariello has been appointed Chef de Cuisine at Grissini at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. He previously toiled at Il Cielo in Beverly Hills.
Julian Crane has been appointed Director of Sales at the Four Seasons Sydney. Previously, he was Director of Sales at the Four Seasons Tokyo.
Charles Tee has been appointed Vice President - Sales and Marketing at Millennium and Copthorne. Prior to that, he held senior positions with Zuji and Sol Melia.
Fanny Man has been appointed Front Office Manager at the InterContinental Grand Stanford in Hong Kong. Previously, she was Assistant Front Office Manager at the Panda Hotel.
Austin Frost has been promoted to Vice President - International Sales at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts. Prior to that, he was a Regional Director - Sales and Marketing for the company.
Naomi Dawes has been appointed Sales Manager at Four Seasons Sydney. She came from the InterContinental Hotel Sydney.
Jason Stinson has been appointed Director of Sales at the Four Seasons Shanghai, promoted from the Four Seasons Sydney.
Jean-Marc Gonzalez is the new Executive Chef at the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort. He takes over from Jérome Carrouée. Gonzalez, who recently operated his own restaurant in France, has also worked at the Datai in Lankawi and at Amanpuri in Phuket.
Mauna Lani on the Big Island of Hawaii has named Scott Dirks as Bungalow Manager. Prior to joining Mauna Lani, Dirks was the Director of Rooms at Shutters on the Beach. Before that, he was Rooms Division Manager and Front Office Manager at the St. Regis Houston.
Mark Simmons is the new Hotel Manager at the Landmark Bangkok after five years with Century International Hotels/Accor Hotels Asia.
André Gomez has been appointed Executive Assistant Manager at the Radisson Plaza Sydney. Gomez leaves behind the position of Food & Beverage Manager at the Palazzo Versace on Australia's Gold Coast. He had been there for three years and prior to this, spent some ten years with Hyatt International.
Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts has appointed Pichai Visutriratana as the Director of Sales for Nai Lert Park Bangkok. Prior to joining Nai Lert Park Bangkok, he was the Director of Sales at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok.
Jean Francois Brouck has been appointed Executive Chef at Sanctuary Resort the Bale, Bali. Previously, he successfully opened the Cliff at the Beaufort Singapore.
Alain Perrin, formerly of Spoon at Sanderson in London, is the new Chef de Cuisine at Snappers at the Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore.
Also at the Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore, Philippe Agnese is the new Executive Pastry Chef, replacing Gilles Delaloy, who has left the company. Agnese is a transfer from the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain.
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EASTPhilippe Requin, currently the General Manager of the Empire Hotel and Country Club in Brunei, will be returning to Mauritius in 2004 to launch Elegant Heritage Resorts. Requin will be the company¹s Chief Executive Officer. The company¹s first project will be Voile d¹Or, a luxury beach resort. Requin is no newcomer to Mauritius where he originally moved in 1995 as the General Manager of Sol Kerzner's Le Touessrok. He later was, for a period of three years, the Director of Operations for Naiade Resorts.
Claudio Melli has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at the Domina Coral Bay Casino & Resort in Sharm El Sheikh. Most recently, he was the Food and Beverage Manager at Hilton Floating Resorts and Festival Cruises. Prior to that, Melli was Food and Beverage Services Manager at the Sheraton Grande Walker Hill in Seoul.
Sharon Garett has been appointed Director of Communications for the Shangri-La Hotel Dubai and soon to open Traders Hotel Dubai. Previously, she held the position of Group Public Relations Officer for Jumeirah International, and Director of Communications at the InterContinental Grand Stanford, Hong Kong.
Jean Jacques Ugé is the new Executive Chef at the Residence in Tunisia. He joins following a year at the Golf de Saint Onge in France. Ugé also was the Executive Chef at Cotton House for three years.
EUROPEDolce International has announced the appointment of Peter Norman as Senior Vice President - Acquisitions & Development Europe. He joins Dolce international after spending six years at Méridien Hotels and Resorts where he held the position of Senior Vice-President Development Europe & Africa.
Jacques Ligné is the new General Manager at Sofitel Demeure Hotels¹ Le Parc in Paris. Until a few months ago, he was the General Manager of Le Méridien at Beverly Hills, following tenure as General Manager of Le Royal Méridien King Edward in Toronto.
Georg Plesser has been named General Manager of the Hotel Ermitage am See in Zurich, Switzerland General. He comes from Geisel Hotels in Munich. Plesser also was, a few years ago, the Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Food & Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey.
Klaus Kabelitz has been promoted to General Manager at London¹s Berkeley where he had been the Resident Manager. Kabelitz originally joined the Savoy Hotel Group as House Manager at Claridge¹s. He previously was with Four Seasons for many years, as Rooms Division Manager at the Four Seasons London, and then as Front of House Manager at the Four Seasons Berlin.
Jean-Paul Barat has been hired as Director of Product Development for Sainsbury¹s, one of England¹s best-known grocery chains. Barat just logged over five years as General Manager, Food Operations for Selfridges¹s. Prior to a two-year stint at the Tokyo Bay Hilton, Barat had gotten his first exposure to food retailing as the Director of Food and Beverage and Catering for London¹s landmark Harrod¹s from 1993 to 1995.
Roberto Biancucci is the new Director of Food and Beverage at Las Dunas in Marbella. He joins following a four-year tenure with Althoff Hotels, owners and operators of the Vista Palace, the Grand Hotel Schloss Bensberg and St Tropez¹s boutique Villa Belrose.
At St Moritz's Badrutt¹s Palace, Executive Chef Enrico Derflinngher takes over from Franz Faeh who had left in the spring to become the top whisk at the Grand Park Hotel in Gstaad.
Hervé Courtot is the new chef at Andrée-Putman-designed Hotel Pershing Hall in Paris. Courtot was the Executive Chef at the ill-fated Nobu Paris.
Thomas Bellec will be starting at the Four Seasons Provence at Terre Blanche as Banquet Chef in January. He transfers from the Four Seasons Carmelo in Uruguay, where he has been the Executive Chef.
Fabrice Vulin is the new Executive Chef at Geneva¹s Parc Des Eaux Vives following a three-year stint at world famous Restaurant Pic in Valence.
We mistakenly gave in our September issue the title of Director of Sales and Marketing to Sophie Valette, at Monaco¹s Société des Bains de Mer. We meant to say she took a position within the Sales and Marketing department.
Edited by Benoit Gateau-Cumin
President
The Boutique Search Firm
[email protected]
Born and raised in France, Benoit managed to scoop up a French law degree prior to studying Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Upon graduation in 1975, he engaged in an eleven-year hotel management career which took him to Chicago, New York, Washington DC, San Diego, Istanbul, Jamaica and Hawaii. He held positions with Omni, Hyatt, Hilton International, ITT Sheraton and Méridien, as well as Honululu's unique Halekulani, consistently rated as one of the world's best. Benoit was bit by the "headhunting" bug in 1986, and has not relented yet. He founded "The Boutique Search firm" in February 1992. His motto: small is beautiful. Benoit loves to mountain bike, cook and write short (and long) stories.
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