The Curtis - a Doubletree by Hilton is pleased to announce that Carmen Cruz has been hired to serve as the Assistant General Manager, otherwise known as the “Hotel Whisperer” at Denver’s only pop culture-themed hotel.
White Lodging is pleased to announce Nathan Park has been promoted to general manager of the Fairfield Inn & Suites Denver Cherry Creek in Denver, Colo. Park started his career with White Lodging in 1994 as the operations manager at the same location. Park has been in the hospitality industry for more than 28 years with experience at a variety of brands including Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Radisson, Marriott, Residence Inn and Sheraton properties.
Steenge-Hart brings a wealth of hospitality experience to the resort. Prior to her appointment, she served as complex general manager of W Hotels of Chicago for the past three years. Heather began her career in 1991 as at the Westin Harbour Castle. From there she was promoted to various positions at numerous Starwood properties: The Westin Bayshore, The Westin St. Francis and The Westin Los Angeles Airport. In 2006 Heather moved to Chicago as the general manager for the W Chicago Lakeshore and was promoted to her most current assignment in 2009 overseeing the W Chicago Lakeshore and W Chicago City Center.
Blair has worked for Sage Hospitality since 2004, serving as the General Manager of The Oxford Hotel, an award-winning 80-room historic hotel and spa in the heart of Denver’s LoDo neighborhood. Prior to that, he spent 12 years working for Marriott International. Blair has strong ties to the Denver community. He is a member of Denver’s Road Home, the commission to end homelessness in Denver by 2015, and a member of the Business Advisory Council for Denver’s Road to Work. As part of that program, Blair was instrumental in the hiring and training of 15 people who were formerly homeless to work at The Oxford Hotel. He is also the Vice Chair of the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District’s Board of Directors. A graduate of the University of Colorado, he previously served as Associate Pastor at the NorthPoint Covenant Church in Broomfield, Colorado.
Kessler Canyon – The Kessler Collection proudly announces James McKenzie as the new operations manager of Kessler Canyon – a 23,000-acre luxury guest ranch, located in Western Colorado. As operations manager, duties include managing ranch logistics, enhancing staff efficiency, preparing program budgets and facilitating company programs. With an outstanding staff and service, Kessler Canyon is exclusively open to discerning travelers eight months out of the year, offering boundless opportunities for guest customization, as the ranch promotes creativity, self-expression and encourages guests to feel inspired by every experience.James McKenzie’s significant practice in the industry includes working as a wildlife guide and outfitter for a large private hunting lodge near Gainesville, Fla. With an outstanding record of accomplishment and reliability, McKenzie is an extremely efficient manager, as well as trained huntsman, skilled gunsmith and certified firearms instructor. McKenzie proudly served more than 20 years with the United States Navy, working as a submarine diver prior to entering the hospitality industry.
Musa most recently served as the Director of Revenue Management at The Westin Atlanta Perimeter in Atlanta. Prior to that, he was the Manager of Centralized Revenue Management for Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Atlanta and the Director of Revenue Management at The Westin Southfield Detroit in Southfield, Michigan. Other Starwood experience includes revenue management positions overseeing The Westin Minneapolis, Le Méridien San Francisco, Sheraton College Park and the Sheraton Danbury.
Noble House Hotels & Resorts, Ltd. (NHHR) – a collection of luxury hotels and resorts – announces the promotion of Rudy Sharp to Vice President and Managing Director of Gateway Canyons Resort, located southwest of Grand Junction in Gateway, Colorado. In this role, Sharp will provide leadership and oversee the day-to-day operations of the resort, with continued regional oversight of the Noble House collection. Cradled in the shadow of the Palisade rock formation and fringing the Moab Desert, Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks unveils Gateway Canyons Resort, created to nourish guests’ curiosity through intellectual stimulation and adventure within a naturally intriguing environment.
Managed by Denver’s Sage Hospitality, the 336-room Curtis encourages all guests to “Stay Happy with 13 themed guest room floors - including the “One Hit Wonder Floor” and the “Chick Flick Floor,” front desk clerks who are always willing to hula hoop with guests and a 5 & Dime novelty store brimming with playful treats from the past.
Brown previously served as Catering and Conference Service Manager at the Steamboat Grand Resort and Conference Center from 2004 to 2007. She has also been the Director of Catering and Conference Services at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs and the Director of Catering at the Holiday Inn Downtown Denver and the Holiday Inn Denver Tech Center. A graduate of Western Culinary Institute in Portland and Western State College in Gunnison, she previously held culinary and catering positions at the River House Resort and Convention Center in Bend, Oregon, the Radisson Graystone in Thornton, Colorado and the Brown Palace in Denver.
Herron joined Four Seasons in August of 1988 as Club Manager of the Sports Club at Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas where he helped direct 12 Byron Nelson PGA tournaments. In January of 2000, he was appointed Hotel Manager at Four Seasons Hotel Houston, where he assisted with the launch of the Hotel's award winning restaurant, Quattro. Later, he moved to the former Four Seasons Olympic Hotel in Seattle. Next was Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara, where he helped guide the property through a USD 200 million renovation. In June of 2006, he returned to Four Seasons Hotel Houston. In September of 2008, Herron was appointed General Manager of Four Seasons Resort Whistler, where he led the Whistler team to its fifth consecutive AAA Five Diamond rating; Four Seasons Resort Whistler is Canada's only Five Diamond resort. Herron has been a respected leader in each of the communities he has resided, most recently serving as a board member of the British Columbia and Whistler Hotel Associations and Chamber of Commerce.
Wolfe has been a member of the Colorado Tourism Office Board of Directors since 2009 and will begin serving as CTO’s Chairman of the Board next month. He served as Chairman of the Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association for 2011, which named him “Hotelier of the Year.” He has been an Adjunct Professor at Metro State College of Denver in the Hospitality, Tourism & Events department since 2008 and is also the co-founder of Journey to Me, a non-profit organization that provides post-adoption education resources and support.
Managed by Denver’s Sage Hospitality, the 336-room Curtis encourages all guests to “Stay Happy with 13 themed guest room floors - including the “One Hit Wonder Floor” and the “Chick Flick Floor,” front desk clerks who are always willing to hula hoop with guests and a 5 & Dime novelty store brimming with playful treats from the past.
Cava arrived in Telluride from St. Regis Aspen Resort, where, as Director of Group Sales, she helped to reposition the hotel as the leader in luxury mountain resorts during a 40 million dollar redesign. Previously, she held a range of sales and marketing positions over two decades with Marriott International, including Senior Account Executive at JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa where she opened the 1002 room resort with 265,000-square-feet of function space, two PGA golf courses and a six-acre water park, to Marriott's key accounts in the incentive, insurance and back yard Texas market; Director of National Accounts for nine Marriott resorts across the Caribbean and Mexico, including the Five Diamond-rated JW Marriott Cancun; Director of National Accounts in Marriott's Hawaii Regional Sales office; and Director of National Accounts in the Marriott Global Sales office. Cava began her hospitality career as a top-producing Senior Sales Manager at Austin Marriott back in 1989.
With more than 30 years of hospitality experience, Pirrallo most recently served as the General Manager of the 269-room Millennium Hotel Harvest House in Boulder, Colorado. A graduate of Michigan State University, he previously was the General Manager of the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel in Chicago, the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston and the Sheraton Suites Wilmington Hotel in Wilmington, Delaware.
A hospitality career that began with Stouffer Hotels landed Janicek at the helm of his most recent post, as General Manager of The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in the Vail Valley for the past three years. He joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company L.L.C. in 1990 for the opening of The Ritz-Carlton, Aspen. During his seven-year tenure at the hotel, he held multiple strategic positions including National Sales Manager, Associate Director of Sales and Director of Sales and Marketing.
Lucas has been with Denver’s Sage Hospitality, which manages the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek, since2003. She most recently served as a Divisional Vice President overseeing multiple properties, including several in Sage’s Premier & Lifestyle Division. Prior to that, she was the General Manager of the Residence Inn Denver City Center and the Courtyard Denver Downtown. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Lucas spent 15 years with Marriott International before joining Sage Hospitality, including serving as Area General Manager and Director of Sales and for the Residence Inn Denver Downtown. Since joining Sage Hospitality, Lucas has been instrumental in helping to develop Sage’s PJ Party and PJ Day, a major annual event that has raised more than $2 million since 2006 in support of Denver’s Road Home plan to end homelessness. She also sits on the board of the Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association.
With more than 20 years of hospitality and sales experience, Perry most recently served as a dual General Manager for RHW Hotels in Colorado Springs, overseeing the TownePlace Suites by Marriott Colorado Springs South and the SpringHill Suites Colorado Springs South. He previously held several senior operations positions with Interstate Hotels & Resorts, including serving as General Manager of the Residence Inn Colorado Springs and Assistant General Manager and Director of Operations at the Trumbull Marriott in Connecticut. Perry earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and a Masters of Business Administration from Utah State University.
Benchmark Hospitality International, a leading U.S.-based hospitality management company, has appointed Myra Pasco director of human resources for Cheyenne Mountain Resort, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Todd Felsen, Benchmark’s general manager at the award-winning property, made the announcement. Myra Pasco was most recently director of human resources for Front Range Community College of Westminster, Colorado, for which she served three different campuses. Previous to this, Ms. Pasco worked with Marriott Corporation, investing nearly 18 years developing her expertise in hospitality human resources at a variety of properties within the brand's portfolio.
Prior to joining The Westin Westminster in 2009, Mr. Hendricks was the Director of Sales and Marketing at the St. Regis Houston. A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, he previously served as the Assistant Director of Convention Sales at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and also held several senior sales positions with Hyatt Hotel Corporate properties, including the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas, the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and the Grand Hyatt Atlanta.
Mr. Case joins The Westin Westminster from the JW Marriott Denver Cherry Creek, where he has served as General Manager since 2008. Under Mr. Cases’ leadership, the JW Marriott Denver was featured annually as one of the top U.S. hotels on Condé Nast Traveler’s “Readers’ Choice” list. A graduate of Colorado State University, Mr. Case was also previously the General Manager at Denver’s Oxford Hotel and the Assistant General Manager at the Denver Airport Marriott at Gateway Park.