Sanguinetti, currently the deputy director and director of marketing of CHA, will assume the management of CHA on January 1st, 2003, following the retirement of John H. Bell.  �Following an exhaustive, six-month process, the Executive Committee of the CHA Board of Directors is pleased to announce the selection of Mr. Alec Sanguinetti,� said CHA President Simón Suárez.

M. Alec Sanguinetti

The process to select a director general for the CHA was extensive, having considered more than fifty candidacies, and precise, as it involved a series of comprehensive interviews and psychometric tests to identify the best candidate for the position. 

�The number and impressive quality of the potential candidates considered is a true recognition of the prestige of CHA as a leading regional trade association.  After a painstaking review, we are confident that Alec Sanguinetti�s savvy and experience in Caribbean tourism make him the right candidate to lead the CHA to successfully fulfill its mandate as representative of all sectors of the Caribbean hospitality industry,� concluded Suárez. 

In his first statement following his appointment, Mr. Sanguinetti said �I look forward to giving continuity to the extraordinary work of John Bell, who laid the foundation and led the hands-on development of the Association for 28 years.�  Sanguinetti indicated that one of his primary goals is to leverage all sectors of the Caribbean Hotel Association to pull together to strengthen its position as a leader in world tourism. 

Echoing the expressions of CHA President Simón Suárez, Sanguinetti added:  �The diversity of the Caribbean tourism industry � the rich range of experiences afforded by the English, Spanish, French and Dutch Caribbean - is precisely its strongest asset. In light of the current difficult circumstances of the global tourism industry, our task � in fact, our responsibility - is to recognize that the only way forward is to set aside differences; prime our tourism product in all its aspects: training and education, the environment, safety and security; and ensure that both private and public sectors are unreservedly committed to sell the region.   It is time for all parties to come to the table in a genuine effort to combine our resources in order to increase the visitor market share to the Caribbean.� 

The new director general of CHA also placed emphasis on his intention to strengthen the CHA membership from the grassroots up, ensuring that CHA is truly representative of its diverse membership base and fostering an active involvement of the membership in CHA initiatives.

Sanguinetti, a native of Jamaica, joined CHA in 1993 as deputy director general and director of marketing.  In his position, his responsibilities have embraced the management and coordination of CHA�s marketing activities, including Caribbean Marketplace; the Caribbean Hotel Association Reservations Management System (CHARMS); the private/public regional marketing initiative that led to the creation of the Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust (CHACT) and the launching of the advertising campaign dubbed �Life Needs the Caribbean.� 

Prior to joining CHA, Sanguinetti served as Director of International Sales and Marketing for the Cayman Islands.  He has also held the positions of Managing Director of Cayman Airways, General Sales Manager for the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism and Cayman Airways in North America, Vice President of Marketing for Air Jamaica, General Manager of Jamaica Air Service, and Senior Sales Officer of BOAC and BWIA.

CHA is dedicated to excellence in hospitality, leadership in marketing, and sustainable growth in tourism, to the benefit of its membership and that of the wider Caribbean community.  The members of CHA represent the entire spectrum of hospitality industry�s private sector, from over 1,100 member hotels in 34 national hotel associations, to allied members including airline executives, tour operators, travel agents, trade and consumer press, hotel and restaurant suppliers, and others.  CHA is headquartered is in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and maintains an office in Miami, Florida.