Butch Kerzner, Chief Executive Officer of Kerzner International, was
killed last month in a helicopter accident in the Dominican Republic. Paul
O'Neil, former Chief Executive Officer of the Company's Paradise Island
operations, has been appointed acting Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
Kerzner, who was 42, had been appointed Chief Executive Officer in January
2004. He is survived by his wife and two young children.
Eric Calderon has joined Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts in Santa Barbara
as Chief Operating Officer, following seventeen years as the Vice President
and General Manager at the Little Nell in Aspen. A Lausanne graduate, he
had also been the Vice President and General Manager of the Lodge at Pebble
Beach, following assignments with Four Seasons and Westin. The Ty
Warner portfolio includes San Ysidro Ranch and Las Ventanas al Paraiso,
both operated by Rosewood, as well as the Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara
and the Four Seasons New York, and Kona Village, the Miramar Santa Barbara
along with some non-hotel real assets.
HEI Hospitality has appointed Ted Darnall Partner and Chief Operating
Officer as well as President and Chief Operating Officer of Merritt Hospitality,
its management subsidiary. Since 2002, Darnall was President of the Real
Estate Group at Starwood, a company he had joined in 1996 following a career
with Marriott and Interstate.
Interstate has promoted Joseph Klam to Executive Vice President, Hotel
Finance. He was most recently the Senior Vice President of Hotel Finance
for the company. Klam joined Interstate in 2003 from Millennium Hotels
& Resorts, where he served as Vice President of Finance-North America.
Douglas Ludwig has been named Chief Financial Officer of Baha Mar Development.
He spent the last twenty years working for Four Seasons, where he was the
Chief Financial Officer for the past ten years.
Pinnacle Entertainment has promoted Larry Buck to the newly created
position of Regional Vice President. He will also hold the title of President
of Pinnacle-Atlantic City. He was most recently the Vice President and
General Manager of Pinnacle's Belterra Casino Resort. Kim Townsend who
was most recently Pinnacle's Senior Vice President of Marketing will relocate
to Atlantic City to serve as Executive Vice President of Pinnacle-Atlantic
City.
The InterContinental Hotel Group has appointed Christian Hempell
Vice President Strategy, Americas Region. He was most recently based in
London as the group's Vice President of Global Strategy. Hempell, a Cornell
graduate, spent six years with Andersen Consulting prior to getting an
MBA from Harvard.
The Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay has appointed Pete Ells General Manager,
replacing Paul Ratchford who is now the President of the Greenbrier. Ells
served most recently at the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix as General Manager and
was previously the General Manager of the St. Anthony and the Renaissance
Parc 55 in San Francisco.
Roberto van Geenen has transferred as General Manager to the Ritz-Carlton
Dallas. He was most recently in the same position at the Ritz-Carlton Palm
Beach after serving as Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Naples.
Cornell man Brad Jencks is the General Manager of the soon-to-be-named-again
Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage. The property, launched by Ritz-Carlton in the
eighties, had become the Lodge at Rancho Mirage, a RockResort. New ownership
is investing heavily in upgrading and enlarging the property, adding a
substantial residential component for future re-opening as a Ritz-Carlton.
Jencks originally joined the company in 2004 as General Manager of the
Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas. Prior to that, he ran a number of luxury properties
including the Turtle Bay Resort in Hawaii, the Pointe Hilton South Mountain
in Arizona, the InterContinental Wailea, and Halekulani.
Taking over from Brad Jencks as General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton
St. Thomas is Marc Langevin, formerly the Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton
Grand Cayman. Langevin rejoined Ritz-Carlton in 2004, following a stint
as Regional Director of Operations for Boykin Hospitality. He had been
the Director of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland.
John Remmers has been appointed General Manager of the soon-to-open
Hotel Zaza Houston. The former Warwick is being reincarnated into a hip
335-room hotel. Remmers recently opened, as its General Manager, the Dolce
Zermatt Resort in Utah. He originally joined Dolce as the General Manager
of the Lakeway Resort in Austin. Remmers was previously on the East Coast
as General Manager of the Omni Jacksonville.
Christoph Roshardt has been promoted to General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton
Phoenix. He was most recently at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel where he
held the title of Hotel Manager since 2004. In Phoenix, he takes over from
Pete Ells, now the General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay.
Rick Evanich returns to New York as General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton
Battery Park, from the same position at the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common.
He was previously the General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton New York, Central
Park.
Darrell Sheaffer has joined the Fairmont Turnberry Isle as General Manager.
He briefly consulted for the Kor Group in Los Angeles as Area General Manager
following a stint as opening General Manager at the Mandarin Oriental Washington
DC. Sheaffer is also a former Ritz-Carlton man, for whom he served as General
Manager in Palm Beach, Doha, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
Thomas Becker has been named General Manager of the yet-to-be-named
�lifestyle hotel� to be operated by the Light Group in Las Vegas. The property
will be part of MGM Mirage's City Center. Becker was most recently the
General Manager at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. Prior to that, he spent
three years with Sun International (now Kerzner International) in Mauritius,
following nine years with Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, Singapore and
San Francisco.
Guenter Richter has been appointed General Manager of the Regent Bal
Harbour due to open April 2007. He had been the Managing Director of the
St. Regis New York and the General Manager of the Swissôtel New York
The Drake following thirteen years with Grand Bay Hotel and Resorts.
Ellis O'Connor has joined the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York as General
Manager, replacing Jim McPartlin. Since 1996, O'Connor had been with the
Peninsula Hotel Group in Beverly Hills transferring to the Peninsula New
York as Resident Manager at the beginning of this year.
Richard Behr has joined Miramonte in Indian Wells as General Manager.
He was most recently the General Manager of the Hilton Scottsdale and previously
served as Resort Manager at the Royal Palms Resort and Spa in Phoenix.
Les Utley has been named General Manager of the South Coast Winery Resort
and Spa in Temecula. He was most recently the General Manager of the Hotel
Zoso in Palm Springs, and has previously worked at the Fairmount Hotel
San Antonio, and the Vail Athletic Club.
Jonathan Crellin has transferred as General Manager of the Fairmont
Hamilton Princess in Bermuda. He was most recently the General Manager
of the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston.
Michael Kaile has been named General Manager of the Fairmont Chateau
Whistler. He joined the company in 1991 as General Manager of the Fairmont
Waterfront in Vancouver, and was later appointed Vice President and General
Manager in 1995. He has also managed the Fairmont Hamilton Princess and,
most recently, the Fairmont Dubai.
Karen Kelly is the new General Manager for Resortquest at Snowmass and
Aspen taking over for Gunter Muller. She previously served as Vice President
of Hospitality at Snowshoe Mountain, an Intrawest resort.
Jeffrey Brower follows Horst Schulze's West Paces Hotel Group from L'Auberge
de Sedona, to Augusta's venerable Partridge Inn, as General Manager in
both cases. He previously served eight years with Ritz-Carlton including
a stint as Executive Assistant Manager, Rooms Division at the Ritz-Carlton
Sarasota.
Paul Tormey has transferred to the Fairmont Copley Plaza as General
Manager. He was most recently the General Manager at the Fairmont Chateau
Whistler.
Kevin Kaufman is being promoted to General Manager of Pinnacle Entertainment's
Belterra Casino Resort. He was most recently the Senior Director of Casino
Operations at the property he joined in 2001 as Director of Casino Operations.
Todd George will relocate to St. Louis to become Vice President and
General Manager for Pinnacle Entertainment's casino now under construction.
He was most recently the General Manager of Pinnacle's Boomtown Bossier
City and joined Pinnacle in the accounting department of the Belterra Casino
Resort in 2000. George is replaced at Boomtown Bossier City by Barry Regula
whose previous title at the resort was Senior Director of Casino Operations.
Jean-Luc Maumus has been named General Manager at the Knob Hill Inn
in Idaho. He was most recently the Estate Manager for the Saperstein family
in Beverly Hills. Previously, Maumus was the opening General Manager at
Elk Mountain Resort, the Managing Director at Monmouth Plantation and the
Managing Director at Maison de Ville in New Orleans.
Oscar Cruces has been appointed General Manager of the Grand Velas Resort
in Puerto Vallarta. He was most recently the General Manager of the Marquis
Reforma in Mexico City and previously headed up operations at the Gran
Caribe Real and the Porto Real Hotel in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Alain Negueloua has joined Meadowood in St. Helena as General Manager.
He had been with Mandarin Oriental since 1997, most recently as the General
Manager of the Mark in New York, due to close at the end of December.
Stuart Meyerson has been named General Manager of the Liberty Hotel
in Boston slated to open Spring 2007. He has thirty years experience with
Hyatt most recently as the General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Cambridge
and the Hyatt Regency Newport.
Randy Kwasniewski has been appointed President of Morgans Hotel Group
Las Vegas, and President and Chief Operating Officer of the Hard Rock Hotel
& Casino, following the completion of the acquisition of the property
by Morgans. He was most recently a Senior Vice President at Starwood Capital
and had previously been the Chief Operating Officer of the Hard Rock Las
Vegas, when the property was still owned by Peter Morton.
Omar Said has been promoted to Regional Director of Residences by Ritz-Carlton.
He has been with the company thirteen years and was most recently the Area
Director of Residences for the Sarasota properties. Said also served as
Executive Assistant Manager Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas and the
Ritz-Carlton Dearborn.
Senih Geray has been named General Manager at the St. Regis Aspen. He
was most the General Manager of the Sheraton Voyager Antalya in Turkey
for the past four years. He was with the St. Regis New York from 1994 to
2002 in various capacities ending as Financial Controller.
Tom Waithe has joined Vancouver's Pacific Palisades Hotel as General
Manager/Director of Operations. He has held various positions with Four
Seasons in Vancouver, Chicago, Hawaii and Tokyo. He was most recently at
the Willows Lodge in Seattle.
Hector Rubio has been promoted to Resident Manager at Esperanza in Los
Cabos. He was most recently the Rooms Division Manager at the hotel. He
is replaced by Silvana Diego who moves up from her position as Executive
Assistant to the General Manager/Vice President, Severino Gomez.
Clifford Atkinson has been named Hotel Manager at Ian Schrager's Gramercy
Park Hotel. He was most recently the Director of Sales at Ideas Revenue
Optimization and was previously with Mandarin Oriental for seven years
most recently as the Executive Assistant Manager-Rooms Division at the
Mandarin Oriental New York.
Michael Abbott has joined Affinia Chicago as Director of Operations.
He was most recently at the InterContinental Chicago as the Director Food
and Beverage.
Steve Ohern has joined the White Face Lodge in Lake Placid as Resort
Manager. He was most recently at Twin Farms in Vermont as the Assistant
Manager.
Rafael Verde has been promoted to Assistant General Manager at Boomtown
New Orleans. He joined Pinnacle Entertainment at Boomtown in the accounting
department in 1999 and has held positions with the company as the Senior
Director of Finance and Administration at Belterra Casino Resort. He most
recently was the Senior Director of Finance at L'Auberge du Lac.
Nelson Alvarez has been appointed Controller at the Inn at Little Washington.
Over the last three years, he was with Interstate Hotels as the Director
of Finance for the Latham and the Georgetown Inn in Washington, DC. He
was previously a Controller for Hyatt in Virginia, Boston and Washington,
D.C.
David McIntyre has joined the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as Executive Director
of Food and Beverage. He was previously the Executive Assistant Manager
Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington and the Ritz-Carlton Key
Biscayne.
Eric Christensen has been named Food and Beverage Director at the Dallas
Magnolia. He was previously the Director of Food and Beverage for the Inn
at Lost Creek in Telluride. He also served as the Outlets Manager at the
Peaks in Telluride and as Banquet Manager for the Wyndham Colorado Springs.
Robert Muehlich has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at
the Setai in Miami. He was most recently in the same position at Rosewood's
Caneel Bay on St. John and previously served as Assistant Director of Food
and Beverage at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa.
Magnus Olovson has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at Peter
Island in the British Virgin Islands. He was most recently involved in
the opening of the Sheraton Oran Hotel & Towers in Algeria as Director
of Food and Beverage.
Mike VanDuzer has been appointed Director of Facilities at the Cheyenne
Mountain Resort in Colorado. He was most recently the Director of Facilities
at the Lansdowne Resort in Virginia and was previously an Engineer at the
Resort at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe.
Noble House Hotels & Resorts has named John Davies Vice President
of Marketing and Ted Davis Vice President of Sales. Davies originally joined
the company in 1998 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing and assumes
his new position after eight months of consulting work for Noble House.
Davis was previously an Area Director of Sales and Marketing for LXR Luxury
Resorts.
Mario Maesano is relocating to St. Louis as Senior Director of Marketing
for Pinnacle Entertainment. He was most recently the head of marketing
at Boomtown Bossier City and joined Pinnacle in 2000 in the marketing department
at Belterra.
Keith Henson has relocated to Las Vegas as Vice President of Relationship
Marketing for Pinnacle Entertainment. He was most recently the Senior Director
of Human Resources at L'Auberge du Lac in Lake Charles, having joined Pinnacle
in 1997 as a table games dealer at the Boomtown Reno.
The Dallas Magnolia has appointed Raluca Leibowitz Human Resources Manager.
She was previously the Corporate Director of Human Resources for Encore
Hospitality. She also has served as a human resources consultant with Gemstone,
as the General Manager of the Grove Isle Resort and Club in Miami, and
as the Hotel Manager of the Hotel ZaZa in Dallas.
Allen Anderson will be re-joining Destination Hotels and Resorts as
Director of Sales and Marketing at the Skamania Lodge in Washington. He
took his current position of Director of Sales and Marketing at the Ocean
Hammock Resort prior to its sale by Destination/Lowe to Centex.
The Chateau on the Lake Resort & Spa in Branson, Missouri has appointed
Peter Regan Director of Sales and Marketing. He comes from the L'Enfant
Plaza (formerly Loews) in Washington D.C. Regan also held various sales
positions with the Peabody Hotel Group and Crestline.
Fairmont has appointed Jon Mamela to the newly created position of Director,
Product and Service Strategy. Previously, he served as Fairmont's Director
of Relationship Management.
Windsor Casino Limited has appointed Patricia Nicholl as Director, Hotel
and Convention Sales. Her previous hotel experience includes the Windsor
Hilton and the Deerhurst Resort where she was the Marketing Director. In
addition, Nicholl previously held positions as the Director, Sales and
Marketing for Canadian Pacific in Calgary and at the Chateau Laurier in
Ottawa.
Alana Miranda has been named Director of Villa Sales for the Cabo Azul
Resort & Spa scheduled to open in Spring 2007 in Los Cabos. She was
most recently with Starwood French Polynesia as Director of Sales � North
America. Taking over her responsibilities is Victoria Page who comes from
the Luxury Collection sales office in Los Angeles.
Jon Makhmaltchi has been promoted to Director of Global Sales at Small
Luxury Hotels, based in Los Angeles. Since 2004 he has been the Director
of Sales, Western United States, for the company. He was previously the
Director of Sales and Marketing at the Carneros Inn in Napa and the Huntington
in San Francisco.
Arthur Backal is the Owner/Partner of Backal's in Scarsdale, New York.
He partners with Tony Fortuna of the Lenox Room, with whom he had worked
with at the St. Regis New York where Backal was the Director of Catering
and Fortuna was the Manager of Lespinasse. For the past three years, Backal
has also been the Director of Catering at the Mandarin Oriental New York.
Cynthia Boyett has transferred to the Four Seasons Westlake Village
as Director of Catering and Conference Services. She previously held the
same position at the Four Seasons Miami. Prior to that, she was the Associate
Director of Catering and Conference Services at the Mandarin Oriental Miami.
The Dallas Magnolia has appointed Mai Nguyen Catering Manager. She was
previously the Suite Catering Sales Manager for ARAMARK at Minute Maid
Park.
Patrick Fortemps has joined the Boca Raton Resort and Club as Assistant
Director of Food and Beverage. He had spent many years at the Parker Méridien
New York as Director of Catering and also served as Assistant General Manager
at Jalousie Plantation in St. Lucia. Fortemps had also been the Assistant
General Manager at the Hotel Hermitage in Monte Carlo, and served as Director
of Food and Beverage at the George Cinq in Paris, prior to its reincarnation
as a Four Seasons.
Damon Gordon has joined the soon-to-open Ivy Hotel in San Diego as Executive
Chef. Since 1999, he had been with China Grill Management as Executive
Chef at Ono at the Hotel Gansevoort, Mix New York, Delano and Royalton,
among others.
Stefan Kauth has been appointed Executive Chef at the Renaissance Las
Vegas. He was most recently the Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Coconut
Grove and was previously the Banquet Chef at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel
and Casino, Executive Chef at the Stirling Club at Turnberry Place and
Chef de Cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach.
Andreas Nieto has joined the newly re-opened US Grant Hotel in San Diego
as Executive Chef. He was most recently at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza
(formerly the Westin Century Plaza) where he had been the Executive Chef
since 1999, save for a brief break in 2004 when he went to the Hard Rock
Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Brooke Vosicka has transferred to the Four Seasons Boston as Executive
Chef. He has been with Four Seasons since 1982 in Atlanta, Chicago, Washington
DC and most recently as Executive Chef at the Four Seasons New York.
Paul Barnard has been appointed Executive Chef at the Discovery Resort
in St. Lucia. He was most recently the Executive Sous Chef at the Elbow
Beach Hotel by Mandarin Oriental in Bermuda.
Yoshinori Kojima has joined Wolfgang Puck Catering as Executive Chef
of the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. He was most recently the opening
Executive Chef at Okura in Palm Springs. He previously served as Executive
Sous Chef at Latitude in Sonoma, Executive Chef at MC2 Restaurant in San
Francisco and Executive Chef at the Pan Pacific Hotel, also in San Francisco.
Stephen Adelle-Jondeau has joined the Blue Waters Hotel in Antigua as
Executive Chef. He was previously the Executive Chef at Sandals Montego
Bay and Executive Sous Chef at Little Dix Bay.
Patrick O'Connor joins the InterContinental Dallas as Executive Chef.
He was most recently the Executive Sous Chef at Disney's Swan and Dolphin
Resort.
Todd Wolfson has been appointed Executive Chef at the Glen Cove Mansion
on Long Island. He was most recently the Executive Chef at another Benchmark
property, Berry Hill Plantation.
Australian Sean Dent has joined Circa 55, the new restaurant at the
Beverly Hilton as Chef de Cuisine. Prior to having his own catering operation,
Dent was the Executive Chef at the now-shuttered Citrus in Los Angeles.
He also served as Executive Sous Chef at Le Merigot Santa Monica Beach
Hotel and Sous Chef at L'Orangerie.
David Murphy has joined Nero's Grill at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic
City as Chef de Cuisine. He was most recently at Galipette Restaurant in
Florida as the Executive Chef/Partner and was previously the Executive
Chef at Wave Restaurant at the W Hotel Lakeshore. In addition, he has held
the position of Executive Sous Chef at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse and
23 Sportcafé at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.
Patrick Ponsaty has been appointed Executive Chef at Bernard Mougel's
Bernard'O in Rancho Bernardo. He was most recently the Executive Chef at
La Bastide Bistro in San Diego and previously the Chef de Cuisine at El
Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. Ponsaty is a former Executive Chef
at the Park Bistro in New York. Early in his career, he served as Pastry
Chef at La Samanna.
Nicolas Legret has joined the Willard InterContinental as Chef de Cuisine
where he will be in charge of the Willard Room. He was most recently the
Chef at Bistro 123 in Virginia and previously the Executive Sous Chef at
the Sofitel Washington DC and Le Mas Perrier in Pennsylvania.
Céline Plano has joined the Four Seasons Westlake Village as
pre-opening Executive Pastry Chef. She was most recently at the Ritz-Carlton
Buckhead as Head Pastry Chef and previously at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco.
Anthony Olheiser has been named General Manager of Studio 54 at the
MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Previously, he served as the Assistant General
Manager of TAO at the Venetian. He also served as Operations Manager at
MIX, in THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay.
Shelly Davis has joined Reds Restaurant at the Sedona Rouge Hotel and
Spa as Restaurant Manager. She spent the past three years at the Amara
Resort also in Sedona.
David Ebanks has joined the Resort at Singer Island in Florida as Director
of Housekeeping. He was most recently in the same position at the Diplomat
Country Club and Spa and was previously the Director of Housekeeping at
the Ocean Point Resort and Club.
Lucio López returns to the Ritz-Carlton Cancun as Associate Director
of Engineering. He was most recently in the same position at the Ritz-Carlton
San Juan and was previously at the Cancun property since 1993.
Toni Maggiore has been named Spa Director at the Four Seasons Atlanta.
She was most recently at the Four Seasons Aviara where she served as Spa
Operations Manager.
Katie Pederson has been named Spa Director at the Spa at the Inverness
in Denver. She was most recently the Director of Technical Services at
the Essentiels Spa in Boulder.
Sara Thatcher has been named Spa Director at the Palms on Turks and
Caicos, now a Regent property. Most recently, she worked as Sports and
Leisure Manager at London's prestigious Royal Automobile Club. |