THE AMERICAS

Starwood has combined St. Regis, W and the Luxury Collection into the Luxury Brands Group for marketing purposes. Ross Klein, who had served as President of the W brand, will be the President of the new entity.

At soon-to-be-private-again Four Seasons, Senior Vice President Food and Beverage Alfons Konrad will be leaving after thirty one years with the company. He is widely credited for making food and service consistent at all Four Seasons properties, regardless of where they may be located.

Shortly after leaving Peninsula with whom he had a twenty-five-year career (that included twelve years as General Manager of the Peninsula New York) Niklaus Leuenberger takes the helm of the New York
Palace. After the death of John Segreti in February 2006, the position had been briefly assumed by former owner's representative Faith Derbyshire, and then kept vacant for some months.

At Four Seasons, Christoph Schmidinger and Bahram Sepahi have been promoted to Regional Vice President positions. Schmidinger is currently the General Manager at the Four Seasons New York. Sepahi is currently the General Manager at the Four Seasons Golf Club Dubai.

Peter Koehler moves to the soon-to-open InterContinental San Francisco as General Manager. For the past three years, he served as General Manager of Kimpton's Hotel Palomar. Koehler had previously been the General Manager of Villa del Sol, in Mexico and had been the pre-opening General Manager of the not-to-be Mandarin Oriental Mexico City.

Vikram Singh has been named General Manager of Campton Place
-A Taj Hotel in San Francisco. He comes from the Taj Exotica Resort and Spa in the Maldives where he had been the General Manager and Director since May 2006. Singh originally joined Taj in 2004, following a one-year stint at Udaivilas for Oberoi and five years with Four Seasons. At Campton Place, he takes over from Carter Donovan, who managed the property for previous owners the Kor Group.

Robert van Eerde will be the opening General Manager at Gansevoort South in Miami Beach. He was until recently the General Manager and Regional Director of Operations for the Raleigh and the Standard Miami. He also served as General Manager of the Clarence in Dublin for over five years.

Mark Stevenson has been appointed Managing Director at the Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa in Puerto Rico. He was previously the General Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas after serving as General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton San Juan. Vincent Mercurio, the former General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Beijing Financial District, now runs the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas.

Kimpton Hotels has promoted Rick Colangelo to Senior Director of Operations. He joined Kimpton in 2002 as opening General Manager of the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge and, in 2003, was promoted to Area Director of Operations for Boston/Cambridge. Prior to Kimpton, Colangelo had spent five years with Interstate and six with Ritz-Carlton.

Jan Tibaldi will be the General Manager of the upcoming Viceroy Anguilla for the Kor Group. He will be joining from One&Only Resorts where he has served as General Manager of the One&Only Le Saint Géran in Mauritius and the One&Only Kanuhura in the Maldives. He had joined the company in 2004 as Resident Manager at the One&Only Le Touessrok. Tibaldi was previously the Resident Manager at Sandy Lane in Barbados.
Mark Huntley has been appointed General Manager and Regional Vice President at the Fairmont Dallas. He rejoins Fairmont from his most recent position as Executive Vice President, Operations of the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Huntley spent most of the nineties with Fairmont, serving as General Manager of the Fairmont San Francisco, and London's Savoy.

Stephen Bello moves to Duck Key as General Manager of Hawks Cay Resort. He was most recently Rockresorts' Corporate Director of Operations. Previously he served as President of Classic Hospitality and General Manager at the Madison in Washington D.C. and the Hotel Hershey. In addition, he spent nine years with Ritz-Carlton.

Lee Bowden, who was the Managing Director of the Sagamare on Lake George for six years, has been named President and General Manager of Gateway Canyons Resort Properties in Colorado. Prior to the Sagamore, Bowden was the General Manager of the Equinox for ten years. Ho holds an MPS in Hotel Administration from Cornell.

George Fong has rejoined Rosewood as Senior Vice President of Architecture and Design. Fong had left the company to work with former Rosewood President Atef Mankarios, first at Foresthills Hotels, then at St. Regis, most recently as Vice President of Technical Services and Project Management.

Katherine Blaisdell has been named Vice President of Development Construction by Rosewood. She had left the company in March 2005, after serving as its Director of Design and Construction.

Paul Cherrett has been named Senior Vice President, Hospitality for the Aspen Skiing Company, following twenty five years with Four Seasons. He was most recently the General Manager at the Four Seasons Jackson Hole. He also served as General Manager at the Four Seasons Austin and Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Dallas.

Pascal Forotti becomes the General Manager of the InterContinental Toronto, succeeding Yannis Anagnostakis, who will be leaving the company. Forotti had, a year ago, been promoted from Hotel Manager at the InterContinental Buckhead to the same position at the InterContinental Chicago.

James Riker is the new General Manager of the Hilton Hartford. Since 1998, he has served as Regional Hotel Director for the Waterford Hotel Group.

Karl Bruno has been appointed General Manager ofNapa Valley's Kenwood Inn & Caudalie Spa. He comes from the W Seattlewhere he served as Director of Food and Beverage.

At New York's Dylan, George Buchelli has been promoted to General Manager from Director of Operations. Prior to joining the Dylan, he was the Revenue Manager at the San Carlos, alsoin Manhattan.

André Zotoff has been promoted from Hotel Manager to General Manager at the Fairmont Chicago. He originally joined the hotel in 2001 as Director of Food and Beverage, following sixteen years with InterContinental.

G. Michael Thomas has been named President and Chief Operating Officer of the Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas. He was most recently the President and Chief Operating Officer at Barton Creek in Austin and previously served as President of the Daufuskie Island Club & Resort.

Gabriel Ratner has been promoted to Vice President of Operations West Coast for the Oceana Hotel Group. Since 2005, he was the General Manager at the Oceana Santa Monica. He was previously the Operations Manager at the Sagamore in Miami, following six years with Four Seasons.

Jon McGavin has been appointed General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. The position had become available when Otto Svensson left the company last December. Most recently, McGavin was the Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes in Orlando. He also served as Director of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Marina Del Rey.

Robert Villalta has been named General Manager of the Glen Cove
Mansion. Most recently he was the Corporate Director of Operations of the Amsterdam Hospitality Group and previously served as the General Manager of the Dream Hotel in New York.

Michael Gordon has been appointed General Manager at the Greenbrier, following seven years with Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans, Greensboro and, most recently, as Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. At the Greenbrier, he reports to President Paul Ratchford, another former Ritz-Carlton man.

Julian Smaldoni joined the Kor Group as General Manager of the Tides Riviera Maya. He comes from a similar position at the Quinta Real Huatulco.

Peter Humig has been promoted to Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Aviara, having joined the resort sixteen months ago as Director of Rooms. He joined the company at the Four Seasons Berlin in 1999 and moved on to the Four Seasons Washington D.C. in 2003.

Edward Linsley has been appointed Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Houston. He joined the company in 1990 and was most recently the Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Philadelphia. Linsley previously served in various food and beverage management roles at the Four Seasons Chicago, the Four Seasons Dublin and the Four Seasons Nevis.
Ozgen Cevik has been appointed Hotel Manager at the Westin Providence. Most recently he served as the Director of Food and Beverage at the Conrad International Chicago.

Edward Stanton has been named Hotel Manager at the Westin Copley Place
Boston, replacing Safak Guvenc. Stanton comes from the former Sheraton Lexington.

MGM Mirage has promoted Anton Nikodemus toSenior Vice President Hotel Operations at the Bellagio. He held a similar position at the MGM Grand Las Vegas for the past two years. Previously, he had been the Resort Manager at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, after serving as Director of Operations at the Arizona Biltmore.

Joshua Fluhr has been appointed Vice President Operations for SBE Hotels. A Cornell graduate, he was most recently the Director of Operations for Aloft, Starwood's new brand. He also previously served as Director of Operations at the W New York.

Kelly Martin Cuff has been named Director of Operations at the French Lick Resort in Indiana. Cuff was previously the Resort Manager at the Zermatt Resort & Spa in Utah.

Dan Moore has been promoted to Regional Controller with the Morgans Hotel Group. Since 2005, he has been the Financial Controller at Miami's Delano.

Bharath Bangalore has been appointed Director of Finance at the Irvine Company's upcoming Resort at Pelican Hill. He spent the past nine years with Ritz-Carlton,most recently as Director of Finance in Boston after a turn at the Ritz-Carlton Naples.

Kelli Bryant has joined Chatham Bars Inn as Financial Controller. She comes from the Ocean Edge Resort & Club where she held the same title. Previously, she has served as the Financial Controller at the Sonesta Hotel & Suites in Coconut Grove, Florida and the Sonesta Beach Resort in Anguilla.

John Connor has been appointed Financial Controller for Benchmark Hospitality. He was previously the Controller at the Zermatt Resort & Spa in Utah. In the past, he has served as Controller at the Houston Marriott Greenpoint, the Radisson DFW South in Dallas and the Radisson
Penn Harris Hotel.

Saul Esquivel has been promoted to Director of Finance at the Four Seasons Punta Mita. He started his Four Seasons career almost ten years ago at the Four Seasons Mexico City as Credit Manager. In 2001, he became Chief Accountant and then was promoted to Assistant Director of Finance in December 2003.

Pinnacle Entertainment has appointed Dan Boudreaux to the newly created position of Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Boudreaux served in various accounting and finance positions at Harrah's Entertainment in operational, regional and at the corporate level.

Cornell graduate Nicolas Béliard has joined the Mandarin Oriental Miami as Executive Assistant Manager-Rooms. He had been with Four Seasons since 1997, save for a two-year stint as General Manager of the Château de Bagnols. Béliard's last position with Four Seasons was that of Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, a title he also previously held at the Four Seasons Nevis. He had been part of the opening executive team at the Four Seasons George Cinq.

Chrissy Burton has been appointed to the newly created position of Director, Hotel Integration, Rooms, Corporate Office, for Fairmont
. She was previously the Director of Rooms at the Fairmont Chicago.

Miramonte Resort in Indian Wellshas appointed Leopold Krenn Food and Beverage Director. He comes from the Indian Wells Country Club, where he was the Operations Manager. He also served as Operations Manager atthe Desert Falls Country Club and as Food and Beverage Manager at the Lake Arrowhead Country Club.

Ludovic Poirier has joined the Alden in Houston as Food and Beverage Director. He was most recently the Director of Operations at Bistro Moderne at the Hotel Derek. In addition, he previously served in various food and beverage managerial positions at the St. Regis Houston and the Four Seasons Houston.
Kyrsta Scully has been promoted to Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Philadelphia, taking over for Edward Linsey. She moves up from Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the hotel. Scully joined Four Seasons in 2001 at the Beverly Wilshire and has previously held various food and beverage positions at the Hilton in Old Town Alexandria and at the Willard Intercontinental.

Brad Barnett has joined HEI Hospitality in Connecticut as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He comes from the Kor Group in Los Angeles where he was the Corporate Director of Sales. He also served in various sales and marketing positions at the Monaco and the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.

Jack Bickart has been named Chief Sales Officer at the Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas. He was most recently the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Barton Creek Resort & Spa for more than five years. Previously he has held various sales and marketing positions at the Daufuskie Island Club & Resort in South Carolina and Wintergreen Resort in Virginia.

Suzanne Chabre has joined Pinnacle Entertainment as Vice President-Brand Marketing. She joined the company from MGM Mirage, where she served as Vice President of Marketing, Residential Division for the City
Center project in Las Vegas. Previously, she served as a marketing integration team leader during and after Harrah's Entertainment acquisition of Caesars Entertainment.

Cristina Romero-Peri has been named Area Director of Sales, Mexico, for the Kor Hotel Group, based in Los Angeles. She comes from Rosewood's Las Ventanas al Paraiso where she was (twice) the Director of Sales and Marketing. Romero-Peri had also been the Vice President Sales and Marketing at the One&Only Palmilla.

Tracy Fitz has been appointed Director of Marketing at the Mansion on Turtle Creek, taking over from Shirley Dunn Hanks. He comes from the Hotel Derek in Houston where he was the Director of Marketing. Previously he was the Executive Assistant Manager at the Lake Austin Spa Resort and held the same position at the Driskill. He has also served as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Omni Houston, the St. Regis Houston and Rosewood's Crescent Court.

Skip James is the new Director of Sales and Marketing at the Westin Riverwalk in San Antonio. He comes from the same position at the Wigwam in Arizona. He also served as Director of Sales and Marketing at the Westin Park Central and the Sheraton Park Central in Dallas and the Westin Fort Lauderdale.

Matthew Vesely has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing at the Ritz-Carlton Westchester scheduled to open this fall in downtown White Plains. He joined Ritz-Carlton six years ago and was most recently the Director of Sales at the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach.

Douglas Wojick has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the Chateau on The Lake Resort in Branson. He previously worked with Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt and Hilton, as well as at independent resorts like the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and Treetop Resort in Michigan.

Michele O'Malley has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa. She has previously held various sales and marketing positions in Napa Valley at the Harvest Inn and the Silverado Resort & Spa, and in San Francisco at Campton Placeand the Stanford Court.

Michael Newman joins the Doubletree-Times Square as Director of Sales and Marketing. He comes from the Grand Hyatt New York, where he has served as Director of Sales and Marketing since 2005. During his twelve years with Hyatt, he also held the position of Director of Sales and Marketing at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City.

Barbara Hicks has been appointed Director of Sales and Marketing for the Loden in Vancouver, for the Kor Group. For the past three years she has been the Director, Global Sales, for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in Chicago. She previously served as the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Fairmont Orchid and the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver.

Kenwood Inn & Caudalie Spa has named Karyl Bridgewater Director of Sales and Marketing. Previously she was based in Los Angeles serving as Director of Entertainment Sales at the Bel Age.

Barbara Piagari has joined the Viceroy Santa Monica as Director of Sales and Marketing, taking over from Carolyn Harber. Piagari was previously the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Le Méridien Sunny Isles Beach, a property she opened. She also was the Director of Sales for the Fontainebleau
Tower at the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami.

Peggy Ryan has been named Regional Sales Manager at the Enchantment Resort. Most recently, she served as Director of Sales at El Monte Sagrado. Previously she held regional sales positions at Miraval - Life in Balance for seven years and Canyon Ranch in Tucson, for six years.

Mark Feldman has been named Director of Group Sales at the soon-to-open Grand Del Mar. He was a National Sales Manager for Pebble Beach Resorts and previously served as National Sales Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua.

Mike Pistana has been promoted to Executive Director of Leisure Sales at Bellagio from his previous position of Director of Leisure Sales. He has been with MGM Mirage for fourteen years, previously serving in various management positions at the Golden Nugget and Beau Rivage.

Guy Bagg is the new Director of Sales-Mid Atlantic for the Preferred Hotel Group. He has previously worked at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Colonial Williamsburg and, most recently Hershey Resorts.

Raffles L'Ermitage has named Trish Kopera Director of Sales. Most recently, Kopera was the Group Sales Manager at the Peninsula Chicago.

Destination Hotels & Resorts has named Alyson Heidesch Director of Corporate and Leisure Travel for Estancia La Jolla and Auberge Del Mar. She was previously the Corporate Sales Manager at the Grande Colonial La Jolla and the Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco.

Lisa Poksay is the new Director of Leisure Sales at Meadowood. She comes from the global sales office of Kempinski Hotels in San Francisco. She previously served as Director of Corporate Sales at the Peninsula Chicago and the Pan-Pacific San Francisco as well as Assistant Director of Sales at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in New York.

Jennifer Oberstein has expanded her role to Area Director of Public Relations for the Ritz-Carlton Hotels of New York and Boston. Her previous role was that of Area Director of Public Relations for the Ritz-Carltons of New York.

Fairmont has promoted Lori Holland to Executive Director Public Relations. She joined the company in 2001 and moves up from her previous position as Director, Public Relations for the group.

Dan Waite has been promoted to Area Director of Human Resources for the Morgans Hotel Group. He moves up from Director of Human Resources at the Delano.

Afsi Behnam moves to Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara. She has been with the company for seventeen years in various positions at the Four Seasons Newport Beach, the Four Seasons Scottsdale and, most recently, as the Director of Rooms at Four Seasons Santa Barbara.

Jeff Rednour has been appointed Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Houston. Since 2005, he had been a Corporate Rooms Division Manager for the company.

Jerry Mong has joined the Hollywood Roosevelt as Director of Rooms. He comes from the Fairmont Newport Beach where he was the Director, Rooms Division. Previously, he held various operational positions with InterContinental in Buckhead, Cleveland and Chicago.

Delaware North has promoted Roland Hénin as Corporate Executive Chef and Chief Culinary Ambassador for their global hospitality operations. He most recently served as Corporate Chef for the company's Parks & Resorts division.

Katsuo "Suki" Sugiura has returned to his position of Executive Chef at the Beverly Hilton after a brief stint in the same capacity at the Taj Boston. He returns to the post he held for two years after serving as Executive Chef at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Eric Klein has rejoined Wolfgang Puck as Executive Chef of Spago Las Vegas. He spent seven years at Spago Beverly Hills as a Sous Chef, he had served as Executive Chef at Maple Drive in Beverly Hills, SW Steakhouse in Wynn Las Vegas and, most recently at Fix at Bellagio.

Miramonte Resort in Indian Wells has named Robert Nyerick Executive Chef. For the past two years, he had been at Spencer's in Palm Springs. Previously, he was the Executive Sous Chef at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire.

Gael Cruchet has transferred to the Ritz-Carlton Tyson's Corner as Executive Chef, taking over from John Coleman who will be the opening Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas. Cruchet comes from the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common where he held the same position for the past six months. Previously, he served as Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Boston and the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas.

The Westin Kierland in Scottsdale has promoted Todd Berry to Executive Chef. He joined the resort a year ago as head of the banquet department. Prior to joining the resort, Berry served as the Executive Chef at both the Sheraton Grand Sacramento and Hidden Meadow Ranch.

Martineau Bay Resort has named Andrew Niedenthal Executive Chef. He was most recently the Executive Chef at Peter
Island. Previously he served as Executive Chef at the Marshall House, Pierre's at Morada Bay and Cheeca Lodge.

Guy Gateau has joined the Coral Gables Biltmore as Executive Chef. He was most recently the Executive Chef at the Marietta Country Club in Atlanta. At the Biltmore, Gateau takes over from Tim Keating who is now the Executive Chef at Flying Fish at Disney's Boardwalk Resort in Orlando.

Cupertino Ortiz will be the opening Executive Chef at the Tides Riviera Maya for the Kor Group. He comes from the One&Only Palmilla, where he held the position of Executive Sous Chef.

Hubert Desmarais has joined the Fairmont Turnberry Isle as Executive Chef. He spent seventeen years at what is now the Four Seasons Palm Beach, taking part in its opening under its original name of Ocean Grand.

Michael Voltaggio is joining Hemisphere at the Greenbrier as Chef de Cuisine. He comes from Sonoma where he was most recently the Executive Chef at Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen. This is a return to the resort for the chef after spending four years at the Ritz-Carlton Naples moving up from Sous Chef to Chef de Cuisine.

Patrick Fortemps will be the opening Food and Beverage Director for Miami's Canyon Ranch. He comes from the Boca Raton Resort and Club where he was in charge of food and beverage at the Beach Club, due to close this summer for extensive renovations.

Marc Bromley has joined Four Seasons as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Chicago. For the past four years, he had been with Peninsula, most recently as Director of Restaurants at the Peninsula Chicago after serving as Director of Banquets at the Peninsula Beverly Hills.

Michael Gluckman has been promoted to Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common. He was most recently Director, Food and Beverage Outlets at the Ritz-Carlton Tyson's Corner.

Stéphane Clasquin is the new Restaurant Manager at Club XIX at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. He was most recently the Restaurant Manager at Ortolan in Los Angeles after spending a total of seven years at L'Orangerie.

Gilles Flores is the new General Manager of La Cabaña in Buenos Aires operated by Orient Express. He comes from St. Lucia where he had been the Corporate Director of Food and Beverage for Sunswept Resorts.This is a return to Orient Express for Flores who spent the previous four years in food and beverage management positions at El Encanto, La Samanna and the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort.

Jared Heber will be joining Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali at their soon-to-open Mozza Osteria in Los Angeles as Sommelier. He comes down the coast from his position as Lead Sommelier at Bouchon in Yountville and had previously worked at the French Laundry as Sommelier, as well as at Seattle's Canlis.

Auberge du Soleil has appointed Susan O'Bryen Spa Director. She joins the resort after stints at several leading destination spas in the Southwest, including the Enchantment Resort's Mii Amo Spa, El Monte Sagrado and, most recently, Miraval.

Pablo Curtosi has been appointed Yield & Reservations Manager at the Iguazu Grand Hotel Resort & Casino in Argentina. Curtosi was previously the Operations Manager at the Lennox Boutique Hotel in Ushuaia.

EUROPE


Paul Jones has been promoted to President of One&Only Resorts, taking over from J.T. Kuhlman who retires after serving as Chief Executive Officer since October 2003. Jones, one of Kerzner's most senior employees, moves up from Chief Operating Officer.

InterContinental has promoted Alexi Hakim to the position of Chief Operating Officer for the United Kingdom and Ireland, replacing John Bamsey who has taken over the Dubai-based role of Chief Operating Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Hakim was the Vice President, Full Service Operations North America, for the company.

Matthias Kiehm moves to London to serve as Vice President for the Ritz Paris and General Manager of Catering and Entertainment for Harrod's of London. He comes from the Four Seasons Sharm El Sheik where he had been the General Manager since September 2004. He had previously served as the Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Chicago and the Four Seasons Boston.

Henning Reichel has been named General Manager of the Schloss Velden in Austria, slated to open in June. He previously served as Resident Manager of Brenner's Park in Baden-Baden.

Stefan Bernstein moves to France as General Manager of the Hotel de La Cité-Concorde in Lyon. He spent the past three years as Executive Assistant Manager at the Sheraton Heathrow in London, following four years as Rooms Division Manager at the Sheraton Brussels Airport.

Gianni Riatsch is the new General Manager at the Hotel du Louvre Concorde in Paris. He previously served as the General Manager at the Hilton Athens and the London Hilton on Park Lane, following a twenty-year career with Méridien.

Nicolas Kipper has been named General Manager of the Marriott Moscow Tverskaya. He was the Director of Operations at the Moscow Marriott Grand. Prior to moving to Moscow, he spent fourteen years with Hyatt in Morocco, Poland, Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Yugoslavia and Mexico.

Carlo Stragiotto returns to the Four Seasons Milan as Hotel Manager, replacing Patrizio Cipollini. He began with Four Seasons as the Restaurant Manager of La Veranda restaurant at the opening of the Milan hotel in 1993. He since served as the Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Istanbul and the Four Seasons Hotel George V before moving to the Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh where he was most recently the Resort Manager.

Sandeep Walia has been named Hotel Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Moscow due to open this summer. He moves up from the position of Executive Assistant Manager, Food and Beverage at the Ritz-Carlton Sharm El Sheikh.

Alessandro Cresta was named Hotel Manager at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes. He comes from the Boscolo Hotel Carlo IV in Prague, where he was the General Manager. He also held the position of Hotel Manager at the InterContinental Dubai.

Claudio Melli has joined the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh as Executive Assistant Manager. He most recently served as Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Food and Beverage at the Regent Taipei.

Seth Lewis has joined the Grand Hotel InterContinental Paris as Director of Food and Beverage. A Lausanne graduate, Lewis originally joined InterContinental in 2004 as Director of Brand Standards and Operational Support. An American (his father was the late Alan Lewis a well-known restaurateur long associated with Joseph Baum) he has lived in London for many years, holding executive positions at the Royal Lancaster, the Grosvenor House, First Great Western Trains and the Sheraton Park Tower.

Charles Bourdin (whose father is legendary Chef Michel Bourdin, formerly of London's Connaught) has joined Lenôtre Restauration in Paris as Director of Food and Beverage. He was most recently the General Manager at Exclusive Hotels. He also served as the General Manager of the Hotel Balzac and the Hotel de Vigny in Paris, and as Director of Operations at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes.

Jean-Pierre Soutric has joined Shangri-La in Paris as Area Director of Marketing. Since 1996 he had been stationed at Paris' Hotel George V, before and under Four Seasons, most recently as Senior Director of Marketing France. Soutric also spent eight years in senior Sales and Marketing positions with InterContinental. With Shangri-La, his first order of duty will be to develop marketing strategies for the upcoming 110-room Shangri-La Paris Palais d'Iéna.

Gilles Humeau is Jean-Pierre Soutric's successor at the Four Seasons George V as Director of Marketing. He joined the company in October 2005 as Director of Marketing at the Four Seasons Provence and has previously worked at the Grand Hotel InterContinental Paris.

Andre Devillers takes over for Gilles Humeau as Director of Marketing at the Four Seasons Provence. He had joined the hotel in 2005 as Director of Sales and previously served as Director of Sales at the Hotel Concorde Saint Lazare.

Stéphane Marcet returns to France with the Concorde Hotel Group as Regional Director of Sales. Since 2004, he had been the Director of Sales at the Hotel de La Paix in Geneva, after serving as Regional Director of Sales at the Disneyland Resort Paris for two years.

Florian Wolf has been appointed Director of Sales at Schloss Veldenin in Austria. He previously held Sales Manager positions for Kempinski in Berlin and Hamburg. Most recently, he served as Director of Sales at the Ritz-Carlton Wolfsburg.

Stéphanie Biabaut is the new Public Relations Manager at the Park Hyatt Paris Vendôme. She was previously the Public Relations Manager for FedEx in Paris.

Alex Wagner has been appointed Executive Chef at the Château Eza, taking over from Pierre Darret who has joined the Pourcel Brothers in Montpellier. Wagner comes from Georges Blanc where he was a Sous Chef and has previously worked at the Auberge du Cep and Restaurant Pierre Orsi.

ASIA
AND THE PACIFIC

Markland Blaiklock has joined Lehman Brothers in Bangkok as Chief Executive Officer to oversee a Thai hotel company Lehman recently acquired. For the past two years, he was the Executive Director - Hotel Operations at the Wynn Macau. Blaiklock previously served as Managing Director for Raffles Hotels and Resorts.

Ruud van Dijk has transferred to the Four Seasons Tokyo Marunouchi as General Manager, taking over for Tracy Mercer, now the General Manager of the Four Seasons Palo Alto. Van Dijk was most recently the Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Bangkok. He originally joined the company in 1998 as Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons New York prior to a promotion to Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Shanghai.

Sébastien Carre has been promoted to General Manager of the soon-to-open Four Seasons Bora Bora. He has been with the company since 2003, most recently as Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Provence. He originally joined as Hotel Manager at the Four Seasons Washington D.C. following two years as Director of Operations at the Sofitel Lafayette Square. Carre had already spent five years in French Polynesia in the nineties.

David Mansfield has been named General Manager at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne. For the past two years, he had been the General Manager of the Hyatt Regency Kuantan. Before heading to Malaysia, he held the position of Executive Assistant Manager - Food and Beverage at the Grand Hyatt Bali.

Andrew Steele has been promoted by Shangri-La to General Manager of the Shangri-La New Delhi. He was previously the Resident Manager at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort in Malaysia.

Greg Allan has been named General Manager of the Singapore Marriott. A Kenya-born Scotsman, he has spent the past eleven years with Marriott International, most recently as General Manager of the JW Marriott Jakarta. In Singapore, Allan replaces Robert Stark, who will be the new General Manager at the JW Marriott Seoul.

Greg Pirkle has been promoted to General Manager of the Four Seasons Langkawi. He joined the company in 1989 and has served as Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Great Exuma and most recently at the Four Seasons Hualalai.

Andrew Houghton has been appointed General Manager of the JW Marriott Shanghai. He replaces John Northen who is taking on a new role as General Manager of the soon-to-open Renaissance Zhong Shan Park in Shanghai. Houghton's most recent role was Brand Executive Vice President, Full Service Brands for Marriott International corporate headquarters in Washington, DC.

Laurent Garrido is the new General Manager at the Sheraton Tahiti. He comes from Mauritius where he was the Resident Manager at the Dinarobin Hotel Golf & Spa for the past two years. Garrido, a Cornell/IHMI graduate, also served as Resident Manager at Les Pavillons, for Naiade Resorts, also in Mauritius.

Oberoi has appointed Hans Hordijk General Manager of Rajvilas, effective this summer. A twelve-year veteran of Peninsula, he spent the past three years as Resident Manager at the Peninsula Bangkok. He also held various positions at the Peninsula Beijing, the Peninsula Hong Kong, and the Peninsula Manila.

Andreas Trauttmansdorff has been named General Manager for Le Méridien Nirwana in Bali. He previously served in various positions for Sheraton in Perth, Jakarta and Brisbane.

Per Aquum has appointed Scot Toon General Manager Spa Collection. He has been with Per Aquum since 2003 and, over the past four years, has launched both the Dhoni Mighili, Maldives and the Fortress, Sri Lanka, as General Manager.

Vicky Wang has been named General Manager at the Chisun Grand Akasaka in Tokyo. She previously held various management positions at the Portman Shangri-La, the Sofitel Tokyo and the Mercure Narita.

The Four Seasons Hualalai has appointed Ilse Harley Resort Manager. She was previously the Director of Rooms at the Four Seasons Maui and also served in various positions at the Four Seasons New York and the Four Seasons Atlanta.

Titiya Chooto takes over for Ruud Van Dijk at the Four Seasons Bangkok as Hotel Manager. She comes from the Four Seasons Chiang Mai where she was the Resort Manager.

Lubosh Barta has transferred to the Four Seasons Chiang Mai as Resort Manager. He comes from the position of Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Bangkok.

Malcolm Omond takes over for Lubosh Barta at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai as Director of Food and Beverage. He comes from fourteen years with Hyatt, most recently as Executive Assistant Manager - Food and Beverage at the Hyatt Regency Osaka.

The Long Beach's Ancient Village Resort & Spa in Vietnam has appointed Kerstin Poetzsch Executive Assistant Manager. She previously held the title of Manager of Marketing and Sales at the One&Only Kanuhura in the Maldives.

Franck Hardy is joining the St. Regis Singapore as Executive Assistant Manager. He was most recently at the Swissôtel the Stamford, also in Singapore, as Director of Food and Beverage.

Olivier Rochefort has been named Executive Assistant Manager at the Radisson SAS Beijing. Since 2005, he had served as Director, Rooms Division, at the Fairmont Château Frontenac in Québec.

Norbert Vas has joined the Intercontinental Bali as Director of Operations. For the past two years he had been serving as General Manager at the Swiss-Belhotel
International Bali and was previously the General Manager at the Swiss-Belhotel Golden Sand Resort in Vietnam.

Paolo Randone has joined the Dusit Thani Bangkok as Executive Assistant Manager. For the past two years, he was the Resident Manager at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon. He was previously the Director of Food and Beverage at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel and the Hotel Borobudur.

Esther Boudara has transferred to the InterContinental Bora Bora Moana Resort as Hotel Manager. She comes from Paris where she was most recently the Club and Business Center Manager at the InterContinental Paris Grand Hotel.

Martin Jones has recently been promoted to Managing Director - Food and Beverage, Asia Pacific for Starwood. He was most recently the General Manager at the Westin Kuala Lumpur and also Chairman of Starwood Asia Pacific's Food and Beverage Council. He has been with Starwood since 1999, when he started as Director of Operations, Food and Beverage, at the Westin Stamford & Westin Plaza Hotels in Singapore, before becoming General Manager at the W Seoul.

The Four Seasons Singapore has appointed Byron Chong Director of Food and Beverage. He joined the company in 1996 at the Regent Hong Kong where he was the Banquet Sales Manager. He then held various food and beverage management positions at the Four Seasons Shanghai and the Four Seasons Maldives.

Andrew de Brito has transferred to the Four Seasons Mumbai as pre-opening Director of Food and Beverage. He was most recently the Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Langkawi and previously served as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Aviara.

Irra Malik has been appointed Director of Rooms for the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta. She has spent most of her working years in London working in various positions with companies such as Hyatt International, the Wesbury Mayfair, the Carlton Tower and most recently the InterContinental Jakarta as Rooms Division Manager.

Akihiro Ichikawa has been promoted to Director of Marketing at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so, a hotel he joined in 2005. He takes over for Hiroyuki Hasebe who moves back as Director of Rooms at the hotel. Ichikawa previously held various sales and marketing positions at the Hotel Okura Tokyo, Okura Garden Hotel Shanghai and the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.

Shinichi Tamegai has been promoted to Human Resources Manager at the Four Seasons Tokyo at Chinzan-so, taking over from Osatake Ishino who has been called back to the parent company of Fujita Kanko. Tamegai joined the hotel in 2001 and has been the Training Manager for the past four years.

James Viney has joined the Four Seasons Tokyo Maranouchi as Executive Chef. He was most recently the Executive Chef at the Saujana in Kuala Lumpur. Previously, he spent four years at the Grand InterContinental Seoul joining them as Sous Chef de Cuisine and moving up to Executive Sous Chef.

The Fullerton Singapore has appointed Arnaud Thulliez Executive Chef. He comes from the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, a property he joined in 2004 as Chef de Cuisine and within a year was promoted to Executive Sous Chef.

Patrice Martineau has joined the soon-to-open Peninsula Tokyo as Chef de Cuisine. Martineau comes from London's Savoywhere he has been the Executive Chef since 2005, following six years at Daniel Boulud's New York restaurants.

Matthew Siegel moves to Hong Kong as General Manager of Classified, a cheese shop with aging rooms. He was most recently at the Tanglin Club in Singapore as Director of Food and Beverage. He also was the Executive Assistant Manager Food and Beverage at the Kowloon Hotel in Hong Kong.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

Fabio Piccirillo has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Sun Resorts Ltd. inMauritius. He was previously the Regional Executive Director, One&Only Resorts, Mauritius.

Raul Salcido has been promoted to General Manager of the Ritz-Carlton Istanbul. He started with the company in 1993 at the Ritz-Carlton Cancun and has held various positions at the Ritz-Carlton Washington D.C., the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach and the Ritz-Carlton Santiago, among others. Most recently, he has held the position of Hotel Manager at the Hotel Arts Barcelona.

Armin Zerounian was transferred by Hilton to General Manager of the Conrad Istanbul. He was previously the General Manager of the Hilton Prague. In Istanbul, he takes over from Asaad Farag, who has returned to the United States.

David Todd has been named General Manager at the Crowne Plaza Muscat in Oman. He has been with InterContinental for over five years throughout the Middle East and the United Kingdom, most recently as Resident Manager at the Al Bustan Palace InterContinental in Oman.

Hans-Peter Leitzke joins the soon to open Rosewood Corniche in Saudi Arabia as General Manager. He was most recently the Resident Manager at the Hotel Al Khozama, a Rosewood sister property. Leitzke also served as Resident Manager at the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel in St. Petersburg, Executive Assistant Manager at the Sheraton Nusa Indah Resort, Bali and at Le Méridien Cairo.

Alejandro Bernabe has been named General Manager at the Kempinski Julai'a in Kuwait. He has previously been with Kempinski in Spain, Istanbul and, most recently, at the Kempinski San Lawrenz in Malta as General Manager. His successor at the Kempinski San Lawrenz is Emel Attikan.

Manfred Keiler has been appointed General Manager at The Empire Hotel and Country Club in Brunei. He comes to the hotel from the Intercontinental The Grand Mumbai.

Sylvain Chauvet has been named General Manager at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in West Africa. He comes from Tanzania where he was the General Manager at Karafuu for the past five years. Prior to that, he spent four years as Director and Operations Manager for Tanganyika Wildlife Safari Company also in Tanzania.

Charlie Parker has been promoted to Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh. He comes from the Four Seasons Doha where he was most recently the Director of Rooms.

Jean-Marc Michel has been appointed Resort Manager at the One&Only Le Saint Géran in Mauritius. A Lausanne graduate, he comes from Portugal where he spent the past six years as Hotel Manager at Orient Express' Reid's Palace.

Nicolas Solari has been appointed opening Manager for the new Maritim Royal Peninsula & Spa and will also head the Sharm El Sheikh international Congress Center, to be branded Maritim. He is currently the opening Hotel Manager for the Jolie Ville Royal Peninsula Resort & Spa. Previously, he served as the Hotel General Manager of the MS Viking Century Sky and has worked for Hyatt Hotels, Moevenpick, Radisson and Gloria
Hotels in Asia.

Alexander Wassermann has been appointed Resident Manager for the Moevenpick Hotel Bur Dubai. He has been with the company since 2003 first at the Moevenpick Resort and Spa Dead Sea as Director of Food and Beverage. He moved thereafter to the Moevenpick Resort Taba in Egypt.

Ziad Aoun is moving as Executive Assistant Manager to the Sofitel Palace in Dubai slated for opening this summer. He was most recently at Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi as Director of Business Development.

Michael Ganster has been appointed Rooms Division Manager at the Dusit Dubai. He served the past two years as Front Office Manager at Raffles L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills.

Fabrice Canelle has been named Executive Chef at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, taking over from Jean-Paul Naquin. Canelle was the Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Istanbul. Previously, he held the position of Director of Culinary Operations at the Pudong Shangri-La and Executive Chef at the Kempinski Ciragan Palace.

Jean-Paul Naquin will move over to the Atlantis Palm Dubai as Executive Chef. He comes from the same position at Hotel Burj al Arab also in Dubai. Previously, he has served as Executive Chef at Raffles Singapore, the Ritz-Carlton Seoul and the Atlantis Bahamas.

Edited by Benoit Gateau-Cumin & Lisa Leroy

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.