Stefan Leser

Stefan Leser joined the Jumeirah Group as Group Chief Executive Officer in February 2016. During his time with the company, he has overseen a number of important milestones. These include the launch of The Terrace at Burj Al Arab Jumeirah and the opening of Jumeirah Al Naseem, a 430 luxury room hotel in Dubai, which completes the award-winning Madinat Jumeirah Resort. Stefan continues to drive Jumeirah’s commitment to attracting top talent. He has visited international hospitality schools to share Jumeirah insights and meet students as well as support Jumeirah's National Graduate Programme, which develops the Emirati leaders of tomorrow.

As Jumeirah Group CEO, Stefan has put operating excellence and efficiency at the centre of focus, implementing organisational changes and driving growth.

Prior to joining Jumeirah, Stefan worked with Swiss travel services provider, Kuoni Travel Holding, where he held executive management positions for more than 10 years. As a member of Kuoni’s Executive Board, he was most recently Executive Vice President of its outbound travel businesses, covering the Nordics, United Kingdom, Benelux, India, China, Hong Kong as well as the home market, Switzerland. In addition, he was responsible for all businesses specialising in inbound destination management. In this role, he held responsibility for $3 billion of revenues and 8,000 employees.

Earlier roles with Kuoni included Executive Vice President, CEO Division, Emerging Market and Specialist Businesses where he oversaw the growth and development of Kuoni’s global visa outsourcing business, VFS, which today accounts for $300m in annual sales.

Before joining Kuoni, Mr. Leser spent eight years working in IT service companies, with over five years in senior positions with EDS Corporation.

Originally from Bavaria in Germany, Stefan holds an MBA from Augusta University, Georgia in the USA.