The Boutique Search Firm

THE AMERICAS

Many changes at the corporate office of Wyndham International: Cornellian Ted Teng, President and Chief Operating Officer, sees his position "rightsized" out of existence; Joseph Champ, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Patricia Smith, Executive Vice President of Human Resources are "rightsized" too. In addition, Richard Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has resigned with Elizabeth Schroeder as his replacement as Executive Vice President and Acting Chief Financial Officer. Schroeder was formerly Wyndham's Senior Vice President of Finance, Strategic Planning and Investor Relations. Timothy Fielding, former Corporate Controller, will be named Executive Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer; Michael Higa will be named Corporate Treasurer and Judy Hendrick, former Senior Vice President and Treasurer, will be named Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer.

Ray Jacobi is Chief Executive Officer of the Telluride Ski and Golf Company. He was previously with Rosewood for five years, first as Managing Director of the Mansion on Turtle Creek and later as Chief Operating Officer. Prior experience also includes senior level positions with Ian Schrager Hotels, the Phoenician and Four Seasons Hotels.

David King has been appointed Regional Vice President of Operations by Loews Hotels in Florida. A Cornell graduate, King previously logged thirty years with what is now Starwood, most recently as Vice President of Staff Operations for the North America Division. At Loews, King takes over from another Cornellian, Michael Sansbury, who will be launching his own hotel group.

Edward Evans has been appointed Founding Director for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. Evans served most recently as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for ARAMARK's Uniform and Career Apparel Group.

Joseph Kruvi has been named Area Vice President of the San Diego & South Orange County regions of Hilton Hotels Corporation. Kruvi had started his career with Hilton prior to joining Dan Hotels in Israel before engaging in a ten-year career with Hyatt in the United Sates and Israel. He was most recently the General Manager of the Hilton Burbank & Convention Center.

Larry Mullin has been promoted to Executive Vice President Chief Operating Officer of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Prior to joining Borgata, Mullin served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Trump Marina.

Johnny So has been appointed Managing Director at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa. He was previously with KSL Resorts as General Manager of the Grand Wailea Resort in Hawaii and previously in the same capacity at La Quinta in Palm Springs. So had worked with Starwood before as Vice President of Operations at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. At Monarch Beach, he takes the position left vacant when Ulrich Krauer left in the spring.

Ramesh Sadhwani has left the Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma as General Manager and has been replaced by Antoine Chahwan who transfers from the Four Seasons Sydney. The resort also has a new Resort Manager in Annabel Shaw who comes from the Four Seasons Las Colinas where she was the Director of Rooms.

Robert Todak has been appointed General Manager of the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago, the first property opened under the new Sol Melia/Hard Rock joint venture. Todak had been operating his own travel agency since leaving the presidency of Miami-based Bentley Group. He was also for five years the General Manager of Ian Schrager’s Delano.

Bonnie Best has been promoted to General Manager at the Hotel Valencia Santana Row. Best was formerly Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing for three years for Hotel Valencia.

Bruce James has been appointed General Manager at the Numa Hotel and Spa, a new boutique property located in Monterrey, Mexico slated to open in June 2005. He was previously the Director of Sales at the Pantages Hotel in Toronto.

At Gordon Campbell-Gray’s Carlisle Bay in Antigua, Andrew Hedley is the new General Manager. He comes from Point Grace in the Turks and Caicos.

John Graham has been appointed General Manager at the Point in Saranac Lake. He was previously at sister property the Willcox in Georgia. Graham is taking over from Tim Thuell who, after seven years at the Point, has been appointed General Manager of Napa Valley’s Meadowood, another Relais & Chateau.

Jeffrey Mayers has been appointed General Manager of the Riverview Plaza in Mobile. He was most recently with Interstate at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in South Carolina. Mayers also served as Director of Operations at the Renaissance WorldGate Hotel in Orlando.

Hans Bratt is the new General Manager of the Mayfair Hotel and Spa in Miami, now operated by Kimpton Hotels. Bratt was most recently at André Balasz’ Raleigh, following a two-year stint as the General Manager of the Presidente Intercontinental in Cozumel.

Peter Hoehn has been named General Manager of the Francisco Grande Hotel and Golf Resort in Arizona. Hoehn comes from the Boar’s Head Inn in Charlottesville, where he had been since 2000 as the Director of Food and Beverage Operations. At Francisco Grande, he takes over from Carter Donovan who served as Owner’s Representative and Opening General Manager.

At the MGM Grand Las Vegas Tobias Mattstedt’s new position is Vice President of SKYLOFTS, the fancy all-suite boutique hotel atop the MGM Grand. Concurrently, he will continue in his role as Vice President Development for the MGM Grand. He originally joined the MGM Grand in 2001 as Vice President of Food & Beverage.

Peter Nowotny, a Cornell graduate, is the new General Manager of the Holiday Inn in Addison, Texas. Nowotny had previously been with Stanford Hotels and the Adams Mark in Dallas.

Peter Karpinski, a Cornell graduate, has been appointed Corporate Director of Operations for the Starr Restaurant Organization in Philadelphia. He was previously the Director of Restaurants at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Luis Leon has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Secured Diversified Investments, a real estate holding and financial services company. Leon was most recently the Director of Finance at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa. Prior to that, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Nakamichi America Corporation.

Jeffrey Felshaw is the General Manager of the City Club Hotel in New York. He previously was the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Regent Wall Street (which has closed), the W New York and the New York Palace.

Domingo Castro has joined the soon-to-open Casa Colonial boutique Resort & Spa in the Dominican Republic, as its Managing Director. He moves from Mexico where he held the position of General Manager at Las Alamandas Resort.

Ivan Lee has joined the Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles as Vice President/General Manager. Prior to joining Millennnium, Lee was the Chief Executive in the hotel division of the Sino Group in Singapore. In Los Angeles, Lee takes over from Gunther Zweimuller, who has left the company.

Greg Pirkle transfers from the Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma to be the Resort Manager at Hawaii’s Four Seasons Hualalai. Pirkle started his career with Ritz-Carlton in 1985 and joined Four Seasons in 1989 as Executive Housekeeper in Boston.

Marcie Lieberman has been promoted at the Carlyle to Hotel Manager. She was previously the Director of Rooms since joining the luxe hotel in 2002. She originally joined Rosewood in May 2001 as the Executive Assistant Manager in charge of rooms at the Carénage Bay Resort. The property, since then renamed Raffles Resort Canouan Island, is now operated by Raffles International.

Daniela Guccione has been promoted to the position of Assistant General Manager at the Hotel Commonwealth in Boston. Guccione joined the hotel as Property Operations Director during its pre-opening stages and previously worked at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge and the Hilton Dedham in various housekeeping and front office management positions.

Hilton Hotels has named Cornell graduate Stefani Strategos Vice President, Project Finance and Namit Malhotra Vice President, Feasibility and Investment Analysis. Strategos joined Hilton in 2000 as Manager of Feasibility & Investment Analysis. Malhotra joined in 2003 as Director of Feasibility & Investment Analysis.

Caroline Wilson-Kent has joined the Dorchester Group as Director of Sales and Marketing North America. Wilson-Kent had been with the Oberoi Group since 1994. She was the company’s Director of Sales and Marketing, the Americas, since 1996.

Bob Arrivillaga is the new Director of Sales-Southwest Region at KSL Resorts. Arrivillaga has been in hospitality sales since 1992 with his most recent experiences selling the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel for three years and the St. Regis Monarch Beach for the past four years.

Loma Howell has joined the Mandarin-Oriental Washington DC as Director of Sales. Howell comes from the Madison and had previously toiled for Marriott.

Mario Merturi has joined L’Escale at the Delamar as Director of Catering and Operations. Merturi comes from the Hyatt Regency Greenwich where he held several positions over the past ten years, most recently as Director of Catering and Conference Services.

Jeffrey Levine joins Intercontinental as Key Accounts Director, East Coast. Levine had previously been the Director of Sales, East Coast, for Concorde Hotels since 2001. He was promoted to that position following five years selling Concorde’s flagships Hotel de Crillon and Hotel Martinez in the United States.

Lynne Hayman is the new Director of Human Resources at the Four Seasons Las Vegas. Hayman replaces David Sullivan who is now with Abercrombie and Kent as VP Human Resources. Hayman was most recently the Director of Human Resources at the Four Seasons Newport Beach.

Jacqueline Pucci has transferred as Director of Human Resources from the Pierre in New York to the Four Seasons Newport Beach. She is replaced at the Pierre by Yvonne Mancini who comes a few blocks from the Four Seasons New York.

Anthony Vazquez joins the Rhiga Royal as Director of Human Resources. Vazquez was previously a Vice President of Human Resources for Hilton Hotels in New York and spent a total of fourteen years with the company.

Marco Perry is the new Director of Food and Beverage at Soho House in New York. Perry had been with the Mandarin-Oriental Hotel Group for the past four years, most recently at the Director of Food and Beverage at the Mark.

Julian Griffiths joins the New York Palace as Director of Food and Beverage. Griffiths was previously at the Waldorf=Astoria as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage. At the Palace, he slides into the position left vacant by Gérald Feurer, now the Director of Food and Beverage at the Peninsula New York.

Edward Linsley transfers from the Four Seasons Nevis to the Four Seasons Philadelphia as Director of Food and Beverage. Thomas de Louise replaces Linsley in Nevis, formerly of the Four Seasons Philadelphia.

David Bernand took over for Alastair McAlpine as Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Washington DC. McAlphine is currently at the Pierre in New York before heading over to Hawaii to assist with the takeover of the Manele Bay Hotel and Lodge at Koele for Four Seasons. As for Bernand, he used to be the Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Washington.

Didier Jardin has been transferred from the position of Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons New York to the same position at the Four Seasons Hualalai. Francois-Olivier Luiggi, a six-year veteran of the Four Seasons New York (and a graduate of the IHMI Cornell-Essec) will take the department over.

Scott Cronin, former Regional Director, New York, for China Grill Management, has been appointed Regional Director of Kimpton Restaurants in New York. As such he rejoins another former China Grill Management man, Kelley Jones, now Kimpton’s Vice President Food and Beverage.

Demi Ortega has taken over for Jitka Wieland as Director of Food and Beverage at the Four Seasons Newport Beach. Ortega returns to Newport Beach after stints with Four Seasons in Scottsdale and Atlanta. As for Wieland, she has left the company.

At the Four Seasons Scottsdale, Brian Pierce takes over from Demi Ortega as Director of Food and Beverage. Pierce had been the Director of Restaurants at the Phoenician for several years.

Andy Yates has been promoted to General Manager of Planet Hollywood New York. He took over from Roland Rutjens who left the company to move to Florida.

Toby Reivant is the opening Director of Operations at Bistro Moderne in Houston’s Hotel Derek. Reivant returns stateside after spending the past year in Stockholm at Öst 100. He previously was the Restaurant Director at L’Auberge du Soleil. Bistro Moderne, designed by Jeffrey Beers, is due to open in November.

Brian Marcus has been promoted to the position of General Manager at the soon to open Sushi Roku Las Vegas located in the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace. Marcus joined Sushi Roku parent company Innovative Dining in November 2003. At the time he had been assigned the launch of Ludo at the W, a joined venture with Starwood Hotels in Los Angeles, which failed to materialize.

Jeffrey Keeler is the new Food and Beverage Manager at the Sheraton Steamboat Resort and Conference Center. He comes from the Wigwam in Phoenix where he was a Food and Beverage Outlet Manager.

Sébastien Silvestri is leaving his post of Director of Food and Beverage at the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort to rejoin former boss Ray Jacobi at the Telluride Ski and Golf Company. Silvestri will be responsible for launching a new restaurant complex. He had worked for Rosewood under Jacobi previously at the Lanesborough in London and the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas.

Yvon Goetz has been appointed Corporate Executive Chef at the David Wilhelm Restaurant Group. He was previously with Ritz-Carlton for thirteen years, the most recent nine of which as Chef de Cuisine of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.

Andrew Copley is opening his own restaurant in Palm Springs this December, aptly named Copley’s on Palm Canyon. Copley had previously been the Executive Chef for two years at the Turtle Bay Resort and for three years at the Lodge at Koele.

Alain Léger has been appointed Executive Chef at Brentwood Bay Lodge, in British Columbia. A Canadian, he most recently plied his trade at the Metropolitan in Vancouver, where he was the Executive Sous Chef, and at Pastis restaurant, also in Vancouver.

Daniel Orr has joined the Cuisinart Resort as Executive Chef, replacing Denis Jaricot who moved to Little Dix Bay in the spring. Orr originally made his name as the Chef at New York’s La Grenouille, which he left in 2001 to open Sir Terence Conran’s Guastavino’s.

Sumanth Das joined the restaurant Aramara at the Four Seasons Punta Mita as Restaurant Chef. Das had previously been the Executive Chef at Monsoon in Chicago and at the Peninsula Chicago as Sous Chef of Shanghai Terrace.

Daniel Schaffhauser joined the Regent Beverly Wilshire as Executive Banquet Chef. Schaffhauser was previously the Executive Chef at Casa del Mar in Santa Monica and Chez Michel in San Francisco after spending six years at the Ritz-Carlton Atlanta.

Robert Gerstenecker was recently named Executive Chef of Park 75 at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta. Gerstenecker returns to Atlanta after a two-year layover at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach where he served as Executive Sous Chef. Gerstenecker replaces Kevin Hickey who accepted the position of Executive Chef at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago.

There is a new Executive Chef at Meadowood in Napa Valley, Vincent Nattress. He was the previous Chef/Owner of Roux in St. Helena and takes over for Andrew Chadwick.

Scheduled to open in January 2005, the St. Julien Hotel in Boulder has brought on Marco Cavuoto as Executive Chef. Cavuoto had previously been with Bacara Resort and the St. Regis Los Angeles as Executive Sous Chef.

Denis Lartigue has been appointed to the position of Executive Chef at the Hilton Barbados. Lartigue was previously in a similar position at the Hilton Shanghai.

Bruno Feldeisen has been named Executive Pastry Chef at the Brentwood Bay Lodge. Deemed one of the top pastry chefs in the country, Feldeisen worked with Joachim Splichal for several years prior to becoming the opening Pastry Chef at the Four Seasons New York in the mid nineties. In recent years he opened restaurants in Washington DC (Senses) and San Francisco (Solea) as well as a bakery in Toronto.

Olivier Carlut is the new Executive Pastry Chef of the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel and Spa. His career includes Executive Pastry Chef positions at the Hyatt Regency Kauai, Lotte Hotel in Seoul, Guam Hilton International, Hyatt Dubai and Sheraton Oman.

Edgar Theisen is the new Executive Chef at Little Buddha at Las Vegas’ hip Palms Hotel and Casino. Theisen joins from Roy’s Restaurants, where he had been an Executive Chef in Philadelphia, Boca Raton and Hawaii. He had also worked with chef-restaurateur Jean-Marie Josselin at the Beach House on Kauai.

EUROPE

Jean Faivre has been promoted to Regional General Manager for Hilton in Paris. Based at the Paris Hilton, he oversees four hotels. Faivre moves up from the position of General Manager of the Hilton Rabat. In Paris, he replaces Primo Munoz, who will be opening the new Hilton Barcelona. A long-time Intercontinental man, Faivre originally joined Hilton in 1999 as the General Manager of the Bucharest Hilton.

After eight years as General Manager of Berlin’s Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Gianni van Daalen is assuming the position of General Manager of the Hotel Baltschug Kempinski in Moscow, following the unexpected death of Hans Sebesta.

Philippe Attia has been promoted to Vice President, Operations Europe, by Dolce International. As such he will assume responsibility for European property operations while continuing in his role as Managing Director of Dolce Chantilly outside Paris.

The Four Seasons Berlin is no longer and has been rebranded the Regent of Berlin with Wolfgang Nitschke as its General Manager. Most recently the General Manager of Le Méridien London Heathrow, Nitschke previously ran the former Regent Schlosshotel, also in Berlin.

Within Grace Leo-Andrieu’s GLA Hotels, Yann Clavadetscher transferred from Cotton House to London’s Cadogan as Director of Finance. Prior to joining GLA in 2001, Clavadetscher was at the Hyatt Regency Riyadh.

Nuno Neves is the new Food and Beverage Director at the Radisson SAS in Rome. Neves comes from Milan where he had been at the Meliá Milano Hotel & Convention Center for the past year.

Olivier Duprez has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at Las Dunas in Marbella. Duprez was previously the Assistant Food and Beverage Manager at La Samanna in the French West Indies and also worked as a Restaurants Manager at Cliveden in England.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Raffles International has announced the appointment of Leong Wai Leng as Chief Executive Officer of Raffles International Limited. Leong is currently the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Raffles Holdings Limited and the Executive Director of Raffles International.

At Shangri-La, Cetin Sekercioglu, presently the Area Manager based at the Shangri-La Singapore, will become Vice President and be transferred to the corporate office in Hong Kong. Sekercioglu will be responsible for all Shangri-La properties in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Philippe Caretti is also appointed Vice President by Shangri-La and will continue to be based at the Pudong Shangri-La Shanghai where he is currently the Area Manager. In his new role, he will also be supervising the Shangri-La Hangzhou and the Shangri-La Shenzhen. Caretti, a Lausanne graduate, originally joined Shangri-La in 1993 as Resident Manager of the Shangri-La Kowloon.

Lothar Nessmann, General Manager of Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza in Taipei, is moving to the corporate office of Shangri-La as Vice President. Nessmann will continue to oversee the Far Eastern Plaza in addition to four hotels in the Philippines, the Shangri-La Bangkok and the Traders Yangon.

Greg Dogan has been promoted to Area Manager. He will continue to perform his existing role as General Manager of the Shangri-La Dalian. He will also be supervising the Traders Shenyang, the Shangri-La Changchun and the Shangri-La Harbin.

Michael Cottan, currently the General Manager of the Shangri-La Sydney, is appointed Area Manager. In addition to managing Sydney, Cottan will oversee the Shangri-La Marina in Cairns, the Shangri-La Fijian Resort and the Fiji Mocambo.

Richard Riley was promoted from General Manager of the Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur to Area Manager. He now also oversees the Putrajaya Shangri-La and the Traders Kuala Lumpur, opening in 2006.

Chris Watson has been appointed Senior Vice President Human Resources by Shanghai-based Jin Jiang International Hotels. Watson, who once was a Senior Hotel and Restaurant Inspector for the feared Michelin Guide, was also a well-known consultant for our competitors Profile and Berkeley Scott. He had recently returned to Intercontinental where he was the General Manager of the Holiday Inn Daya Bay in Guangdong.

Samir Wildemann is the new General Manager of the Pan Pacific Bangkok. Prior to this appointment, Wildemann was the General Manager of Le Royal Méridien Phuket Yacht Club and then moved to Le Royal Méridien Baan Taling Ngam in Koh Samui.

Thierry Douin has joined the Shangri-La Singapore as General Manager. He was previously the General Manager of the Kowloon Shangri-La. Mark Heywood replaces Douin as General Manager in Hong Kong. Heywood was previously the General Manager of Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort, in Kota Kinabalu.

Ulf Bremer is now the General Manager of Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort. Bremer was previously the Hotel Manager at the Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong.

Kenneth Sorensen has been appointed General Manager of Le Méridien Cyberport in Hong Kong. For the past two years, Sorensen had been the General Manager at Le Méridien Tahiti.

Dominique Michaud is the new General Manager of Le Méridien Tahiti. Michaud moves up from the Le Méridien Nouméa where he was the Deputy General Manager for the past five years. He had also been the Food and Beverage Director at the Grand Hotel Intercontinental in Paris.

Joseph Polito has been appointed Director of Operations for Alila Hotels and Resorts, Thailand and General Manager of the brand new Alila Phuket Villas, a luxury property opening in late 2005. Polito was most recently the Opening General Manager of the Royal Jimbaran Bay in Bali and previously worked in the same capacity at Oberoi’s very luxe Udaivilas.

François Laustriat and Lauren Ross-Aublet have taken over the management of Le Taha'a Private Island & Spa. Laustriat comes from the Relais & Châteaux association where he held the position of Director of Quality and Development for the past fourteen years. Ross-Aublet headed her own public relations agency in Montreal for the past twelve years.

Donald Berger formerly the Executive Chef of the Hanoi Press Club and Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong has struck out on his own in Vietnam. Berger’s Vine Quality Hospitality Group headquartered in Hanoi includes Vine Wine Boutique Bar & Cafe, a wholesale and consulting business, public relations and catering company, among others.

Eric Faivre, a graduate of the Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne, has been appointed Executive Assistant Manager in charge of Food and Beverage in Chiang Mai for Cheddi Hotels. He was previously with the Peninsula Bangkok as Director of Food and Beverage and at the Peninsula Chicago as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage.

The Mandarin-Oriental Hotel Group has appointed Sally de Souza as Group Public Relations Manager. De Souza worked in publishing and journalism in Hong Kong prior to joining the Mandarin-Oriental Hong Kong in 2000.

Matthias Terrettaz, who graduated from Lausanne in 1994, has transferred from the Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park South, where he was the Club Manager, to the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, as Restaurant Manager.

Two recent promotions at the Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya: Napasakorn Sabsomboon as Director of Sales and Surapat Vongprateep from Sales Manager to Assistant Director of Sales.

Made Suarta Jaya has joined Orient-Express’ Bora Bora Lagoon Resort as Spa Manager. He comes from Le Méridien Nirwana Golf and Spa Resort where he was since 1997, most recently as Spa and Recreation Manager. On Bora Bora, he will be assisted by Rachelle Moulai who was until recently a Manager of the North-Island Spa in the Seychelles.

Martin Klienmann has joined the Imperial in New Delhi, as the Executive Assistant Manager. Prior, he was at the Raffles Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten in Hamburg, for four years.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

Gisela Munchgesang is replacing Jean Faivre at the Hilton Rabat as General Manager. Faivre moves to Paris as Regional General Manager for Hilton, replacing Primo Munoz, who will be opening the new Hilton Barcelona.

Andrew Anthony has been appointed Rooms Division Manager at the Intercontinental Hotel Kigali in Rwanda. Prior to that, he was in New York and worked as a Front Office Manager at the Trump International Hotel and at the Bryant Park. Previous experience also includes front office and revenue management positions at the Shore Club in Miami.

Edited by Benoit Gateau-Cumin

President
The Boutique Search Firm

[email protected]

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.

Do you have news for us? Please do not hesitate to send us an e-mail at [email protected] or or [email protected]

Benoit Gateau-Cumin
The Boutique Search Firm