Starwood has appointed Javier Benito to Executive Vice President and
Chief Marketing Officer. Benito, 42, was formerly a Coca Cola and Procter
& Gamble executive.
Robert Dunigan has been named Vice President of Operations Analysis
for Four Seasons Hotels. Dunigan was previously the company's Director
of Internal Audit since 2002 and was an Area Director of Finance prior
to that.
Scott Farr has been promoted to the position of Vice President, Performance
Management for Hilton Hotels Corporation. Farr joined Hilton in 2001 as
Director of Performance Management.
Craig Jacobs is Managing Director West Coast and Hawaii for Preferred
Hotels and Resorts. For the past seven years, Jacobs has been with the
Hotel del Coronado starting as Director of Sales and Marketing, then moving
into the General Manager position and finally as Regional Vice President
Sales and Marketing overseeing both the Del and La Costa for KSL Resorts.
Jason Henzell has been appointed President of Chris Blackwell�s Island
Outpost. He was previously the Owner and General Manager of Jake's in Jamaica.
Luis Fernando Estefan is the new Director of Development for the Andean
Region (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela), Central America
for InterContinental. He was previously the General Manager for both the
Radisson Royal and Hotels Royal in Colombia.
Harry Gorstayn has been appointed General Manager of the Four Seasons
Philadelphia, replacing Robert Cima, who moved to the Four Seasons Aviara.
Gorstayn had been the General Manager at the Four Seasons Palm Beach since
1998 and is a veteran of several Four Seasons locations. Jamie Yarrow,
formerly Resort Manager at the Four Seasons Jackson Hole is Gorstayn�s
successor in Palm Beach. Gorstayn is a graduate of the Ecole Hotelière
de Lausanne.
General Manager Robert Cima has transferred from the Four Seasons Philadelphia
to the Four Seasons Aviara, taking over for Brian Parmelee who has left
the company. Cima, a Cornell graduate, also served with Four Seasons in
Chicago, London, Maui and San Francisco. As for Parmelee, he had joined
Four Seasons in 1986 upon graduation from Cornell. He leaves the hotel
industry to become a Vice President with JAMS, the Resolution Experts,
and a provider of dispute resolution services.
Karen Earp is the new General Manager at the Four Seasons Santa Barbara,
taking over for the retired John Indrieri. Earp comes from the Four Seasons
Canary Wharf where she was the General Manager.
The new General Manager at Napa Valley�s Carneros Inn is Paul Horner
who had been the Hotel Manager for Lanai's Manele Bay Hotel, since 2001.
Horner originally joined Lanai Resorts at the Lodge at Koele in 1993 as
Dining Room Manager and was promoted to Director of Food and Beverage at
Manele Bay in 1998.
Magnus Alnebeck has been appointed General Manager at Pelican Bay in
the Bahamas, following eight years at the helm of the Ladera Resort in
St. Lucia.
Klaus Lapp is the new Managing Director of the Sol Melia Paradisus Puerto
Rico. Lapp was previously General Manager of the Villarrica Park Lake in
Chile. Lapp takes over from Jose Carrasco.
Fredrik Nyborg is the new Director of Operations at the Sol Melia Paradisus
Puerto Rico. Nyborg was previously Director of Food and Beverage at the
Sofitel Chicago Water Tower. Prior experience includes various Food and
Beverage positions with Ritz-Carlton in Puerto Rico, Philadelphia, Shanghai
and Osaka.
Olivier Bottois has joined the Oheka Castle as Managing Director. Bottois
was recruited by owner/developer Gary Melius who has owned the castle since
1984. Oheka is the former chateau of Otto Herman Kahn. It is the second
largest private residence in the United States. Bottois comes from the
Lake Placid Lodge, where he was the General Manager. He had previously
been at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower following nine years with Four
Seasons.
Daniel Mann returns to the United States to be General Manager of the
Boca Raton Resort and Club, reporting to Jean-Jacques Pergant. Mann was
reporting to Pergant in his previous post as well, as the General Manager
of London�s Savoy. The Boca Raton Hotel and Club now belongs to Blackstone,
the former owners of London's Savoy Hotel Group, where Pergant was the
Senior Vice President.
Michael Steinhart is the new Managing Director for both the Dos Brisas
Ranch and the Inn at Dos Brisas in Texas. Steinhart was previously the
General Manager at L�Auberge de Sedona. Joining Steinhart is Richard Jardin
who will be General Manager for the Inn at Dos Brisas. Jardin comes to
the hotel after ten years with the Garrett Hotel Group.
Jacques Baheux is the General Manager for the Renaissance Portsmouth
Hotel and Waterfront Conference Center. Baheux joins from the Tremont in
Boston where he served as the Interim General Manager.
Patrick Birchall has been promoted to General Manager of the Presidente
InterContinental in Mexico City. Birchall joined the hotel in 2003 as Hotel
Manager and has previously been at the InterContinental Paris, Le Grand
Hotel InterContinental and the InterContinental Nicaragua. In Mexico City,
he replaces Carlo Bicaci, who has been promoted to Regional Vice President.
Roger Soane is the new General Manager of the Fairmont Empress. Soane
has most recently held the position of General Manager for the company�s
two hotels in Barbados, the Fairmont Glitter Bay and the Fairmont Royal
Pavilion.
Jérome Strack has resigned as General Manager of the Graciela
in Burbank and will be moving to Tucson to build and manage the Saguaro
Ranch.
Ross MacNett has joined Washington DC�s Hotel Lombardy as General Manager.
MacNett was previously Operations Manager, National Sales Manager and Rooms
Division at the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels, Maryland.
Glenn Bishop has been appointed General Manager of the Inn and Spa at
Loretto. Bishop comes from the Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club in Redondo
Beach where he began as Corporate Engineer in 1996, and subsequently served
as General Manager for the past five years.
Jeff Ragonese will be joining the Washington Plaza as General Manager
from the position of General Manager of Zola�s restaurant, Washington,
DC. Ragonese was previously the General Manager of the Adam�s Mark Chicago
and the Latham in D.C. in addition to working as Food and Beverage Director
at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong.
Paul Ingebretsen is the new General Manager of the Wyndham Resort &
Golden Door Spa in Weston, Florida reopening this winter. Ingebretsen was
most recently the General Manager of the Presidente Intercontinental Cancun
Resort as well as the Presidente Intercontinental Hotel in Monterrey.
René Macín has been appointed Hotel Manager at Fiesta
Inn Oaxaca. Macin was most recently the Hotel Manager at the Mayan Palace
Puerto Peñasco and in Food and Beverage Director with Fiesta Americana
for six years prior to that.
Lisa Cherepon will head the new regional office for Maritime Hotels
in New York City. Cherepon was most recently the Director of National Accounts
for Thistle Hotels. She also held positions as Director of Corporate Sales
for Concorde Hotels as well as Director of Hotel Consulting Services for
American Express One.
The Four Seasons Beverly Hills has a new Director of Marketing. Alan
Reichbart takes over for Martha Sullivan who left the company. Reichbart
transfers from the Pierre where he had been the Director of Sales since
2002.
Carol Taylor has left the Beverly Hills Hotel where she had been the
Director of Sales for over ten years. Taylor had previously been at the
Regent Beverly Wilshire for several years. At the Beverly Hills Hotel,
she is replaced by Tim Dupree who comes from the Four Seasons Beverly Hills
where he had been for the past year as Director of Sales. Dupree also served
as Director of Sales at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.
Steve Janicek is the new Director of Sales and Marketing at the Vail
Cascade Resort and Spa for Destination Hotels and Resorts. Janicek was
most recently at the Lodge at Rancho Mirage.
Jamie Bruce has joined Coral Hospitality as Vice President of Sales
and Marketing. Bruce spent the past five years with KSL as Vice President
Sales and Marketing at the Doral Golf Resort and as Director of Sales and
Marketing at the Grand Wailea Resort.
Steven Sampson returns to the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa as its
new Director of Sales and Marketing. He had previously been with the property
from 1987 to 1995 and was most recently at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. In
between, he was with Carefree Resorts first at the Peaks in Telluride and
then at the Boulders.
Patrick Sorge has been named Director of Sales and Marketing at the
Hyatt Regency Boston. He was previously the Director of Sales and Marketing
at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge.
Jeannene Glenn is the new Director of Sales and Marketing of the Inn
and Spa at Loretto. Glenn most recently served as Director of Sales at
the Mansion on Turtle Creek and the Hotel Crescent Court in Dallas. Prior
to that, she was the Director of Sales and Marketing at the Portofino Hotel
& Yacht Club in Redondo Beach.
Debi Besmer has been appointed Director of Marketing at the Loews Coronado
Bay Resort. Besmer previously served as Director of Sales and Marketing
at the Westin Horton Plaza in San Diego.
Marie Denebeim has returned to Wyndham International as Director of
National Sales for Wyndham Luxury Resorts. Most recently, Denebeim was
a Senior Account Executive at the Renaissance Lodge at Sonoma, and a Regional
Director of Sales for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.
Robin Ide is the new Director of Sales at Hawaii�s Turtle Bay Resort.
Ide was most recently a Sales Manager at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort
& Spa and previously a Regional Director for the Hawaii Visitors &
Convention Bureau, based in Chicago.
Eric Centazzo has been promoted to Complex Human Resources Director
at the Sheraton Chicago and Westin River North. Centazzo was most recently
the Director of Human Resources at the W New York and previously spent
five years at the New York Palace.
Hector Jimenez has joined the Hilton Cancun as Director of Finance.
Jimenez was previously with Hyatt for thirteen years, most recently as
the Executive Assistant Manager of the Hyatt Cancun Caribe Villas and Resort
and the Hyatt Regency San Antonio.
Francois Luiggi will be moving to Toronto to take on the position of
Corporate Director of Food and Beverage Training and Standards for Four
Seasons. Luiggi, a Cornell-IHMI graduate, had been at the Four Seasons
New York since 1998 in a variety of positions, most recently as Assistant
Director of Food and Beverage and Acting Director of Food and Beverage.
Atilla Harai, a Cornell graduate, has joined the Lombardy in Washington
DC as Food and Beverage Operations Manager. His many years in the industry
including IMF and Clyde�s Restaurant Group.
Greg Horner has been appointed Director, Restaurant Sales and Marketing
for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. Horner previously worked with Joie
de Vivre Hospitality as Director of Hotel Marketing.
William Koval will be leaving the Adolphus Hotel and the French Room
after eleven years, to join the Headington Hotel Group, launching an Adam-Tihany-designed
124-room luxury hotel to open in 2006 in Dallas. The property is to be
called Joule-a luxury urban resort hotel.
Craig Hartman has joined the Henley Park and the Morrison-Clark in Washington,
DC as Executive Chef. Hartman was previously at the Statler Hotel at Cornell
University and at the Cliff House in Manitou Springs.
Executive Chef Tim Keating is leaving the Four Seasons Houston to pursue
new endeavors. He held the position for eight years, following six years
at Houston�s Omni Inn on the Park, a former Four Seasons Hotel.
Paul Carter is the new Executive Chef at the Phoenician. Carter has
spent the past thirteen years with Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta, Naples, Laguna
Niguel, and most recently as Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage
at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland. At the Phoenician, he replaces Patrick Duff,
who went to the Sukhothai in Bangkok.
Jean-Jacques Dartois is now the Chef de Cuisine at the Polo Lounge at
the Beverly Hills Hotel. Dartois previously spent ten years at Le Dôme
in Los Angeles.
George Mahaffey returns to Southern California after many years, to
be the Culinary Director at Ty Warner�s San Ysidro Ranch. Mahaffey, who
had been the Executive Chef at the Hotel Bel-Air fifteen years ago, had
been in Colorado since then, first as the Executive Chef at the Little
Nell, later as the Chef-Partner of Conundrum. Most recently, Mahaffey was
consulting for various hotels and restaurants.
Conny Andersson moves down the street from the Four Seasons Beverly
Hills to the Regent Beverly Wilshire where he remains Executive Chef. Andersson
has been in Beverly Hills since 2000 following stints as Executive Chef
at the Four Seasons Bali and the Four Seasons Nevis. At the Beverly Wilshire,
he replaces Bruno Lopez.
George Chaffman has joined the Sea Catch in Washington, DC as Executive
Chef. Formerly with the Smithsonian National History Museum, where he was
the Executive Chef since 2004, his prior experience also includes the Ritz-Carlton
Pentagon City.
David Wilson has been appointed Executive Chef of the Inn and Spa at
Loretto and its new restaurant BALEEN-santafe. Wilson comes from the Edgewater
in Seattle where he served as Executive Sous Chef. Previously Wilson held
Executive Sous Chef positions at Wolfgang Puck�s Postrio in San Francisco
and at the City Grill in Austin.
Stéphane Lore is the new Executive Chef at the Hyatt Regency
Montreal. Lore comes from the Ritz-Carlton Montreal where he began as Chef
de Cuisine and was promoted to Executive Chef after one year.
The new Chef de Cuisine at the French Laundry is Corey Lee, a 27-year-old
from Seoul, Korea. He had been working at Thomas Keller's Per Se. Lee replaces
Eric Ziebold, who left to open CityZen at the Mandarin-Oriental Washington,
D.C.
Michael Roberts, whose Los Angeles restaurant, Trumps, was one of the
hotbeds of California Cuisine from 1980 to 1992, has died. A familiar figure
with his walking cane, her suffered from Kugelberg-Welander syndrome. He
was as much a part of the Los Angeles culinary scene as Michael McCarty,
Wolfgang Puck, Ken Frank and Joachim Splichal.
Michele Chiaranda, Executive Chef at Mantra Punta del Este since opening,
is returning to Italy. Chiaranda will be replaced by Alvaro Arbeloa who
comes from the Kempinski Resort Estepona where he was the Executive Sous
Chef.
Peter Edwards has been appointed Group Dining Chef at the Ojai Valley
Inn and Spa. An Australian, he comes from Disney Studios in Burbank.
Michael Gillet has joined the Beverly Hills Hotel as Pastry Chef. Gillet
has held Pastry Chef positions at the Peninsula Chicago, the Ritz-Carlton
Naples, La Grenouille in New York, and most recently the Phoenician.
Céline Plano transfers to the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead where she
will be the Head Pastry Chef. Plano was previously in a similar position
at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco.
Olivier Zardoni is the new General Manager of Aquavit. For the past
two years, Zardoni had been with Le Bernardin Group most recently at Geisha
and previously Le Bernardin. He worked as Sommelier at Aqua at the St.
Regis Monarch Beach and Cello in New York.
Hervé Guillaume has been appointed General Manager for Atelier
and Restaurant Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, slated to open
this summer. Guillaume had been the Chef de Cuisine at the French Embassy
in Tokyo for the past eleven years.
Alexandre Gaudelet will be the General Manager of Craftsteak at the
MGM Grand Las Vegas. He comes from the Two-Michelin-starred Restaurant
of the Hôtel Meurice in Paris. Gaudelet also was the General Manager
of L�Escalier at the Breakers in Palm Beach, where he earned a Five-Diamond
AAA rating.
Michael Morrisette has joined Maple Drive in Beverly Hills as General
Manager. Morrisette was most recently and for the past five years, the
Restaurant Manager at Mélisse.
François Grand has been promoted by China Grill Management to
General Manager of Social in Hollywood, a planned re-do of the Hollywood
Athletic Club. He was most recently the Director of Food and Beverage at
Mondrian and Director of Restaurants and Lounges at the Peninsula Beverly
Hills.
Jan Henningsen returns to California to replace François Grand
at Mondrian. Henningsen was previously the Director of Food and Beverage
at the Fontainebleau Hilton. He also served as Food and Beverage Director
at the Surf and Sand in Laguna Beach and Checkers in Los Angeles.
Marino Monferrato is a Restaurant Manager at Wynn Las Vegas. Monferrato
was previously in a similar position at Bradley Ogden�s Restaurant at Caesar's
Palace and Masa�s in San Francisco.
Randy Caparoso has been appointed Chef Sommelier of the Sea Island Company
in Georgia. Caparoso had been running his own company, Caparoso Wines in
San Francisco since 2001. Prior to that he was a partner in Roy Yamaguchi�s
Roy�s Restaurants.
Jody Ward has joined Classic Hospitality in Washington, DC, as Director
of Revenue. Ward formerly worked at the Georgian Terrace Hotel in Atlanta
and the Lansdowne Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia, as Director
of Revenue.
Steven Boggs is joining the Lodge at Rancho Mirage as Spa Director.
Boggs was most recently the Director of Sales and Concierge Services at
Time and Place Homes and had previously worked at the Beverly Hills Hotel
as Front Office Manager.
Karen Shawn is the Spa Director at the newly opened Palms Resort and
Spa in Turks and Caicos. Shawn previously worked in the same capacity at
Little Dix Bay. |