Direct Travel has named Ann Marie Stone as chief customer success officer; she has been senior vice president of client implementations. Prior to joining Direct Travel, Stone worked for five years leading global customer success operations with American Express Global Business Travel, and she worked with CWT for 20 years before that.
American Airlines has named Nick Andersen as senior vice president of network planning; he has been vice president of commercial planning and performance. Andersen has held multiple positions with American since 2014. Prior to that he held roles with US Airways.
Shangri-La Group announced the appointment of Hakan Ozel as vice president, operations, overseeing three of the group’s flagship European properties: Shangri-La The Shard, London; Shangri-La Paris; and Shangri-La Bosphorus, Istanbul. He has more than 28 years of international experience, including over two decades with Shangri-La Group. Previously, Ozel served as vice president, operations for the Middle East and general manager of Shangri-La Dubai.
Groupize, a meetings management platform, named David Ballard as senior vice president of sales. He has held several management roles at SAP Concur during a tenure of more than 12 years. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and global head of customer success.
Accor has named Kara Randall as chief development officer for Accor luxury brands, North America. The company’s luxury brand portfolio includes Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel Legend, Sofitel, Emblems Collection and MGallery Collection. With more than 20 years of experience in hospitality, real estate and mixed-use development, said an announcement, she most recently served as a vice president of Hilton’s luxury, residential and corporate development group for North America, supporting multiple brands, including Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and LXR.
Oetker Hotels announced a series of promotions including promoting Duarte Bon de Sousa to COO; Virginie Saint-Laurent to chief people and culture officer; and Simon Neggers to chief commercial officer. De Sousa joined the company in 2013 and previously spent many years as general manager of two French Oetker properties. Saint-Laurent has spent 15 years with Oetker, most recently as senior vice president of people and culture. Neggers had been senior vice president sales, marketing and communications. He joined the company in 2020. The brand recently made its US debut with the opening of The Vineta Hotel in Palm Beach.
