BridgeStreet Worldwide has named Craig Ryan to lead its new office in Singapore, as part of the company's phased expansion into the Asia-Pacific region.
BridgeStreet Worldwide has named Craig Ryan to lead its new office in Singapore, as part of the company's phased expansion into the Asia-Pacific region. Ryan joined BridgeStreet in 2006 as director of sales in New York City; the company credits him with being a driving force in its growth in that market. In addition to operating the service center, Ryan's Singapore staff will build its alliance of serviced apartment providers and assist in training them on BridgeStreet operational standards and quality guest service practices.
Guoman Hotels has appointed Jeff Karlson as executive director of global sales, a newly-created role at the company. Karlson's experience includes over 18 years of senior sales and marketing roles with IHG, Starwood, and most recently with Hilton, where he oversaw sales and marketing for Hilton in Latin America based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He will be based at the Guoman Tower Hotel and will report directly to Sanjay Nijhawan, chief operating officer.
TCG Consulting, a business travel consulting company, has announced the addition of Daniel Marcelo Feige as Director, Latin America. In this role, Feige will support TCG clients who are building travel, payment and expense management programs in Latin America. TCG will hold its main office for Latin America in Buenos Aires. A native Argentine, Feige brings extensive industry experience serving as a travel manager and senior consultant for more than 12 years. Feige has managed outsourced programs for multi-national companies in the region and consulted for corporations such as HSBC Holdings, SAP, Bank Boston, IT Convergence, AVON Cosmetics, Arcor, McKinsey & Co., Cargill, Repsol YPF & Unilever.
CHI Hotels & Resorts (formerly Corinthia Hotels International), has appointed Glenn Carroll its senior vice president for sales and marketing. Glenn is expected to take up his new position this October.
Concur Technologies has named Steve Beck a regional sales executive representing Cliqbook to corporations and agencies. Beck's technology experience includes his most recent prior position, with Runzheimer International, working on the launch of a travel analytics technology.
Wyndham Worldwide has announced that its hotel group CEO, Steven Rudnitsky, is leaving the company to pursue other interests. A search for a new CEO is under way. Rudnitsky came to Wyndham in 2002 (when the company was Cendant Hotel Group) and was given responsibility for the operation, growth, performance and strategic direction of the company's brands, which now include Wyndham, Ramada, Super 8, Days Inn and Travelodge.
Meanwhile the company has promoted Duane Elledge to executive vice president of brand services and Keith Pierce to president of brand operations, the Americas, as well as consolidated its distribution, channel management and reservations functions under Jeff Edwards, chief information officer and executive vice president, revenue services. Elledge previously served as senior vice president, group operations, North America. Pierce has been group president since April 2004, responsible for overseeing the company's AmeriHost, Baymont, Knights Inn and Ramada brands. Edwards had been executive vice president and chief information officer since December 2005.
GetThere, the Sabre-owned corporate booking tool, has promoted Grant Rattray to director of its Asia-Pacific division. Rattray previously was focused on GetThere and corporate strategy for three years with Sabre Pacific. The appointment represents a sharper focus on growing GetThere's corporate travel procurement business in the region.
JetBlue Airways has appointed Terry Dinterman vice president, technology services. Dinterman was previously vice president of solution delivery at CNA Financial Corp., a national commercial insurance carrier based in Chicago. Also, JetBlue has named Mike Barger senior vice president, fleet operations. He was previously vice president, JetBlue University. Barger retains his responsibility for JetBlue University, an educational center responsible for training all JetBlue crew members and other airline employees. In addition, Rob Maruster, senior vice president of customer services, will assume responsibility for the airline's system operations group. Maruster, who has been with JetBlue since 2005, will continue to oversee the airports, in-flight service and reservations departments.
Southwest Airlines has appointed Kathleen Wayton vice president of strategy and change leadership. Wayton joined Southwest in 2004 as a director in technology, leading the airline's enterprise data team. She was then promoted to senior director of the Rapid Rewards and Southwest.com teams in technology. Last April, she moved to the strategic-planning department as senior director.
Enterprise has named Richard Sayre, a noted biofuel researcher, to be the director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis. Enterprise created the Institute in 2007 with a $25 million gift from the company's founding family, the Taylors of St. Louis, to support development of renewable energy sources.
Adelman Travel Group of Milwaukee has named Bob Chaiken president and chief financial officer and Steve Cline chief operating officer. Chaiken has served at the travel management company for 17 years in various roles, including controller, CFO and chief operating officer. Cline has served at Adelman for 13 years as general manager, vice president and executive vice president. Craig Adelman remains chairman and CEO.
US Airways has announced the departure of Travis Christ, vice president of sales and marketing, and Joe Beery, chief information officer. Larry LeSueur, vice president of culture (responsibility for recruitment and leadership development) will retire at the end of the year. Andrew Nocella, promoted to senior vice president of marketing and planning, replaces Christ. Nocella will continue to oversee the airline's route scheduling and planning while assuming the additional oversight of advertising, business development, frequent flyers and sales. David Seymour was promoted to senior vice president, technical operations. From December 2002 to April 2008, Seymour served as vice president, operations control and planning, overseeing the operations control center and crew scheduling. Daniel Pon, who oversees the airline's human resources division, will take on LeSueur's responsibilities when the recruitment and staffing team is moved directly under supervision of the human resources division.
Accor has named Olivier Poirot, CEO of Accor North America and Motel 6/Studio 6, to the Accor Executive Committee, which oversees the company's services and portfolio of more than 3,800 hotels in 90 countries.
Leading Hotels of the World Group Sales has appointed Soeren Huber director of sales for EMEA, based in London; and Sarah Lechevalier director of sales for the Americas, based in New York City. Huber most recently was director of sales for the Badrutt's Palace in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Lechevalier was director of global sales with
Sofitel Luxury Hotels, where she was in charge of launching the deluxe division.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts has named Matthew Avril president of its hotel group. He succeeds Matt Ouimet, who is leaving the company. Sergio Rivera, who has been co-heading Starwood Vacation Ownership (SVO) with Avril, will now have sole management responsibility for SVO. Avril will oversee hotel operations worldwide for Starwood's nine hotel brands. Mike Tiedy has been named senior vice president, brand design and innovation. Tiedy will oversee all creative and design resources worldwide for Starwood's nine hotel brands. Most recently, Tiedy was Nordstrom's vice president, creative design.
Marriott International has announced that Jim Sullivan, executive vice president of lodging development, will retire on April 1 after a 25-year career at the company. Tony Capuano, a 13-year Marriott veteran, will succeed Sullivan, becoming executive vice president of global development. Capuano is currently responsible for full-service hotel development across North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. Marriott says Sullivan has been pivotal in growing Marriott's brands and expanding its hotel portfolio from 539 to more than 3,000 today. He spearheaded growth at Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn and Renaissance and the launch of Bvlgari, Edition and Nickelodeon by Marriott, said Marriott.
Flight Options, a provider of private air travel services, has named Eli Flint regional sales director for the US Southeast region. Flint has spent the last four years as a sales director with an aircraft manufacturer-owned fractional program.
Davidson Hotel Company has named Bernard Murphy senior vice president of business development. Murphy joins Davidson from Pinnacle Hotels USA, where he was chief investment officer.
Rezidor Hotel Group has announced that Kurt Ritter will continue to head the company until February 2012. His current employment contract was due to expire in February.
Stonebridge Companies, a franchise development and management company for Hilton Hotels, has named Scott G. McChesney to the newly-created position of senior vice president, responsible for developing the company's business beyond its current level of 60+ hotels and managing operations of more than 75 lodging properties nationwide. McChesney's past posts included director of development for the Imagineering division for the Walt Disney Company, and senior manager of development at Pepsi-Cola Corporation/Taco Bell.
The Oetker Group has tapped industry veteran Alain Brière to lead its luxury hotel collection in Europe, which includes Hôtel Le Bristol Paris, Brenner's Park Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden, Park Hotel Vitznau, Château Saint-Martin & Spa in Vence and Hôtel du Cap Eden-Roc at Cap d'Antibes. Brière began his career in international hospitality in 1973 at Hilton International in Paris as director of sales. Subsequent positions included several assignments with Inter-Continental Hotels in Paris.