Swire Hotels moved three members of its senior management team into new roles: Toby Smith replaced Brian Williams as deputy chairman, and Dean Winterassumed Smith’s former role as managing director.
Williams, who has spent 14 years at the company, now serves as senior adviser to the brand on a part-time basis from his new base in the United Kingdom. He originally joined Swire Hotels as managing director before becoming deputy chairman.
Smith joined Swire group as a management trainee in 1991 and has held positions within the group’s shipping and aviation sectors in countries including Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Australia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, France, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Winter has more than 25 years’ experience as a hotelier and restaurateur in Hong Kong, Singapore and London, and will oversee day-to-day operations of the hotel and restaurant business. He joined Swire Hotels in 2006 to concurrently manage operations and pre-opening preparations for The Opposite House in Beijing and The Upper House and East in Hong Kong, before opening The Upper House as general manager in 2009.
Knob Hill Inn in Ketchum, Idaho, named Alexandria Barnhardt general manager. Prior to this, Barnhardt was the snow sports and mountain operations administrative manager for Sun Valley Co., responsible for managing personnel operations for the snow sports front desk, plus assisting with guest services. She began her hospitality career at Lagardère Sports & Entertainment in St. Simons Island, Georgia, as assistant director of player relations, golf division.
Eike Clausen is general manager of Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz Gozo, Malta. Clausen started with Kempinski in 2007 at Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin in Berlin and steadily progressed in the sales and marketing department. In 2011, he became sales manager of Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa in Beijing before being promoted to director of sales. From there, he became front office manager at Grand Kempinski Hotel Shanghai in Shanghai, then moved back to Germany to become director of rooms at Kempinski Hotel Frankfurt Gravenbruch in Neu-Isenburg. He most recently was general manager of Kempinski Hotel Aqaba Red Sea in Aqaba, Jordan.
DiamondRock Hospitality appointed Milos Davidovic general manager of the Barbary Beach House Key West in Key West, Florida. With nearly two decades of hospitality experience, Davidovic most recently was director of hotel operations at The Gwen, a Luxury Collection Hotel in Chicago. Prior to this, he was general manager of food and beverage at The Kimpton Gray Chicago. He also spent time at other Chicago area properties, including Radisson Blu, InterContinental and Embassy Suites Lakefront Downtown Chicago, and was owner of Tuscano’s Fine Italian Restaurant in Schiller Park, Illinois. Before his time in Chicago, Davidovic was part of the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta Hotel team, as well as part of the management team at Plaka in Atlanta.
Pan Pacific London in London appointed Cherish Finden executive pastry chef. The Singapore native stepped into the role after serving as creative development chef at an internationally recognized chocolatier. Across her career, Finden has served as pastry chef at hotels including Raffles Hotel Singapore, The Sheraton Tower Singapore and The Langham London.
LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort, a Noble House Resort in Naples, Florida, appointed Tim Herman general manager. Herman recently served as general manager for Mansion on Forsyth Park, an Autograph Collection hotel in Savannah, Georgia. Among his previous roles, he was assistant vice president of operations for Hotel San Remo Casino and Resort in Las Vegas, and director of food and beverage for multiple Las Vegas resorts.
Denis Hüttig, vice president operations at Steigenberger Resorts, took charge of leadership and vision for all hotels under the Steigenberger brand. Hüttig joined the group in 2012 as general manager of Steigenberger Hotel Bad Neuenahr in Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany, and has been vice-president operations for Steigenberger Resorts since 2015. He was a key part of the Evolution Steigenberger project, a brand development initiative.
Rummy Pandit is dean of the College of Hospitality Management at Johnson & Wales University (JWU), Providence, Rhode Island, campus. Prior to joining JWU, Pandit was the executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University in Galloway Township, New Jersey. At Stockton since 2011, Pandit held positions including executive director, Stockton Seaview Hotel & Golf Club, and interim associate vice president, operations. His academic leadership experience includes serving as the associate dean of business management at the Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, New York, and as assistant dean and executive director of hospitality management at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Kevin Rosa is director of sales and marketing at Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa in South Walton, Florida. Rosa brings more than 30 years of experience in sales, marketing and incentive travel to his new position. Prior to joining Hilton Sandestin, Rosa was vice president of sales and operations at Incentive Travel Solutions, where he specialized in luxury group incentive travel, full-service meetings and events, and employee recognition programs. His career includes time as director of sales and marketing at many hotels and resorts around the country.
Max Scherff is general manager at The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Scherff previously was food and beverage director, then hotel director at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts. He also has served as assistant food and beverage director/director of banquets at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C., and as assistant food and beverage director at the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh. Before his time on the East Coast, Scherff worked in San Francisco at The Palace Hotel and the Fairmont.
Davidson Hotels & Resorts appointed Jeff Toscano executive vice president of Pivot Hotels & Resorts. Toscano joined the company from Hyatt Hotels Corp., where he was senior vice president of operations for the East region of Hyatt’s newly formed lifestyle division. During his tenure, he led the integration of legacy Two Roads Hospitality lifestyle and resort brands following its acquisition in 2018. Previously, Toscano was vice president of operations at Two Roads.
CoralTree Hospitality rounded out its finance team: Rebecca Wells is vice president of finance. Before joining the company, she was part of the Destination Hotels corporate finance team that was integral in the transition to Two Roads Hospitality. Marty Stanton is director of information and analytics and Jeff Sheppard is regional director of finance for CoralTree Hospitality. Stanton spent nearly two decades at Destination Hotels while Sheppard has worked with Magnolia Hotels, Intrawest Resorts, Destination Hotels and Pyramid Hotel Group. The company also named Rodin Villalta payroll manager, Danielle Clair payroll systems analyst, Krystal Lewis accounts payable specialist and Christine Erber accounts receivable specialist.
Thomas Wilken is general manager of Maxx by Steigenberger Sanssouci Potsdam in Potsdam, Germany. Wilken spent the past few years as a director of operations and executive assistant manager. Former employers include Marriott and Kempinski hotel groups. He completed a hotel management training program with Marriott International.
Extended Stay America (ESA) named Mark Williams managing director, franchise development, a role in which he is tasked with continuing to grow ESA’s footprint throughout North America through franchise conversions and new build properties. Before joining ESA, Williams was senior vice president for Radisson Hotel Group, overseeing franchise development for the Eastern United States and Canada. He’s also held senior franchise management positions at Red Lion, Vantage Hospitality, G6 Hospitality and Best Western International.