Movers and Shakers

Coast Hotels & Resorts has appointed Timothy Bertrand as general manager of the 299-room Coast Edmonton Plaza hotel. Bertrand brings three decades of hospitality experience to his new position. Prior to joining Coast he was resort manager of the five-star Eagle Nook Ocean Wilderness Resort & Spa in Barkley Sound, BC. He also served as general manager of the Wigamog Inn Resort in Haliburton, ON. Bertrand also owned and operated BlueSkyRadio.ca in North Bay, ON, served as tourism development officer for the City of North Bay and was general manager for a number of Ontario hotels. He has also owned and operated his own sports bar.

Coast has also appointed Olaf Miede as hotel manager of the Coast Pyramid Lake Resort in Jasper, Alberta. Miede has worked for Coast hotels for almost nine years, most recently as food & beverage manager at the Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites in Vancouver. During his 27-year career, Miede has worked for the Ramada Inn in Abbotsford, BC, the Hotel Holiday in Zermatt, Switzerland and the Alpine Chalet Motel and Restaurant in Abbotsford.

J. Stephens Allan will chair the Canadian Tourism Commission board of directors. Allan is currently vice president at RSM Richter LLP, a Canadian accounting, business advisory and consulting firm. Scott Allison, Leah George-Wilson and Konstantinos (Kosta) Tomazos have also been named as members of the board of directors of the CTC.

Allison is currently vice president of sales and marketing for Marriott Hotels of Canada. George-Wilson is chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Tomazos is currently president of hospitality investment and management at CK Atlantis Inc.

Diane Mombourquette is the general manager of the spectacular new Black Rock Oceanfront Resort in Ucluelet. Located on the west coast of British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, Mombourquette will lead the hotel through its opening in early summer 2008. She has a solid background in finance, is a designated chartered accountant, and has worked for nine years with Tourism Whistler, most recently as vice president of finance and operations.

Full House Franchise Systems Limited has appointed Agnes Moskaluniec as the director of national sales for the Howard Johnson brand in Canada. Moskaluniec has been with Full House since February of 2007, working in their procurement division, Preferred Alliance Group, and has over 10 years experience in the hospitality industry.

Scott de Savoye, who opened Toronto’s luxury Hazelton Hotel Yorkville, has moved to the position of general manager at the 353-room Crowne Plaza Toronto Don Valley. A native Torontonian, de Savoye brings 19 years of hospitality leadership expertise to the his position including 10 years with Fairmont/Delta Hotels, and over five years with Royal Host Hotels & Resorts.

NCR Corporation welcomes Michael Taylor as the new general manager for NCR Canada’s retail organization. Taylor has overall sales and management responsibility for all of NCR’s retail business in Canada. Taylor has more than 20 years of sales, service and management experience with large organizations such as Hewlett-Packard, AST Canada and Xerox Canada. For the past five years, Taylor successfully led the sales organization at Getronics Canada, doubling the business.

Robert (Rob) Gialloreto has been named as Tourism Victoria’s new president & CEO, effective April 14th, 2008. Gialloreto was most recently the chief executive officer of Travel Alberta International (TAI) where he managed all facets of the company. In his four years at TAI Gialloreto has led the growth of the organization from a staff of 14 to 40, and managed growing budgets in that time to approximately $25 million in the current fiscal year.

Travel Professionals International (TPI), Canada’s largest network of home-based agents, is pleased to announce the addition of Phil Sproul as executive vice president and chief operating officer for the company and its operations. Sproul comes to TPI after holding positions in sales and marketing at Canadian Pacific Airlines/Canadian Airlines, as managing director of Canadian sales for American Airlines, as VP and GM of Intra Travel Corporation, and most recently as vice president sales and customer experience for Air Canada Vacations.

The Great Estates of the Okanagan, Vincor Canada’s Okanagan-based wineries, are pleased to announce that Roger Planiden has joined the wineries as their executive chef. In this newly-created role Planiden will overseesous chefs and foodservice operations for Nk’Mip Cellars in Osoyoos, See Ya Later Ranch in Okanagan Falls, and Sumac Ridge Estate Winery’s Cellar Door Bistro in Summerland.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Canada has named Philippe Champagne as Global Account Director based in Montreal. In this new role, Philippe will liaise with the group key account planners who are based in Montreal and Eastern Canada. Champagne was a member of the opening team for the W Montreal, the first W Hotel in Canada. Most recently he served as director of sales & marketing at W Montreal, which was awarded Hotel of the Year in 2007. Before joining the team at W Montreal, Champagne held several key positions at Le Centre Sheraton Montreal.