Tony Elenis is new president for ORHMA

TORONTO—Hotel industry veteran Tony Elenis, who spent three years as the volunteer head of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association (ORHMA), is taking over the fulltime post of president and CEO on Apr. 7

He replaces Rob Evans who left this month after a little under a year on the job, to return to the United States.

Evans is also a hotel man. Before taking the job with the ORHMA in April last year, he worked for Atlanta, GA-based Lodgian Inc., a company that owns and operates full-service hotels in the United States, including Intercontinental and Marriott brands.

Elenis, who has spent 33 years in the industry, all of them in Ontario, is leaving his job as general manager of the 445-room Holiday Inn Select Toronto Airport to take the reins of the ORHMA. InterContinental Group of Hotels, his employer for the past 27 years, manages the hotel.

Elenis has made a name for himself in food and beverage operations and has been on many advisory and steering committees for these areas. He sits as the ORHMA representative on the Vintners Quality Alliance,  the body that certifies quality Ontario wines, and is one of the founders of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance.

A long-time member of the ORHMA, he was elected to the executive in 2002, and he served a year longer than the normal two-year term as chairman. He told CLN this month that his key priority is providing benefits to members, giving them value for their membership.

He said the ORHMA is planning tactics and initiatives to get more results from lobbying governments at all levels.

Besides sitting on the ORHMA board, Elenis is also a director of the Hotel Association of Canada.

Another recent executive departure from the ORHMA was that of Pawla Swider-Lunney, who left Jan. 31. She came to the ORHMA in August last year as vice-president operations and business development, after 22 years as an executive with the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association.

There was no word on why she left or where she was going.

When asked if he was planning to replace Swider-Lunney, Elenis replied that this was something he would decide after taking office and having a good look at the situation. “We need a good handle on marketing operations,” he said.