People - January 2012

Joe Couto, senior account manager, Canadian Lodging News

Joe Couto has joined Ishcom Publications, publishers of Canadian Lodging News, as a new senior account manager. Couto’s most recent position was account executive with Ironstone Media, providing magazine publishers with a platform of print and digital solutions for their readers and advertisers.

An industry veteran, Joe has 30 years of experience in marketing communications and sales, working with companies such as Transcontinental Printing, St. Joseph Communications, and Maclean-Hunter/Rogers Publishing.

April Iverson has joined AURA restaurant at Victoria’s Inn at Laurel Point as pastry chef reporting to executive chef Takashi Ito.

Having perfected the art of stirring up the pot, Victoria’s Inn at Laurel Point has just made another major culinary hire. April Iverson has joined the staff at AURA, the Inn’s on-site waterfront restaurant and patio, as pastry chef. Previously, Iverson worked at Le Macaron, Crave Kitchen Wine + Bar, the Radisson Plaza Hotel Saskatchewan and KOKO Patisserie.

Bernard Chênevert, winner, IHG’s General Manager of the Year

Bernard Chênevert, general manager of the InterContinental Hotel Montreal, won the Best of the Best award for General Manager of the Year during the IHG Americas Investors & Leadership Conference. Managers were evaluated based on the hotels’ operating performance, the guest satisfaction index, plus community involvement and personal attributes.

Luke Scheer, consultant, hotel brokerage and advisory, CBRE Hotels

CBRE Hotels has made a number of new appointments.

Luke Scheer joins the CBRE team as a consultant to the hotel brokerage and advisory teams. He comes from Delta Hotels & Resorts where he was director of development. Scheer has also worked for Legacy Hotels REIT, InnVest REIT, Coast Hotels & Resorts and PKF Consulting.

Mark Sparrow, Vancouver office, CBRE Hotels

Mark Sparrow will be relocating to Vancouver effective January 1, to help serve CBRE clients and properly expand the company’s national practice. Sparrow will focus his advisory and brokerage efforts in Western Canada while remaining an integral part of the team in Toronto.

Nathan Marks, sales representative, CBRE Hotels

Nathan Marks, who has worked at CBRE since 2010 in both research and office leasing, has come on board as a sales representative. Marks will be working closely with Sparrow and executive vice president Bill Stone.

Deborah Borotsik, vice president, CBRE Hotels

Finally, Deborah Borotsik has been appointed vice president and continues to lead the team’s underwriting and due diligence efforts.

Chris Lund, general manager, Deerhurst Resort... once again!

When Chris Lund walked through the doors of Deerhurst Resort as the general manager recently, he returned to a job he left 13 years ago. Beginning in 1991 and for the next seven years, Lund served as general manager at Deerhurst, then managed by Canadian Pacific. The current owner is Skyline Hotels & Resorts.

Leah Jack, human resources manager, Crowne Plaza Toronto Airport

Leah Jack has been named to the position of human resources manager at Crowne Plaza Toronto Airport Hotel. Prior to this appointment, she held the position of human resources generalist for Renin Corp’s Brampton and Concord locations, as well as acting human resources manager at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Centre.

Jennifer Fox is the new president, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has appointed Jennifer Fox as president.  Fox, who will oversee Fairmont’s celebrated collection of world-class hotels and resorts, brings extensive experience in hotel operations, brand development, marketing and sales, and hotel transitions to her new role.

Jean-Michel Offe, VP, food and beverage, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has also appointed Jean Michel Offe as vice-president, food & beverage, to oversee global culinary operations. Most recently group director, food & beverage for Shangri-La Asia, Offe’s past experience includes a range of food & beverage and operation management related positions with Shangri-La Hotels and executive chef posts with InterContinental Hotels in Dubai, Oman and Indonesia.

Philip Barnes returns to Vancouver as general manager, Fairmont Pacific Rim & regional vice-president for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Pacific Northwest. In his three-decade hotel career, Barnes has lived in some of the most sophisticated cities on earth, but it was during his seven-year stint with Fairmont in Vancouver starting in 1998 that he felt a sense of belonging. Barnes says he is  thrilled to be back in that city in his new role.

Darren Brown, executive chef, Fairmont Pacific Rim

Homegrown and internationally travelled chef Darren Brown has arrived at Fairmont Pacific Rim as executive chef.  Brown has worked at Vancouver restaurants Horizons, CinCin and Quattro, Glowbal and Coast; and has travelled, studied and cooked on a yacht in the Mediterranean, the Antibes, French Polynesia and Beverley Hills.

Daniel Buss, executive chef, Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa

Daniel Buss is now executive chef at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa. A 1987 graduate of George Brown College Cooking School in Toronto, Buss was mentored by Swiss chef Hubert Bielmann from La Vielle Auberge in Rockwood, Ontario. He has also worked at the Prince Hotel in Toronto, at a five-star resort in Switzerland, in Banff and most recently in Miami as executive chef for the Fairmont Turnberry Isle.

Heather McCrory, regional vice president and general manager, of Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York, has appointed Calvin Vick as director, Engineering and Sean Halpin as Director, food and beverage. Vick and Halpin, overseeing the heart and front of the house, respectively, each bring over 20 years experience in the hospitality industry to their new positions.

Prior to his appointment, Vick was director of engineering at The Westin Bayshore in Vancouver.

Halpin joins The Fairmont Royal York from his most recent position as complex operation manager at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto.

Ed Fuller, president, international development, Marriott is retiring

Ed Fuller has announced that he will be retiring from Marriott in March 2012. Fuller joined the company in 1972 after leaving the army. At the time, Marriott was looking for a military salesperson.  For the last 21 years he has been Marriott’s president, International Lodging. During that time, the number of company properties outside the United States and Canada grew from 16 to 350.