Movers and Shakers September 2008

Michael Sabourin, Eagle Ranch Resort’s new executive chef brings generous portions and fresh, local Rocky Mountain fare with a hint of Caribbean flavour to the menu at Saliken, the Invermere, BC resort’s fine dining restaurant. A world traveller, Sabourin has spent the last ten years satisfying palates at various resorts, hotels and cruise lines. He joins the Eagle Ranch team from St. Lucia where he was executive chef for three star award Sandals Resorts. Other experience includes serving as executive chef with Holland America Cruise Lines, as well as work with Westmark Hotels, Sheraton Hotels and Joe Forte’s in Vancouver.

Tania Loken is now emerit coordinator, industry human resource development for go2 – BC’s tourism industry human resource association. In her new role, she provides customer service, processes orders and promotes emerit, a diverse line of Canadian-made tourism training products distributed by go2 in BC. Tania has 13 years of sales experience in the tourism industry, including work with Tourism Whistler and Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside. She has worked with some of Western Canada’s top resorts, such as Whistler Blackcomb, The Westin Resort & Spa, Delta Whistler Village Suites and Panorama Mountain Village.

Gail Chapelsky is the general manager of the new L’Hermitage Hotel that opened in Vancouver last month. A seasoned hotelier with experience in luxury hotel properties, Chapelsky brings a great deal of knowledge to her new role. Chapelsky started her hospitality career in Vancouver at the Pan Pacific Hotel where for 17 years, she worked her way though the company eventually becoming the hotel’s director of operations. Most recently, Chapelsky was the general manager of the Lake Louise Inn where she oversaw the expansion of the resort.  L’Hermitage is owned by Boutique Hotels & Resorts.

At the end of July, Bruce Guerin joined the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) as the show manager for the BC Foodservice Expo. Guerin will be responsible for producing and managing the largest hospitality trade show in Western Canada. Held every year in Vancouver, the two-day Expo features 370 booths and attracts more than 4,700 buyers from across the province. The next edition of the show is scheduled for January 25 - 26, 2009 at BC Place in downtown Vancouver.
 
The Citadel Halifax Hotel is proud to announce the appointment of Geoffrey Caswell-Murphy to executive chef. Caswell-Murphy joined The Citadel Halifax Hotel kitchen team in 2003 and most recently held the role as executive sous chef. He is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of Canada and received his Interprovincial Red Seal Certification in 1998. The Citadel Halifax Hotel is a 267-room property owned and managed by SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts.

Alexander Reford, manager of Les Jardins de Métis, has been nominated chairman of the Board of Tourisme Gaspésie. Reford is the private sector representative for the province of Québec on the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) board of directors; he is the chair of the CTC’s ad hoc Small and Medium Enterprises Committee and the chair of the Human Resources Committee. He is also a member of the Audit and Executive Committees. Reford, a historian and businessman, has managed Reford Gardens since 1995.

Ontario Accommodation Association treasurer Maurice Mahussier of Spectacle Lake Lodge, Barry’s Bay, died suddenly due to a tragic accident at home in the early morning hours of June 24, 2008.  He was 64.  A volunteer director on the OAA Board since March 2004, Mahussier had just been elected treasurer on April 14, 2008. An accomplished chef, he and his wife Sharon celebrated their 19th anniversary as innkeepers at the Lodge in January, 2008.  As Maurice delighted in training future chefs, an annual Student Award in his name will be established by OAA at Algonquin College, Ottawa.

Tourism Calgary has announced the promotions of Aldon Wells to interim chief operating officer and Marco De Iaco to vice-president, sport, culture and major events.
In his new role, Wells will assume responsibility for Tourism Calgary’s operations, working closely with the executive committee of the board, until a new CEO is appointed. In De Iaco’s five years at Tourism Calgary, he has spearheaded many initiatives to capitalize on the event tourism market.

The Tourism Calgary Board has also appointed board member Marcia Lyons, general manager, TELUS Convention Centre to chair the search committee for a new Tourism Calgary CEO. For over 50 years Tourism Calgary has been the only organization dedicated to promoting the city and has grown to include a network of over 500 businesses.

SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the appointment of Sandy Goodine as the sales manager at the New Riverside Resort and Conference Centre, formerly the Holiday Inn Hotel & Resort in  Fredericton. Goodine has worked as a catering sales manager with Ross Ventures at The Happy Baker in Fredericton.  His qualifications also include extensive sales experience from his previous positions at Raingrow and Crombie, Kennedy & Nasmark.

There are a number of changes at OTEC, an independent, not-for-profit training and human resource development organization for Ontario. Tracy Gualitieri joins OTEC as director, training and human resource development. Kamaljeet Singh joined OTEC in 2007 and has been promoted to manager, education and skills development. And Lauren Griesbach, who joined OTEC in 2007, assumes the role of co-ordinator, client services.

Newly appointed Maria Chen, director of sales at Poets Cove Resort & Spa on Pender Island, BC has over 20 years of sales experience cinched under her hotel belt.  She spent the last four years as senior sales manager at the Georgian Court Hotel, and has held sales positions at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel, and Executive Hotels & Resorts.  Chen’s hotel career began with the Intercontinental Hotels Group—Holiday Inn Metrotown, Holiday Inn Vancouver Airport and Holiday Inn Express where she was catering manager and responsible for group sales.  Prior to that, she worked in sales at Telus Mobility.

Genevieve Laplante has been appointed executive chef at Poets Cove. She began her appreciation for fine food and the love of cooking when she was growing up on an organic farm on Saltspring Island in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. After working in Zurich, in California and at a variety of top eateries in Vancouver, Laplante returned to Victoria in 1999 and was most recently the executive chef at Truffles Catering and The Truffles Group Inc.

General manager David Ogilvie and The Westin Harbour Castle have announced the appointment of Margaret Readings as hotel manager. She brings over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry to her position at the hotel. Readings joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts in 1988 as the director of housekeeping at the Sheraton Centre Toronto, later acting as director of property operations and director of rooms. She joined The Westin Harbour Castle as director of Six Sigma in 2004. For the last year she has been in the position of hotel manager at the hotel on a temporary basis.

Julian Owen-Mold moves from chef de cuisine at Opus Hotel’s Elixir in Vancouver to accept the role of executive chef at the Nita Lake Lodge in Whistler. Owen-Mold’s culinary experience was forged at some of the world’s finest establishments ­— Melbourne’s Stephanie Alexander, M in Hong Kong, Harvey Nichols and Noble Rot in London, U.K.

Roger Soane, who has been general manager of the Fairmont Empress hotel in Victoria, BC since 2004, will be taking over as GM of the Fairmont Chateau Whistler starting this month. This is the fifth time Soane has served as a general manager and the 21st hotel he has worked in during his 34-year career.  Originally trained as a chef, his career includes a stint at Fairmont’s two resorts in Barbados, the Fairmont Palliser, the Fairmont Banff Springs and Pan Pacific hotels in Kuala Lumpur.

Soane had mixed feelings about leaving Victoria. “It’s tough. I love Victoria and I love the Empress but the opportunity to run the hotel in the run-up toward the Olympics and be there for one of the world’s most spectacular events was too hard to turn down,” Soane told the Victoria Times-Colonist in an interview last month.
Tourism Victoria will also have to replace Soane as chairman of its board of directors, a position he has held since 2006.

Soane replaces Michael Kaile whose next assignment is to open a Fairmont property in Abu Dhabi, the fourth Fairmont hotel he has opened.