July 2012 - Vacation Agent

H 10
rising stars 2012
HOTELS & RESORTS continued from page 8
Rogelio Franchey: Franchey, 32, national
business development manager at
Karisma Hotels, and sales and marketing
director for Lomas Travel, has changed the
philosophy of Lomas Travel from that of a
ground operator to that of “a boutique offering
visitor services.” This included changing
the company’s online image, growing
its social media networks and creating alliances within the retail
community by assisting agents in increasing sales and providing
marketing tools and commission. To enhance the physical services
offered by Lomas Travel and, particularly, the Luxury Collection
by Lomas Travel, which is dedicated to private luxury transfers,
Franchey is overseeing the addition of such amenities as Wi-Fi in
luxury Lincoln Navigator transfers in Cancun and the Riviera Maya.
Jerome Hiquet: Hiquet, 34, vice president
of marketing, Internet and digital strategy
at Club Med North America, joined the
company in 2008 as the head of the global
Internet and CRM department. In that role he
was responsible for worldwide management
of online initiatives, client relations, database
management and the launch of Club
Med’s first loyalty program. Most recently, Hiquet was instrumental
in the launch of Club Med’s iPhone and iPad app. His involvement
with the enhancement of Club Med’s online strategy has helped
contribute to strong revenue growth and the site’s redevelopment
in 27 countries and 15 languages. In 2011 he was appointed to his
current position in North America from the company’s worldwide
headquarters in Paris.
Alberto Martinez: Martinez, 35, who
first began working in Riu Hotels & Resorts’
Mallorca headquarters as advertising
manager-Europe in 2005, was promoted
to advertising director in 2009. Since then
he has been managing all facets of the
company’s advertising in the U.S., Canada
and 10 countries across the Caribbean and
Latin and South America. Martinez works in tandem with a dozen
departments across Riu, ranging from operations and food-andbeverage
to contracting, e-business, group and consumer marketing,
and direct sales. He has successfully united Riu’s communications
team in the Americas into a single operating department
with a unified budget that allows for maximizing investments and
achieving greater value.
Abel Matutes Prats: In 2007, 35-yearold
Matutes Prats was named CEO of Fiesta
Hotel Group, and he began implementing a
strategy for the company that doubled the
number of rooms, standardized the product
and furthered development in additional
destinations. In July 2008, two resorts were
inaugurated in Jamaica: the Grand Palladium
Jamaica Resort & Spa and the Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton
Resort & Spa. Also in 2008, the company enhanced the Royal Suites
by Palladium brand through offering butler service, VIP beaches
and 24-hour room service. In 2009, Fiesta Hotel Group expanded its
Ayre Hotels brand with the Ayre Hotel Rosellón (Barcelona), Ayre
Hotel Córdoba and Ayre Hotel Sevilla.
John Schultz: Schultz, 31, is marketing
and advertising manager for the U.S.
at Barceló Hotels & Resorts, for which his
core responsibilities include promoting the
company’s Latin America leisure hotels to
the U.S. market. He was instrumental in the
2009 launch of the “Say Hello to Barceló”
campaign. That same year, he also oversaw
the launch of Barceló’s agent loyalty program, B Partner, in North
America, and, simultaneously, the ad campaign that drove the
launch of the Hotel Barceló Los Cabos Palace Deluxe. More recently,
Schultz has also been the driving force behind the campaign
promoting the $330 million renovation of the Barceló Bávaro Beach
Resort in Punta Cana.
Claudia Simon: Simon, 31, joined
Iberostar four years ago as the company’s
luxury Grand brand was launching, and she
has led the marketing initiative for all three
Grand properties—in Jamaica, Mexico and
the Dominican Republic—since then. Now,
as director of marketing for the U.S. and
Canada, she oversees marketing programs
for Iberostar’s first and only Cancun property. In her four-year
tenure, Simon has been in charge of virtually all of the brand’s
trade and consumer marketing efforts in the U.S. and Canada. She
also directs the agent co-op marketing programs and manages all
trade projects, including print, collateral, merchandising, virtual
shows and promotions.
Adam Stewart: At 29, Stewart is CEO of
one of the industry’s most iconic companies,
Sandals Resorts International, which operates
Sandals Resorts, Beaches Resorts,
The Royal Plantation Collection and Grand
Pineapple Beach Resorts. He has held this
position since 2006, but as the son of Sandals’
founder and chairman, Gordon “Butch”
Stewart, he has been preparing for it his entire life. He has held jobs
across the company, from reservations to meetings and incentives
to technology and public relations. Prior to becoming CEO, he was
director of resort product for Sandals and Beaches. Since his appointment,
SRI has experienced unprecedented growth. He directed
the transformation of the flagship brands from all-inclusive to “Luxury
Included” and launched a fourth, value-conscious brand.
Matthew Tippins: Tippins, 35, director
of marketing for SuperClubs, has made
a swift rise, showing both dedication and a
strong grasp of marketing technology and
customer relationship management (CRM).
Tippins began his career with Certified
Vacations, and after joining SuperClubs’
sales operation in 2001, he quickly moved
to operations, designing systems to handle and report bookings.
Shortly afterward, he redesigned the company’s email marketing
program and initiated its first CRM program. The email marketing
program is now a significant source of online revenue. Tippins last
fall designed and launched SuperAgent Concierge, which features
a communications platform that delivers messages to travel agents
directly from their rep. This summer, Tippins will roll out Super-
Clubs’ first mobile websites and solutions for agency partners.
Ivanka Trump: Trump, 30, executive
vice president of development and acquisitions
for the Trump Organization, is charged
with the domestic and global expansion of
the company’s real estate interests. Along
with her father, Donald J. Trump, and her
siblings, Donald Jr. and Eric, she directs all
areas of the company’s real estate and hotel
management platforms. She actively participates in deal evaluation,
predevelopment planning, financing, design, construction,
sales and marketing, and ensuring that physical and operational
standards are met. One of her primary focuses has been to bring
the Trump Hotel Collection, which she founded with her brothers
in 2007, to global markets.
TOUR OPERATORS
Kasey Austin: Austin, 23, was born into
the travel industry. She’s the daughter of
Dan Austin, founder and director of Austin-
Lehman Adventures, and so travel was the
daily fare. She has explored Ecuador, Peru,
Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica,
Germany and Holland, as well as much of the
western U.S. and Canada. Starting at the age
of 11, she spent her summers working with the company, though
she doesn’t think of it as work. Now a college graduate, she has
thrown herself full-time into the company, responsible for running
guide operations within the office and leading family trips in Yellowstone
and the Tetons.
Emma Beckerle: Beckerle, 24, has
travel in her blood. Her mother is from Dublin,
and her family often traveled to Ireland,
as well as to other places. She spent her first
years of college in London before returning
to the States, then spent the summer
between her junior and senior years doing
an internship in Cape Town, South Africa.
Beckerle’s mother was in finance, and that was the course she
thought she herself would follow, but she found her dream job at
Insight in 2009 and quickly worked her way up to her current position
as marketing manager.
Megan Bryant: Bryant, 30, Africa director
for Cox & Kings Americas, early in life
became accustomed to travel, as her family
moved around the southern U.S. for her
father’s career. She considered pursuing a
career in hotel management, but in 2005 she
found Cox & Kings, the world’s oldest tour
operator. She started as a tour consultant
for Africa, and she was instrumental in developing the Seychelles
for the company. In 2010, when the product manager for Africa
left, Bryant was given the job. She created a Cox & Kings Dream
Trip called “Primates and Birding: Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe”
that was selected by National Geographic Traveler as one of its 50
Tours of a Lifetime.
Jennine Cohen: Though some put in a
40-hour work week and then find time for
their passion, 31-year-old Cohen, senior director
of Latin American programs for Geographic
Expeditions, finds meaning in her
work. A graduate of UCLA, Cohen was introduced
to adventure travel through UCLA’s
Outdoor Leadership program, through
which she led backpacking and camping trips. After college she
moved to New York and managed events for Elite Traveler magazine,
but she needed to get outside again. Cohen resigned, and
within two weeks was trekking through Central America as a trip
leader for Outward Bound. After that she worked with Backroads,
managing its Latin America operations. She then took her current
position with Geographic Expeditions.
David DiGregorio: It took a while for
DiGregario, South African Tourism’s 30-yearold
marketing manager, to realize that travel
could be a career. After college, he worked
in web development, then advertising, before
moving to Sydney. There he promoted Israel
as a trade destination, and his success led
to a job with the French wine industry, then
he worked as media liaison with the U.S. Olympic Committee in
Beijing. Returning to the U.S., he started working for South African
Tourism a year before the 2010 FIFA World Cup. DiGregorio has
served on the regional board of the Association for the Promotion
of Tourism to Africa, and is marketing advisor to the Southern African
Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.
Diana Ferro: For Ferro, product manager
for Perillo Tours and ItalyVacations.com,
traveling to Italy is as natural as breathing.
While the 35-year-old was born in America,
her family is from Italy, and she visited every
summer. She earned a double major in
psychology and international languages and
culture, but after an internship in a hospital,
she decided to emphasize the cultural side of her education, and
took a job with the Italian Tourist Board. She caught the attention
of Steve Perillo, who offered her the job she has now. Ferro has
helped the company evolve by meeting the demands of sophisticated
clients, and she created itineraries that are regionally focused.
Caroleen Leverrier: At 30, Leverrier
is product development manager for Eurobound.
She moved to Los Angeles after
graduating from La Sorbonne Nouvelle
University in Paris with a degree in English
and American Literature and History. About
tourism she knew little. “My experience in
the travel industry started in Paris, where
I was working in reservations for a French hotel chain during my
college years,” she says. “I quickly developed my own client base
at Eurobound and learned to work on both sides of the spectrum:
hotel contracting and buyer on one side, and exhibitor and agency
sales calls on the other.” As product development manager, Leverrier
negotiates hotel contracts and develops programs.
Steve Lima: Lima, a 31-year-old Rhode
Islander, is marketing manager for G Adventures,
the adventure tours operator.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree
in marketing, he took a job with a marketing
company working with large pharmaceutical
companies to help further advancement
in medicine. It gave him insight into global
business and helped him develop marketing skills, but it didn’t inspire
him. Instead, he became interested in adventure travel. Lima
planned a climbing trip with a group of friends, and today he is the
marketing manager for one of the world’s largest adventure travel
companies. He’s been with G Adventures for nine years, putting his
marketing skills to work for a product he is truly passionate about.
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rising stars 2012