Execs on the Move at Booking.com; Sage Hospitality; Davidson Hotels & Resorts; More…

NATIONAL REPORT—Personnel shifts are happening on the leadership level at Sage Hospitality, Davidson Hotels & Resorts, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group National Hospitality Group, Booking.com, Playa Hotels & Resorts, Montage International, AccorHotels and KAI. Here are the details on recent appointments.

Booking.com Names Swann as CTO
Booking.com has added Matt Swann as the company’s chief technology officer. In this role, Swann leads Booking.com’s full stack technology strategy to support the company’s continued growth as a global technology leader in travel and experiences, working to create an even more seamless end-to-end technology experience for travelers.

He joins Booking.com from leading Silicon Valley-based event and ticketing marketplace StubHub, where he also served as CTO, leading the company’s technology strategy to drive growth and innovation for the business.

He previously served as chief information officer at Citibank, where he set the technical vision and strategy for one of the world’s largest and most scalable financial platforms, as well as VP/global payments chief at Amazon, where he and his teams delivered a revolutionary mobile commerce system that enabled hundreds of millions of customers to buy and sell on the platform.

Sage Hospitality Appoints Jason Altberger as Chief Investment Officer
Sage Hospitality has appointed Jason Altberger as chief investment officer. He joins Sage after 18 years at real estate private equity firm DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, where he spent the final eight years of his tenure as managing director. In this role, he was responsible for a range of assets and investment opportunities and served as an investment committee member for both the U.S. and China funds.

Davidson Hotels & Resorts Names SVP of Transitions & Operations Strategy
Davidson Hotels & Resorts has appointed Rob Morgan to the newly created position of SVP of transitions & operations strategy. Morgan joins Davidson Hotels & Resorts with a lifetime of hospitality experience, most recently from launching his own hospitality consulting business. His resume includes a career with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where he grew into several management positions throughout his nearly 12-year tenure, ultimately serving as senior director of portfolio & project management. He was then hired by HEI Hotels & Resorts, where he developed a team and process for transitioning new acquisitions before advancing to regional VP of HEI’s largest region.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group Appoints Jill Kluge as CMO
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has appointed Jill Kluge as CMO, effective Jan 1, 2019. She will follow Michael Hobson after his retirement. She’s currently Mandarin Oriental’s group director of brand communications. She joined Mandarin Oriental in 1991 in Hong Kong as group public relations manager and transferred to the group’s corporate office in London in 2001. Prior to joining the group, she held sales and marketing positions in a variety of international hotel brands in the United Kingdom and Asia.

Bary Joins National Hospitality Group as COO
Myrtle Beach, SC-­based vacation ownership company NHG recently added Travis Bary, a former EVP with Wyndham Vacation Ownership as COO.

“We look forward to the unique vision and varied experience Travis will add to NHG as we continue to grow within the vacation ownership industry,” said Jason Shroff, CEO of National Hospitality Group.

“I was drawn to National Hospitality Group because the company has created a unique niche in the timeshare industry. NHG is only at the beginning of a long and successful run,” said Bary.

Playa Hotels & Resorts Appoints Cohen as EVP/General Counsel
Playa Hotels & Resorts N.V., owner and operator of all-inclusive resort brands such as Hyatt, Hilton, Jewel Resorts and Panama Jack Resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, has promoted Matthew S. Cohen to EVP/general counsel.

Cohen is responsible for leading Playa’s legal affairs including the company’s M&A and commercial transactions, financing activities, securities laws compliance, legal risk management and critical business practices. With more than 25 years of experience, he has guided a wide range of companies through all stages of their corporate life cycle. From 1992 through 2014, he was a practicing attorney in New York, serving as a partner in several prominent law firms, including Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Thompson & Knight LLP and Eaton & Van Winkle LLP. In recent years, prior to joining Playa, he served as general counsel to three companies engaged in the energy, healthcare and online cash back businesses, respectively.

Montage International Appoints Holloway SVP of HR
Montage International has appointed Mandy Holloway to the position of SVP of HR.

Holloway is an award-winning, global human resources and learning executive with more than 10 years of talent acquisition and management experience in the hospitality and entertainment industries.

In her role, she is responsible for all aspects of human resources strategy and execution, organizational planning and development, and oversees key administrative functions for the company.

Prior to Montage International, Holloway served as VP of human resources & employee engagement at Universal Studios Hollywood, NBCUniversal, where she managed operational staffing, employer branding, employee engagement, communications and team member programs. Prior to that, she held various management and human resources roles with hospitality companies, including Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., Hard Rock International and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.

Brown Appointed VP, Well-being for AccorHotels
AccorHotels has appointed Emlyn Brown as VP of well-being for AccorHotels’ luxury and upper-upscale brands. He joins AccorHotels from Resense Spas S.A, where he most recently held the position of global design director and was responsible for managing corporate strategies, well-being concepts and related design services.

Over his career, Emlyn has led group operations of several leading luxury spa and fitness operators. During his time at Resense Spas S.A he also held the position of managing director of Asia, accountable for the management and growth of the portfolio in China and Southeast Asia. Prior to that, Emlyn was the director at GOGO Hospitality, and also held senior positions at Six Senses Resorts & Spas where he was the regional director for Europe and later the operations director for Asia. Prior to working within luxury hospitality, he held senior operating roles with Holmes Place Lifestyle clubs in Switzerland and Germany.

KAI Hires Forguson as VP of Finance

KAI Design & Build has added Dan Forguson as its VP of finance. In his new role, Forguson reports to the CFO and is responsible for providing enterprise leadership in the areas of financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and project controls.

“As KAI continues to experience both organic and acquisitive growth, we are placing a high priority in the area of business analytics,” said Forguson. “We are making strategic investments in talent and ERP enhancements in order to maintain a pulse on our business and to ensure that we are growing profitably.”

Forguson has 10 years of experience in the AEC industry, having previously held the title of regional project controls director at Jacobs in St. Louis.