Starwood Hotels and Resorts has announced a number of high-profile appointments in Africa and Middle East.
The new area directors and managers will report to Phillippe Cassis, senior vice president, director of operations for Africa and Middle East. The appointments are: " Karlheinz Aumann: Area director Gulf; and vice president and general manager Sheraton Bahrain; * Fahed Abushaar: Area director Kuwait-Saudi Arabia-Yemen-Pakistan and general manager Sheraton Kuwait; " Valentino Bertolini: Area director North Africa-Levant and general manager Sheraton Casablanca; " Ibrahim Fahmy: Area managing director Egypt and general manager El Gezirah Sheraton; * James Munro: Area manager Dubai; and general manager Sheraton Dubai; * Laurent Certelet: Area manager West Africa and general manager Sheraton Lagos; " Don Elliot: Area manager East and Southern Africa (sub-Sahara) and general manager Sheraton Pretoria; and " Abdullah Melhem: Area manager Syria-Lebanon and general manager Sheraton Damascus. "Under Philippe Cassis' leadership, this new organisational set-up will continue to support our growth and development objectives, combined with Starwood's leadership in marketing and operational excellence throughout Africa and the Middle East," said Roeland Voss, president Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Europe, Africa & Middle East. "The new positions have been created to add on opportunities, increase overall efficiency, ensure networking and establish an operating team in synergy with the Europe, Africa and Middle East divisional team," said Cassis. "They will also assist in maintaining open communication channels with our owning companies and be a major support function to all aspects of the division.