Kempinski Group names new CEO

Martin Smura is set to take the helm as the new CEO of the Kempinski Group on July 1. He most recently was executive chairman of the board of the Dorint Hotel Group, and also held other relevant board mandates.

Smura studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.,  and California State University Hayward in San Francisco, where he finished his MBA studies ahead of an international career in the hotel business. He had a seat on the board of Azimut Hotels, Russia’s largest hotel group, and was chairman of the board of directors of Adlon Holding. 

He spent 15 years with InterContinental Hotels Group, spending time as director of operations in Eastern and Western Europe. There, at 28, he held his first general management post, becoming the company's youngest regional GM at 30.
 

"We are confident that Martin R. Smura, with his outstanding leadership, will continue to uphold the grand hotel tradition and quality at Kempinski," Abdulla H. Saif, chairman of Kempinksi AG's supervisory board, said in a statement. "In particular, his leadership skills, strategic vision regarding the brand's further expansion, his excellent network and long-standing bonds of trust, also with our partners, will strengthen the group’s position for the future. 

"At the same time I would like to sincerely thank Markus Semer for his invaluable involvement and dedication towards the Kempinski Group over the last 16 years and over the last three years as CEO for having successfully repositioned and succeeded in making the company profitable by setting a financially sound strategy with an achieved sustainable net portfolio growth."