6 hotel companies appoint, promote corporate leaders

Daniel Blanchard. Photo credit: IHG

IHG, Marriott International, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, HEI Hotels & Resorts, Blue Sky Hospitality Solutions and Spire Hospitality have revealed corporate leadership changes.

IHG named Daniel Blanchard chief technology officer, where he will oversee infrastructure and operations, enterprise architecture, IT security operations, application development and corporate support. Blanchard, who has more than 25 years of experience in IT, previously served as VP of IT infrastructure and reliability at Delta Air Lines. Before that, he spent more than 20 years at Marriott International in a variety of IT leadership roles.

Marriott International has chosen Jim Scholefield to be chief information and digital officer, effective Feb. 24. Scholefield, who has more than three decades of experience, most recently held the same role at the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. Before that, he served in leadership roles at Nike, The Coca-Cola Co., The Northern Trust Co. and Ford Motor Co. In September 2019, Bruce Hoffmeister, Marriott’s chief information officer, revealed his decision to retire after 30 years with the company. He will be staying with Marriott through mid-2020 to help with the transition.

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas picked Bryan Gabriel to lead its sales-and-marketing department as chief commercial officer. Gabriel has spent 15 years at IHG, including most recently as head of commercial for America. Six Senses, a part of the IHG family, encompasses 18 hotels with 1,448 rooms.

HEI Hotels & Resorts promoted Ginger Martin and Pam Kirby to regional VP of operations and VP of hotel transitions and finance, respectively. Martin, who served as GM of HEI’s Le Meridien Dallas, The Stoneleigh for seven years, will now oversee several upper-upscale hotels primarily located in the western United States. Kirby, who joined the company in 2015 as VP of ownership services and analytics, brings 20 years of hospitality experience to her new position. HEI Hotels & Resorts owns and/or operates 82 hotels.

Owner/operator Blue Sky Hospitality Solutions named Amanda Lynch VP of revenue management and promoted Michael Newman to corporate director of sales and marketing. Lynch, who has held numerous sales-and-marketing and revenue management roles, most recently served as corporate director of marketing and revenue management with the Dow Hotel Co. Newman has worked for multiple hotel management companies, including Hyatt Hotels Corp., where he spent more than 11 years.

Spire Hospitality promoted Shozib Khan from director of financial planning to VP of hotel performance and analytics, where he will work to maximize value through improved operations, analysis, service and overall company objectives. Khan brings more than 20 years of experience to his new position.