Fairmont Hotels has appointed Mark Willis as
Chief Executive Officer and Yigit Sezgin as Chief Brand &
Commercial Officer.
As CEO, is responsible for the luxury
brand’s portfolio of more than 100 hotels in operation and
under development globally.
Mark has more than three decades of
high-level hospitality industry experience, working with
brands such as IHG and Sun International, as well as the Radisson Hotel
Group where he spent many years in senior leadership positions,
including Senior Vice President Middle East, Africa and Turkey.
Mark holds an MBA in
International Business from Oxford University in England and has completed several senior management programmes at
Cornell University, New York.
Prior to taking the helm at Fairmont Hotels &
Resorts Mark was CEO for India, Middle East,
Africa & Turkey (IMEAT) at Accor, overseeing a portfolio of more than 520
hotels in operation and development across 20-plus diverse brands.
As Fairmont’s Chief Brand & Commercial Officer, is responsible for leading the
entire brand and commercial strategy globally.
He has lived around the globe in 8 cities during
the last 25 years and held senior executive roles across
international luxury brands, including The Ritz-Carlton, Carlson Rezidor and BLG Capital Fund.
Yigit joins the team after four successful years as
Chief Commercial Officer for Accor IMEAT, where he oversaw a
portfolio of more than 425 hotels across 42 brands in 41
countries, in charge of all commercial functions, mergers &
acquisitions, lifestyle platform and integrations.
Yigit holds a Master’s Degree from Harvard
Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management,
from Bosphorus University in Istanbul.
Accor
relocated Fairmont’sglobal headquarters from Paris to Dubai earlier
this month, believing the relocation
will allow the brand to take better advantage of opportunities within
the region, chosen for its strategic proximity to Europe, Asia and
Africa.
The appointments of Mark Willis and Yigit Sezgin
also
follow parent company, Accor’s, move to consolidate its brands
into two divisions: a premium, midscale division as well as a
luxury and lifestyle division. The latter comprises a further four
divisions that manage the brands within it, including the Dubai
office,
which now manages Fairmont’s worldwide properties.
Fairmont has a pipeline of more than 30 hotels around
the world, with upcoming openings extending from the Red Sea to
Bangkok, La Paz Mexico to Prague.
