... has significant experience in the leisure, hospitality, golf and conference sectors.
Building on his success running his own consultancy (Paradigm Hospitality) for the last four years advising on new hotel developments and working with a number of banks and accountancy firms with a focus on implementing business restructuring, improving operational performance and profitability (Grant Thornton, RBS, Yorkshire bank etc.), he has pulled together a group of like minded experts to form The Liberty Collection.
Latterly he has been responsible for group food and beverage development for De Vere Hotels and Resorts, and a UK hotel group that has a collection of 21, 4 star hotels and a 4 & 5 star hotel brand, again with over 20 hotels in its portfolio involving the market repositioning and profit improvement of all their restaurants, bars and conference operations.
He has been responsible for the development of the management contract arm of De Vere hotels and regularly advises on feasibility studies for new and existing hotel projects.
He has a proven track record as a senior general manager for 16 years in the three, four and five star hotel sector.
Rhod is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality - formerly HCIMA. He is also a member of the Lord Chancellors Advisory Committee for Wakefield.
Gaynor Black - Branding, Marketing & Sales
...has enjoyed over 20 years working in senior roles within the sales, marketing, brand and commercial functions within the hotel and hospitality industry, assisting companies in driving bottom line by highly creative and memorable brand, sales & & marketing initiatives.
Previous roles have included Marketing & Brand Director positions within the luxury hotel sector, (De Vere Group PLC and QHotels) hospitality and tourism industries, and helping these companies understand that competitive advantage and ultimately brand advocacy, is only truly realised once a differentiated brand promise is consistently executed.
Gaynor's key level of expertise is her ability to instinctively immerse herself in a brand. Fanatical about delivering a high quality guest experience, Gaynor has a sixth sense for understanding a company's objectives and customer requirements resulting in a differentiated customer experience and journey points being identified and implemented on time and within budget. Proven ability in crafting , leading and driving major brand development and change programmes, particularly where engagement across multi-stakeholder and multisite is needed.
Gaynor's experience covers the full spectrum of the marketing mix, including CRM, Guest experience, R & D, Direct Mail, Digital, Brand definition, Internal communications, Marketing communications, Advertising, Voice of customer insight and Public Relations. across all hospitality sectors and major event and golf tournaments - including the largest golf tournament in the world – The Ryder Cup in 2002.
Gaynor is CIM qualified and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing. Gaynor has also been elected a Member MCIM.
Russell Kay
...has over 28 years experience within the hospitality sector specialising in finance and business planning.
Russell joined the Greenalls Group Plc in 1977 subsequently moving to the De Vere hotels and leisure division in 1996. He worked with the De Vere and Village hotel brands and the Greens leisure club chain. Prior to leaving De Vere in 2008 he led the group financial planning and operations teams with responsibility for co-ordinating group strategy.
Within his comprehensive financial experience he has led business process re-engineering initiatives, the introduction of scorecard reporting, was the De Vere programme manager for the successful hosting of the 2002 Ryder Cup and developed the coaching and mentoring of financial and planning skills for General Managers and their hotel teams. He also had responsibility for the capital expenditure approval process and due diligence projects for group acquisitions.
Russ is an Associate Chartered Management Accountant.
Helen Rose
...has over 20 years experience in Procurement and cost management. Commercially astute, results orientated and with a successful track record in improving cost efficiency and profitability.
From 1994 to 1999 Helen held various Procurement roles within the FTSE 100 Greenalls Group. Following the sale of Greenalls, Helen transferred to De Vere Group plc where she was appointed Executive Director with responsibility for Procurement and developing and delivering corporate strategy, business plans and budgets.
In September 2006 following the sale of De Vere to AHG Helen established her own procurement and management consultancy business and has held positions in a number of companies including Interim Procurement Director at Manchester Airport Group and Strategic Procurement Advisor at Bruntwood property management group.
Helen is CIPS qualified and has an IOD Diploma in Company Direction.
Jennifer Keen
Originally from Canada, Jennifer has over 15 years experience in the Hospitality Industry, in a broad range of operational and Revenue Management roles in City Centre, Airport and Resort locations. Establishing Revenue Management within an online travel company gave good insight into how distribution partners operate. Jennifer moved to England to join De Vere Hotels as Group Revenue Manager, managing the RM needs of their portfolio. As Commercial Director at Bourne Leisure she gained valuable insight into the short stay / mini break market.
Most recently, Jennifer was Director, Revenue Development & Training, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), working with 650+ hotels delivering RM Consultancy & Training.
Brett Norton
With 10 years of experience in the Hospitality Industry, Brett is a true Total Revenue Management professional, who has a track record of successfully creating and implementing Revenue Management strategies and concepts into all areas of the hospitality business.
Brett has undertaken a number of operational and revenue roles with both Forte and De Vere Hotels. These hotels encompassed a variety of locations ranging from modern city centre to luxurious country house hotels and resorts. In his most recent position as Area Revenue Manager for InterContinental Hotels Group, Brett has been responsible for reinforcing the Revenue Management culture in the UK and Ireland.
