I think it’s fair to surmise that the year 2012 started well for Australian national Jennifer Fox; she brought in the New Year celebrating her new role as president of Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, and the December completion of a doctorate in Business Studies from the International School of Management in Paris.
I meet Fox in Fairmont Dubai’s 34th floor presidential suite in January during her tour of the company’s four regional head offices, of which the UAE emirate is one. Since her appointment in November — succeeding Chris Cahill, who yields the role of president to focus on his duties as chief operating officer of parent company Fairmont Raffles Hotels International — Fox has made it her mission to meet as many of the regional vice presidents, general managers and owners as possible.
Rather than being daunted, Fox revels in the global nature of her new role — following international experience as global brand manager for Sheraton during 13 years’ with Starwood and later, as senior vice president of brand management for industry giant InterContinental — and it was this that seemed to clinch her move from InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in Europe to Fairmont’s HQ in Canada.
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“I love global roles because I’ve lived and worked in Australia, Asia, Europe and the US and so a global role really fits my background and experience and to take a company that is very successful and lead it into the future, that’s what excited me about it,” says Fox, a second-generation hotelier who entered the industry 25 years ago. “I didn’t leave IHG because I was unhappy, I really had a great 10 years, and before that I was with Starwood for 13 years, so I don’t move around companies lightly or frequently,” she continues.
“In so many ways, my experience there helped position me to be able to do this role, but this was just such an exciting opportunity and I love where Fairmont is going in the future. The brand today is very heavily focused in North America but there’s a lot of growth internationally and in fact our growth internationally is what’s going to be the biggest opportunity for us moving forward, so that’s a great chance for me to utilise my skills and background, having worked in these other regions, to be able to deliver some value,” believes Fox.
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Feb 7, 2012 , United Kingdom
Sounds so beautiful to be a president of Fairmont, but how much do you really care for your internal employees who are working for your company. To be a president is not only to carry such job title, it much appreicate if you indeed care about your employees, and also help them when they are fa...
Feb 7, 2012 , Mauritius
Fairmont is a great and well-known hotel brand in North America but it's still relatively unknown in some other parts of the world. With the global expansion plan that the Jennifer Fox has, together with her rich global experience, knowledge of the industry, and willingness to innovate/invest in ...