Rakesh Sarna is to take over the role of managing director and CEO of Indian Hotels Company Limited - also known as The Taj Group of Hotels - following Raymond Bickson’s decision to relinquish his post.
The company issued a statement on Thursday confirming that Bickson will step down on August 31 to “pursue his professional interests elsewhere”.
Sarna, who has held various leadership roles with Hyatt Hotels Corporation for the past three decades, will take over on September 1.
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He was most recently the group president – Americas at Hyatt, in charge of a portfolio of 146 full service hotels, 233 select service hotels and 15 vacation ownership facilities across North America, the Caribbean and Latin America, with around 40,000 employees.
Before that, between 2007 and 2012, he was chief operating officer- international, making him responsible for development and management of all owned, managed and franchised hotels across all Hyatt brands and for overseeing the divisional offices in Hong Kong for Asia Pacific; in Zurich for Europe Africa & Middle East; in Dubai for South West Asia and in Mexico City for Latin America.
Paying tribute to his predecessor, Indian Hotels Company Limited chairman Cyrus P. Mistry said: "We're grateful to Mr Bickson for his many years of leadership at the Taj Group. His three decades of hospitality expertise have helped to make the Taj Group and its brands some of the most respected names in the international hotel and resort industry.
“We're fortunate to have more than 20,000 dedicated employees, a strong senior management group, and an experienced Board to help us move forward into the next phase of Taj's growth."
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