Millennium & Copthorne debuts new ExCom team

Millennium & Copthorne Middle East and Africa has appointed a new executive leadership team to support the company's growth across the region and meet its target to have 100 hotels by 2020.

In 2015, the firm opened five new hotels and signed 16 properties across UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman. With 30 hotels under development, totalling more than 15,000 rooms, Saudi Arabia is central to Millennium & Copthorne's expansion strategy, with over 10,000 keys in the pipeline and up to 25 hotels set to open over the next five years.

Millennium & Copthorne president and CEO Ali Hamad Alzaabi said: "As we embark on an exciting new chapter for Millennium & Copthorne, I am confident that we have the expertise to deliver on our commitment to the continued evolution of strategy and innovation.

"2016 will be a critical year for Millennium & Copthorne as we move into the next stage of growth and with a strong leadership team in place we can achieve our goals as well as deliver long-term value to our owners and the highest levels of service to our guests."

Emad Majid joined as chief legal officer early last year and is responsible for overseeing all company legal affairs, regulatory compliance and risk management. 

François Kassab has been named chief operating officer, assuming responsibility for the strategic development of the group. Bringing 18 years of financial, operational and strategic leadership, Kassab will lead Millennium & Copthorne’s corporate strategy and oversees the financial division of the business.

He joins from InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) where he successively held a number of senior level finance positions, most recently as head of finance and business support for Middle East and Africa.

David Todd has joined as vice president – operations, Middle East & Africa; he will oversee the hotel operations for the region and will be responsible for driving operational excellence and profitability, whilst maintaining quality standards across the hotel portfolio.

Todd, like Kassab, has arrived at Millennium & Copthorne from IHG, most recently overseeing the entire IHG operations for the Northern Gulf territory.

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Thomas Grundner has been appointed as vice president – sales & marketing, Middle East & Africa to lead the sales, marketing and revenue function for the region.

Grundner has accumulated more than 20 years of expertise having held positions across the world, including vice president of sales with Jumeirah Group and more recently as head of sales and marketing with Meydan Hotels and Hospitality.

His role with Millennium & Copthorne is to drive market share and revenue across the existing portfolio through the implementation of commercial strategies.

With more than 15 years of experience, Husam Kakish has joined as vice president - HR. He will be responsible for establishing, implementing and evaluating HR strategies and policies as well as working to expand the group’s regional talent base.

Kakish has had a number of senior level positions at MGM Resort International before joining InterContinental Hotels Group as regional director of human resources – Middle East & Africa.

And finally, Kevin Cairns has joined as vice president – technical services. With expertise in pre and post opening hotel projects, Cairns has joined the company from Jumeirah Group where he has overseen the development of multiple hotel projects in the Middle East from concept to final build. More recently he led the design direction and creation of design guidelines for its new lifestyle brand.

Shashi Nair will continue in his role as vice president - finance, overseeing all finance and accounting operations across the portfolio.