Hotelier Awards 2017 shortlist: HR & Training Person
Six shortlisted individuals in the HR & Training Person of the Year category for the 2017 edition of the Hotelier Middle East Awards are now revealed.
If you'd like to meet last year's winners of all categories, click here to find out more...
Click through to find out who has been shortlisted this year... and take a look at last year's event in the video below!
Anuja Ghosh, learning and development manager, Fairmont Dubai
Apart from the mandatory trainings by the corporate office, Anuja Ghosh has initiated and created from scratch a DNA training programme (Development Needs Analysis), which was recognised by the corporate HR team as one of the worldwide best practices in 2016 and ultimately resulted in recognising 46 departmental trainers. She launched Supervisor’s Academy in 2016, in order to recognise and further develop the high-performing colleagues. Over the first six-month period, 26 colleagues from 11 departments participated in the intense-training programme and 12 of them earned a well-deserved promotion after the successful completion of the course. The Go Green sustainability training program initiative was rolled out by Anuja in March 2017, with a purpose to reduce the carbon footprint and to prove the financial impact to the overall hotel operations, which resulted in 15-year record energy savings at the property.
Ashraf Nofal, cluster director of human resources, IHG Kuwait - Crowne Plaza & Holiday Inn
Ashraf Nofal moved to Kuwait to join IHG in 2014, and aided in the re-branding of the hotels and became the cluster director of human resources for both Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn. With his leadership, his team the IHG Award 'Best HR team in IMEA organisational efficiency' in May 2017. He supported the re-branding of the existing Crowne Plaza hotel to Holiday Inn and opening new Crowne Plaza to increase rooms inventory to 500 rooms, and led the initiative to reconstruct, brand and open the staff restaurant to accommodate up to 600 employees.
Ellaine Siruelo, director of human resources, Crowne Plaza Bahrain
Ellaine Siruelo moved to Bahrain as HR manager for the Crowne Plaza Hotel in April 2015. Eighteen months after she joined, she was promoted to director of human resources. She is a supporter of local employment with the Bahrainisation percentage at 6.5% above target, and the IHG Academy at 133% above target. With her efforts, employee engagement increased over the last few years, and in 2017, IHG introduced a new engagement programme by Aon Hewitt, with wider benchmarks against other international companies. The hotel achieved 80% leading to its accreditation as Country Level Best Employer and IHG as Global Best Employer 2017.
Evangeline Monterde, learning and development manager, InterContinental Muscat
Evangeline Monterde has been leading the learning & development department at InterContinental Muscat since 2015. She has championed the leadership development of 100 supervisors and managers through her six-month leadership blended-learning programme, and spread the learning culture within the hotel throughby creating a team of departmental trainers which improved guest survey scores compared to previous year. Monterde has actively trained over 100 Omani students since 2016 with at least 10% employment rate after the training.
Fatma Al-Sinawi, director of human resources, Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara
Fatma Al-Sinawi joined Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara in 2016 as director of HR during pre-opening. She was able to recruit and fill the target number of employees on time and on budget. She used the internal system called Taleo to attract candidates from other websites, and was awarded “Best Taleo User” by Minor Corporation for her success in using the tool.As per Omani standards, Al-Sinawi also aggressively practices localisation to get as many Omanis on board ensuring they are productive and passionate about their work. In line with the Anantara ethos, Al-Sinawi and her team strive to give back to the local community through various CSR activities that employees are encouraged to join.
Yasmin Saud Al Sanea, project manager KSA People Plan, InterContinental Al Jubail
Yasmin Saud Al Sanea, who was Hotelier's Young Hotelier of the Year in 2015, was promoted to the role of project manager KSA People Plan, to lead the people strategy across all IHG KSA Hotels full-time. Al Sanea has also been selected to be one of the supporting team called SHRLT (Senior Human Resources Leadership Team) to support in HR analytics & metrics for KSA Eastern and Central hotels. Through her efforts, the Saudisation percentage increased to 31.25%, which led to achieve the Medium Green Zone for the first time in InterContinental Jubail. At 26 years old, she is the first and youngest female dealing with all KSA HR leaders - currently a male-dominated role.