Airports Council International (ACI) announced two key management appointments in the organization. Georgina Graham will serve as Director of the ACI Bureau based in Montreal, Canada, and Ali Tounsi will serve as Regional Secretary for the ACI Africa Region, based in Casablanca, Morocco. Graham joins ACI following seven years at the International Air Transport Association and nine years working for the airline Virgin Atlantic. Having managed a diverse portfolio of professional responsibilities in these organizations, Graham has gained expertise in the fields of aviation security, facilitation, customer service and human resources. While serving at IATA, Graham earned the respect of airport professionals in joint efforts to improve airport security and facilitation. Her knowledge and diplomacy has been highly appreciated by aviation businesses and stakeholders, international organizations, regulators and political institutions working with her on cross-industry initiatives such as Simplifying Passenger Travel. Ali Tounsi is the successor to Maamoune Chakira in the role of ACI Africa Regional Secretary.  Chakira, who joined ACI in July 2006, left the organization to take up the position of Safety Officer, ACIP in the ICAO ESAF organization in Nairobi, Kenya. During his tenure at ACI he worked actively to raise awareness of safety and security issues and to strengthen cooperation between ACI Africa and aviation partners across the region in addressing those issues.

Jumeirah Group, the Dubai-based luxury hospitality company and member of Dubai Holding, has announced the appointment of four new General Managers for hotels in Frankfurt, Kuwait, New York and Dubai. Dagmar Woodward will be returning to her home country of Germany to lead the pre-opening team of Jumeirah Frankfurt, scheduled to open in mid-2010. Ms. Woodward will be joining the German team, from Madinat Jumeirah's Mina A Salam hotel where she held the position of General Manager. As the Group continues to grow and develop in line with its ambitious expansion plans, Jumeirah has appointed Khaled Helmy as General Manager for Jumeirah Messilah Beach in Kuwait, which is scheduled to open in 2010. In New York, Gary Schweikert is the new General Manager of Jumeirah Essex House and Regional Vice President of Operations for the Americas. Mr. Schweikert joins Jumeirah from the Flagship Hospitality Group LLC, providing development, operational and asset management services to hotel owners.

Accommodation specialist youtravel.com has appointed a new chairman, Niels Andersen. He is currently executive chairman of VectorCommand, a UK based technology company serving the emergency and security services both in the UK and internationally. Andersen will be working with youtravel.com founder and chief executive, John Kent, and group managing director Graham Nichols to continue the international growth of youtravel.com. Andersen has wide international business experience, working for McKinsey Consulting earlier in his career, followed by finance and executive director roles for several large multi-nationals . More recently, he was responsible for major business transformation programmes in the BBC and Sainsbury’s. Andersen has also been chairman of several smaller technology companies in the card industry, particularly smart cards, with clients like British Airways, Lufthansa and the large card providers. Andersen replaces former chairman Nigel Jenkins who stepped down from the role at the end of 2008 due to family commitments.