De Vere Group Plc, the hotels and health & fitness operator, announced the appointment of Carl Leaver as Chief Executive Officer, taking over from…
De Vere Group Plc, the hotels and health & fitness operator, announced the appointment of Carl Leaver as Chief Executive Officer, taking over from Paul Dermody who, as was announced at the interim results, is retiring.
Carl Leaver, 35, joins De Vere from Whitbread Plc, where he has been Managing Director of Travel Inn for the past three years. Prior to this he was Operations Director, Marriott Country Clubs and has held various other positions with companies including Nomura, Forte and Mars. He joins De Vere on 1st September 2003.
Peter Daresbury, Chairman, commented:“We are delighted that an executive of Carl Leaver`s quality and background is joining De Vere. He is highly regarded in our industry, and with his background in managing golf resort hotels and driving a rapid rollout of the largest hotel brand in the UK, brings the right blend of experience and dynamism to take the Group forward to the next level.
“On behalf of the Board I would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul Dermody for his significant contribution to the Group over the past 40 years, in particular during his three and a half years as Chief Executive, overseeing the transformation of the group, during which time De Vere has consistently outperformed the hotel market.”
Carl Leaver commented: “Having long admired De Vere for its strong brands and committed team, I am extremely excited by this opportunity. The company`s performance has been at the very top of the industry, providing a stable platform from which to drive shareholder value.”
Biography of Carl Leaver:
Carl Leaver, 35, joins De Vere from Whitbread Plc where he held the position of Managing Director of Travel Inn, the group`s high growth budget hotel chain since 2000. Under his leadership, Travel Inn added 5,000 rooms to become the UK`s largest hotel brand. At the same time, like-for-like sales increased by an average of around 5% p.a. and operating profit grew 33% over the period to £67m.
Carl moved to Travel Inn from within Whitbread where he previously held the position of Operations Director of Marriott Country Clubs. Here he developed a step change strategy to boost business performance in the conference segment. His previous role was as General Manager of the 380-bedroom Slough/Windsor Marriott.
Carl also worked for the investment bank Nomura International plc between 1995 and 1997, following two years at Forte plc between 1992 and 1994. He graduated in law from Nottingham University and started his career with Mars as a business planner.
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