Gary Koetser has been appointed Cape Regional Manager for Protea Hotels & African Pride Hotels. Koetser is the former GM of Cape Town’s African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa, having also worked at several hotels in the Free State and Northern Cape. Koetser’s hospitality qualifications include a three-year Protea Hotels Diploma in Hospitality Service Management and Hospitality Management 1, 2 and 3 from the former Cape Technikon. He has also completed a General Managers’ Programme at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.
Former Protea Hotel Manor GM, Victoria McLachlan, has been appointed Business Optimisation Director of Boulevard Hotel Group. McLachlan has a management and cost accounting background. She joined the Boulevard Group, several of whose hotels fall under the Protea Hotels brand, in 2009 as Sales and Marketing Director, then became GM of Protea Hotel Manor in 2012 to gain more operational hospitality experience. Her new role will see her focusing on systems optimisation across the board within the group’s hotels.
New GM appointments across the country for the Protea Hotels & African Pride Hotels brand include Carolyn Jones at African Pride Crystal Towers Hotel & Spa, Wayne Siepman at Arabella Hotel & Spa, Natalie Botha Protea Hotel Wanderers, David Gray at Protea Hotel Capital, Sharleen Horsley at Protea Hotel Witbank, Zhan-Jacques Stoltz at Protea Hotel Highveld, Siyanda Dlamini at Protea Hotel Manor, Nico Myburgh at Protea Hotel Durbanville and Anso Venter at Protea Hotel Tyger Valley.
Adel Louw has been appointed Events Executive at Maropeng, effective April 1. Louw brings over 12 years of local experience in the events industry to Maropeng having previously worked at Glenburn Lodge in Muldersdrift and Valley Lodge in Magaliesburg. Tony Rubin, MD of Maropeng, welcomed Louw to the team: "Events including conferencing and banquets are a big part of Maropeng's day-to-day business and we believe Louw will be a great asset to the Maropeng family."
The Mantis Collection welcomes new National Sales Manager Tracy Weeks, who joined as Mantis’s National Sales Manager at the beginning of June. Weeks has been part of the Mantis team for many years and has been successfully servicing the Indian market for the group. Her new role will include managing the global incoming sales for the Mantis Collection and overseeing the sales team and their joint activities.
Brett and Claire Bayman recently joined Jaci’s Lodges in Madikwe as a General Management couple. They have experience in the safari industry. The bulk of Claire’s experience has been gained outside South Africa in countries such as Zambia and Malawi. Brett started his career in the restaurant industry in Durban and made the move into the luxury lodge sector six years ago.
Fastjet has appointed Richard Bodin, Krista Bates and Clive Carver to the Board of Directors. Bodin maintains his role as fastjet's Chief Commercial Officer, Bates has recently joined the company as Group General Counsel, and Carver will join the Board in the role of Non-executive Director.
Bodin joined fastjet in June 2012 at the company's re-admission, having previously served as a consultant with easygroup from the commencement of the project in November 2011. In his role as Chief Commercial Officer he has been instrumental in the development of the company.
Bates joins as General Counsel for the fastjet group. She has contributed significantly to fastjet's development as a professional adviser, having advised the company on commercial and legal matters in east Africa and the UK since its re-admission.
Carver is a chartered accountant and has served as a founding Director and Head of Corporate Finance of finnCap, which he undertook until 2011. He presently holds a number of non-executive appointments, being chairman of three quoted companies.
