The latest industry appointments

FOO CHAI WOO has been appointed chief executive of SilkAir. He will take over at the Singaporean airline on 18 May, replacing Leslie Thng who returns to SIA. Foo has spent 21 years with SIA, most recently as the company’s divisional vice president of sales & marketing, a position he held since 2014.

KURT EKERT has been announced as the new president & CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), replacing Douglas Anderson. Ekert joins CWT from Travelport, where he spent more than five years as executive vice president & chief commercial officer. He has also worked for GTA and Continental Airlines.

WINSTON HANES has been promoted to the role of director of operations with Archipelago International. A Cornell University graduate, Hanes previously served the Indonesian hotel group as regional general manager for Bali, and also had a spell working as Best Western’s director of operations for Indonesia.

PETER TURNER SMITH has been appointed director of revenue & distribution for Archipelago International. Having arrived in Asia in 2000, Turner Smith most recently served as senior director of revenue of optimisation & distribution for the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, based in Singapore.

RAYMOND CHAN has become Marco Polo Hotels’ new director of restaurants, bars & events, responsible for the company’s three Hong Kong hotels. He has almost 30 years’ experience with Hilton and Shangri-La, most recently as Hilton’s director of F&B for Greater China and Mongolia.

ASHLEY WHITE has been appointed as Business Events Sydney’s (BESydney) new deputy general manager for bidding. He will be tasked with leading the organisation’s new industry sector teams and its European and North American offices. White previously worked on projects for the Australia government.

JOSE ALBERTO OCASIO has been named general manager of the Mövenpick Resort Boracay, which opens in July. A US national, Ocasio started his career with Ritz-Carlton and later moved to Banyan Tree, managing properties in Seoul, the Maldives and Phuket. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

VINCENT ZHOU has become the new general manager of the Hilton Yantai Golden Coast, in China’s Shandong province. Zhou has 18 years of hotel experience, including spells as front office manager and room division manager at Hilton Beijing and director of operations at DoubleTree by Hilton Shenyang.

NIKO WICAKSANA has been promoted to the position of corporate national brand manager for Archipelago International. An Indonesian national, Niko previously served as the hotel group’s regional marketing communications manager for East Indonesia. He has worked in the PR and events sector since 2005.