Markus Boeker
President
Markus Boeker is Senior Market Manager in charge of New York and the greater Tri-State area on Travelport’s Internet booking sites, Orbitz.com and Cheaptickets.com.
He began his career in the hospitality industry in Germany in 1994 as a travel agent for American Express. In 1997, he fulfilled his lifelong dream to work and live in New York when he joined New World Travel, the Receptive Tour Operator for two of the largest Germany based hospitality companies, DERTOUR and Meier’s Weltreisen, in their group department. He ultimately became Product Manager in charge of contracting Tour Series as well as Attractions for the Northeast.
In July 2004, he transferred his experience in the hospitality industry to the Internet side of the business when he became Market Manager for Orbitz.com. Markus serves on the Board of Directors for the HSMAI Big Apple Chapter and is fluent in both English and German.
Frank Stapleton
Vice President, Professional Developement
A graduate of St. John’s University with a BBA in Economics, Frank worked on Wall St. for 4 years before making a major career change that brought him to the hospitality industry. After a brief stint at The Royal Manhattan Hotel (now The Milford Plaza), he joined Loews Hotels as Sales Manager at the Loews Summit (now the Doubletree). In 1973, he opened the first American office for Rank Hotels, an upscale British hotel company with 35 hotels throughout Great Britain and Europe. In 1977 he was appointed Vice president, Sales & Marketing-North America for the chain and the group’s operation expanded to 5 Regional offices throughout the United States and Canada.
In 1993, Rank Hotels was sold and Frank started his own marketing/hotel representation company, The Monarch Group Ltd. His client list has included a cross section of 4-5 star hotels in the United States & Europe.
Frank was President of the HSMAI’s New York chapter in 1978 and The MPI Greater New York Chapter in 2005. He was also Co-Chair for two HSMAI Conventions in 1981 and 2000. He was named Supplier of the Year (2002) and Chapter Manager of the Year (2003) by MPIGNY. He is also an adjunct professor at NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management.
Kathie Stapleton
Executive Director
Kathie Stapleton is a graduate of St. John’s University in Jamaica, New York with a BS in Education. She initially joined HSMAI as part time summer help for her father, Frank W. Berkman, CHME, then Executive Vice President of HSMAI.
In 1975, she accepted the additional responsibility of Executive Secretary for the HSMAI Big Apple Chapter and in 1983, Meeting Professionals International, www.mpi.org a new organization at the time, asked her to be their administrator as well. She was the recipient of the Big Apple Chapter’s “Golden Apple” award in 1981 and the MPIGNY’s “President’s Award” in 1995. In that same year, Meeting News named her one of the 25 most influential people in the meetings industry.
Kathie is married to her college sweetheart, Frank, who is President of his own company, The Monarch Group Ltd., a hotel sales and marketing representation firm. They live and work together from their home in Briarcliff Manor, NY.
Brenda Fields-Malone
Immediate Past President
Representing a “who’s who” roster of clients, Brenda Fields of Fields & Company, has worked with a number of industry leaders and innovators, from hotelier Ian Schrager and real estate developer Harry Macklowe, to global brands including Starwood Lodging Corporation, Planet Hollywood, Vornado Realty Trust, Choice Hotels International, Olympus Real Estate Corporation, and Apple Core Hotels. In addition to major hospitality brands, Brenda’s consulting practice includes a wide range of independent properties around the country, such as The Kitano Hotel, New York; Woodlands Resort and Inn, Summerville, South Carolina; Bel Age Hotel, Los Angeles, CA; Mondrian Hotel, West Hollywood, CA, and more.
Brenda brings a hands-on approach to problem solving along with her two-decade long record of results as both a consultant and in corporate sales and marketing to each challenge. She has honed a reputation for helping owners and operators achieve target revenues through development and execution of cost effective, workable strategic plans that maximize profits and build stronger, sustainable brands.
Recent assignments include a complete restructuring of the sales, marketing and revenue management for a well-known luxury independent boutique hotel in NYC that enhanced key aspects of the hotel’s business, better utilized staff and maximized revenue streams. The result: the hotel achieved record profits within six months, following years of declining revenues. For a multi-branded international franchise chain, with thousands of locations around the world, Brenda spearheaded a global strategic initiative designed to help brand leaders build their business, and their brands, with intermediary sales and marketing tactics.
Brenda currently serves as President of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International in NYC and was named one of “The Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing” by HSMAI” for 2007. She was awarded the “Best of the Best” by HSMAI in 2006 for her contributions on the Awards and Recognition committee, serves as a member of the Editorial Board of Hotel Executive.com, is a regular contributing editor to international publications Hotels Online, Hotel Resource Weekly Network News, eHoteliers, and 4Hoteliers. She is also a member of the Real Estate Board of New York.
Brenda can be contacted at brenda@fieldsandcompany.net; 518 789 0117 or by visiting www.fieldsandcompany.net
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Lou Zameryka,
Vice President
of Marketing
Louis Zameryka is currently the Senior Account Manager for the North Eastern US at Booking.com. He has been with Booking.com since September 2006, and manages a dynamic team of account managers. With over 58,000 hotel partners throughout the world, Booking.com is continuing their 10 year success story here in North America
At 18 years old, Louis began his hospitality career as a reservations manager at the Holiday Inn in Rockville Centre, New York. All it took was a taste of the Hospitality industry to get this young man hooked. In the 10 years that have followed, Louis has been involved in the opening of The Inn at Fox Hollow, an upscale all suite hotel in Long Island New York, as the front desk manager. Louis later assumed the role of corporate sales manager for the property. Shortly thereafter, Lou’s next stop was New York City for the opening of Hotel Gansevoort in the ultra hip Meatpacking District. Louis has been involved in roles as a staff trainer and advisor on many other projects and has worked with other boutique hotel properties in NYC.
Willian Viggiani
Vice President,
Member Services
Bill Viggiani is Director of Sales for the Doubletree Hotel in Mahwah, NJ.
Prior to his return to New York in 2007, Bill lived in South Carolina where he served as Executive Director of a non-profit organization “Americas 9/11 Foundation” dedicated to helping first responders and their families. Before heading to South Carolina in 2004, Bill was with Hilton Hotels of New York where he was responsible for the group leisure market and Major League Baseball.
Bill began his hotel sales career in 1971 and has served on various HSMAI committees as well as on the Board of Directors for the Big Apple Chapter during his tenure in the industry. He returned to the New York area in July 2007 and recently served as co-chairperson of the programs and education committee for the chapter. Bill also serves as co-chairperson of the Education Committee for MPI New Jersey and is an active member of MPI New York.
A native of the Bronx, New York, Bill resides in Waldwick, New Jersey with his wife Gigi and daughter Heather.
Richard S. Kahn,
Director
Communications
Richard S. Kahn is president of Kahn Travel Communications (KTCpr), an 18-year old marketing, public relations and publishing consulting company. But, he is more than just the president of the firm. He is an industry veteran, an advisor and consultant to many companies as well as other travel industry executives. He also is a publishing consultant, and a sought-after speaker at industry conferences and events. In the past 18 years, KTCpr has grown from a small consulting firm to a full-time staff of 10 with a list of more than 15 clients.
Kahn, formed the company following his departure as Editor and Associate Publisher of Travel Agent Magazine, a position he held for 15 years. He left Travel Agent Magazine in 1989 to devote his full energy to developing his own company.
Prior to joining Travel Agent Magazine, Kahn was an editor at the prestigious Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. He began his journalism career in daily newspapers and radio news both in Kentucky. He continued his radio career in New York City with a series of “Travel Talk” shows on several major media stations.
Alissa Stock
Director and Chair,
Community affairs
Alissa Stock is a Sales Manager for SynXis, a Sabre Holdings company. Alissa helps empower hotel operators to consolidate and manage hotel inventory from all sources -- seamless GDS connectivity, popular Internet travel sites, private-label central reservations systems, and full-service hotel Web sites.
Alissa is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration where she served as President of the Cornell Hotel Society, Collegiate Chapter. She has previous work experience in HR and training at The New York Palace, corporate development for Marriott Vacation Club, and brand marketing for W Hotels.
Laura Osborne.gif)
Director and Chair,
Programs
Laura Osborne is Executive Vice President of Strategic Development for Intelligent Hotels (formerly OZone Strategic Marketing LLC), an independent consulting firm developing and implementing cutting-edge revenue growth strategies for the hospitality industry. Our global team of Senior Revenue Management Specialists work in tandem with hundreds of hotels, evaluating and enhancing each property's position within their competitive market, successfully developing strong sales, distribution and channel management strategies, then implementing aggressive pricing tactics. In some cases we just help get your house team to the next level, or in other cases we do it all for you...in each case, our clients get the results! Headquartered in Stamford, CT, for the past ten years, OZone has been marketing and developing sales strategies and revenue management consulting services www.intelligenthotels.com and/or www.ozonemarketing.com.
Prior to co-founding Intelligent Hotels (and OZone Strategic Marketing), Osborne had served 18 years in multi-faceted sales and marketing roles in both Canada and the USA. She spent her first years at Bates Advertising headquartered in Toronto as a Media Planner and Buyer. Later, Osborne joined Rogers Broadcasting in their Media Sales unit developing national campaigns and promotions specializing on retail and hospitality clients. Upon moving to the US, she joined TravelCLICK, Inc as Director of Sales and was responsible for establishing both print and interactive GDS media sales and promotions for the New York entertainment marketplace. She subsequently joined Sabre and was responsible for developing and launching Co-Op Sabre Destination Marketing Programs.
A native of Toronto, Canada, Osborne lives in Stamford, CT, with her husband and their two sons. Osborne serves on the board of the HSMAI Big Apple Chapter, is an active volunteer with Sound Waters, an environmental organization for Long Island Sound.
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Sean Hennessey
Director & Chair,
NY Market Intelligence
Sean Hennessey is the founder and chief executive office of Lodging Investment Advisors, a firm dedicated to providing high-quality counseling services to institutional investors, lenders, and other key players in the hotel industry. Founded in 2004, clients include Marriott International, Host Marriott, Prudential Real Estate Investors, JP Morgan Fleming, iStar Financial, National Park Service and others. Sean has recently formed Lodging Investors LLC to take direct ownership positions in hotels.
Prior to forming his own companies, Sean was a leading consultant and broker for more than 20 years. Sean began his career in daily operations with companies such as Marriott, Disney World, and numerous restaurants. Sean graduated from Johnson & Wales in 1979 with an A.S. degree in Culinary Arts, followed by a B.S. degree in Hotel Administration from Cornell University in 1983.
Sean is co-chair of the Lodging Industry Investment Council, serves of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants and the Counselors of Real Estate. He is active with the ITM Hospitality Fund, which provides free hotel rooms for needy families of patients traveling to New York City for critical medial care.
A recognized expert, Sean has appeared on television shows such as CNN Headline News and MSNBC, and radio programs such as National Public Radio and Bloomberg News. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, The New York Times, and virtually all hotel trade journals. He has spoken at the major hotel industry investment conferences, as well as to such groups as the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Hennessey has written numerous articles on a variety of hotel topics. He prepared, on behalf of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the Lodging Industry Mortgage Performance Report, and contributed to Hotel Investments: Issues and Perspectives, 3rd ed. He also contributed a chapter to the Business Enterprise Valuation: An Anthology for the Appraisal Institute. For more about Sean, visit www.lodginginvestors.com
Richard Yaeger
Director and Chair,
Special Events
After giving up his dream of a theater career, Richard joined the “circus” known as the Hospitality Industry. A native New Yorker, Richard began in food and beverage management for Holiday Motor Hotels in Harrisburg, PA. He returned to NYC and his time here has included the Omni Park Central, Milford Plaza, Holiday Inn Midtown, Wall Street District hotels as well as the South Street Seaport. Richard now does international sales for CTN Tours, a USA receptive operator selling conference management, ground services and hotels across North America to international corporate and leisure travel companies
Thomas J. Travers
Director of Sister Chapter Relations
A native New Yorker, Tom has been General Manager of the Hotel Beacon since 1990 and he just brought the hotel through a total renovation which was completed in December, 2008. Tom also serves as Adjunct Lecturer in the Hospitality Department of New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn.
Tom’s hotel career started in New York in 1971 at the Biltmore Hotel. In 1973, he moved to Loews Hotels with positions at the Regency, Loews Summit and Warwick hotels in both sales and operations. In 1981 he was transferred to the opening team of the Seattle Warwick as Executive Assistant Manager. After 5 years, Tom returned to the New York Warwick in 1986.
Tom has served on the RSAA Membership Education Committee for numerous years and is a Past President of the HSMAI Greater New York Chapter.
Consuela D. Hooblal
Director
Membership
Consuela Hooblal is presently the Account Manager for Travel Sales at USA TODAY’s New York office, where she sells and services amenity programs to hotels and hospitality related businesses. She has been with USA TODAY for 15 years.
She is currently working on a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications Arts at St. John’s University.
Consuela resides with her husband and two of her three children in Queens Village, New York. She has two grandchildren. Her interests include travel, reading, and cheering for The Yankees.
J
ulie Andrews, CHME
Director of Special Projects
Julie Andrews, CHME, is currently Executive Assistant at The London NYC.
Prior to joining The London in January 2007, she worked with both HK Hotels and the Beacon Hotel. For nine years she ran her own marketing consulting firm, Julie Andrews & Associates. Ms. Andrews has held sales & marketing positions with Morgans Hotel Group, Doral Hotels & Resorts and Loews Hotels.
She has been involved with HSMAI in three states over 30 years and is also Editor of MPIGNY’s bi-monthly magazine, Metrolines.
